Saw Grindhouse - Death Proof (another film with a difficult title. Should it just be Death Proof?) I really liked it. There was a lot of sleaziness, but less and less as the film goes on. I liked the focus on the victims rather than the glamorous killer (who in one scene is relegated entirely to the background.) Later on the killer seems truly pathetic and even downright lame which is, y'know, a lot less ethically troubling than the super-cool murderers seen in a lot of Tarantino films. In its weird, schlocky way this film is almost feminist. The women are seen/used as objects, get angry, and get their sweet revenge. It's a crowd-pleaser. There's a theme of treating women badly in this film which I think is supposed to rankle (see for example the killer's shitty, blind-eye-turning father being mean to a female doctor.) The film almost works best as a kind of horror-film with a happy ending. I'm mainly relieved I could endorse a Tarantino movie without faint praise, or feeling sleazy. Also, I guess I have to see Vanishing Point now.
I also kind of suspect this film is Tarantino making fun of himself (oh my lord, so damn many feet, feet, FEET! and ironically hip oldies tunes out the wazoo) which of course makes all my praise about the various happy surprises in this film ring a little hollow, but I'll accept a bit of self-delusion if it means I can enjoy the two hours I spent.
Edit: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1028528/trivia?item=tr0730733 Young Quentin worked in a 'stag theater.' This explains a lot.
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