I did manage to see Kill Bill volume 2. Much different than volume 1. So much so that I wonder if the complete change of pace between the first and second half will work when it's watched as one long film. The again, the films change and switch and flip between so many styles and moods and tones that it will all work out just fine. I get the idea that Quentin knows what he's doing. He knows that he's going to piss people off with these movies, so he doesn't waste any time doing it. In volume one he had the Shaw Scope followed by the 70's Feature Presentation followed by a Klingon Proverb. In volume 2 he has a long black and white take in front of a clearly rear projected background of Uma spouting some pretty damn arch dialogue. Both beginnings made me smile like a goon.
There is not nearly as much action in the second volume. Add it all up and it wouldn't amount to a quarter of what was seen in volume one. A lot more dialogue. And I ate it all up. I love the Superman monologue. I love Quentin's obsession with feet. I love how he shoots things. Supersaturated. Everything glows. Even Budd's trailer in the middle of nowhere looks glorious. To be fair, I thought the final show down would last a lot longer. You'd think it would take at least as much screen time as the Crazy 88 fight. If you add in all the talking they do before hand, then maybe they'd match up. It's like fighting but with words. Except The Bride doesn't get to fight back all that much during the verbal sparring. She doesn't get to fight back much at all in this movie. Mainly she gets kicked around. Shot, buried alive, beat up, shot, shot, and so on. Not to say that I think that the people who decry all this violence against The Bride as misogynistic or anything like that. Only stupid people would think that. Stupid people who would have no problem with all the violence if it was perpetrated on a man. Which strikes me, and maybe it's just me being silly here, it strikes me as racist. You can't abuse women, but fuck the guys over as much as you want. That ain't equality. The hero of a film, especially revenge films is only as great as the obstacles they have to overcome.
By that criteria Hawksley Workman's show on Saturday was his best ever. Because I enjoyed it in spite of all the stupid fucking people that surrounded me. My god. My Fucking GOD!!! I really fucking hate people sometimes. I hate people who go to a show and then spend the bulk of it talking loudly instead of enjoying said show. Right behind me. Or people who poke me in the ribs or the ear for no good reason. I wish to god I was making this shit up. But Hawksley brought his AAA game and was absolutely incredible. I don't know how to describe such a show, y'know. A movie, you can talk about the writing, the cinematography and so on. Here, he played nothing but songs I liked, and played them the best I've ever heard them. His interactions with the crowd were amusing. Umm... he did two encores... see, I ain't so good at the live show reviews.
Speaking of which, did I ever review my brother's play? He didn't write it or direct it. He was Titania, Queen of the Faeries in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Best production of it I've ever seen. Wow. And that's my review of that.
Bubba Ho-Tep was exactly what it said it was. In a nursing home somewhere in Texas Elvis and a black JFK team up to defeat an ancient mummy who is sucking the souls out of the old people through their asses. Yep. It's exactly that. I'm so totally biased, but Bruce Campbell was fantastic as Elvis. He didn't play him with a wink. He played him straight. The movie was sweeter than I was expecting. Cuter. And it took it's time. It's not a long movie, under ninety minutes, but it gives the characters and the story time to explore each other. Man I loved Bruce in this. He looks totally like Bruce, but at the same time an elderly Elvis. The mummy looks like a poorly lit generic monster, and the flying bug looks beyond cheesy. And it all worked.
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