{"id":2438,"date":"2011-03-03T00:27:41","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T05:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/?p=1728"},"modified":"2011-03-03T00:27:41","modified_gmt":"2011-03-03T05:27:41","slug":"the-sights-sounds-of-driving-angry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=2438","title":{"rendered":"The Sights & Sounds of Driving Angry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yes, this shot is real.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s clear Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez put their own personal stamp on the grindhouse or exploitation genre with their respective Grindhouse<\/strong> films in 2007 via Death Proof<\/strong> and Planet Terror<\/strong>, respectively, but neither film was particularly good, and most fans seemed to agree the fake trailers were the best parts of what was an audacious attempt to create little homages to the sleazy, violent films the two directors love so much (plus me , too).<\/p>\n

Rodriguez\u2019 effort, Planet Terror<\/strong>, felt like a sick & slimy Italian horror film shot very quickly somewhere in the U.S. with familiar American faces, but as happens with the director\u2019s films, story and script don\u2019t always get the attention they deserve.<\/p>\n

Sure, you can argue it\u2019s supposed to be loose and fun, but if you scraped away all the dirty visuals, jump cuts and weird elements like an amputee girl outfitted with a machine gun peg-leg, Planet Terror<\/strong> kind of meandered.<\/p>\n

Tarantino\u2019s Death Proof<\/strong>, in turn, has a spectacular car crash and chase in the finale, but everything in between is bitchy characters bitching for long sessions, and there\u2019s just not enough Car. If it\u2019s about a Car that can smash-up other Cars without killing its driver, there should be Action, not indulgent dialogue scenes that tested the willpower of QT\u2019s fans.<\/p>\n

Maybe the two films could\u2019ve benefitted from a little bit of Nicolas Cage instead of ensemble casts yapping away for interminable periods.<\/p>\n

Now, Patrick Lussier isn\u2019t the strongest horror director out there, but he finally found the ideal project where he showed some directing chops. Cage, Amber Heard (star of All the Boys Love Mandy Lane<\/a><\/strong>, still under a 5-year quarantine lockup courtesy of the Weinsteins), and William Fichtner<\/a> sell the goofy dialogue, but there are many Cars, much driving, and many screeching tires and gunfire, which is why Drive Angry 3D<\/strong> is a better, stronger, and faster film than the aforementioned Grindhouse diptych.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve uploaded a film review<\/a> [M<\/a>] of Lussier\u2019s movie, which was shot using the Red camera, and in a true 3D format instead of all this re-rendering nonsense that creates COAPS – Cranial Orbital Aches & Pains Syndrome. That\u2019s when the images come off all fuzzy, the colours are weak, and you get little tiny pains from behind your eyeballs and experience visions of floating cucumbers with Cyclops eyes and bad breath.<\/p>\n

Go ahead. Google it, because it\u2019s real.<\/p>\n

If you catch Drive Angry<\/strong> in theatres, you\u2019ll also be treated to 3D trailers for Sucker Punch<\/strong>, Priest<\/strong>, and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides<\/strong>. Oh, and a flat trailer for Fast Five<\/strong>, the necessary fifth film<\/em> in the Fast & Furious<\/strong> franchise because the world never tires of Dominic Toretto\u2019s exploits in automoboobles.<\/p>\n

Also uploaded is an interview with composer Michael Wandmacher<\/a> [M<\/a>], who scored Drive Angry<\/strong> with plenty of angry bluegrass music. My review of the soundtrack album will be in an upcoming Rue Morgue issue, but in four words: the score is excellent.<\/p>\n

Coming next: a review of the still difficult-to-digest Steven Spielberg film version of Alice Walker\u2019s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple<\/strong>, now out in a gorgeous Blu-ray edition from Warner Home Video, plus an early Spielberg TV movie, 1972\u2019s pre-Poltergeist<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] spooky house film, Something Evil<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This is where I make a loud \u2018Moo-hoo Ha-ha!\u2019 sound, but feel free to use your own variation.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>, Editor
\nKQEK.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review of Drive Angry (2011) plus an interview with the film’s composer, Michael Wandmacher …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[57,319,320,4212],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-Dk","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2438"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}