Dave Kehr was an excellent movie critic for the Chicago Reader from 1974 to 1985; he helped established the tone of the Reader's reviews as being the beachhead against the Pauline Kael style of movie criticism that would later dominate all of movie-reviewing; he created the mold for Jonathan Rosenbaum to fill at a later date.
Kehr left his Chicago, like everyone does, to arrive already obscelent in New York City. Where the reader gave him pages and pages (and love!), The New York Times gives him 4 paragraphs to review whatever A.O. Scott and Stephen Holden pass over (for instance, he got to review The Rock's latest movie).
Kehr gives as good as a stab at explaining what Tarantino is up to in Kill Bill as anyone I've seen. And he knows more than enough to walk you through some of the more rocky references; things like the difference between the skillful Chinese martial arts movie tradition versus the sloppy and blood-soaked Japanese tradition , and where spaghetti westerns fit into it all. He also catches a lot that I missed (confession: I had no idea that David Carradine was the monk from the TV series Kung-Fu that is brought up in Pulp Fiction). If the second part is actually focused on various forms of westerns it gives me hope that the Vol. split in the movie wasn't just a marketing decision or a last minute hesitation but actually fits into the overall project.
And damn if that Uma Thurman as John Wayne in "Searchers" shot doesn't make me want to simultaneously hug and slap the guy.
Lou Bega says:
Lou Bega needs to vent for a second. Lou Bega saw Kill Bill Vol 2 over the weekend, the first day it was out, so great was his anticipation. However, Lou Bega was mightily disappointed, as disappointed as he was when no one warmed up to his second single, "tricky". The action, cinematography, and cool that drove the first movie were sorely lacking in this movie. Lou Bega read Roger Ebert's review which was something akin to "I'll bend over for Quentin Tarantino anytime, anyplace." Ebert talked about how he found the first movie to be hollow and without much plot but after seeing the second part he can appreciate them and the sum of the parts is greater than the whole and some shit like that. Lou Bega has to say that if this movie would have been released in it's uncut entireity where, arguably the best parts are in the first 2 hours, at the most up to the training with PeiMai, Lou Bega would have lost it and done the Mambo #5 out of the theater. Lou Bega found himself comparing this movie to other recent sequels/continuations of stories such as Matrix2. Much like Matrix2 Lou Bega went into the theater expecting a continuation of, what Lou Bega thought was, good storytelling as well as some unbelievably well- choreographed fight scenes. What Lou Bega, got was a few scattered fight scenes that were over all two quickly and some sanctimonious garbage about Superman that wasn't nearly as cool as the Royal with Cheese dialogue or any of a number of interchanges in Reservoir Dogs. Lou Bega wants to know if he's in the minority on this one or if other people agree with him.
MAMBO #5!
mike says:
lou bega once said:
"the boys say they want some gin and juice /
but I really don
Rob says:
Kehr missed out an a nice allusion regarding Gordon Liu (Pai Mei). He points out that Liu starred in "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" but then fails to draw the connection between that movie and RZA, who scored the film and produced the Wu-Tang Clan's classic first album "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)."
Wu-Tang clan ain't nuthin' ta fuck wit.
mike says:
In that same vein, the Americanized remake of the "Lone Wolf and Cub" serial, which gave way to the bloody over the top sword-fighting and the idea of innocent children admist horrorific violence (which are both major parts of Kill Bill), "Shogun Assassin" is watched by The Bride and her daughter.
The part that they played was also sampled as the intro to the amazing GZA's "liquid swords" album (review under our music section) – that really creepy "when I was little…his mind was infected by devils…" that always freaks me out – which was also produced by the RZA.
good times.