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kill bill revisited: my, what big morals you have!

Judging from my mail, some people have an issue with my drooling, fanboy-like admiration for not only this film, but for Tarantino, violence, the degradation of society, blood, gore and the downfall of civilization as we know it.

Yes, the movie is ultra-violent. But every single person gunned down, chopped up or otherwise maimed in this movie is a villian. An assassin. A bad guy.

Also, the violence and blood are so over-the-top it may as well be comic. Saving Private Ryan was more disturbing than Kill Bill, yet I don't see anyone complaining about the violence in that movie - and that's about real violence. Real death. Real blood.

Yet people find the time to bemoan the loss of my morals because I like to see movies with fictional characters getting their fictional hands chopped off and spurting fictional blood. It's theater, people. Entertainment. We are all entertained by different things and let me tell you, I find it exhilarating when I can sit in a movie theater for almost two hours and laugh and grin and applaud some sword fighting and martial arts and death of bad guys, because coming home and turning on the news and seeing the real thing just fucking makes me cry.

And this is all besides the fact that it's just a great piece of film making. But I already gushed over that.

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» Linky Dink Wednesday from On the Fritz - Observations of Modern Life
This week’s recommended links are an unrelated assortment of posts that I’ve read over the last few days — a couple are a few week’s old! Obviously, there’s no real pattern or theme. Enjoy! For you trekkers out there, a... [Read More]

» Linky Dink Wednesday from On the Fritz - Observations of Modern Life
This week’s recommended links are an unrelated assortment of posts that I’ve read over the last few days — a couple are a few week’s old! Obviously, there’s no real pattern or theme. Enjoy! For you trekkers out there, a... [Read More]

» Kill Bill, Vol. 2 from Insults Unpunished
I saw Kill Bill, Vol. 2 and it is better than the first one and less violent, though there are a couple of eyes that get plucked out but that's, like, you know, straight out of the Bible. The story... [Read More]

Comments

Agreed.
If someone actually watches Kill Bill, sees the FOUNTAIN of unrealistic blood pour from the severed limb region, and wants to go out and recreate that for themselves, they not only need serious therapy and time in a padded white room, but some wicked strong meds.
It's a MOVIE people. No one pretends for a second that it's real. And when the audience I was with watched those bloody scenes, they LAUGHED. They laughed not because they are sick wackos but because it's so unbelievably over the top that it's funny and entertaining.
People need to get a grip.

To be honest, when the camera pulls back to show all the dead and dismembered badguys carpeting the floor of the House of Blue Leaves I exclaimed "Jesus Christ!" and started laughing my ass off. It reminded me of those Aeon Flux cartoons where the protagonist would mow down opponents by the hundreds. Zany.

One correction though: It's not entirely clear that everyone who got killed was a bad guy...there's the wedding party and the animated sequence to consider. Let's just say everyone who Uma kills.

All this gushing today of venom,spit and blood.Cool,

Moral people watch movies like "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory." Just ask Agent 008 Kobe Bryant.

Anyone read that Newsweek article?

Let me just say that I have no problem with the violence or blood gushing from any kind of "moral" viewpoint. Having experienced it with someone that was completely disgusted by it, prevented me from truly appreciating it for what QT intended, or the way I probably would have on my own.

I still think it was cheesey and a gimmick and not nearly as well done as the violence in Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs. But hey, that's just me. I would never begrudge anyone their enjoyment of the movie, or buy into any of the idiotic ramblings that would assign blame for all the ills of the world to violent movies, video games, or rap music.

What a load of crap.

But every single person gunned down, chopped up or otherwise maimed in this movie is a villian.

Go easy on the spoilers, girl. Some of us haven't seen it yet.

One of the worst spurting blood scenes I ever saw was the swordfight between Arthur and the Black Knight in Monty Python’s Holy Grail. Then there was the scene where Sir Lancelot slaughters the wedding party. He killed someone’s auntie!

Those scenes were gross. I must have watched that movie ninety times, and every time, I cringe at the blood. It’s the same when I see it on video, or watch it on DVD, or read the script just for laughs. Totally Gross.

I'm so with you on this Michele. It was a funny, beautiful, fun, movie with an amazing soundtrack to it! And I kept wondering why there wasn't MORE blood all over the place! I mean, with all the gushing, the floors should have been knee deep, but they weren't. So it wasn't about blood and gore everywhere - it was about paying homage to some of his favorite genres and films.

Oh, and can I have GoGo for my very own? Pretty please? How cool would that be? She's yummy and would kill all the f*ckheads that need it.

Buckets of blood and severed limbs aren't necessarily my favorite thing, but movies are not responsible for our societal problems.

This sort of criticism all goes back to the Religious Right's basic premise - "If you would all come to your senses and just let us control every aspect of your daily lives, the world would become a perfect place."

as far as i know, the blood spurting was an homage to old samurai films, which often featured that. thing is, those were all B Japanese movies, so nobody ever saw those to complain about 'em. well, nobody here in the States. cept me. of course, that was back in the days of double features. oddly, though, the head-chop-off samurai movie i saw was being shown with a PG movie. apparently, people weren't as sensitive when i was a kid.

oh, excuse me, was i rambling?

The morality issue is not the blood or the violence, the scene in the restaurant was like an old Conan comic book. But, again, the Buck thing. The sheer pain that The Bride shows when she awakes was very disturbing to watch. Tarantino does some sick f**k stuff in his movies that just make me feel icky for watching. (yeah, I know, I don't have to watch. But I sat down in the movie expecting really gory, nobody said hey there's going to be, well, the Buck thing, so I don't make a spoiler.)

Like, I really liked From Dusk Til Dawn (mmmm, Salma Hayek tequila pour!), but the part where Tarantino kidnaps rapes and kills that poor bank teller was just plain sick, especially when he is watching on TV and they show a picture of her and her family. And his turn in Pulp Fiction with the n-word every 2 seconds was disturbing as well.

I think the point is that being stylish as all get out does not really excuse the gratuitousness of some of the stuff he does. I am not saying, well, too bad a talent like that couldn't make more uplifting movies or some crap like that. Coppola or Scorcese wouldn't make Miracle on 34th Street, and I wouldn't expect Tarantino to either. I just think that his talent doesn't buy him absolution for crossing over the line.

I was at a Suncoast Video store and they had bobblehead Peanuts figures from the Charlie Brown Halloween special for sale. Being a huge fan of the Halloween special, I almost bought one. Then I thought, "f*** that. Those manufacturers are playing on my nostalgia to sell me crap that is a pale version of the original." (I've got some vintage ceramic Peanuts figures from the 60's that are much better).

That's my beef with QT. (Well that and that fact he should never, EVER appear in front of the camera). It seems that all of his movies are "paying homage" to either another film genre or director or fashion style. He reminds me of when Puff Daddy first hit the big time and people were literally calling him a "genius" for ripping off, er, I mean sampling the number one selling single of the 80's and inserting his lame rap.

There's nothing I can say about these asinine people that hasn't already been said.

What a bunch of dicks.

Some people just can't understand the word "fun" without putting it in a context of ripping someone else to shreds. You had a good time and they got to sit at home and try to kill your joy. Morality Shmorality. You got the better end of the bargain anyway....A life. :)

What bothers me about all the know-nothings bashing "Kill Bill" is that it is glaringly obvious that none of them have actually seen the cheesy Japanese and Chinese action movies that Tarantino is imitating.

They all have ludicrous violence. They all have ridiculous amounts of blood. Tarantino even used the old Chinese action movie trick of using condoms filled with fake blood, instead of expensive blood squibs.

And with due respect to Johno, Tarantino's main gift has always been for dialogue. He may just be repackaging 70s action flicks and Hong Kong cinema, but there are more great lines in any given 10-minute period of "Reservior Dogs", "Pulp Fiction", or "Jackie Brown" than in the total combined works of John Woo and Sam Peckinpah.

He's also a good director, but it's his gift for dialogue that earns him the "genius" label. There's nothing repackaged about that. :)

Dan, that's exactly what I was talking about in the earlier thread. Dialogue. And in Kill Bill there is ONE scene in the entire film that qualifies in my view. And that is the real shame of it.

So you gonna call Lileks names now?