By Entertainment Editor and Staff Writer, Linet Der-Yaghoobian and Colleen Park

            With the return of the double feature, Entertainment editor Linet Der-Yaghoobian and staff writer Colleen Park discussed “Grindhouse” following its premiere date on April 6. “Grindhouse” features two films, Planet Terror directed by Robert Rodriguez and Death Proof by Quentin Tarantino, with a brief intermission of faux trailers in between.

Linet: The movie was awesome. It was…
Colleen: Long. More than three hours.
C: We’re going to start with “Planet Terror” which is about zombies, directed by Robert Rodriguez. Starting off is an emotional Rose McGowan. She’s go-go dancing and starts crying.
L: She wants a better life.
C: She wanted to be a doctor, then a stand-up comedian. McGowan does a bad job portraying a go-go dancer, kind of like Demi Moore in…
L: “Striptease.” Well, the go-go dancing is only for a little bit but I think she did a really good job throughout the whole film. She’s in both “Planet Terror” and “Death Proof.”
The Acting
C: I normally don’t like McGowan, but she does do a good job. This film really uses all her acting abilities. She kind of sucked in “Charmed” because she’s very sadistic, but that matches her here. Oh, and her boyfriend El Wray is awesome.
L: Freddy Rodriguez’s (“Six Feet Under”) character El Wray, comes off very strong, his gun movement is very good.
C: He was more interesting than Cherry Darling (McGowan’s character), but the film really gets into his character and then tosses him aside.
C: I liked Rosario Dawson’s acting in “Death Proof.”
L: She’s very natural with her roles.
C: She’s happy when she’s happy and scared when she’s scared. Dawson’s character is probably the one you connect to because she’s… 
L: … normal. She goes with her friends to see something cool…
C: …and gets sucked into it which changes her. She has a dynamic character.
The Gore
L:  You have to cover your eyes, you can’t look away, and you can’t reach for your popcorn because your popcorn looks like that stuff on the screen. “Planet Terror” was much gorier than “Death Proof,” heavy on the gore and sexuality.
C: Tarantino in comparison is surprisingly censored.
The Plot
C: Which one did you like more, “Death Proof” or “Planet Terror”?
L: It would have to be “Planet Terror.” Not to give anything away, but “Death Proof” took too long; we didn’t need that whole beginning part with McGowan.
C: Tarantino develops too much.
L: I liked “Planet Terror,” the way it was shot, even with the missing reel…
C: …which sped up the storyline.
L: Yeah, you didn’t need to see McGowan. They actually filmed the missing scenes then just took it out the way it used to end up. I was kind of scared where they would use that but I like how they aged the film. How it looked old. You didn’t see that in “Death Proof” at the end.
C: After “Planet Terror”, how did you feel?
L: Good. I was kind of hoping that “Death Proof” would have been better. With the pacing, and the way “Planet Terror” ended, you were on such an adrenaline rush and with the fake trailers inbetween you’re thinking “Oh this is going great and quick.” Then you get into the beginning of “Death Proof” and with the whole long beginning. You could have EASILY, easily cut out 15 minutes right there.
C: Some of the conversations were too long.
L: Those characters were only in the beginning of the movie and the only thing you see is their tragic ending…
C: “Planet Terror” had a lot of plot holes in it, but it was funny.
L: Yeah, it was fast paced, but it didn’t leave you hanging, had the slow parts where you had to have the slow parts. “Death Proof” dragged so much in the beginning. I felt like I was watching “Sex in the City” half the time when the girls were talking.
C: They talk really fast, and for a long time, squabble actually. It’s annoying. Do girls really fight that much? I’m a girl and I don’t.
Fake Trailers
L: They put fake trailers inbetween the features. I liked “Thanksgiving” (Eli Roth) because it reminded me of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” The way it was shot. “Werewolf Women of the SS” (Rob Zombie) was stupid.
C: It combines all the horrible elements of everything bad that has ever existed.
L: Really bad but I liked the fake trailers that they put in the movie. It was the way that movies were back then. They would have cartoons before it and a news brief or something. I think we should have more of that. Even though “Death Proof” was not as good as the other one.
C: Well, it depends.
The Direction
L: In these two movies, you see so many references, with the music or the camera angles, to their other films. Like Robert Rodriguez, the music that you hear or some of the words that they say reminded me a lot of “Sin City.” Or Quentin Tarantino with “Kill Bill.” I like how they put Rob Zombie and Eli Roth who are kind of finding themselves as directors. Rob Zombie is known for other things but he’s starting to become more of a director with his past two films “House of a Thousand Corpses” and “The Devil’s Rejects.” Even though they aren’t lesser known, they are kind of starting out, and the directors involved with “Grindhouse” kind of have the same genre-thing going on.
C: I don’t think Tarantino fits in with them.
L: A little. With “Kill Bill” he did it.
C: But you can still tell by his pacing and camera angles.
L: Well, while I was watching it, all I could see were references, lines from “Sin City” or music from “Kill Bill,” and it kind of got irritating.
C: I think Tarantino was too comfortable with his form of filming.
L: He needs to step out of his comfort zone. Even though Tarantino is better known than Rodriguez is, Rodriguez stepped up a lot more and stands out. Tarantino was very much ‘I’m Quentin Tarantino, people know my stuff, know me, and they’ll watch this because of me. I can make any film and you’ll love it.’
C: He has an ego and it shows, but “Death Proof” could very well pass for an independent picture and go to film festivals and do a good job.
L: They’re very different so you can’t really compare.
C: But in theaters, they’re weak without each other.
RATING
Linet: Planet Terror- 8.5       Death Proof- 7            Together: 9.5
Colleen: Planet Terror: 6.5               Death Proof: 9            Together: 9.5