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Codex Atanicus
Codex Atanicus is a three story anthology by Spanish director Carlos Atanes. Before watching the movie I never heard of the guy, but the introduction video on the DVD by one of his regular actresses Arantxa Peña made me realize that I'm in for a hell of a ride. Experimental, bizarre, sick, strange - these are some of the words that describe the stories contained in Codex Atanicus. The anthology is opened by a 20 minute short from 1995 called Metaminds & Metabodies. I am really not into this kind of experimental videos, but I will try to summarize. It opens with a girl singing in the club. Everything looks ultra underground and the girl is connected with some wires to the walls. Strange people are watching her...
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Movie Review: Death Proof

Story
In the second feature of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse, the slasher flick joins with the racing picture of the 60s and 70s to truly comment on the mixed genres of Death Proof.

Comments
In Death Proof, Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) is the slasher flick villain who stalks young females to kill with his stunt car, which is 100% death proof. Whether they are in the passenger seat or part of a game of involuntary chicken, no one can escape the cold demise of this tuff as nails Chevy Nova. The film starts off in an interesting way as Tarantino finally admits to his usurping of the celluloid past: Jungle Julie (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) walks into the frame and lies on the couch with an oversized photograph of Brigitte Bardot sitting in the same pose as Jungle Julie. Through this image, Tarantino is admitting off the bat that he lifts from other movies (something he should have done a long time ago). The irony comes in when he moves forward in making a film that really isn't overboard with Tarantinoesque dialogue and pop cultural explosions. Sure, characters discuss Vanishing Point, but pop dialogue doesn't become the center of the film. In other Tarantino films, his characters and the trail of violence they follow are caricatures of the genres Tarantino loves so much. His cartoon-like version of Westerns, Kung Fu flicks, and Gangster films may turn people off as cheap, but it his extrapolation of these genres that matter. In his article "La Fiction Du Pulp: Tarantino's Trail of Bread Crumbs Leads to the French New Wave," Mick Sleeper discusses the similarities of the French New Wave auteurs and Quentin Tarantino's work: "Throughout Reservoir Dogs and especially Pulp Fiction, Tarantino experimented with genre conventions just as Godard and Truffaut had in their earliest films. Unexpected plot twists, unusual dialogue, cinematic in-jokes, and unconventional characters galore became Tarantino trademarks; however, they were trademarks for which he didn't own the copyrights" ( http://www.imagesjournal.com/search.htm, par. 3).

Death Proof Death Proof

It is in Death Proof that Tarantino absolutely makes a film that shows his commentary on the films that inspired him; therefore, he is no longer ripping them off—I guess the hate mail worked. Tarantino is making a version that comments and bends the genres. In Death Proof, the slasher film merges with the racing film by making the women strong and turning the formidable knife into a muscle car. In the end, the nefarious killer of the picture shows his true colors by being a complete coward with no strength to show; this figuratively displays the death proof car as a weapon, which has been a portentous weapon that should have given away the true cowardice in the slasher's archetypes. But this slasher has finally been forced into his comeuppance by fortuitously seeking women who represent the Russ Meyer films of the 60s—bad ass chicks that are not frazzled by violence and ready to rip shit up when necessary. With that said, the women in this film are tuff, and Zoë Bell's stunt work is incredible. There are moments during the speedy car chase that are not manipulated through editing but presented through tracking shots (not to say there were no cuts, but the longer tracking shots did make the scene extremely intense).

Many audience members have stated that they found the beginning of Death Proof as boring because of all the mundane dialogue, but I commend Tarantino for this, because if the dialogue was about Madonna or some social rant that comes off as just trying to be clever, people would have been glued to the scene. In the past, Tarantino's use of pop culture is an excellent device used to pull the audience into the film; in short, there index of nostalgia is subconsciously involving them in the film. Although, in the beginning of Death Proof, the dialogue is mainly about the things people discuss on their way out: guys, sex, weed, and other boring junk. My point is that Tarantino has finally figured out a nice balance between his caricatures and adding to genre cinema, so maybe we can start to take him seriously.

Final Comments
I know the film did badly in the theatres, but it really needs to be experienced on the big screen. Even if you are a fan of hating Tarantino (I don't want to have lunch with him either), go out and see Grindhouse, because the whole experience is worth every penny.

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Death Proof

ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Grindhouse: Death Proof
MOVIE YEAR: 2007
DIRECTOR: Quentin Tarantino
WRITING CREDITS: Quentin Tarantino
GENRE: Horror, Thriller, Action, Adventure, Slasher
CAST: Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Rose McGowan
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 80 min

RATING: 9/10

Death Proof Website/IMDB Click here
Death Proof Trailer Click here

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