Tarantino Tuesday :: 5 Tarantino ladies I would be interested in having more of

In honor of Django Unchained, because

5. That unnamed lady tracker (Zoe Bell, Django Unchained)
Because we knew nothing about her.  You didn’t even really her ladyness much: she was eyes and a bandana, really.  But I was trying desperately to spin a story for her, both because, well, she was Zoe Bell, who is awesome, and also I spin stories for unnamed female characters on the regular.  Not really having that much historical background was putting a damper on this, but I’m sure someone has figured this out or will figure it out at some point.

4. Broomhilda (Kerry Washington, Django Unchained)
And this is the other kind of wanting more of her, because while we saw plenty about her history and her relationship to the overall plot, and that was cool and she was interesting, I wanted more of her.  I wanted some more present-tense spunkiness; I wanted more of what we already got, essentially.

3. Esmarelda Villalobos (Angela Jones, Pulp Fiction)
I want to know about exactly what led her to be driving that cab in that city.  I want to know about her history, I want to know about her present life.  I think this is a point where I should clarify: I think all of these characters are used very effectively in their respective films.  It’s not that.  They’re used very well, and there’s something sort of neat about, as with Esmarelda, a character appearing in one scene and that’s that.  But being who I am, I could watch/read/listen to backstories of characters, especially minor ones, in gratuitous detail all day long.  I’m sure it was intentional that Esmarelda was somewhat of a mystery, and I like how it was handled, but there’s a part of me that likes the mysteries unraveled anyway.

2. Pam (Rose McGowan, Death Proof)
And actually, I’d have been happy mainly with the additional details from the complete screenplay included in the final cut.  More exposition.  The fun of Grindhouse is that they cut almost everything that they didn’t deem absolutely necessary, and I enjoy that: it’s part of the style homage that they’re doing.  I also recognize that I am in the minority of people who would often prefer characters’ conversations to be in the form of spectacularly explanatory monologues and would gladly take these monologues over many other things, even in action-type movies; I mean, I love a good action scene, a good one, but I also love a good monologue.  Case in point: I like knowing what I know from reading the giant original screenplay (actually, this applies to all the girls, particularly in the first bunch) and I understand why it wasn’t in the final, but I sometimes wish for it anyway.

1. Gogo Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama, Kill Bill)
I am absolutely positive I’ve raved about Gogo before.  I love Gogo in that alarming way that I can only love characters who only have a few scenes’ worth of screen time and partake in the murder of multiple other characters.  While my need for the other characters’ giant backstories could be satisfied in the context of a really, really long cut of the film from which they came, I want it all for Gogo.  I want a (limited run, probably, but still in-depth; though it’d be nothing like Scott Pilgrim, the length of that series and each respective volume is about right) graphic novel series.  I want a movie.  I want these ridiculous stories about this Japanese schoolgirl assassin hanging out and killing people and maybe being friends with other Japanese schoolgirl assassins, none of whom have love plots (except maybe with each other).  It has the potential to be so messed up and so wonderful.

–your fangirl heroine.

Superlative Sunday :: looking back over 5 of the most recent Best Picture Oscar triumphs that surprise me

Because sometimes I think about these things for no reason other than I watch movies that really should have won, all right?  And “recent” is a relative term, really.

5. 2002: Chicago beats Gangs of New York
I mean, I love Chicago.  Hence the junior high school Chicago-themed birthday party.  And I am all for musicals, which is also an obvious fact.  In a different year, I’d be comfortable in retrospect with Chicago‘s glitz and glam winning out over most things.  But up against Gangs Of New York?  Which is a historical epic with a brilliant script and incredible attention to detail?  It seems a bit odd.

4. 1998: Shakespeare in Love beats Saving Private Ryan
I’ve only really seen Saving Private Ryan through the whole way once.  I’ve seen pieces other times, but.  I’m not generally a big war epic kind of person.  Honestly, the only “war movie” I class as a favorite is Inglourious Basterds, and that doesn’t even really probably count.  I am sometimes a philistine, but I can recognize movies that are very, very good, and Saving Private Ryan is one.  On the other hand, Shakespeare in Love is… well.  I am not anti-romance, but I am also not the person who should accurately judge romantic films.  But Saving Private Ryanit ain’t.

3. 1997: Titanic beats L.A. Confidential
Thoughts already discussed.

2, 1. 1994: Forrest Gump beats Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption
Partially a surprise because goddamn, I love Pulp Fiction and still find it shocking that Quentin Tarantino has not won Best Picture before, partially a surprise because… really?  Forrest Gump is a good movie, and a bunch of kids I went to high school with walked around quoting it all the time.  It referenced many historical events and was clever and well-made and emotional.  But The Shawshank Redmption is another one of those movies that, yeah, it’s not ever going to be one of my favorites, but damn, I can recognize it is really fantastic.  I dunno.  It just seems like Forrest Gump is a less-likely choice of the bunch.

–your fangirl heroine.

Tarantino Tuesday :: dear God, can that man mix a soundtrack or what?

Quentin Tarantino is… well, he’s my favorite film director easily, and I make no secret of this.  He’s a brilliant director, writer, storyteller, cameo-er, and, well, a sickly brilliant soundtrack mixer.  I am a sucker for a good soundtrack.  Be it instrumental (as most of Tarantino’s buddy Robert Rodriguez’s are, and he composes them, too — also brilliant) or a seemingly random mix tape of songs that go perfectly with the film, I’ll probably acquire it and obsess.  And it helps if the songs make for good elliptical/exercise bike music, too.

Tarantino is sort of bar none in the soundtrack-mixing regard, though.  Every single soundtrack to his films is insanely brilliant.  From the sweet soul sounds of Jackie Brown to the vintage rock of Reservoir Dogs, the songs help tell the story and set the mood.  Pulp Fiction‘s soundtrack is plainly iconic, not even just in soundtrack terms but because the songs are classic.

But it’s his more recent films I’ve obsessed more over the soundtracks to: Kill Bill, Death Proof, Inglourious Basterds.  I’ve already mentioned my completely stunned original reaction to Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).”  Rarely do I remember how I felt when first hearing a song that clearly.  “Goodnight Moon” by Shivaree, closing Vol. 2, is just as stunning, and I still groove to that one as often as I did when I first got the album on my iPod.  And I love Tarantino’s use of snippets of old film/television soundtracks.  Referentialism for the major win.

Now, I know that very few people that don’t know me personally or are as twisted in the head actually saw and adored Death Proof.  And while Planet Terror is probably a better film (certainly easier to swallow) and it does have a killer Rodriguez nasty-horns-and-Spanish-guitar soundtrack, Death Proof‘s soundtrack is an amazing jam.  Smith’s version of “Baby, It’s You”?  Totally killer and sexy.  T.Rex’s “Jeepster” is a classic and sort of the ultimate vintage car tune.  “Down in Mexico” and “Hold Tight” are both sort of addictive when the right mood kicks in.

And I will forever thank Tarantino for giving me the gift of April March.  Were it not for him, I wouldn’t have heard “Chick Habit,” probably, and I love it and her music that I subsequently discovered too deeply to imagine life without her.  Ye-ye pop is sort of beautiful.

There’s the Inglourious Basterds soundtrack, too.  It’s perfect, basically, and blends into a collection of awesome.  But “Cat People (Putting Out the Fire)” by rock god David Bowie, in addition to being the only scene I can watch without watching the rest of the movie (because I could watch that scene seven hundred and thirty two times and not get tired of it), is the easiest song to take out of the bunch.  And man, oh man, I’m not even sure that there are words to adequately describe how perfect that song is.  Lyrically, tonally… sort of in every way.

…and this one could have been posted on Music Monday, too.  Cross-posting is wonderful.

–your fangirl heroine.