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Death Proof

I think Death Proof is underrated – it doesn’t help that people don’t think about it beyond its Grindhouse double billing, with the Rodriguez film (which I also quite like). There are so many fun nods at how these movies were done, and the sequences with cars are truly exciting to watch. I also love that Michael Parks and his real son both reprise their roles from Kill Bill (Earl and Edgar McGraw). I definitely like Death Proof more than Jackie Brown, and although it misses out in iconic moments, I do enjoy it as much as Kill Bill.

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Kill Bill Vol. 2

I like Vol. 2, and when considered as part of a whole, it’s fine, but it can’t really be considered to be a great movie on its own. Pretty much every single iconic moment you remember from Kill Bill is from Vol. 1. Vol. 2 is more grounded, and more “regular,” really – the one highlight for me is the Pai Mei chapter. Also, the final confrontation with Bill is just too long, and not particularly satisfying, considering all of the ass kicking we’ve been presented through both volumes. 

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Kill Bill Vol. 1

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Watching Kill Bill Vol. 1 tonight, I think I’ve never enjoyed it so much. I remember that when it originally came out, although it felt more satisfying as a Tarantino film than Jackie Brown did, it almost felt too Tarantino-esque, like he was starting to parody himself. As outlandish as Pulp can come off as, it still feels grounded in some way. Here, we’re watching a cartoon (and I’m not talking about absolutely fantastic animated sequence about the origin of O-Ren Ishii, which I still think could have been made into its own movie). But for some reason, to me, time has been kind to this movie, and I found myself enjoying it way more than I have in the past – although I’ll say that for me it only started when we hit Okinawa and Sonny Chiba, whose performance I’ve always loved. But yeah, from that point, I just soaked it all in. I didn’t remember the House of Blue Leaves sequence as being so long and fun. And I wish every movie had a character called Johnny Mo. One thing that still bugs me though is that he uses so many different kinds of typefaces during the opening titles.

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Jackie Brown

I never really liked Jackie Brown. Watching it again now, it’s easy to see why. After the amazing innovative 1-2 punch of Dogs and Pulp, he follows up with what feels like such a “regular” movie. I won’t go so far as to say I actively dislike it – and I actually quite enjoyed watching it again now, for what it is – but it just still feels like such a letdown compared to those first two films. But there are some highlights, like the really great performance by Robert Forster. 

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Pulp Fiction

Although it’s also been quite a while since I last revisited Pulp Fiction, I was worried heading into it that it would be too familiar, and not as good as I remembered. Well, quite the opposite, not only did I enjoy this almost as much as when I watched it (over and over) back in the day, it’s really amazing to see what Tarantino was able to achieve on only his second film – and as much as I can say I like all of his movies, I don’t think he’s ever been able to surpass Pulp Fiction. I hear some people say that Reservoir Dogs is a superior movie, but I couldn’t disagree more. As exciting and enjoyable as it is, Dogs is too raw, it’s still Tarantino exploring the medium, seeing how he can subvert it. Pulp Fiction is a masterclass in structure. 

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Reservoir Dogs

I still haven’t seen The Hateful Eight (and I do want to see it), but in the meantime I’ve decided to revisit all of the films Tarantino has directed, in order. I of course have fond memories of Reservoir Dogs – and it remains my favorite movie soundtrack (not score) ever – but it’s a movie I hadn’t revisited in at least a decade or more, so I wasn’t sure how it would stand up now. Well, it’s still an insanely enjoyable movie, and hasn’t lost anything – although now I notice Tim Roth’s iffy American accent more.

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Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal is one of my favorite actors, and I was quite looking forward to watching Nightcrawler (had been on my to-watch list for a while now). He’s deliciously creepy in this – playing a guy who stumbles into the job of filming accidents for local news – and the physical transformation he undergoes for the role is striking as well. As dark as this movie gets, I loved it.

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Road to the Winter Classic

I’ve been watching this series for years – a 4-episode documentary series that follows the two teams that will meet at the Winter Classic – and I was especially interested this year since the Habs were part of it. Unfortunately, it sucks that the period that is covered in the series (December) was such a difficult one for the team, but to have it capped with a spectacular win at the Winter Classic was indeed a nice consolation. If you’re interested, you can watch the episodes online.

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Doctor Who

Another series I find myself enjoying again is Doctor Who. I was a big fan of the series ever since its modern relaunch (with Christopher Eccleston), and stuck with it until the start of the season with Peter Capaldi (season 8). I didn’t have anything against Capaldi, it was more me finding myself enjoying the series less and less during the previous seasons (with Matt Smith, who I did still like as a character). I was excited to see what Capaldi would do with the role, but after just 1-2 episodes I’d had enough and stopped watching. Ever since, I’ve been hearing great things about his run, and so I’ve decided to jump in again, and am having a lot of fun so far (5 episodes in). Maybe I just needed a bit of a breather.

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It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

This is another one of those series that I’ve been meaning to watch for what feels like forever, and I finally decided to go ahead and make the jump  – it’s a bit daunting, considering the series just started an 11th season. I’m almost through the first season (which is only 7 episodes long), and yeah, I’m in. What a deliciously despicable bunch of people. Truly, truly despicable. And that’s what’s so great about it. Looking forward to seeing how things evolve over the seasons.