Kill Bill Vol. I (2003)

[Antares]

Ok, obviously you don't like the film and I'm not on a mission to change that, but here you have it completely wrong and I think you've dug too deep. I never got anything sexual from it (and if it was there, I'd have found it! ). On one hand, The Bride is not a sexual character at all and is typical of Manga archetypes. On the other, this "villain" or "bad guy" is neither. He's just very young. That's all it is. She's spotted a 14-year old amongst all the killers and spanks him as a mother would.

It's funny because when I've discussed this film with guys in the age range I mentioned, I always ask them about that scene. And to a man, or should I say boy, they reply, "I wish she'd spank me!"

[Jon]

his work has just given you and Jimmy a base from which to recommend some incredible movies.

I don't need Tarantino to recommand great films

Really? People are rather ignorant. It comes naturally! Try and get them to watch an old Japanese Samurai movie and they'll grunt something and never will. Add, "it's better than Kill Bill" on the end (even though it is invariably not true ) and they'll be more interested.

By the way, of that list, Sword of Doom I did own for a little while, but didn't like it at all. I err on the side of traditional cause/effect Western narrative and I like stories to end properly!  

It does 'end properly' because it was suppose to be the first in a trilogy of films derived from the book Dai-bosatsu tōge, which is a famous novel in Japan, almost on par with the epic Miyamoto Musashi. Which is considered the Japanese equivalent of Gone with the Wind. For some reason, Okamato could not secure financing for the othet two films, and like Abel Gance's troubles with his mega-project on Napoleon, it never came to pass.

I knew about the trilogy idea, but the story doesn't flow up to the ending anyway. It's rather disjointed to say the least. I know why, but I just don't like it...

It's funny because when I've discussed this film with guys in the age range I mentioned, I always ask them about that scene. And to a man, or should I say boy, they reply, "I wish she'd spank me!"

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't refuse a spanking from Ms. Thurman myself , but again, I definitely didn't get that vibe from the film. And I honestly believe that wasn't QT's intention.

No, definitely don't get that. 

[goodguy]

Quentin Tarantino has supplanted director Robert Altman in Tinseltown’s version of the 'Emperor’s new clothes'.

Does that mean you don't like Robert Altman either?

As for Tarantino, he is one of those filmmakers I'm pretty indifferent about. But Kill Bill I really like, both parts. To me it is great entertainment, it has a swaggering grandezza and mostly the right rhythm and flow and that allows me to overlook the clunky parts. Not a movie to fall in love with, certainly, but an exhilarating affair nonetheless.

[Antares]

Quentin Tarantino has supplanted director Robert Altman in Tinseltown’s version of the 'Emperor’s new clothes'.

Does that mean you don't like Robert Altman either?

I like early Altman, but not too much of his later stuff. The Player was the only one of his later films that I liked.

I liked M*A*S*H, Brewster McCloud, McCabe and Mrs. Miller and California Split.

What I meant by that statement was the fact that Altman had his share of Hollywood A-listers who bowed before him like peasants because he allowed them the freedom to improvise their own dialog. To me, this is what hurt Altman in a lot of his later films. A lot of that improvisation fell flat in the story, and the mess it caused, kept his subsequent films from being interesting. Yet, he was treated like cinema's version of Jackson Pollack, anything he released was considered an auteur's masterpiece, even though it was banal.

[goodguy]

Fair enough. I've seen only some of his movies and, as he made so many of them, it would be kinda silly to assume they are all masterpieces. I'm happy to find McCabe and Mrs. Miller in your list and to those early ones I would add The Long Goodbye. To the late ones The Company, which might just be my favorite Altman movie.

[Antares]

Fair enough. I've seen only some of his movies and, as he made so many of them, it would be kinda silly to assume they are all masterpieces. I'm happy to find McCabe and Mrs. Miller in your list and to those early ones I would add The Long Goodbye. To the late ones The Company, which might just be my favorite Altman movie.

I like The Long Goodbye, but it's always been hard for me to accept Elliott Gould as Marlowe.