ROTTEN TOMATOES: RT on DVD: It's Death Proof Time!

RT on DVD: It's Death Proof Time!

Tarantino's latest leads the week's home vid selection.

by Jen Yamato | September 18, 2007

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If you've been itching for a good rental, you're in luck -- even the gambles this week are near Fresh on the Tomatometer! Quentin Tarantino fans already know to look for his Death Proof on shelves today; you're also in store for a wide variety of new discs, from a director-approved epic (Troy) to a critically-lauded Hong Kong gangster pic (Triad Election), with a British horror-comedy (Severance) and a landmark documentary box set (The Up Series ) to boot.

Death Proof

Tomatometer: 71%

The day has come! Quentin Tarantino's diesel-fueled half of Grindhouse is the first of the two to be released in extended versions (look for Robert Rodriguez's zombie outbreak film Planet Terror in October), making this our most anticipated DVD release of the week. Watch 25 additional minutes of the scarred and psychotic Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) stalking two set of lovely ladies in his "death proof" muscle car; this extended version screened in competition at Cannes and includes more of QT's signature snappy dialogue, plus Arlene's (Vanessa Ferlito) full lapdance scene set to the smoky sounds of the Coasters' "Down in Mexico." Although we'll have to wait for an inevitable super-duper Grindhouse DVD edition to peep all those awesome fake trailers, this one's got a second disc full of behind-the-scenes featurettes (Stunts on Wheels, Finding Quentin's Girls, Introducing Zoe Bell, and more).

Troy The Director's Cut Unrated

Tomatometer: 55%

Wolfgang Peterson's $180 million epic aimed to bring Homer's battle tome The Iliad to the big screen in grand measure, and it certainly did so with sweeping combat scenes and plenty of good old fashioned Trojan intrigue. But critics wanted more heart to go with the beautiful beefcake landscape of Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, and Eric Bana; accordingly, emotional resonance is one improvement that Peterson claims to have added to his unrated director's cut. In a brief introduction to the new edition, the director also promises over 30 minutes of never-before-seen footage and hints at more sex and violence. While this does extend the original runtime of two hours and 43 minutes to a whopping 201-minute marathon, sword-and-sandal enthusiasts should appreciate the TLC Peterson's shoved into the version of Troy that he'd "always envisioned."

Severance

Tomatometer: 64%

A corporate team-building getaway turns into a deliciously funny nightmare when the Palisades Defense sales team starts getting killed one by one; critics call the Brit horror-comedy a mix between The Office and Hostel!

Triad Election

Tomatometer: 95%

Hong Kong director Johnnie To serves up Godfather-esque gangster drama with his continuation of 2005's Election. This time, new Triad boss Lok is plotting his own sly re-election, but a new rival wants to set the family towards legit business; bloody double-crossings ensue. While many critics thoroughly enjoyed the film's prequel, most praise Triad Election as an equal, if not better, film.

The Up Series (Seven Up/7 Plus Seven/21 Up/28 Up/35 Up/42 Up/49 Up

Tomatometer: N/A

Fans of Michael Apted's Up series should salivate at the chance to own all seven installments of the remarkable documentary series in one box set. What started in 1964 to track the socio-economic paths of young Britons (checking in on the same set of kids every seven years) has now taken viewers into the middle ages of its subjects. Special features include a 42 Up commentary track and an exclusive interview by Roger Ebert of Apted (who has continued to film the series between directing Hollywood flicks like Gorillas in the Mist, Nell, and the upcoming Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader).

Other Safe Bets This Week

The Boss of It All

Tomatometer: 76%

Controversial Danish director Lars Von Trier (Dancer in the Dark, Dogville) gets considerably more accessible with this comedy about a company owner who hires an actor to play his firm's nonexistent boss. Also interesting is von Trier's pioneering use of the "Automavision" system to film, in which he set only the camera position and then let a computer select framing settings ("tilt, pan, and zoom") at random. Oh, that Lars!

Deliverance Deluxe Edition

Tomatometer: 93%

The 1972 cautionary camping classic is given the deluxe treatment with this new edition, rife with newly filmed cast and crew interviews, a "vintage" 1972 behind-the-scenes featurette titled The Dangerous World of Deliverance, and a new commentary by director John Boorman.

Commando Director's Cut

Tomatometer: 69%

Beside being the first writing credit of Heroes co-exec producer Jeph Loeb, 1985's Commando starred California governator Arnold Schwarzenegger the first of many gun-toting brawn-fests. As the improbably-named John Matrix, Ahnuld smells bad guys coming, wields circular saws like Frisbees, and delivers so-bad-its-good puns left and right. A thirteen-year-old Alyssa Milano stars as his feisty kidnapped daughter. Theme song by Power Station.

Beyond the Gates

Tomatometer: 82%

Scottish director Michael Caton-Jones (This Boy's Life, Basic Instinct 2) shot on location to film this fictionalized account of an English teacher (Hugh Dancy) and a priest (John Hurt) trying to protect refugees during the Rwandan genocide.

Wall Street

Tomatometer: 83%

Besides giving you another look at Michael Douglas's Oscar-winning performance as the venomous, utterly quotable corporate raider Gordon Gekko, this 20th anniversary edition boasts a new commentary (and deleted scene commentaries) by director Oliver Stone and two featurettes (Greed is Good and Money Never Sleeps - The Making of Wall Street).

Mixed Picks

Gracie

Tomatometer: 59%

Loosely based on Elisabeth Shue's childhood (and directed by her husband, Davis Guggenheim), this girl soccer flick proved touching enough for some critics but also a tad predictable.

Zoo

Tomatometer: 56%

If you don't already know what this experimental doc is about (or haven't heard of the infamous real-life incident on which it is based), suffice to say this film gives a whole new meaning to being an animal lover...

We Are Marshall

Tomatometer: 19%

This feel-bad, then feel-good Matthew McConaughey football pic is fine, but can a little pigskin drama make the grief of tragedy go away?

Lucky You

Tomatometer: 28%

Don't let the title mislead -- at 28 percent, this oft-delayed poker drama, starring Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore, is probably more of a gamble than it's worth.

Until next week, happy renting!

Related Items

Movie:	Commando
	The Boss of it All
	Triad Election
	Beyond the Gates
	Severance
	49 Up
	We Are Marshall
	Lucky You
	Troy
	Wall Street
	Deliverance
	Zoo
Celeb:	Johnny To
	Quentin Tarantino

(1-20 of 26 posts) | Reply

jeremyd4 writes:
on Sep 18 2007 10:32 PM

The extended version of Death Proof is just plain boring... I don't understand what there is to like about this movie??? Even "QT's signature snappy dialogue" is totally off target this time round. I haven't seen Death Proof in its original shortened Grindhouse format, which might've made the movie more tolerable, but honestly I just don't see (bar one scene) what people enjoy in this movie?

(Reply to this)

Bilent_slob writes:
on Sep 18 2007 11:12 PM

In reply to this comment (#1134112)
One scene? Which one scene is that? I can think of 3 (lap dance, rose mcgowan death scene and final car scene) that you could be reffering too. Anyway, Amazon says this isn't in stock til september 26, what's the deal?

(Reply to this)

lockdicer writes:
on Sep 18 2007 11:48 PM

too much talking at the beginning, they needed more gore to make it a real grindhouse film

(Reply to this)

BUCK69 writes:
on Sep 19 2007 06:08 AM

In reply to this comment (#1134112)
I haven't seen the extended version, but I couldn't imagine sitting through a longer version of this movie. It's nothing more than text-book Tarantino, pretentious, "look, I'm an artist!" bull****. Zoe Bell is probably the worst actress to appear in a main-stream movie in years. She makes Elizabeth Berkley look like Meryl Streep.

(Reply to this)

jeremyd4 writes:
on Sep 19 2007 08:38 AM

In reply to this comment (#1134121)
I'll be honest with ya, I downloaded the flick off Piratebay.org - Mainly because I'm in a country where we have no idea when or if Grindhouse is coming out anymore. I'm sick of waiting and I remember seeing trailers and posters up for it at the start of the year, but seems they've totally abandoned it all now.

As for the lap dance? My god people, if you get excited over that, then you need to get out more. It's very piss-weak in my opinion! The only scene I actually enjoyed, was the over the top death scenes in the middle. The rest is just a series of crappy dialogue about absolutely mundane topics - nowhere near up to QTs normal standard; and series of shots of cars speeding up and bumping into rear bumpers... oooooh scary!!!

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rockstarfrank writes:
on Sep 19 2007 10:52 AM

Is Grindhouse going to be released on DVD any time soon?

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vitajex writes:
on Sep 19 2007 11:10 AM

I saw Grindhouse in the theater. I can honestly say I would NEVER, EVER, EVER pay good money to watch Death Proof again! I would pay to see Planet Terror and if Death Proof happened to be there, I might "watch" it again, being sure to fast-forward through all of Tarantino's inane and idiotic dialog. Maybe at one point this man could right some interesting dialog but that skill has been lost long ago.
And has Tarantino ever written a movie that was about anything? I can't think of one. They're all just exercises in cinematic masturbation, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The poor, poor people who mistake his garbage for films are like the idiot video-store clerk he was (and still is), recommending badly dubbed chop-socky films to people who express interest in Bergman or Herzog, mistakenly thinking there was some connection. Quentin is a perfect symbol for Hollywood, all style, no substance. Recycling old crap just leaves you with shiny new crap.
He should be directing music videos for bands no one likes. That seems more suited to his talents.

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unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Sep 19 2007 11:14 AM

Well I enjoyed Death Proof, definitely the better half in my opinion. Already own my copy. Gonna have to rent Beyond the Gates, and Lucky You.

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nogard46 writes:
on Sep 19 2007 12:14 PM

haha wow finally the QT fan boys learn to shut up for once. I saw this garbage in the theater and what a waste it was!

Literally for most of the detah proof, the guys in the theater (yeah it was mostly males) we were looking around at each other like is this a joke? All this blah blah talking talking talking is suppose to be interesting. I almost walked out.

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BUCK69 writes:
on Sep 19 2007 12:50 PM

In reply to this comment (#1134526)
I actually dozed-off a few times and I'd thought that was the reason why I couldn't remember much of the conversations between these "ultra-cool chicks." After reading most of the comments here, it looks like the dialogue was completely unmemorable. At least now I think I understand why Stuntman Mike wanted to kill them. It was self-defense. They were threatening to bore him to death.

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DarthWonka writes:
on Sep 19 2007 01:20 PM

It's so sad that one of the best car chases in history goes down at the end of a movie that not many people like.

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Product_of_You writes:
on Sep 19 2007 02:50 PM

I'm the complete opposite of most people here. I found Planet Terror to be menotinus and boring, yet enjoyed Death Proof a lot.

(Reply to this)

Scarborough Fair writes:
on Sep 19 2007 03:30 PM

Death Proof was fantastic. I almost cheered at it's improbable/hilarious ending.
Planet terror was a spoof. It's goofy.

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L0RD_Z0D writes:
on Sep 19 2007 03:44 PM

This is definitely one of Tarantino's best I mean sure a lot of people found it to be boring, but they can watch it again, or burn in hell because that's how I learned to love this movie. It's the same case with Day of the Dead people hated it the first time, but the second time they watched it they loved it. So watch it again or shut the f u ck up.

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arcadefire325 writes:
on Sep 19 2007 04:30 PM

i don't know what people were expecting from tarantino. you knew going in that it was going to be a very long movie full of dialogue. both movies totaled 3 hours and 15 mintues. death proof was supposed to be long. it was a great movie. a different style of a movie. i liked both halves. his movies are about something. reservior dogs was about a diamond hiest. pulp fiction was about storylines about hitmen,a boxer, etc. jackie brown was about the title character. kill bill was a revenge kung fu movie. how are those nothing????

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TheBerserker writes:
on Sep 19 2007 04:37 PM

Yeah, the car chase was GREAT, the rest wasn't :(

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vitajex writes:
on Sep 19 2007 05:28 PM

In reply to this comment (#1135208)
Yes, and "Epic Movie" is about epic movies and "I Know Who Killed Me" is about a girl who knows who killed her... I think you are completely missing what I mean by "about something". After watching any of Tarantino's movies do you leave feeling like you understand ANYTHING about the world better than you did when you went in? Do you learn anything other than the names of old movies and old pop songs that are forgotten by Time because Time has the good sense to forget useless garbage? Film is an art form, and any artist will tell you that the point of art is to cause reflection in the audience, to incite them to think about some aspect of their life or Life, in general. Tarantino does not do this. He is the film equivalent of a Pixie stick. Yes, for one brief moment, you might feel a sense of pleasure on the tip of your tongue, but you are not taking in ANY nutrients. And in 5 minutes, you're still hungry, or, worse yet, you have a stomachache.
And no, I'm not some artsy-fartsy pseudo-intellectual who spends all his time in dark art house film theaters watching black and white foreign movies. I enjoy a good popcorn movie as much as the next person. But even many those films still say SOMETHING about SOMETHING. Take "Shoot 'Em Up" for instance. You might not agree with the message, but at least the film has a message about gun control and organ harvesting.
None of Tarantino's characters even seem to live in the real world. They're flat caricatures of characters he stole from other people's imaginations.

(Reply to this)

arcadefire325 writes:
on Sep 19 2007 05:37 PM

i learned about horrible people like hitmen and assassins. c'mon tarantino examines the world of bad people. they are supposed to live in the real world. that is the whole point of the movie. like shoot 'em up characters live in the real world. it is an over the top action film. which is fine but to say it has a deep message like saying transformers has a deep message too. shoot 'em up also takes characters from other people's imaginations. tarantino movies are supposed to make you escape for 2 hours. if i want a deep message, i will see atonement instead.

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TheIceGhost writes:
on Sep 19 2007 05:49 PM

You know what gives me a good chuckle? When GRINDHOUSE first came out people were adamant that DEATH PROOF was a good, legitimate movie and PLANET TERROR was total crap. Now that they're being separated everyone is hopping on the PLANET TERROR bandwagon.

I just find it funny...

Personally, I think it's ashame that the GRINDHOUSE experiment didn't do well in the theaters - it was a fun experience that isn't really done anymore. I'll buy the special "GRINDHOUSE" DVD whenever it comes out... if it does.

(Reply to this)

jeremyd4 writes:
on Sep 19 2007 08:43 PM

To the person who said it was a "good" car chase. What are you on? Movies like "The French Connection", "Ronin", "The Matrix Reloaded", The "Bourne" films..... these movies have the best car chases!!
Spielberg's "Duel" had more suspense in it's similar themed chase to Deathproof.. Heck, the movie "Jeeper's Creepers" even had more suspense with that scary looking vehicle which was pursuing kids.

The "Deathproof" car chases were so poorly done it's not even funny. And I hate watching people drive like idiots and not using their brains - when a car chasing you is along your side WHY DON'T YOU TRY USING THE BRAKES!!!! Especially since they needed to get the girl off the bonnet. Again, the car had even stopped at one point but she still didn't get off and climb a tree or something! It was so cringe worthy.

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