smacky and bucky

I can't make myself watch television shows for some reason. I again tivoed the shows I didn't watch last week. At this rate I'll never catch up!

Instead, I watched Death Proof for the first time. One of the women in the movie is Sydney Poitier, daughter of actor Sidney Poitier (notice spelling difference of first name). Weird to do that to a kid, especially if she follows you into the same career.

It also starred Kurt Russell, who, along with Bruce Campbell, I think of as "guy's actors," meaning guys usually love anything Kurt or Bruce are in. They're not just one-note action stars. They have personalities and a sense of humor about what they're doing. They're not afraid to smirk at themselves, and in an industry that takes itself much too seriously, that is seriously refreshing.

Non-spoilerish thoughts: Pretty good. I didn't see it when it was a shorter film, part of the double feature experience that was Grindhouse. The single release verison is supposedly longer, though I don't know by how much. I can guess what was added: A couple of long pop culture conversations Quentin is SO fond of doing (see diner scene in Reservoir Dogs and restuarant scene in Pulp Fiction for examples). These scenes went on a little too long for me and felt like Quentin was showing off his dialogue writing skills. Again.

But Zoe Bell... WOW. A stunt woman from New Zealand, Quentin had the very good idea to give her a substantial acting role, then letting her do her own stunts. She's amazing. She's stunt-doubled for Xena, Uma in Kill Bill, and bunch of others. She's spent a lot of her career making other actresses look kick-ass, so it's cool to see her get some on-screen glory for herself (and basically playing herself... a stuntwoman named Zoe).