| I know, I know, it's heresy to condemn a Tarantino film. For the record, I find him mostly technique rather than real auteur man, but I have enjoyed his sense of humor, yadda yadda yadda. |
| Pam Grier is a big blaxploitation goddess who is clearly worshipped by Tarantino and Guillermo (the DP) - every shot of her is lit and shot like she is a sacred artifact. I am not familiar with the oeuvre of Ms Grier (besides her small part in Mars Attacks) so I found myself impatiently waiting for the walking (sometimes not even cool, with a purpose walking like say Reservoir Dogs) shots and the thinking shots to be over with and get on with the story. |
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| The camera loves her, but the script couldn't be bothered, somehow. I found myself wondering if she wishes she could be in one movie in her life where the soundtrack is not from the 70's - even Mars Attacks couldn't be that movie. |
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Jackie Brown is very linear for QT, which in a way was disappointing. I like his unique takes on situations, and outside one pivotal scene shot from multiple character's perspectives, it didn't feel very exciting. The story is interesting, if slow to get there, and Grier is good at what she does, don't get me wrong. I just don't think she was given much to do. |
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I suppose I was expecting some Harlem Wonder Woman in flares with a .38 kicking some ass, and instead I got a woman drawn into an ugly situation smoking and being worried, and basically talking her way out.
Samuel L. Jackson is really great as a smoothly rotten professional criminal - this is his movie, scriptwise, or else he just takes control of it. Robert DeNiro (one with whom I often have an intolerance) was surprisingly restrained and tic-free. |
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He was interesting, because I could finally see past his mobster mannerisms and "you talkin' to me" 'tude and see the actor within.
I felt I came away from the movie with unanswered questions, along the lines of "what was the deal with..?" and "why did he...?" and I felt the loose ends were so unimportant that I didn't understand why they were introduced at all. |
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Additionally, the movie was slow enough that it didn't grab me until it was almost over, and by then I was getting pretty impatient.
It's a tad forgettable but not bad by any means. I know it sounds like that, but it's not. I just was expecting something different. |
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