You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

There's only one word to describe Tarantino's Kill Bill - kicka**. This is a geek's film. I didn't get all the references, but I definitely saw the Shaw Brothers' influence. I think it's cool that of the five people The Bride is out to kill (all of them assassins), three of them are women. And I love the whole 'honor among thieves' idea. These people are cold-blooded killers, but they're not going to kill The Bride (her real name, the only time it's mentioned, is bleeped out) while she's in a coma and can't fight for herself, because that would be beneath them. And, all of the butt-kickin' samurai stuff aside, my favorite scene is early in the film when The Bride kills Copperhead (Vivica A. Fox). If you've seen the previews and TV spots, you know their knife fight is interrupted by Vivica's little girl coming home from school. The fighting stops and the two women decide to meet that night, so that the little girl doesn't have to see her mommy kill or be killed. But things get out of hand and The Bride has to kill her anyway. As she's cleaning off her knife, the little girl comes in. The Bride expresses her regret that she had to see this, and she tells the little girl "When you grow up, if you're still raw about this, I'll be waiting." She acknowledges this little girl's right to seek revenge, and that really moved me.

And it reminded me (painfully) that a lot of people who consider themselves good people (and even people in our own government) don't have principles as firmly held as those of the people they consider "the problem". It's all about whatever's best for me and mine, not what's right.

This was also one of those movies that forced me, as soon as I left the theater, to go straight to Tower Records and buy the soundtrack. I can't stop playing the first track (see musical selection for today).

EDITED TO ADD: But best of all was before the movie even started, when I got to see that glorious Return of the King trailer in all its widescreen beauty. I FREAXIN wept!

There's only one word to describe Tarantino's Kill Bill - kicka**. This is a geek's film. I didn't get all the references, but I definitely saw the Shaw Brothers' influence. I think it's cool that of the five people The Bride is out to kill (all of them assassins), three of them are women. And I love the whole 'honor among thieves' idea. These people are cold-blooded killers, but they're not going to kill The Bride (her real name, the only time it's mentioned, is bleeped out) while she's in a coma and can't fight for herself, because that would be beneath them. And, all of the butt-kickin' samurai stuff aside, my favorite scene is early in the film when The Bride kills Copperhead (Vivica A. Fox). If you've seen the previews and TV spots, you know their knife fight is interrupted by Vivica's little girl coming home from school. The fighting stops and the two women decide to meet that night, so that the little girl doesn't have to see her mommy kill or be killed. But things get out of hand and The Bride has to kill her anyway. As she's cleaning off her knife, the little girl comes in. The Bride expresses her regret that she had to see this, and she tells the little girl "When you grow up, if you're still raw about this, I'll be waiting." She acknowledges this little girl's right to seek revenge, and that really moved me.

And it reminded me (painfully) that a lot of people who consider themselves good people (and even people in our own government) don't have principles as firmly held as those of the people they consider "the problem". It's all about whatever's best for me and mine, not what's right.

This was also one of those movies that forced me, as soon as I left the theater, to go straight to Tower Records and buy the soundtrack. I can't stop playing the first track (see musical selection for today).

EDITED TO ADD: But best of all was before the movie even started, when I got to see that glorious Return of the King trailer in all its widescreen beauty. I FREAXIN wept!