- Well, it's been a fairly epic month of March. It's been a rough month in some ways, but I've also been lucky to have a couple of pretty jam-packed weekends in a row, filled with some really fun events. I wrote the other week about the FREAKS & GEEKS / UNDECLARED Reunion event at the Paley Fest, and that sort of kicked off a series of epic March weekends ...
- Last weekend, I got to attend a great Purim party / carnival hosted by Valley Ruach - a group for young Jewish professionals here in LA. Valley Ruach put on a really fun event, converting the social hall at Adat Ariel synagogue in Valley Village into a giant party space. Food, drinks, carnival games, music ... they even had a giant jousting ring straight out of American Gladiators. A jousting tournament was set up, which saw my brother and I face each other in gladiatorial combat in the second round. Having each bested our first-round opponents, the stage was set for an epic brother vs. brother encounter. The crowd cheered, and you could cut the tension with a knife. Unfortunately, the day belonged to Matt, and he knocked me off my pedestal (literally and figuratively) to advance to the finals. I couldn't resist getting in one final tackle on Matt to slightly spoil his victory lap on the inflatable jousting surface, but it was, I admit, a true clash of titans. In any case, it was a fun night of Purim celebration!
- The following Sunday, myself, Matt, and the G-Man braved torrential rain and hurricane-like winds here in LA to journey to the Staples Center to watch the Clippers take on the Phoenix Suns. Now, many of you know that I am a big Suns fan dating back to the early 90's, when I desperately rooted for the '93, Charles Barkley-led Suns to best the Bulls and win an NBA championship. I wouldn't call myself a hardcore Suns fan anymore, but I still like the team and have been holding out hope that Steve Nash can get that elusive ring before all is said and done. This season, the Suns have been fighting just to make the playoffs, and they have an uphill battle. With that in mind, it was fun to see them in a back-and-forth game with the Clippers in which they ultimately came out on top. The crowd was very lively - after Blake Griffin got fouled out in the fourth, the crowd greeted every Suns possession with a deafening chorus of boos ... so it was a really nice atmosphere, esepcially for a Clippers game. It was also fun to see both the aforementioned up-and-coming high flyer Blake Griffin live and in person, as well as the Suns' current roster of veteran superstars - Steve Nash, Vince Carter, and Grant Hill (much to my delight, Nash was in fine form and Carter had at least one or two moves that reminded us why, back in the day, he was "Half Man, Half Amazing!"). The weather really was insane that Sunday though. The wind was so powerful that all of our umbrellas snapped and broke while walking to the arena, and the rain was so fierce and the streets so flooded that we were all soaked from just a couple of minutes outside. The apocalyptic warzone of BATTLE LA, which we saw after the game, almost seemed tame in comparison to the actual craziness that was going on outside.
- Finally, this past weekend was another big one. Friday brought a much-anticipated filmgoing event in the form of SUCKER PUNCH (and hopefully you've read the review I posted on Saturday ...). But Sunday ... Sunday was truly a pop-culture event of epic proportions ...
- ... Because Sunday was the day that I got to attend the first-ever public screening of KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR. For years, film fans have spoke in hushed tones about the special cut of Kill Bill that combined Volumes 1 and 2 into a single, extended version of the film. Long rumored to be targeted for release on home video, THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR has, to date, been seen only by select audiences at the Cannes Film Festival and at a private screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX. Until now, when director Quentin Tarantino decided to screen the film here in LA, at the New Beverly theater (which QT himself is the proud owner of), for a limited-time, special-engagement theatrical run.
Well, Sunday afternoon marked the very first screening of the film at the New Beverly, and not only that, but it just so happened to be the birthday of Mr. Tarantino. Tickets for the initial batch of screenings sold out online in minutes, but luckily I was able to pull the trigger and snatch up a four-pack of tix several weeks back. In any case, my friends and I arrived at the New Beverly theater around 12:30 pm, with plenty of time to go before the screening's 2 pm start time. Already though, there was a decent-sized line of Kill Bill fans outside the theater, for what was of course a totally sold-out show. It was a true geek-out moment though - being outside tht theater, with throngs of fanboys and fangirls lined up, munching on Papa Johns pizza, and with "Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair" displayed prominently on the old-fashioned marquee. Above that was stated simply: "Happy Birthday Quentin."
Inside the theater, there were some pretty awesome hand-drawn Kill Bill posters being sold, though at $50 a pop I held off on purchasing, although yes, I was tempted. Anyways, the crowd was primed and ready for THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR, and there was definitely a palpable buzz in the New Beverly. We didn't quite know what to expect, but when a theater rep got up and had us all sing "Happy Birthday" to QT, everyone craned their necks and looked excitedly around the theater - was QT in the house? Turns out, he was! As a bunch of his biggest fans sang Happy Birthday, the man himself made his way down the aisle from his inconspicuous seat in the back of the room. Dressed in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, QT was less the superstar director on this day and more a fellow fanboy. He appreciatively thanked the crowd, and talked about this history of this special cut of Kill Bill. Tarantino then said that he wanted the movie to speak for itself, so without further ado, it was time to get down to business and watch the movie. But wait! Before we got to the main attraction, QT had put together a special reel of cult-classic revenge film trailers to get us all primed and ready and to properly set the stage for his own entry in and homage to the revenge genre.
Before we could all even properly process the fact that QUENTIN TARANTINO himself had just addressed us - on his birthday no less - we were treated to some retro animated concession stand promos, followed by a sequence of ultra-badass, awesomely geeky movie trailers for old-school, often obscure revenge movies. Pam Grier as blaxploitation vixen COFFY. Martial arts mayhem in STING OF THE DRAGON MASTERS. Crazy, surreal weirdness in THE MILLION EYES OF SU-MARU. Vintage, Vietnam-era badassery in ROLLING THUNDER. Crazy-ass femme fatale exploitation in THEY CALL HER ONE-EYE. And finally, so-wrong-yet-so-right ultra-violence in the trailer for SHOGUN ASSASSIN. Pure awesomeness. Suffice it to say, a marathon of some or all of these movies is now a foregone conclusion (if I can actually find copies).
And then, finally, it was time for the main event. KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR. The crowd was properly primed, and we all applauded the various names that flashed during the opening credits sequence, including the late David Carradine, and Sally Menke - QT's longtime editor who passed away last year. The crowd was vocal and enthusiastic for the duration of the screening.
As for the movie itself, well, it was mostly the same KILL BILL that we all know and love. The changes to this version were pretty minor - a different opening and closing credits sequence, a couple of tweaks here and there, and an expanded version of the HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES sequence which is now even more beautifully violent and yes, fully colorized as in the international versions of the film. The final cut was long, and there was a 15 minute or so intermission between Chapters 5 and 6. But man, I was so energized after the end of Chapter 5 that I barely needed an intermission. In revisiting Kill Bill, I can't help but reiterate that Volume 1 is just 110% pure kickass ownage. It is just right up there to me as one of the most exciting, badass, and energetic things ever put to film, and just about every chapter is, in its own way, positively awesome. Volume 2, to me, has its share of awesome moments, although I think its ultimately dragged down a bit by its too-talky and somewhat anticlimactic finale, in which The Bride finally confronts Bill. Volume 2 doesn't have the unstoppable momentum of Volume 1, but it is still incredibly kickass. I do think that if and when The Whole Blood Affair is released on DVD / Blu-Ray, it will be the new definitive version. Although I do have one small complaint: the original intro of Volume 1, the part about the ancient Klingon proverb, is now gone. I don't know, I always thought that was a pretty badass way to open a movie. Again though, and especially given that it had been a while since I'd really sat down and rewatched these movies, I was struck by just how awesome they continue to be, and how well they hold up. In terms of sheer style, action, wit, character, and storytelling, nothing since has come close to topping KILL BILL. From The Bride to Bill, from Gogo to Buck (who "came here to %#$&"), from the Crazy 88's to the 5,6,7,8's to the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, these films are the stuff that fanboy dreams are made of.
All in all, I've rarely felt so overwhelmed by movie-fan geekery as I did on this inglorious day at the New Beverly. From QT's appearance and intro to the memorable trailer reel to the Whole Bloody Affair itself, this was an epic day of badassery of the highest order.
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