{celebrating a decade of learning to write in front of an audience}

Death Proof (2007): 9 stars

God, where to start?  From zero, I guess, where exploitation cinema should always start.

+1 for Tarantino dialogue, and
+2 for Tarantino direction, and
+3 for casting Deluxe-process saturated red as a character who makes a high-impact cameo at the end of Act II, and
+1 for the bookending of “what it means to be a girl now” in contrapoint to “what it means to be a girl when tropes are upended”, with
+1 for Zoë Bell’s acting, and
+2 for her stunts, and
-1 for the telegraphing of the leg-out-the-window bit, with
+1 for Tarantino getting nuances out of Kurt Russell that I didn’t think possible, truncated to
9 stars because I refuse to give 10-star reviews in all but unreasonable circumstances.

Recommendation: Buy it



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