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KILL BILL By Rachel Deahl Review Film Critic Click for the Official Site Quentin Tarantino has always been more than game to share his fetishes with audiences. His films are, on some level, about rejoicing in the things he loves -- retro fashions, '70s music and cult films, to name just a few. Now, the former film geek auteur of Hollywood who left people wondering if he still had it behind the camera after a six year absence, is back with an exuberant nod to 'B' Kung-Fu films, Japanese anime and Uma Thurman's feet. In "Kill Bill: Volume I," the first segment in a two-part series, Tarantino pulls out all the stops and most of his characters' limbs for an entertaining homage to samurai films. Although the film doesn't come close to topping Tarantino's crowning effort, "Pulp Fiction," it is a refreshing departure from the disappointing "Jackie Brown." Escaping the claustrophobia of the latter, which essentially forced audiences to watch Bridget Fonda take bong hits for two hours, "Kill Bill" is all movement and very little talk.
Uma Thurman stars as a character simply referred to as The Bride. After barely surviving a brutal attack on the day of her wedding, The Bride wakes from surgery to discover the baby she was carrying is gone. Filled with fuzzy memories of the massacre, she literally drags herself from the hospital intent on wiping out the posse responsible. A former member of a gang of assassins led by a character named Bill (who is voiced by David Carradine); The Bride must seek out and destroy her former "co-workers" who ambushed her. Who Bill is and why the attack was arranged isn't ever revealed here and, presumably, is being reserved for "Volume 2." Following the code of the samurai (which is outlined in voiceover), The Bride starts a list and begins knocking her enemies off one by one.
Tarantino skillfully weaves the simple revenge yarn back and forth in time, making his straightforward story a bit more interesting and complex. Aside from that, the real thrill here is how beautifully the film is shot. Although "Kill Bill" is essentially strung on a series of fight scenes, Tarantino shows more skill and restraint in other shots. Whether focusing his lens on the lifeless toes of his heroine (The Bride wills her lower limbs into action while trying to get her big toe to move) or narrowing on a close-up of Thurman as she drags her samurai sword back before lunging in a fight, the finest moments in the film don't arise from all the bloodletting. That said, the bloodletting seems to be what Tarantino is most interested in. Arms, heads, tongue and ankles all come loose (some repeatedly) as The Bride bites, shoots and slices her way toward Bill. And, although the childish gore almost takes away from other elements of the film, it certainly doesn't ruin a good thing. Grade: A- VERONICA GUERIN Click for the Official Site Delivering a vision of the journalist as savior, Joel Schumacher's "Veronica Guerin" brings a compelling story to the screen in unsurprising but efficient fashion. Featuring a wonderful turn from Cate Blanchett as the titular journalist, the film depicts that most favored of Hollywood tales: that of the underdog who comes out of nowhere to affect lasting change. A less stylized and intellectualized "Erin Brockovich," "Veronica Guerin" tackles the difficulties of nailing blue-collar criminals, as opposed to white collar ones. As a result the threats here are more obtrusive and the trail a bit more obvious, meaning that Schumacher's film isn't about cunning or smarts - that's not ultimately his heroine's strength - it's about dedication and balls. Less a story about the power of journalism than a celebration of its sacrificial scribe, "Veronica Guerin" chronicles the two crucial years that led up to the murder of an Irish reporter covering the drug trade in Dublin.
Blanchett stars as Guerin, a devoted local journalist who was shot in 1996, after being threatened by the criminals she was writing about in her newspaper column. After becoming a well-known journalist for her coverage of church scandals, Guerin opted to switch beats to cover something that she felt mattered. The film opens with Guerin's death and then moves back to the beginning of what became her crusade. In an early scene Blanchet visits a dilapidated apartment complex where little kids are playing with the dirty needles that litter their courtyard. Inside the building, drawn teenagers are injecting themselves with heroin. Once she comes face to face with a few coherent addicts, Geurin asks them pointedly and bluntly who their drug dealer is because she's writing a story on the topic. Essentially, the film follows on this very direct line. Compelled to uncover the major drug dealers in the city "because no one else is writing about it," and seemingly fueled by their threats, Guerin steers an almost reckless course. After threats on her life and an attempt that leaves her with a severe gunshot wound to the leg, the indomitable journalist still refuses to back down. And, at times, Schumacher's Guerin seems more insistent on standing up to her subjects than doing good. Touching briefly on the idea that Guerin was largely denounced by her peers as a hack and publicity hound - at one point in the movie fellow journalists snicker that Guerin's gunshot wound was probably self-inflicted - the film never digs too deeply into this. What it lingers on instead is Guerin's determination not to be intimidated and not to let anyone see her fear. Opting to disregard any downfalls of Guerin's course of action, or the more complex scenarios that may have arisen from her choices, Schumacher's film probably overlooks some of the more interesting questions here. Luckily, Blanchett manages to bring sensitivity and depth to the role, and the film, in spite of her director's choice. Grade: B+
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