Tarantino XX- Yup, I Will Be The First Person Online For This One...

I have never met a bigger fan of Quentin Tarantino then myself. That is not just me waxing poetically... I really feel like their is nobody THAT I KNOW who likes all of his work as much as me. I remember seeing Reservoir Dogs back in 1994 on a borrowed VHS after Pulp Fiction blew up. A friend lent it to me... and he promptly never got it back. I watch the two of those movies more times between 1994-2000 than anything else. I loved the dialogue, the violence, and the overall craziness of a Tarantino movie... there is nothing better. Tarantino's 20 years in the film game run parallel with the success of Harvey Weinstein's Miramax films, so it's only fitting that Miramax is teaming with Lionsgate to give us the ultimate Tarantino box set, Tarantino XX. You get Blu Rays of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill 1 & 2, Jackie Brown, Death Proof, Inglourious Basterds (all of the films he has directed) as well as True Romance, a film that Tarantino wrote. The box set is due out November 20th and has a retail price of 119.00 bucks, but it can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com for 83.99 right now (click here). Check after the jump for all the gory details about the 10 disc set, it is full of goodies for Tarantino fans like myself. I for one have already reserved mine. Get yours now....

Symbolic Movie Posters by Rocco Malatesta

I came across artist Rocco Malatesta's work over at Super Punch when they featured his killer Reservoir Dogs poster and had to delve a bit deeper to see what his work was all about. I was blown away when I saw what he had to offer for sale on his page. He has some great pieces, especially his hand collection (you will know what I am talking about when you see it on his page) and countless other symbolic movie posters that he has on the page. Rocco takes one key element of the movie and then compliments it with small unique touches that make each one quite unique and dope in their own right. Click here to view & buy all of his works and click after the jump to see the ones I liked the best...

Reservoir Dogs by Ibraheem Youssef

I love alternate movie posters, probably because of the fact that the majority of movie posters put out officially these days suck. They do not take the time to create a witty, thought provoking image that is representative of an aspect of the film... nope, now most of the time we get a bunch of floating heads and slanted backgrounds (why is this so popular now?). Gone are the days of painted images, iconic posters, and important artistic contributions... but the Internet has brought those days back, albeit in a non official capacity. Ibraheem Youssef has some killer work on his website from a plethora of films, but the one that stood out to me had to be his Reservoir Dogs poster, so that is the one I chose to focus on featuring today. Make sure you check out his work by clicking here, and click after the jump for the Reservoir Dog piece...

Artist Spotlight: The Mash-Up King Marco D'Alfonso

I saw one piece of artists Marco D'Alfonso work over at Rampage Reality and I was very impressed... so I decided to dig a little deeper. My god am I glad I did! I love me some mash-ups, but Marco is one of the best I have ever seen at combing two properties together. I think the key is finding two properties that make sense together but are not the obvious choice... that is what brings it home. When you see the awesome mash-ups from Marco, you will see exactly what I mean. I am officially crowning him The Mash-up King... at least here on CCD he is!!! I hope you enjoy... click after the jump for all of them.

Reservoir Dogs Revisited: 3 Minimalist Posters

'Reservoir Dogs' recently hit Netflix Instant Streaming and I just had to watch it. The film has always held a very special place in my heart... I saw it right after 'Pulp Fiction' came out and I have been a die hard Tarantino fan ever since. It's hard not to love the hard boiled crime noir styling of Buscemi, Madsen, Roth and Keitel... these guys are just masters of their craft. After watching it the other day, I jumped over to Deviant Art to see if I could find some cool Dogs art to feature on CCD. I promise you, these 3 posters will not disappoint.

I decided to feature these 3  because they have a similar minimalist feel to them. Click on the artists names in the caption to see more of their galleries. Which one is your favorite? Tell us in the comment section below.

Reservoir Dogs by Adrai

Reservoir Dogs by X-Allee-X

Reservoir Dogs by Joao D

Olly Moss's Paper Cuts: Silhouettes Of Pop Culture Icons

Check out these awesome pieces that were put together by pop culture artist extraordinaire Olly Moss. For his show "Paper Cuts" Olly did side profiles of a wide array pop culture characters and real life people (over 100!!!) made out of black paper set on a white background. These are so cool. He adds color and details to each photo, and the details are amazing. These are the 10 I liked best. I picked some of the less obvious ones and ones that I thought would appeal to some of my good friends and CCD readers (you know who you guys are!!!). Click here to see all the rest of the pieces in Olly's awesome show.

Teen Wolf... The REAL TEEN WOLF (Fuck you MTV)

Viddy, Viddy Well... Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange

Conan the Barbarian (ala Arnold... this ones for you Rob!!!)

Exterminate! Exterminate! The Dalek of Dr. Who fame (This is for the Melendez family)

Inspector Gadget (Here you go Jeff... the REAL Inspector!!!)

Don Corleone of the Godfather

Godzilla, King of all Monsters (Your welcome Cousin James)

I Have The Power!!! He-Man is the shit (This one was for me!!!)

The Mario Brothers

The Reservoir Dogs (I Loved This One!!!)

Does Tarantino Do Anything Original?

Who? Me? A Thief... Never!!!!

Previously, my answer would have always been yes... the guy is a genius. He is one of my favorite director's, and I hold him in a very high esteem (so high that one of his movies is going to be what is shown at the 2nd Music & Movie night at The Wicked Monk on April 3rd...). With that being said, there is no secret (QT openly admits it himself) that Tarantino is a huge movie fan who often includes homages to rare and obscure films that he considers to be his favorites. We posted a Kill Bill comparison clip last week that showed the tons of movies that QT took from to complete his action/adventure epic, but then friend of CCD Mike White put us onto this clip.



Those suits look familiar, no?

White made this comparison clip to show just how much QT jacked from Ringo Lam's 1987 shitbox movie City On Fire. Now being the huge QT fan that I am, I have heard of the similarities to Lam's movie. But since I never seen it (mostly because of how horrible I heard it was, despite starring Chow Yun Fat), I could never imagine just HOW MUCH QT actually borrowed. Shit, you can't even call it borrowed... QT pulled a straight Compton Jack Move on Lam's whole movie!!! Don't believe me? Check it for yourself:


Who Do You Think You're Fooling? from Mike White on Vimeo.


Kind of hard to stick up for QT after that one, huh? The Kill Bill clip didn't anger me as much, because it was little bits and pieces jacked from dozens of movies. But this one pisses me off a bit for 3 reasons.

1. This is Tarantino's first movie... and the one that I fell in love with. Why QT? This really destroys my image of QT as such an original dialogue writer and director. He basically took a bad movie with a great premise and added some snappy dialogue. He left out the actual robbery, but used dialogue to re-enact Lam's robbery scene (which you see in City on Fire) shot for shot. Kietel's "Blam, Blam, Blam" description of Mr. Blonde in the jewelry store is one of my favorite parts of the flick because of how Taratino makes you use your imagination to see it... and now it is ruined.
2. Without the success of Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino does not get to make Pulp Fiction. Without Pulp Fiction, Tarantino does not become a premiere director in the film industry. We probably wouldn't have gotten all the collabs with Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, Sin City, Grindhouse), nor the resurgence of John Travolta. We damn sure wouldn't have seen Samuel L as a Jedi, and would Steve Buscemi really be top lining Boardwalk Empire had he not killed the part of Mr. Pink so effectively? What a different Holywood reality it would be had Tarantino been exposed as a thief off the rip.
3. This could only have happened in the early 90's. With the rise of the Internet, there is no way you could get away with this shit now a days. Imagine if a director tried to re-appropriate another directors film in plot and actual shots & claimed it to be original? That shit would be all over the net in 2 days flat. Shit, I get hourly updates on exactly which porn pig's asshole Charlie Sheen is freebasing coke out of... you think you can steal a whole movie and no one would notice? Not with all these Internet cops out here.

No... Not The Mexican Standoff Scene... Not That Too!!!

This is all very concerning for me. I don't know how I should feel about Tarantino anymore. I still think he is a great director, and Inglorious Basterd's is so completely original (except it's title... QT jacked that one to!!!) that it makes me smile, but all his success is based on a foundation of lies... god, I am torn!!! Thanks to Mike White for causing this dilemma for me (just kidding, I really appreciate it!), but now I gotta ask you guys: How does this make you feel about QT? Do you still love him, or does this ruin it for you? Please tell me in the comment section below. I really want to hear all your insights, so I ask all my regular readers to please weigh in on this one.

***Bonus***

My god, it gets worse... check out White's follow up, "Your Still Not Fooling Anybody". Damn, my month is ruined.... grrrrrrrr!!!! (shaking my fists at Mike White for enlightening me!!!!)

You're Still Not Fooling Anybody from Mike White on Vimeo.

Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right...

... here I am, stuck in the middle with you!!! Quentin Tarantino is one of my favorite film directors of all time, and I think it is a bit ironic that our good friend Andy Rash posted his newest set of IotaCons featuring the cast of Reservoir Dogs one day before my birthday. Once I saw them, I new it was an instant re-post over here at CCD. If you haven't checked out Andy's other IotaCons, click here and get ready for some magnificent shit!!! So with no further ado, I present the cast of Reservoir Dogs:

Cast: Joe Cabot, Nice Guy Eddie, Marvin Nash, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Pink, Mr. White, Mr. Orange, Mr. Brown and Mr. Blue.

It's Saturday: Lets All Go To The Movies !!! Vol. 2

 

OK, OK... you made it through another week. And even though the weekend starts at 5 pm on Friday, most of us really don't start to enjoy our weekend until Saturday morning. Waking up and not having to go to the hell hole of a job that you occupy during the week is a relief of epic proportions. You can do whatever you want, and usually for me that involves wanting to hit up a movie theater at some point. The reasons why its a great idea to go to the movies are endless, but one reason I like it is that its a short term event (like 2,3 hours tops) that you can fit in anytime during a busy weekend. We all know whats playing at the Multiplex... everyday we are bombarded with ad's for movies in the newspaper, on the train, and on the radio. My then 3 year old son used to ask me what the date was, and when I would tell him, he would then immediately shout out the big movie that was opening that week. But in most cities across the US, there are alternative/boutique type theaters that show mostly independent and revival films. The independents are cool, but the revival films are the best. What better way to relive your childhood then seeing "Gremlins" on the big scree en after 20 years. Or maybe getting a chance to see something at the movies that you weren't around to see during it's original run. Either way it's a great activity for day or night. Here was going on in movies this week. Enjoy the fresh popcorn !!!

 

Opening Februaury 5th:

 

Dear John ( Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried), From Paris With Love ( Johnathan Rhys- Meyers, John Travolta), Frozen ( Shawn Asmore and Emma Bell)

 

Independent/ International Releases:
District 13: Ultimatum ( Written by Luc Besson, France)

 

Special Screenings:

• Red Riding Trilogy - ONE WEEK ONLY: Feb 5th - Feb 11th @ IFC Center (212)-924-7771 for $25.00 you get all three movies 1974,1980,1983 plus a collectors edition program. Only 14 shows, 1pm and 7pm daily
• Director Akira Kurosawa retrospective continues @ The Film Forum (212)-727-8110. Films showing this week include Yojimbo ( Remade as A Fistful of Dollars by Sergio Leone), sequel Sanjuro, Dersu Uzala ( Kurosawa's only film shot outside of Japan) and a new 35mm print of Ran. 
• Total Recall - Starring Arnold Schwartzenneger and Directed by Paul Veerhoven @ IFC Center (212)- 924- 7771 Sat and Sun Midnight Shows Only.
• Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas @ M.O.M.A (212)-708-9480 Sunday February 6th at 2:30 pm ( This is the only showing)

Pick of the Week:

Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs

This is the Midnight Movie for Feb. 5th and 6th @ Landmark Sunshine Cinema 212-330-8182. Showings are at 12 exactly and are $9.99. Tickets for these shows go extremely fast, so call or get online and order your tickets in advance!!! Tarantino's first movie, live on the big screen. This is a must see...

Enjoy the shows, see ya next week!!!!