May 20, 2005

So...

Anyone else watch Quentin Tarantino's CSI last night?

Quickie review after the jump.

First off, let me qualify before this girl jumps on me. I love Tarantino's stuff. While I may have skipped Jackie Brown I have seen the rest of his work---even the stuff he's only produced---and think it brilliant. I love the way he jumbles the timeline to make the narrative more interesting. Nobody---and I mean nobody---pulls this off as well as he does. The payoff is always there at the end of it. You could go on about what movie he does this the best in, but I would have to say, just in my humble opinion, that Kill Bill: Volume I & II, is the best example. What would have been a simple revenge story was masterfully raised to something they'll teach at film schools years down the line. The part with The Bride, Pai Mei and the whole hand thing was a marvelous,"Oh, so that's what that was for" moment.

Given this, it was a bit surprising to me that Mr. Master of the Timeline Futz, except for one brief instance of flashback, told the story of Nick being buried alive straight through. And---God help me when Sadie reads this---it was all the more boring for it. It was probably the most boring episode of CSI that I've ever watched and I've been watching since day one. I, quite simply, expected more. I suspect the fact it was a network tee vee gig made him hold back, but still...

I did appreciate the ghoulishly funny morgue dream toward the end. That was very Tarantino and it was a welcome relief by that time in the episode.

On the whole, I think Quentin should stick to making the movies he does so very well and should stay the heck away from tee vee. It's simply not the medium that showcases his abilities best.

Posted by Kathy at May 20, 2005 12:57 PM
Comments

Respectfully, I must dissent.

Usually I'm just so-so on Tarantino. But last night...LOVED IT!

Absolutely loved it. I was tense, creeped out, and felt more intrigued than I usually do when CSI comes on. The only episode in my mind that came close to the same level of angst was the one with Nick's stalker.

Even so, I thought last night was better. That may be directly related to the longer format providing a richer story, but even so, I loved it.

The bugs creeped me out. I loved the dream sequence. The guy blowing up? Friggin' cool.

Posted by: Phoenix at May 20, 2005 03:17 PM

And wasn't that John Saxon who blew up? And they show ol' Frank Gorshin, the Riddler, just a day or two after he died.

That's the other great thing about Tarantino: Resurrecting character actors from the 60s and 70s.

Posted by: Mark Alexander at May 20, 2005 04:34 PM

*Thud.*

Posted by: sadie at May 21, 2005 03:38 AM
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