the devil's rejects

this is not a good movie. mostly, i think, because rob zombie wrote it. he clearly has a deep and serious love for movies, and in particular, his affection for the conventions of old horror and cheesy b-movies shines through. but you gotta wish that he worked more like tim burton -- give the ideas to a real writer, and focus instead on the directing.

but there are some things i like about the movie. i like the way it was shot, with the desaturization and hand-held cameras. plus, they shot on 16 -- good choice! it gave them graininess and long depth of field and allowed lots of coverage and angles. makeup and effects were well-done, too, with only a little bit of CGI. but one really good part about the movie, unsurprisingly, was the music. tons of rad 70's hits, and the final shootout, set to "freebird", was inspired as all hell and a totally great ending to a not-very-good-movie. maybe next time he'll get it right.

much more interesting than the movie itself was the making of disc, which takes the entire 2nd set of the double dvd. much like "that moment" from the magnolia dvd, this is a full view into the filmmaking process, particularly intangibles and things people don't often think about: technical aspects (every little fucking detail that goes into making a film), the importance of the atmosphere of the set, locations. really interesting stuff, really great.

all right, next thing i write will be about something old. there are so many good movies out and lots to talk about, but i'm going to watch something old and classic and really rejuvenate myself. ok.