Whoa! Thomas Jane stars as a father heading into town for supplies with his son on the day after a terrible thunderstorm. While they shop, Jeffrey DeMunn runs into the market covered in blood, screaming, “There’s something in the mist!” An understatement if there ever were one. The Mist scared the wits out of me. Frank Darabont wrote the screenplay from a Stephen King story, directed, and produced The Mist and created an increasingly frightening atmosphere in a normally mundane one…a supermarket. A terrific cast including Andre Braugher, Marcia Gay Harden, Toby Jones, William Sadler, and the always wonderful Frances Sternhagen made the film more realistic and truly scary. I won’t spoil the film but the effects were frightening and well done and the sound and music contributed wonderfully to the creepy atmosphere of the film. I just finished watching and haven’t quite caught my breath. Shattering. One more thing…friends recommended I watch this in black and white. They were right.

  In Death Proof, Tarantino pays homage to exploitation films, feminist revenge flicks, 70s muscle car films, and his own works. Kurt Russell’s likable/sickening character ties two vignettes together. Each story, led by a group of strong, beautiful women starts, as many horror films do by introducing us to these women and watching them interact during a short span of time. Their dialogue, while filled with different subject matter, reminds me of the conversations in Reservoir Dogs and True Romance. Even the cadence sounds familiar. This is not a bad thing, mind you. RD and TR are gems and the dialogue in those films stands as some of the best of this era. That being said, the dialogue does not rise to the level of a Reservoir Dogs or certainly not a True Romance mostly because of the subject matter. I guess Tarantino thinks the only thing women talk about when they’re together is men and sex. If the characters had a Royale with Cheese-like conversation in Death Proof, I’d have been thrilled. As usual, QT fills the film with actors you like to see and fun cameos and there’s no shortage of lovely ladies. Of course, Tarantino makes an appearance as well. The film lasts too long though. Self-indulgent describes QT in general and it certainly applies here. One last comment: enough with the feet already.