One of the not-so-guilty pleasures of Death Proof, the Quentin Tarantino-directed second half of Rodriguez and Tarantino’s Grindhouse, is the performance of Sydney Tamiia Poitier (above) as Austin D.J., “Jungle Julia.” The way Tarantino directs actors – in this film and generally – owes a lot to Howard Hawks. Like Hawks at his most Hawksien ... read more »

Highly recommended: At the L.A. Weekly site, Quentin Tarantino, promoting his Grindhouse (above), conducts a roundtable discussion of exploitation filmmaking with a garrulous group of [former] exploitation filmmakers including Richard Rush (The Stunt Man), Brian Trenchard-Smith (Escape 2000), George Armitage (Miami Blues), Allan Arkush (Rock ‘n’ Roll High School), Lewis Teague (Cujo, The Lady in ... read more »