The final face-off is my favorite scene in any movie, ever. The falling snow, the stillness of the garden, the rhythmic "thunk" of the water fountain...and then the needle drop--it's perfect cinema.
Another great article! I had never seen Kill Bill, even though I loved all of Tarentinos previous movies. To be fair, I was 13 when it came out and it came out at a time in my life when movies were the last thing on my mind. And as I got older and more critical of media, especially media depicting women, I assumed it would be a movie about a woman that was very obviously written by a man and that I'd hate it. So I never watched it. Until my partner found your ass and started loving you and your content, so I watched it for him. And I honestly loved it. I wish I had watched it sooner.
I will argue one point you made. "Both movies have scenes where someone dies during sex. (In Seven, it’s the LUST victim. In Kill Bill, it’s the guy who killed O-Ren’s parents.)" I don't think they were having sex yet. She killed him before anything started. I want to believe O-Ren was smart enough to not make herself have sex with that piece of shit. If you watch the scene again, you see she's straddling him and he has a diaper on, and shes still clothed. It was the first thing I noticed when that scene started and I thought to myself "thank God she wasn't actually fucking him".
Anyway, another great job. I am very excited for the next ones, especially The Departed! Also how do you choose what movies to write about?
I spent some time several months ago putting together an editorial calendar with the first couple months of GOOD MOVIE mapped out. The only two things I think about whenever I'm picking what movies to cover are: (1) Is this a good movie? (2) Are we covering a wide enough range of movies so as to avoid it becoming too heavy on any one specific genre. I never want for people to read GOOD MOVIE and feel like it's all about action movies or rom-coms or heist movies or thrillers or whatever. I want a good blend of stuff. I want for it to feel like you're wandering through a Blockbuster.
Petition to Hannah to allow Shea to write 10k more words on Gogo, an iconic character
Snake corner:
- O-ren's assassin name is Cottonmouth aka Water Moccasin, they hunt in and around water. Their final fight has that lovely calming fountain and stream in it
I don’t want to be dramatic, but this subscription is the best movie-adjacent purchase I’ve ever made. A close second is buying The Rock on blu-ray, which is one of the best movies of all time, in my opinion.
Great write+up. If you ever go to Tokyo, there’s a restaurant to visit named Gonpachi that was the inspiration for the restaurant where O-Ren goes and The Bride fights the Crazy 88’s.
When I read your stuff, Shea, I honestly feel as if you are standing next to me and telling me this hilarious, insightful story. I am giggling, agreeing, and just enjoying it so much- THANK YOU. The Huntsville story is a prime example. That just made me laugh, imagining hearing the whoop then the idea of everyone in the theater who did not whoop silently thank goodness they didn't.
And I agree so much- O-Ren is one of my favorites too.
“You can tell she’s been holding onto that insult for a while. She’s wanted to say that to The Bride for years. I know it felt so good when she finally got to do it.”
I like how the movie makes clear just how much the other Deadly Vipers hated Beatrix the entire time they worked together.
Legitimately laughed out loud at least seven times on this one. Great movie, great essay, quintessential Shea. Look bitch, Good Movie is a perfect purchase!
Yup. That's why I started working on this literally months and months ago. If I'm asking people to pay money for something it's very important to me that those people feel like they got their money's worth.
I whistle
Like, all the time
That specific song a lot of times
I feel personally attacked by Shea
I paid Shea to attack me personally on a Friday
And the worse bit
The really nasty thing about it
Is that Shea’s right
I whistle too, all the time, My wife and coworkers probably agree with Shea! I don't care!
my dad whistled around the house growing up and it drove me insane
this could be an origin story for John Doe
The final face-off is my favorite scene in any movie, ever. The falling snow, the stillness of the garden, the rhythmic "thunk" of the water fountain...and then the needle drop--it's perfect cinema.
It’s legitimately gorgeous.
Can’t believe we got a new essay AND a little throwback to one of the best categories in the perfect podcast THE CONNECT.
I miss The Connect! Gone too soon.
it still hurts thinking about it
we now have Six Trophies, but it’s not the same
The fact the Buck is Uncle Jack from Breaking Bad makes him one of the most despicable actors of all time.
!!!
Another great article! I had never seen Kill Bill, even though I loved all of Tarentinos previous movies. To be fair, I was 13 when it came out and it came out at a time in my life when movies were the last thing on my mind. And as I got older and more critical of media, especially media depicting women, I assumed it would be a movie about a woman that was very obviously written by a man and that I'd hate it. So I never watched it. Until my partner found your ass and started loving you and your content, so I watched it for him. And I honestly loved it. I wish I had watched it sooner.
I will argue one point you made. "Both movies have scenes where someone dies during sex. (In Seven, it’s the LUST victim. In Kill Bill, it’s the guy who killed O-Ren’s parents.)" I don't think they were having sex yet. She killed him before anything started. I want to believe O-Ren was smart enough to not make herself have sex with that piece of shit. If you watch the scene again, you see she's straddling him and he has a diaper on, and shes still clothed. It was the first thing I noticed when that scene started and I thought to myself "thank God she wasn't actually fucking him".
Anyway, another great job. I am very excited for the next ones, especially The Departed! Also how do you choose what movies to write about?
I spent some time several months ago putting together an editorial calendar with the first couple months of GOOD MOVIE mapped out. The only two things I think about whenever I'm picking what movies to cover are: (1) Is this a good movie? (2) Are we covering a wide enough range of movies so as to avoid it becoming too heavy on any one specific genre. I never want for people to read GOOD MOVIE and feel like it's all about action movies or rom-coms or heist movies or thrillers or whatever. I want a good blend of stuff. I want for it to feel like you're wandering through a Blockbuster.
Shea, I hate to correct you but that jacket has 7 zippers! lol
I forgot about that stupid giant zipper, lol. It's fixed now. Thank you.
I was coming here to say the exact same thing.
“These bitches are getting Electric Boogaloo’d to death.” An amazing line to someone who saw Breakin’ 2 in the theatre! F’ing amazing!
Genuinely LOL’d at this one
Petition to Hannah to allow Shea to write 10k more words on Gogo, an iconic character
Snake corner:
- O-ren's assassin name is Cottonmouth aka Water Moccasin, they hunt in and around water. Their final fight has that lovely calming fountain and stream in it
We are all learning so much about snakes, lol.
I don’t want to be dramatic, but this subscription is the best movie-adjacent purchase I’ve ever made. A close second is buying The Rock on blu-ray, which is one of the best movies of all time, in my opinion.
That means a lot. Thank you.
I don’t want to be dramatic, but I don’t know if anyone has ever been this right.
Okay, Shea, you've rocketed into my favorite Substacks
list and I'm hoping that Blood In, Blood Out will be the focus of a future post, especially since Miklo is your avatar.
Aw, man. Thank you.
Great write+up. If you ever go to Tokyo, there’s a restaurant to visit named Gonpachi that was the inspiration for the restaurant where O-Ren goes and The Bride fights the Crazy 88’s.
When I read your stuff, Shea, I honestly feel as if you are standing next to me and telling me this hilarious, insightful story. I am giggling, agreeing, and just enjoying it so much- THANK YOU. The Huntsville story is a prime example. That just made me laugh, imagining hearing the whoop then the idea of everyone in the theater who did not whoop silently thank goodness they didn't.
And I agree so much- O-Ren is one of my favorites too.
Great Article!!!!! I think we should all petition Shea to do the commentary for all movies. He would absolutely kill it!!!!
“You can tell she’s been holding onto that insult for a while. She’s wanted to say that to The Bride for years. I know it felt so good when she finally got to do it.”
I like how the movie makes clear just how much the other Deadly Vipers hated Beatrix the entire time they worked together.
They hated her sooooooo much, lol
Legitimately laughed out loud at least seven times on this one. Great movie, great essay, quintessential Shea. Look bitch, Good Movie is a perfect purchase!
I have gotten so many "Look, bitch" messages today, lol.
😂 I figured there would be a lot as soon as I saw that footnote in the video
I asked this last week, but I feel obliged to recheck: weekly??? You're doing this weekly???
Yup. That's why I started working on this literally months and months ago. If I'm asking people to pay money for something it's very important to me that those people feel like they got their money's worth.
*inserts KD "You Da Real MVP" gif here*
Also, if you think just because you gave me full explanation to this, do not think FOR A SECOND I won't be making this joke weekly. Commit to the bit.