Tarantino and Rodriguez present “Grindhouse;” Gregory Porter sings Nat King Cole
Two restless Hollywood directors, Quentin Tarantino and Rodriguez, continuing their good tradition of uniting to create films like “Four Rooms” (directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino together with Allison Anders and Alexandre Rockwell) and “Sin City” (directed by Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino), are sure to make a lot of fuss with their new release called “Grindhouse.” This mixture of black humor and bloody horror, richly sprinkled with irony, will be served hot in two feature length segments: “Death Proof” and “Planet Terror,” which include fake movie trailers by Eli Roth, Rob Zombie and Edgar Wright shown in between them. The name and the theme of the film actually date back to the era of trashy horrors flicks that often included prohibited scenes of violence and as such were shown in a series.
Tarantino’s “Death Proof” is a parody of the popular B-movie thrillers of the 70s featuring typical elements of the genre. The film features psycho killer, “Stuntman Mike” (Kurt Russel), who murders cute girls (played by Rosario Dawson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rose McGowan) with his Dodge Challenger, and many car chases ensue.
In the segment “Planet Terror,” Robert Rodriguez continues with a zombie theme, exploited in his movie “The Faculty,” taking us back into the world of cheap monster thrillers so popular in the 80s. This time the fiends will be annihilated by a flamboyant killer lady, Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan), with a machine gun that replaced an amputated leg, and her martial arts wielding partner (Freddy Rodriguez). Some characters can be seen in both movies, which makes the double feature an interconnected story. Among other Hollywood stars to be seen in “Grindhouse” are Nicolas Cage and Bruce Willis.
Also, the film will include the trademark of all Tarantino movies: various references to popular horror movies, thrillers, and action movies. He is said to have watched piles of movies back when he was working in a video store and dreaming to become a film director.
“Death Proof” – from June 7
“Planet Terror” – from June 14
Various cinemas. See Movies for details.
The monthly jazz festival called International Jazz Season Ticket brings Gregory Porter to Ukraine with two concerts taking place in Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv. This is going to be the popular American jazz singer’s second visit to Ukraine. His first Ukrainian concert took place in the capital in December with the participation of famous trombonist and band master Frank Lacy. This time Porter will perform a concert in cooperation with four famous jazz musicians: Patince Higgince on saxophone, Vladimir Nesterenko on piano, Arkadiy Ovrutski on bass, and Greg Bandy on drums.
Gregory Porter’s second concert is called “Homage to Nat King Cole.” This concert is a kind of tribute to the legendary jazzman, as Porter is considered to be one of the biggest connoisseurs of Nat King Cole’s music. He discovered the music of Nat King Cole thanks to his mother, a popular blues singer. At the age of five he had already recorded several songs – his versions of famous jazz hits like “Once Upon A Time” and “I Had a Dreamboat.”
During his music career Gregory was awarded with the “Broadway Musical Award” four times. In cooperation with Hubert Laws he recorded an album dedicated to Nat King Cole called “Remembering Nat King Cole.” In 1999 Gregory Porter became a leading singer in the Tony-nominated musical “It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues,” and his own musical, called “Nat King Cole & Me: A Musical Healing,” is still on stage at the Denver Center World Premiere cultural center. Many of Porter’s compositions became real hits and are broadcasted by American radio stations. Gregory regularly performs in the jazz clubs of New York and his performance as a soloist of Winton Marsalis’s jazz orchestra at Lincoln center in 2006 was highly praised by jazz connoisseurs.
TChaikovsky Music Academy (1-3/11 Horodetskoho, 229-0792). June 10, 7:30 p.m., Tickets Hr 50 to Hr 70
