Death Proof

After Quentin Tarantino finished his two-part epic Kill Bill, a tribute to every obscure film that inspired the geek god, he took it easy with Death Proof. All the Tarantino-isms are here — witty dialogue, look-out plot twists, forgotten pop songs, the casting of an aging icon (Kurt Russell has never been so cool) — but there’s not much advancement or variation from his past films, and that’s okay for this two-hour B-movie-inspired romp. (It was shown in theaters as Grindhouse, a double bill with Tarantino buddy Robert Rodriguez’s similarly lightweight Planet Terror.) Russell plays a former stunt driver who’s taken to running over pretty girls with his “death-proof” car since the invention of CGI killed his career. With a slasher film-like moral code on who escapes and who winds up road kill, Russell runs down the likes of Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Rose McGowan and New Zealand stuntwoman Zoë Bell. 8:30 p.m. Domy Books, 1709 Westheimer. For information, call 713-523-3669 or visit www.domystore.com. Free.
Fri., Aug. 22, 8:30 p.m., 2008