Kill Bill is, frankly, awesome. Pure cinema. Tarantino understands the possiblity of the medium, making movies which could only ever be movies (as opposed to glorified plays or books), with jaw-dropping visual verve and aural attention to detail – almost the kind of thing Godard does, yet Tarantino does it within the mainstream. Several scenes will stay with me a long, long time: the graphic stylings throughout, particularly around the love of product (Air-O airlines, the Pussy Powermobile, those infographic maps, breakfast cereal as holster etc.); the brave switch to anime; the stunning costume design; and the closing battle, with its blood-spattered humour, insanely complex choreography, and inspired cuts into black-and-white and gorgeous blue silhouette (inspiration for the iPod ad?!), and finally, the sudden beauty of the gently drifting snow. Equally, the sound design is incredible. You feel each each blade swish, every blow. Again, the contrast in that closing scene between the incongruous rock-funk soundtrack, and then the quiet, punctuated by the gently rhythmic knocking of the shishi-odoshi. And Tarantino’s found the ideal soundtrack collaborator – the RZA’s obsessive detailing, practiced on Ghost Dog, now perfected. And if all that sounds a little po-faced, it’s also bloody good fun. Loved it.