Settling down into my seat at last night's press screening for Planet Terror, I overheard the chap sitting next to me giving his friend a crash course in the film's back story. "You know Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof was originally part of a double-feature called Grindhouse? Well, this is the other bit." Quite how Robert Rodriguez would respond to having his film referred to as the "other bit", I don't care to imagine, the Mexican temprament being notoriously fiery. It's a stroke of luck, then, that his name appears 7 times on the opening credits, just to reinforce the fact that there's more to Grindhouse than just Tarantino's movie. In fact, Planet Terror is far and away the better of the two movies, Rodriquez cannily remembering to include some of those elements in his film Tarantino left out -- plot, character, humour, simple things like that. Though, thankfully, Planet Terror conspicuously lacks the rather nasty, misogynistic streak that made Death Proof such an uneasy viewing experience for me. As it goes, Tarantino himself turns up in Planet Terror, cameoing as an army guard who -- rather too gleefully for my liking -- tries to force Rose McGowan to go-go dance for him. After the disturbing levels of enthusiasm with which he subjected women to all manner of psychological, sexual and physical abuse in Death Proof, I'm left wondering quite exactly Tarantino's head is at. Anyway, Planet Terror isn't by any stretch a great film, but it is pretty funny. It's certainly in the style of many a bad Seventies' horror film (and they're all pretty bad in my book), with a troop of soldiers led by Bruce Willis releasing, perhaps by accident, a noxious chemical into a small Texas town that turns nearly all the residents into flesh-eating zombies. It falls to a small band of survivors to try and make it out of the city limits to safety. Rodriquez cheerfully throws as much gore at us as he can -- heads explode, entrails are duly snacked upon, limbs are lost (and, in the case of McGowan's leg, replaced by automatic weaponry) -- and there's an energy and exuberance to the whole thing that, at the very least, is a lot of fun. Rodriquez is a big fan of Jim Thompson, so there's a something of a noirish sensibility at work in the characterisations. There's Freddy Rodriquez' loner El Wray (a Thompson nod if ever there was); his former girlfriend Cherry Darling (McGowan), who now works as a go-go dancer; Michael Biehn's crusty sherriff Hague. Sure, they're all rather reductive archetypes, but they sit easily in Planet Terror's trashy, two-dimensional aesthetic. A friend of mine asked after the screening, is this meant to be homage or parody? Certainly, some of the biggest laughs in the film come when Rodriquez deliberately undercuts the genre. One scene sees a character trying to make a getaway from hoardes of lumbering zombies on a mini-motorbike. A lot of the time, Freddy Rodriquez and McGowan seem on the verge of winking knowingly at each other. It all just ads to the laughs. Anyway, I'll be interested to see how it does when it opens in the UK in November. Anecdotal reports aren't good for Death Proof -- I heard a Friday evening screening in Brighton last week had only six people in the audience, and this the day after the film opened. But I can almost imagine Planet Terror doing better business on DVD anyway -- it has that (admittedly very deliberate) culty, Shaun Of The Dead vibe about it that I suspect will endear it to the teenage market.

Of course, I’d love to have been there, but since I wasn’t, here’s guest blogger Gavin Martin, on Bob Dylan’s return to Nashville. . . BOB DYLAN Ryman Auditorium September 20 2007 Down on Nashville's Broadway, Dylan's arrival is being treated as the return of a musical saviour. Things certainly have changed - back when Johnny Cash presented Bob, the pilgrim rocker, to Music City in 1969, Dylan was regarded as a blow in, a musical carpetbagger. Now he's an heroic survivor, a custodian of the values Nashville's reigning country establishment have forsaken, an iconoclast as single-minded as any in country music history. Excitement around Bob's two night residency at the 1,200 capacity Ryman, setting for the Grand Ol’ Opry's golden era, increases with the news that Dylan and his road band, still riding their post-millennium hot streak, are spending their days in a local studio, prepping a follow-up to Modern Times. The show repays the anticipation - Bob wields a Stratocaster on the opening "Cat's In The Well". No longer spending his entire performance to the side of the stage behind the organ (when he does take to the keyboard its stage centre), it’s immediately clear the Ryman's aged wooded interior suits the band's old world sound - much better than the cold oppressive arenas that have become their common habitat. Two songs originally recorded in nashville – a shaky "Lay Lady Lay" and a rambunctious "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" - makes Bob's longstanding special Music City connection explicit early in the set. Just as striking a tribute to outré country tradition is his stage garb – imperious wide-brimmed, purple hat, spangly chartreuse guitar strap and accompanying glitter flecked purple cravat and bible black, hanging judge suit. A rapturous "Working Man Blues" and a "Tangled Up In Blue" with Bob blowing poignant, electrifying harp confirm the band's abiding heat. Bob aside, tonight's man of the match is drummer George Recile - his fiery thrash and rimshots blazing a ferocious trail. At least he is - until local resident Jack White turns up. Confined to barracks with the cancellation of this winter's White Stripes tour, White is a vortex of anger and frustration, spitting out the lyrics, slashing at his axe on "One More Cup Of Coffee" and "Outlaw Blues" (the previous night’s show had featured Jacl on the first-ever live version of “Meet Me In The Morning”, from Blood On the Tracks).. The latter is being played for the first time ever onstage and White's intensity - a lusty mule, running crazed, feverish circles around the stage – never lets up. Finger pointing Bob chuckles, conducting his performance from behind the organ.White's guitar lines have a sizzlingly warped ferocity, like Neil Young of old. It is a singularly charismatic performance, the first time I've ever seen anyone on a stage with Dylan usurp the maestro. Dylan's delight makes it seem that a long lost grandson has joined his band and one can almost hear the sound of Elvis Costello - responsible for a particularly egregious, solo acoustic support set that had people feeling to the bars - spitting teeth at the side of the stage. White evidently energises Bob further - a delicate but horny "’Til I Fell In Love With You" and brilliantly rephrased “Memphis Blues” ensue. The magisterially haunted "Ain't Talkin'" towers over everything, however - confirmation that at 66 Bob looks and sounds as potent as he has at any point in his career. An invective-filled "Ballad Of A Thin Man", a joyfully unbounded "Thunder On The Mountain" and tear-inducing "I Shall Be Released" bring the show to a close. There's a mass standing ovation long after Dylan has left the stage and outside an applauding crowd slow walk the tour coach up the hill, a response that emphasises the fact that fortonight and forever more he has made a home from home in Music City. GAVIN MARTIN Set lists Ryam Auditorium September 19 2007 Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat Don’t Think twice, It’s All Right Watching The River Flow You’re a Big Girl Now The Levee’s Gonna Break Spirit On The Water Desolation Row Working Man’s Blues #2 Things Have Changed Most Likely You Go You’re Way (And I’ll Go Mine) Meet Me In The Morning [with Jack White on electric guitar] Highway 61 Revisited Nettie Moore Summer Days Masters Of War Thunder On The Mountain Blowin’ In The Wind Ryman Auditorium September 20 2007 Cat’s In The Well Lay Lady Lay I’ll Be Your baby Tonight Working Man’s Blues #2 High Water (For Charlie Patton) Spirit On The Water Tangled Up In Blue One More Cup Of Coffee [with jack White on guitar and vocals] Outlaw Blues {with Jack White on guitar and vocals] ‘Til I Fell In Love With You When The Deal Goes Down Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again Ain’t Talkin’ Summer Days Ballad Of A Thin Man Thunder on the Mountain I Shall Be Released