THE FILMS OF QUENTIN TARANTINO

[MasterWhedon]

As much as QT steals things from other movies, I dont think anyone else puts things together cinematically as beautifully as he does. I think while it may come across as throwing things up onto the screen to some, theres most definitely always some thought behind it, whether its a tribute to other films/directors or something from his personal life.

I dont really like when people overanalyze movies to find some social or political meanings, but I do like watching QTs films to see all the interesting references to other films and to his own personal ideas.

I doubly concur.

[burlivesleftnut]

MW, I do like QT films, and I do think he is quite brilliant, but I don't think there is much below the surface of the film, but for what he does... there is no substitute.

[lyra belacqua]

I dont really like when people overanalyze movies to find some social or political meanings, but I do like watching QTs films to see all the interesting references to other films and to his own personal ideas.

I doubly concur.

I'm just the oppostie. I'd rather look for social, philosophical, or political meanings that allusions to other movies, genres, actors, directors, etc. Maybe because 1-I like that socio-pscho-philo stuff and 2-I really just don't like not getting in-jokes and cute allusions.

As far as QT goes, the only one of his movies with depth is Jackie Brown and I'm guessing (b/c I've never read the novel, but have read other Leonard) that the depth comes from the book, not QT's take on it. And yes, I realize that even JB doesn't have much depth.

[WinslowLeach]

What I like most about QT and his movies is the fact he truly loves what he does and hes not just doing it for fame and money. Ive never met the guy but I know from speaking with people from AICN that do know him that hes just one of us film geeks who has had a chance to make the movies hes always wanted to see on the big screen. Thats a great thing to see. I dont really care who likes his movies and who doesnt, but for me personally I'm very glad hes making movies today.

[MasterWhedon]

What I like most about QT and his movies is the fact he truly loves what he does and hes not just doing it for fame and money. Ive never met the guy but I know from speaking with people from AICN that do know him that hes just one of us film geeks who has had a chance to make the movies hes always wanted to see on the big screen. Thats a great thing to see. I dont really care who likes his movies and who doesnt, but for me personally I'm very glad hes making movies today.

Yeah, it is cool that the guy's making ridiculous fanboy films, but he is a bit of a press whore.

[WinslowLeach]

Yeah QT is a big ham, but I guess its better than him being some recluse like Terrence Malick who noone ever sees.

[kookook]

Hi.I'm one of your big fan.Your movie's are all great but i love "reservoir dogs"&"pulp fiction" much more than the others.Ithink that u should work on some kind of movie like "Reservoir dogs"Again.Be cool.How is your "Uma"?Do your best. 8)

[wonkabar]

DENIED!

[ThisIsTheGirl]

As far as QT goes, the only one of his movies with depth is Jackie Brown and I'm guessing (b/c I've never read the novel, but have read other Leonard) that the depth comes from the book, not QT's take on it. And yes, I realize that even JB doesn't have much depth.

Apologies, but Reservoir Dogs has "depth" coming out of its anus.

[WinslowLeach]

I cant wait to see Grindhouse and Inglorious Bastards.

QT said that Inglorious Bastards is going to be like The Dirty Dozen meets The Good The Bad and The Ugly. That will be awesome! I wonder who he'll pick to do his cinematography on it.

Where would he should it? In Spain?

[John-Locke]

Regarding Inglorious Bastards Location, Has QT said if it will be set in Europe, Northern Africa or Asia? North Africa would be cool.

[WinslowLeach]

No he hasnt said anything about the actual shooting location, only that its going to be set in Nazi occupied France, but it will look like a Spaghetti Western atmosphere, barren land with lots of destroyed houses/towns.

[John-Locke]

If it's set in France I imagine you wouldn't shoot it in Spain, although they are neighbours the Landscape is totally different, France can be expensive to shoot in because of the French System (short days, long breaks etc) so I would recommend Germany, there are plenty of Locations and it looks similar. Possibly England or the Czech Republic.

[WinslowLeach]

Well its going to essentially be a Spaghetti Western but set in WW2. QT said that at that time in France during WW2, the barren landscapes of France was sort of the same as the look of the Spaghetti Westerns. Thats his quote. So he could shoot it in Spain (where most Spaghetti Westerns were filmed) or some other country that looks like Spain Id guess.

[John-Locke]

I have to disagree with you Winslow, If it's set in France it shouldn't look like Spain in the Slightest little bit, by barren Landscapes I'd guess he means towns that are shells of their former selves, not mountainous ranges and planes, France is a lot greener than Spain and there is no getting away from that if you want to be taken seriously (unless it's set in the Far South of France, around the Le Grande Canyon De Verdon, which I doubt)

[WinslowLeach]

Im just quoting what QT said thats all. According to him its going to be like "The Good The Bad and The Ugly set in Nazi occupied France" and he said in an interview that "during WW2 the landscapes in France looked like Spaghetti Western landscapes" (which were shot in Spain). Im not saying its def going to be shot there, but its a possibility. It very well could be shot in France or Germany or some Eastern European country.

[John-Locke]

Spanish crews are the worst in the world as well, I'm sure you have seen Lost in la Mancha and know that yourself, I imagine QT will set it in the Cold of Winter, to get the most baroness out of the locations, I can see where he's coming from (I hope) and I cant wait to hear more about this film. If Eddie Murphy is confirmed as being in this, I may just dance a little jig in jubilation, I already did a big "Yessss" and shook my fists when I heard the rumour originally.

[WinslowLeach]

JL heres an exerpt of an interview with Tarantino where he talks about the movie:

Q. You've got the script written for Inglorious Bastards - what's your take on WWII? Obviously it will be different from anything we've seen before.

QT: It'll have a very epic feel. It'll be my take on the sociological battlefield at that time with the racism and barbarism - on both sides. On the Nazi side and the American side and the black soldiers and Jewish soldiers and Nazis and the French, because it all takes place in France.

Q. Is it just after D-Day?

QT: Yeah, depending on exactly how I end up finally struturing it but there are sequences that happen before D-Day - I'll have little things like 'One Year After Occupation', and 'Four Months After Occupation. 'Two years Before Occupation' - that kind of thing, but the thrust of the story will happen after D-Day.

Q. Are you shooting it in Spain?

QT: I don't know where I'm going to shoot it. We'll figure out where I'm going to shoot it when I'm 100 per cent go on it. The other thing about it is, again, it'll kind of be my spaghetti western too. It's the one time in the 20th Century where that almost kind of spaghetti western, barren no man's land, landscape happened with the Nazis taking over countries.

Q. It sounds like Kelly's Heroes...

QT: Kelly's Heroes is a real lark. I never felt like it was that much of a spaghetti western, it was more of a caper film. I want it to be more like what The Good, The Bad And The Ugly was to the civil war.

[ThisIsTheGirl]

I'm sure I've heard him describe it as a Western Papillon, too......

Let's face it, he hasn't written it yet, so everything is still open to change

[WinslowLeach]

Hes definitely written the film already (actually enough for 3 WW2 films), but I dont know if the actual Bastards screenplay is 100% cleaned up and finished.

[ThisIsTheGirl]

Yeh - that's what he said in an interview I read when I was writing my dissertation about him. That was 1999 - it sure is taking him a long time to get it out there, huh?

He also said he was taking a few years off to learn Japanese, that's what the whole "Japanese is difficult" chat in Kill Bill is all about. (obviously, he gave that one up after a couple of months)

Perhaps I'm being overly pessimistic, but QT certainly seems given to, erm, embelishing the truth when it comes to speaking about his projects. When he says he has enough material for 3 films, what he means is, he's got a lot of ideas, but he's written virtually no dialogue.

Sad but true.....

[burlivesleftnut]

I agree with TITG... QT lies.

[WinslowLeach]

That interview was from last year when Kill Bill came out. QTs not lying about that stuff. Michael Madsen has also said during a Sin City premiere that hes read the script already.

[Maui]

Kill Bill of course.

QT is one of my favourite directors. He is clever, creative and a bit of a sick twist - which makes for unique, interesting flicks. He also carefully selects his music for his movies too, which is another thing I like about him.

On the downside, he is a fan of American Idol - I suppose I can forgive him for that.

[Leckomaniac]

Haha. Oh dear it is so ironic that this thread was created by Winslow. I mean the obvious answer is Death Proof. Duh.

[havocSchultz]

MUTHA WINSLOWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nachokoolaid]

I never chimed in here, but I have to go with Pulp Fiction. It may be the most quotable film ever. I love pretty much everything about it. I'm trying, and I can't really think of anything that I don't like about it.

[Fievel]

Maui you need to change your name to Jesus because you resurrect more dead threads than anyone else!!!

My all-time favorites are:

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Kill Bill
3. Jackie Brown
4. Reservoir Dogs
5. Kill Bill 2
6. True Romance
7. Death Proof

BUT.... if I'm going to casually watch any of them, it'd likely be Kill Bill, even though I think Pulp Fiction is better. I guess I just OD'd on Pulp Fiction in the 90's. And also, 1-5 are so close in my personal ratings that the order could have pretty much been anything.

[bastard_robo]

You guys put True Romance in there, but not FROM DUSK TILL DAWN.. thats as much QTs film as it is RR..

[Zarles]

They certainly all have their merits, but for me, it's a pretty close race between Jackie Brown and Kill Bill: Volume 1. I think they're both as mature as he's gotten so far.

[Maui]

You guys put True Romance in there, but not FROM DUSK TILL DAWN.. thats as much QTs film as it is RR..

True dat. I watched Dusk til Dawn last weekend. What a great campy movie! Salma Hayek is famous for that sexy dance scene with the snake. It's a classic, like Princess Leia in the gold bikini.

Dusk has such a great cast of characters: Clooney, Keitel, Tarantino, Lewis, Sex Machine. Love this movie!!!

[Seppuku]

Woah, looks like I'm the only one to vote for Jackie Brown. That's crazy. Bob Forster (Medium Cool); the Delfonics/Johnny Cash/Bloodstone/Bill Withers/Brothers Johnson covering Shuggie Otis etc.; a fucking sexy Bridget Fonda; one of Bobbie DeNiro's last good roles; Elmore Leonard's favourite adaptation of his work, even with all the changes; Chicks With Guns; Sam and Pam acting too cool for school; a laid-back QT, not trying to impress, but doing it naturally; all of this makes for one of my favourite movies of the '90s.

Still pissed about that cut to "3-minutes later", though. Originally, the movie suddenly faded into anime style animation, and Robert DeNiro morphed into a giant tentacle, while Bridget Fonda became a Japanese schoolgirl named Midori Yuzuki...but the studios said the scene dragged on too long. Ingrates!

[Conroy420]

I really want QT to get to work on IB.

He just doesn't have the will to work like a director like Speilberg or Scott has.

He also gets really distracted with projects; Deathproof came out of nowhere, it wasn't one of main projects, him and Robert were just bullshitting one day and they thought, "Wouldn't that be cool?"

*Too bad most audiences didn't think the same way.

I think IB would be awasome, and I'd rather see it sooner than later. How sweet would it be to have Butch's dad be in the story?

*I loved it.

[Keepcoolbutcare]

How sweet would it be to have Butch's dad be in the story?

wasn't his dad captured during 'Nam?

I think it was his fathers father who died in WWII, and I seem to recall Wake Island being mentioned.

which doesn't mean he can't put Grandpa Coolidge in the story, but if IB is going to be set in the European theater...

[DennisMM]

Reservoir Dogs is his most human film apart from Jackie Brown. While I like Jackie more as a production I think it lacks much of his trademark quirkiness, at least in tha quantities seen elsewhere, so I have to call Dogs my favorite. Pulp Fiction would have been at one time, but I really don't think it's held up all that well. And I think Kill Bill is such a bit of fluff it makes Fiction seem like Wppdu Allen dramas.

*runs, ducking, hands protecting head*

[Maui]

And I think Kill Bill is such a bit of fluff it makes Fiction seem like Wppdu Allen dramas.

*runs, ducking, hands protecting head*

You have just committed sacrilege. 8)

Of course it's fluff, but it's a good kind of fluff. Any right minded person knows that one can't recover from a coma of 4 years and be able to walk after a few hours of wiggling their toes in the pussy wagon - OR - take on all of the Crazy 88. It's just fun escapism. We want to see Beatrix Kiddo get her revenge no matter how farfetched it is. We buy into it because we are too focused on her kicking ass and taking names. It is the least real out of all QTs movies - but it's the most fun to watch!!

[Zarles]

I'm with Maui. It's an action flick through and through that never tries to be anything else. Volume II gets a bit more into the dramatic stuff, but Volume I is just a rollercoaster ride through an ocean of popcorn. Best. Fluff. Ever.

That's what you get for fucking around with yakuzas, Dennis.

[Fievel]

How sweet would it be to have Butch's dad be in the story?

wasn't his dad captured during 'Nam?

I think it was his fathers father who died in WWII, and I seem to recall Wake Island being mentioned.

which doesn't mean he can't put Grandpa Coolidge in the story, but if IB is going to be set in the European theater...

That would seriously be awesome if he tied the two movies together like that! Maybe Bruce could play his own grandfather. I'd just hope they'd put in a line about shoving a watch up your ass.

[Tyrone_Shoelaces]

From Dark Horizons: "Amazon.comcurrently lists a November 6th 2007 street date for a 4-disc, 247-minute Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair DVD set."

and

"The DVD release of "Grindhouse Presents Death Proof" is listed as a September 18th street date according to The Digital Bits.."

[Leckomaniac]

From Dark Horizons: "Amazon.comcurrently lists a November 6th 2007 street date for a 4-disc, 247-minute Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair DVD set."

Most excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to get my hands on this. So I guess the rumored re-release in theatres is out of the question?

[Chairman Kaga]

I think Pulp Fiction is Tarantino's best script and the dialogue shows nicely on screen. I think Kill Bill is his best all around directing effort from framing to editing to fight choreography etc etc.

[tapehead]

What fights, Kaga? or do you mean the sequence with Butch and Marcellus?

For me it's got to be Reservoir Dogs - the intricate plot, the unspoken bonds and deceptions of the characters, the iconic scenes and clever violence, the parts of the plot left open to speculation (Who shot Nice Guy Eddie?) the first time I ever heard QT's dialogue full of funny pop culture references and real life mundane and ugly expressions - I love it all.

[Leckomaniac]

What fights, Kaga? or do you mean the sequence with Butch and Marcellus?

He was talking about Kill Bill's fights. The first half of the sentence was about Pulp Fiction, but the second sentence was about Kill Bill.

[tapehead]

oh yeah

I also think the casting in Res Dogs is near perfection - each actor has a really different and distinct style, but it all works together so well. And one of the underlying stories, for me - the friendship between Mr White and Mr orange, is actually kind of touching and sad, and because of the story flashing back (and out of order) from the main setting in the warehouse, it all gets revealed gradually and beautifully.

[Lady Sheridan]

Kill Bill is my favorite for gratuitous reasons, but I've always preferred Reservoir Dogs over Pulp Fiction. It's a tighter script, the dialogue is sharp, and it's clearly a heist movie.

Pulp Fiction is very good, but it kind of annoys me because I always get to the end and just go "It's fun, but does that excuse it for being random." Plus I didn't get to see it fresh, I had to see it after everyone had quoted the hell out of it and said "John Travolta dies and it's all out of sequence OMG!!" So it's never endeared itself to me. It's not that I don't appreciate it, I think it's a great film, it's just not one I get into as much.

And the French chick annoys the hell out of me.

[tapehead]

And the French chick annoys the hell out of me.

Seconded

[Zarles]

From Dark Horizons: "Amazon.comcurrently lists a November 6th 2007 street date for a 4-disc, 247-minute Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair DVD set."

and

"The DVD release of "Grindhouse Presents Death Proof" is listed as a September 18th street date according to The Digital Bits.."

:: explodes in hysterical fit of joy ::

YAY!

[Maui]

You know I'm really curious if QT will do another Kill Bill.

It would involve Beatrix's daughter and Vernita Green's daughter, the one who witnesses her Mom's death in the kitchen. It could go something like this, Vernita Green's grown up daughter finally gets revenge by killing Beatrix (Uma Thurman). Then the 2 daughters battle it out. Who the hell knows? Perhaps I'm way out in left field. But it would be cool to see.

[Zarles]

There's been talk of it for years. QT wants to use the same girl in the part, though, so there's the little matter of her growing up to be the right age.

I still wanna see the unshot scene of the fight/car chase between The Bride and GoGo Yubari's sister Yuki. Supposedly in the script, Yuki is stalking Beatrix in an ice cream truck, which is the reason why we hear that music outside Vernita Green's house at the very beginning of Volume I.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gogo_Yubari

[minstrel]

I never got into Tarantino. I bought Kill Bill 1 to see what the fuss was all about. It started off well, but that House of Blue Leaves sequence was just over-the-top to the point of utter absurdity. And it was boring!

So I didn't watch any more Tarantino until Kill Bill 2 was on TV recently. It is MUCH better than 1. I actually loved the whole Michael Madsen part. And I thought the whole climactic scene with David Carradine was excellent.

So I tried to watch Kill Bill 1 again, but still found myself fast-forwarding through the Blue Leaves bit, while whistling the Benny Hill theme ...