Quentin Tarantino Top 10

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Directing is considered "the end-all-be-all." We worship directors and despise directors and basically consider movies to the be property, the output, the vision of directors.



In general, people want one person we can praise or blame for everything (e.g., the president) and the director, is the person we picked to be God. There are too many people to keep track of off-screen, so we picked the director to be "it." Apart from that we marvel at off-screen performances. Give me good actors, a good writer, and a good editor and I can give you a competent film, even with a sub-par director. On the other hand, if we have an above-par director with sub-par writers and actors and editing, and you will probably have a beautifully shot dud. We just don't seem to be able ever really wrap our heads around the fact that filmmaking is a collaborative process and that there is a lot of contingency in terms of how all moving parts of a production intersect.

I think the actors and the screenplay are fairly secondary to the greatness of a film (certainly not irrelevant, and can even aid in pushing it into 'great' territory', but definitely not essential). Editing though is the life blood of the film. A good director without a great editor 9 times out of 10 is sunk.



And there obviously needs to be more awareness of the collaborative element of a film. This is where the magic often happens, with this interplay of people working together towards one common goal. But, even though I agree we need to elevate the value of cinematographers and editiors and sound designers and costumers and special fx guys, I also tend to view a director as ultimately being in charge of the final result. Just like a painter uses paints to create their masterpieces, a director uses the talents of others as his basic medium. Ideally, he tells them what he wants, and then forms what they do into his vision.



I think the actors and the screenplay are fairly secondary to the greatness of a film (certainly not irrelevant, and can even aid in pushing it into 'great' territory', but definitely not essential). Editing though is the life blood of the film. A good director without a great editor 9 times out of 10 is sunk.



And there obviously needs to be more awareness of the collaborative element of a film. This is where the magic often happens, with this interplay of people working together towards one common goal. But, even though I agree we need to elevate the value of cinematographers and editiors and sound designers and costumers and special fx guys, I also tend to view a director as ultimately being in charge of the final result. Just like a painter uses paints to create their masterpieces, a director uses the talents of others as his basic medium. Ideally, he tells them what he wants, and then forms what they do into his vision.

Sure, we don't want to be trapped in a binary of the director either being everything or nothing.



The relative invisibility everyone else who busts their butt to make it happen is, nevertheless, disappointing. Moreover, it is sometimes striking how poorly paid they are (e.g., writers). I credit Tarantino with True Romance, because his voice is very clear in the script.



This was a lot harder than I expected.

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
3. Reservoir Dogs
4. Django Unchained
5. Death Proof
6. The Hateful Eight
7. Kill Bill Vol. 2
8. Inglourious Basterds
9. Kill Bill Vol. 1

A few of these are long overdue for a rewatch, but here's where my ranking stands as of now.

Also, I haven't seen Jackie Brown.
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1. Pulp Fiction
2. Kill Bill
3. Reservoir Dogs
4. Death Proof
5. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
6. Django Unchained
7. Jackie Brown
8. Four Rooms segment
9. Inglourious Basterds
10. The Hateful Eight
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Pulp Fiction
Jackie Brown
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Kill Bill
Inglourious Basterds
Django Unchained
The Hateful Eight
Reservoir Dogs
Death Proof
Four Rooms segment


For the record I like them all, although a few I haven't seen in a while.



For some reason, I still haven't gotten to Death Proof. With that caveat, here's my ranking...

  1. Pulp Fiction
  2. Kill Bill
  3. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  4. Reservoir Dogs
  5. Inglourious Basterds
  6. Jackie Brown
  7. Django Unchained
  8. The Hateful Eight

Jackie Brown is waaaay overdue for a rewatch. Haven't seen that in probably 15+ years.
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Let's see, if I had to rank Tarantino, it'd currently look like...


Jackie Brown
Pulp Fiction
Kill Bill, Vol. 2
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Kill Bill, Vol. 1
(the gap here is for the ones I found kind of disappointing: )
Reservoir Dogs
The Hateful Eight
Death Proof
Django Unchained
Inglourious Basterds


Basically, the more character development in his movies, the better; the less, the worse.
For some reason, I still haven't gotten to Death Proof.
Well, there's a good reason why it's generally regarded as his worst movie...



It's interesting that "Once a Upon a Time" is so high on so many lists. I thought it was OK and that it had some fun moments, but it didn't really grab me - seemed like one of his middling efforts.



The trick is not minding
It's interesting that "Once a Upon a Time" is so high on so many lists. I thought it was OK and that it had some fun moments, but it didn't really grab me - seemed like one of his middling efforts.
I would rate it higher then Django, Hateful 8, and Deathproof.



It's interesting that "Once a Upon a Time" is so high on so many lists. I thought it was OK and that it had some fun moments, but it didn't really grab me - seemed like one of his middling efforts.
I struggled with it somewhat when I watched it in the theaters, but when I revisited it on DVD later, I was blown away.



For some reason, I still haven't gotten to Death Proof. With that caveat, here's my ranking...

  1. Pulp Fiction
  2. Kill Bill
  3. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  4. Reservoir Dogs
  5. Inglourious Basterds
  6. Jackie Brown
  7. Django Unchained
  8. The Hateful Eight

Jackie Brown is waaaay overdue for a rewatch.
Haven't seen that in probably 15+ years.
It's his best. And that's because the great Elmore Leonard created it. Pulp Fiction would come in second. Don't bother with Death Proof and Reservoir Dogs. The rest are all take 'em or leave 'em.



I mainline Windex and horse tranquilizer

Basically, the more character development in his movies, the better; the less, the worse.Well, there's a good reason why it's generally regarded as his worst movie...



Eat me, Stu.


Someone once said that of the Grindhouse movies, Death Proof succeeds at what it set out to do: pay homage to the old grindhouse style movies. Planet Terror is like a movie a kid made whose older brother told him about grindhouse movies.



Well, there's a good reason why it's generally regarded as his worst movie...

It's like they're ugly, but you would still sleep with them.



Pulp Fiction is great. Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown and Kill Bill are good.

The rest are average at best, except for The Hateful 8, which is appalling. Not seen Death Proof.



“Sugar is the most important thing in my life…”
I’m curious to what the draw is with Jackie Brown. It is easily the most forgettable of all his movies that I’ve seen. Anybody that can share why they enjoy it so much, I’d love to know.

Pulp Fiction is such a landmark movie. The aftermath of that film is unlike anything I remember. That and how many dorm rooms I walked into with Uma Thurman starring at me.

The Holy Trinity of dorm posters-

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Bob Marley (Peter Tosh if you were really trying)
3. Scarface

I’ve never considered TR to be his movie. Tony Scott created a haziness that really affected the mood of that movie, that I don’t see QT doing. I’m comfortable believing he made the best version of this movie.



Eat me, Stu.


Someone once said that of the Grindhouse movies, Death Proof succeeds at what it set out to do: pay homage to the old grindhouse style movies. Planet Terror is like a movie a kid made whose older brother told him about grindhouse movies.

Do we trust you to comment objectively about this one?



What I can say for the Grindhouse combo is that when I saw it, that was the most fun I'd had in a theater in a while.



When you watch it for a second time, not in a theater, it's not quite the same experience, because you start wondering if these are supposed to be good bad movies or bad good movies. I think Planet Terror is supposed to be the former. I think Death Proof is the latter. Or perhaps Death Proof is Quentin trying to veil a Quentin Tarantino movie as grindhouse movie. Death Proof commits less and less to the gag as the film goes on. For example, the print gets cleaner and cleaner as the film moves into the second half. Quentin pulls back the veil of the gummy faux old movie print stuff at the end, because he wants you to have a clear view of the big car chase.



If the film had stayed dark, I think it would have had staying power, but it ends as a sort of Looney Toons cartoon. Wile E. Coyote gets his comeuppance and the film ends. He is going for the sort of tonal shift that we get in From Dusk Till Dawn, but the second half of the film doesn't really land for me.



Victim of The Night
Assuming we're only talking about as a director:

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

You can keep the rest.



Victim of The Night
It's his best. And that's because the great Elmore Leonard created it. Pulp Fiction would come in second. Don't bother with Death Proof and Reservoir Dogs. The rest are all take 'em or leave 'em.
Ya know, no matter how many times I watch it, I can never figure out the sub-cult of people who think it's Tarantino's best film. It remains, after several attempts to appreciate it, my least favorite of his movies that I actually like.



Victim of The Night
Eat me, Stu.


Someone once said that of the Grindhouse movies, Death Proof succeeds at what it set out to do: pay homage to the old grindhouse style movies. Planet Terror is like a movie a kid made whose older brother told him about grindhouse movies.
I like them both quite a bit.



Jackie Brown, like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, gets a lot of mileage out of just spending time with its characters. It helps that its stars are giving career best performances, but they are attentive to said performances to a greater degree than his other films. You'll notice how many key shots in Jackie Brown are just closeups of the actors thinking.


Their pleasures are perhaps less boisterous than Tarantino's others (although I'd argue there's still plenty of his stylishness, particularly the mall scene), but they're still very real.