The Quentin Tarantino Thread

[pedromonkey]

there seems to be a love/hate thing surrounding the work of Quentin Tarantino on the labs, someone referred to him as a hack and someone called him very hollywood but still one of us...

For me, if it wasn't for QT then i wouldn't be here on the labs, because watching his films and his enthusiasm for cult movies that i decided to search out films that i never new existed. From Blaxsploitation to French New wave etc...

So if you love his work or hate his stuff here is the place to talk everything Tarantino...

[thundercrack]

Quentin Tarantino is an untalented Director with no originality as every film he's directed are rip-offs of other films, even Pulp Fiction's ezekiel speech is directly nicked ftom a Sonny Chiba Street Fighter film. The only remotely original film he's directed is Jackie Brown and that's based on a novel.

[the blob]

Originally Posted by thundercrack

Quentin Tarantino is an untalented Director with no originality as every film he's directed are rip-offs of other films, even Pulp Fiction's ezekiel speech is directly nicked ftom a Sonny Chiba Street Fighter film. The only remotely original film he's directed is Jackie Brown and that's based on a novel.

Can't agree at all! Reservoir Dogs was one of the most explosive feature film debuts of all-time and Inglorious Basterds is an absolute masterpiece. As for his plaguerism, in the world of horror/action/crime etc, booms have always followed a successful film which everyone then tries to capitalise on in their own way. He's not writing Shakespeare and he's not David Lean. He makes movies that are entertainment and he's just putting his own take on movies he loves. As a director/writer/producer, he's highly skilled in his camera work, dialogue, music, casting.. the only thing I don't like him as is an actor!

Yes, I'm a Tarantino fan.

[Concertina]

Originally Posted by the blob

, the only thing I don't like him as is an actor!

Yes, I'm a Tarantino fan.

C'mon...he was great in From Dusk Til Dawn.

I love his films. As far as plagerism...I've always seen it as homage.


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[the blob]

Originally Posted by Concertina

I love his films. As far as plagerism...I've always seen it as homage.

That's a much better word for it.

[Gojirosan]

My initial reaction to QT is one of annoyance and wishing he would go away. Such an irritating man.

And then there's his work...what a confusing mix of the inspired and the dreadful!

I was a film critic when he appeared on the scene with the astonishing Reservoir Dogs, a very fine heist/noir homage full of excellent performances. And what an impact it made! I many ways it was the new Star Wars in the way it made casual punters into film buffs. A dashed good film and one I have enjoyed many times...though not recently.

And then he blew the roof off the cinema world with Pulp Fiction. It seemed lazier than Reservoir Dogs, but had enough punch and glitz to drag you in...at first. Unlike Reservoir Dogs each repeated viewing brought out the flaws and the triteness. Eventually I could see how thinly it was all stretched. I actually gave away my VHS of it. I still find it awkward now.

And so on...Jackie Brown is great (probably his best) aided by being based upon a creditable source rather than Tarantino himself, Kill Bill was just awful in my opinion, and was largely inexcusable. QT had been around long enough to rein in his clumsy excesses and yet here he was not so much wearing his influences on his sleeve as wearing an entire fanboy suit of them and ramming them incoherently down your throat. Death Proof is an amateurish farrago saved only by a bevy of stunningly sexy women and the greatest car in history.

Films based on his writings are similarly mixed: True Romance is excellent and certainly Tony Scott's greatest achievement, From Dusk Till Dawn is fun at first but doesn't hold up to repeated viewings á la Pulp Fiction. Then there's Natural Born Killers...I don't know who is more at fault, Tarantino or Stone, but Natural Born Killers is just a disaster. It tries so many things and fails at them all. An absolute turkey and one that, if I was Tarantino, I would be desperate to hide away off my filmography.

I've not yet seen all of Inglorious Basterds, I've sat down to watch it a couple of times and had no joy getting into it - before you ask! I will see it one day, but away from this forum I have nor heard very good things about it and this bumps it down the priority list.

So...an annoying human being but an occasionally talented one. If only his disasters weren't so colossally disasterous. Because his good stuff isn't good enough to balance it out.

[broonage]

Love his work. Basterds was amazing!!

[thundercrack]

Originally Posted by the blob

Can't agree at all! Reservoir Dogs was one of the most explosive feature film debuts of all-time and Inglorious Basterds is an absolute masterpiece. As for his plaguerism, in the world of horror/action/crime etc, booms have always followed a successful film which everyone then tries to capitalise on in their own way. He's not writing Shakespeare and he's not David Lean. He makes movies that are entertainment and he's just putting his own take on movies he loves. As a director/writer/producer, he's highly skilled in his camera work, dialogue, music, casting.. the only thing I don't like him as is an actor!

Yes, I'm a Tarantino fan.

Resevoir Dogs isn't original as it's a direct rip-off of the Chow Yun Fat film City on Fire.

[PaulD]

He wears his influences on his sleeve for sure but to call anything he does a plain rip-off seems a bit unjust to me. I don't dislike anything he's directed at all and, if anything, just wish he would direct more regularly.

Oh, and Gojirosan, regarding Natural Born Killers Tarantino has said that Stone amended his original script so much that he doesn't really feel he had much to do with it. Watching the film it's quite clear all of the choices are that of the director and not the scriptwriter I think, and I don't even think Tarantino watched the full film out of disgust.

[Gojirosan]

Originally Posted by PaulD

Oh, and Gojirosan, regarding Natural Born Killers Tarantino has said that Stone amended his original script so much that he doesn't really feel he had much to do with it. Watching the film it's quite clear all of the choices are that of the director and not the scriptwriter I think, and I don't even think Tarantino watched the full film out of disgust.

Yeah, I think that's right when I think back it's a very Stone film.