Quentin Tarantino Appreciation

[The Dark Knight]

Just saw Inglourious Basterds.

It's knocked me for six.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I've always been a Tarantino fan (I say that Pulp Fiction is not only one of my all-time favourites but also one of the best films ever made).

I'd been suspecting for a while that Tarantino was something of a spent talent who was now chiefly interested in goofing off with his buddies Rodriguez and Roth, who always seem to bring out the worst in him. Fifteen years ago, Tarantino was making wonderful films like Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. In recent years, though, we've found him playing "guest director" on Sin City and helping to bring utter garbage like Hostel Part II into the world.

For my money, Inglourious Basterds is one helluva comeback. The Tarantino of 1992-97 is back and perhaps better than ever. In Inglourious Basterds, all the characters have distinct voices and personalities. And they're more human, more real, than any characters Tarantino has ever served up.

He's a sort of one-man Beatles of filmmaking. There's never been anyone quite like him. No one knows more about cinema (all genres and eras), or has such an instinctive and dazzling command of its language. Neither has anyone else displayed such mastery across a range of styles. No one writes dialogue like he does or tells a story as distinctively or grippingly as he does. The man is an genu-ine genius of film. The competition? He makes yer Marc Forsters and yer Christopher Nolans look like talentless wankers.

Over and above any of those things, though, and the reason I have such admiration for him, is that he's always walked it like he's talked it. He's always done things his own way. He's never sold out, never made a studio blockbuster just for the money, and he's the only filmmaker (well, apart from Werner Herzog) whom I can imagine actually risking life and limb if the need arose in order to capture that one perfect take instead of compromising. This is the man who (according to legend, anyway) was absolutely delighted when he was imprisoned for a short time (for non-payment of parking fines), because he saw it as an opportunity to gather some dialogue from real criminals. Tarantino may be a multimillionaire, but he's not and has never been a pampered Hollywood fake. He's the real deal, with a unique vision and seemingly boundless raw talent to match.

Not only every film geek in this world, but also every director in this world, and I don't care who they are, wants to be this man. He's a true superstar, a film director as rock star (of Michael Jackson proportions), and a total giant. Never shall we see his like again.

But, back to Inglourious Basterds.  I think it's a flawed masterpiece, but, let's face it, flawed masterpieces are so much more exciting than, well, masterpieces. And in terms of the sheer amount, the sheer awesome firepower, of raw filmmaking genius that's on display here, Inglourious Basterds is a very, very strong claim indeed for Tarantino as one of the greatest directors of all time. A wild, erratic, more than somewhat undisciplined great director (when you get down to it, though, aren't they all?), but a great director nonetheless.

Welcome back, Quentin. Welcome back.

[Paul (ral)]

Hope to see IB this week. I've been a QT fan for longer than I can remember.

I remember hocking round a bootleg of Reservoir Dogs in college - since it was banned here.

[The Joker]

Glad you enjoyed Inglourious Basterds, TDK. 

It's one movie I'm definately going to be checking out soon. If it wasnt for having to work this weekend, I'm sure I would have already.

[batass4880]

Yeah he's amazing. It's pretty cool that he could do all of what he's done even though he never went to film school. Even though he didn't direct it, my favorite movie that he worked on is True Romance. The story and dialog is pure and unfiltered Tarantino

[Paul (ral)]

Anyone ever see My Best Friend's Birthday?

[Azrael]

Read some very good reviews of this film, hope to see it soon.

[thecolorsblend]

I've always liked QT's 90's output.  I never really saw what was supposed to be so awesome about Reservoir Dogs.  To me, the redeeming aspects of that one are the dialogue and the music.  In general, it seems to be a fairly straight forward crime flick.  Nothing wrong with that, you understand, I just never saw why everybody goes berserk over it.

So anyway.  Everybody loves Pulp Fiction.  Jackie Brown gets mixed reviews (and to be honest, there are a few minor trims I would've made) but overall I think it's one of his stronger works.

If his resume ended there, I think he'd have a pretty strong one overall.  The simple fact of the matter is that any director would be happy to have any one of those films under their belt.

Another thing I dig about Tarantino is his film preservation efforts.  Love or hate the guy's movies, but you have to admire his efforts on this.

[Sandman]

I will prob see it soon, I lost alot of respect for him when i saw Death Proof so hopfully this will fix that wrong.

[johnnygobbs]

I've enjoyed all of Tarantino's films so far from Reservoir Dogs to Death Proof (I'm not including his chapter of Four Rooms which I haven't seen and don't really count as one of his features anyway).  However, I'm not sure about Inglorious Basterds judging from what I've heard, simply because I have slight issues with its revisionist take on history.  It's almost as if he's twisted one of the worst periods in recent history (i.e. the Holocaust) into an exploitation flick in which the Jews get to kill Hitler.  If only that had been so... 

At least 'Defiance' depicted a real incident in which Jewish survivors defied their Nazi captors.

I'm sure I'll enjoy the film when I get round to seeing it, as I have all QT's other movies (including the much maligned Death Proof).  It's just that I have a few qualms about IB's subject matter.

[Sandman]

WOW Someone that liked Death Proof lol.

Mabye it was because of all the long overdrawn stuff, Mabye it was just seeing one of my childhood heros getting the sh*t kicked out of him, but i thought it was the worst movie i've seen in a long time.

But if you like it hey thats cool dude, To each his own.