I just bought some shaved turkey yesterday to have turkey sandwiches for lunch this week. I had one today and I’m already tired of it! I’m dreading this week of turkey sandwiches. Ugh.
The good news is I got a fresh tube of toothpaste and it’s a really nice feeling having a full tube, not having to struggle to get any toothpaste out. It’s a really reassuring feeling when you’re brushing your teeth, knowing you have a ton of toothpaste left and that you won’t have to struggle like you were just the other day to get the last bit out for quite some time. Victory!
…but that turkey. Bleck!
He’s talented. Over rated by a young fan base, but talented. His constant homage to cult cinema is great.
I can deal with that, George. Also, you have my favorite male singing voice of all-time.
His next, “Inglorious Bastards” – waiting with bated breath.
George – Speaking of being over-rated, yes I think he is too over-rated, ever see his interviews, man… he is crazy, but surprisingly his movies aren’t. Even his homages to grindhouse flicks, japanese samurai movies, those slow westerns look authentic, interesting and first rate.
Derick – thanks for starting a thread where we can type anything.
Shotzi – I did not see that response coming, funny!
He has moments of brilliance- “Reservoir Dogs” and “Jackie Brown”- both masterpieces and in totally different directions genre wise, but I’m not getting into a discussion about “Pulp Fiction” as this causes too many red thumbs and a lot of Fanboy pontifications, which I can’t really agree with, much as I have the courage of my convictions. He’s too looked upon as a pop cultural messiah and, whist he does have some panace and visual flair, the dialogue tends to be empty, if humourous and curious, but without emotional engagement or narrative purpose, which somewhat betrays his talents.
His documented former life in a video store is now the stuff of legend, and for my money, he makes great junk, but there are plenty of better directors working who deserve the praise and adulation which has been misplaced with Tarantino for far too long. Still, he has a loyal fanbase, so he must be doing something right. But he’s a bit too geek chic for my tastes.
However, I could watch “Jackie Brown” forever more- it’s a mature, considered, emotionally engaging, warm, funnny, heartfelt piece of work, where the soundbite Tarantino emerges with the talent of a great director, and makes a film of real substance. He took great risk with his two lead actors, Pam Grier and Robert Forster, who mirrored their own careers, which were on the skids, and created two characters that you really cared about, in situations that you could empathise with.
I’m sure I’ll be “STRUCK DOWN WITH GREAT VENGENCE AND FURRRRIOUS ANGER” when certain fans of the ‘messiah’ come to read this.
I like vanilla scented candles. They make my house smell cookilicious!
I think he’s overrated, but he’s def got talent. To be honest, I think the homage thing is running thin because he’s running out of genres but I still like his movies for the most part (but Death Proof is unwatchable in my opinion tho). For better or worse, he’s changed the way that films are made and def the indepent film circuit. I think he’s exactly the type of filmmaker he wanted to be as well as probably in the same vein of the ones he worshipped as a video store clerk.
I think it is important to, in this case, separate Tarantino the director and Tarantino the writer. His style of writing is open up to serious debate…I loved the screenplays for Resevoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, but he needed some SERIOUS editing for Death Proof. He also writes a lot of scenes to be cool for the sake of being cool, without adding anything to the plot. A lot of people do this, sure, and it’s OK in small doses, but he takes it to the limit sometimes.
And the dude loves dialogue a little too much. Again, the man needs to learn to edit.
But I think Tarantino’s direction is fantastic. He has a visual style that borrows heavily from other genres yet still somehow feels Tarantino-esque. He knows how to conduct a scene, no matter how complicated, and the performances he gets out of his actors are superb. So I like him as a director, and I think if he hired a screenwriter to write for him or edit his work he could make some serious classics.
For what it’s worth, I’ve never seen Jackie Brown. And while Pulp Fiction is a great movie (in my opinion), my favorite of his is Kill Bill (as two separate movies it’s pretty good, but as one long epic I think its sensational, even though, again, I realize there are some shortcomings in the screenplay).
Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown are his best works IMO. His more recent work has been of a lesser quality, perhaps due to hanging out too much with Robert Rodriguez.
@ Film Andy: It’s actually Inglorious Basterds, bastards with an E, for some ungodly reason. The script I read isn’t that hot, but there are a few interesting parts. It will be a step up from Death Proof at least. It might end up being really good. Some of the stills from the shoot have looked cool.
I think that Tarantino’s a natural talent, and if he were at all capable of broadening his scope as a writer and storyteller I’d be inclined to label him a genuine virtuoso. His sense of timing, rhythm and composition are top notch—and outside of Woody Allen, I don’t think there’s an American-born Writer/Director living who has a keener sense of the overall pattern of his dialogue, and how to work it throughout the length of a film. (Although I’m begging for correction on that last point.)
. All that said, I think his sensibilities are irreversibly stunted, and he’s largely responsible for debasing the tastes of most movie-going males under the age of 40. Also, I’m pretty sure that if he had to go an entire film without a string of shock imagery, he’d be lost and without much of an audience at all.
To put it in terms that fans of comic-book movies would understand, I think that he’s the Wolverine of modern film-makers; he’s the best at what he does. But considering the nature of his work, I have to wonder if there’s any point to it?
I think hes a talented director. He makes fun films. Deep and profound I have not seen yet, but a good story teller he is. I have not seen Jackie Brown, but Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction were good pieces. He has a tendency to interweave different time frames and plot elements, tying them into the movie, for the viewer to piece together. I think that is why people love him, he makes engaging cinema.
@ Shotzi – Thanks for the correction and when I google’d for bast’e’rds nobody has any idea why and what it means.
i think its basterds just because of dialect. when you pronounce the word bastard do you say bass-tard or bass-turd. meet in the middle and you get basterd.
i think tarentino is a moon faced dork whos style only sells because its fast paced and typically deals with drugs sex and murder.
he makes very fun and entertaining fluff.
Vincent’s sincerity is very touching.
Vincent. College is fun and all, but it is netiquette not to post when you are fucked out of your mind. Jesus its only a Thursday. My exams finish on Friday.
I agree with her (I meant SHE)
I agree with She, too, but always thought that was sort of a given about Tarantino. I don’t think he’s ever been considered a particularly intellectual filmmaker or anything.
I just went out to the lake to cleanse my memories of Death proof. Lost of shots of me looking serene, studious. Lamentation abound.
When I was ready to leave, I felt something drip down my shoulder. It was bird shit.
Looking up the glassy avenue I saw Quentin Tarantino.
He gave me the finger.
I gestated that more and more time would be spent at that lake.
That’s beautiful man. I mean it.
I think he’s a bit over rated, yes he’s got some talent but so does one Mr. Paul Thomas Anderson, who came around the block about the same time, who i think is a lot more talented!
Inglorious is also spelled “inglourious” by Mr Tarantino, so the title is Inglourious Basterds.
I figured it was because he can’t spell and when he learned that he misspelled the title on his draft he didn’t want to look like an idiot…
He had a great writing formula that worked well with his crime style films and I think it failed with his other works as he tried to broaden his genre spectrum. As many said already talented, yet overrated. I think he went down hill after hooking up with Robert Rodriguez. I have never given any of his films a second glance other than “Reservoir Dogs”.
The Inglourious Basterds [double sic] script is wrought with typos. They’re everywhere. The one that leaked, at least. I would think someone fixed all that for a final draft and all. The man is not much of a speller, that’s all there is to it.
I noticed Guillermo Del Toro isn’t much for spelling either. Must be a screen writers secret.
i gotta say, as hard as it is to admit that i love Tarantino, i cannot deny it. Death Proof and Jackie Brown are two movies that i respect more than most others. i cannot get enough. as long as he keeps putting them out, i’ll kepp watching them.
tarantino has created cinematic brilliance before. that’s a fact. i only hope he’ll make cinematic brilliance again.
So Vincent got the boot, eh? Huh.
To Andrew Kay. You mentioned his dialogue seemed empty. A lot of people said that about Cassavettes. Quentin Tarantino is no Cassavettes, but the idea is character. These characters live and breath in the seemingly empty dialogue. Also I think die-hard Tarantino lovers shouldn’t be offended by your post. It was very fair.
Derick Kohler
Just say anything you want, I think he has a very unique and interesting style. He has a real polarizing effect though, what do Criterion fans think?