And casual Tarantino fans might rank this as his best film, given all of its mass appeal. The movie's opening scene -- a 15-minute-long, dread-soaked verbal chess match where Landa linguistically and physically encircles his prey -- is a high-water mark in Tarantino's filmography. It’s probably the most often forgotten Tarantino film, but within its less than two hour running time, the director crafts a precise and wild story. Yes — Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio’s acting is magnificent, but their talent simply can’t save this pointless story. may have garnered Oscar nominations, but it’s easily the director’s worst work. Although praise was heaped on Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz for their excellent acting, Mélanie Laurent steals the show with ease. is as much a crime film as it is a love letter to its star, Pam Grier — without whom this movie amounts to very little. Aside from the Kill Bill series, Inglourious Basterds is Tarantino at his most fun. The Best Action Movies on Netflix Right Now, Movie vs Book: Which Is Better? Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. Unlike Django’s own journey, the movie itself is a long road that leads nowhere. With outstanding acting across the board and the perhaps most iconic soundtrack in cinema history, it’s no surprise Pulp Fiction was nominated for several Oscars. Given the current political landscape, Tarantino’s work has undergone a serious critical re-evaluation from Black and feminist critics and scholars who point toward both his allegedly abusive behaviors and the offensive politics and rhetoric of his films. The dialogue still pops. ©2020 Group Nine Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Forget the loftier films he'd make later in his career; this is his masterpiece. Quentin Tarantino is among the most beloved American directors, launched Julia Butters's magnificent career, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2019 Movie Guide, How Quentin Tarantino's Movies and Characters Are Connected, Quentin Tarantino Nearly Made a Pulp Fiction Prequel That Would Have Connected to Reservoir Dogs, How Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's Cast Compares to Their Real-Life Counterparts, Every Will Smith Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best. Although the rapport between characters is usually quite endearing, there are unfortunate segments of the script that simply don’t hold up to today’s standards of decency in ways that are patently unforgivable. However, to throw all of Tarantino’s movies into the trash would discount the impossible talent of his frequent collaborators and stars like Sally Menke (who edited of all Tarantino’s movies until her death in 2010), Uma Thurman (who not only played the protagonist of Tarantino’s most iconic movies, but was also credited as a co-writer on. While the ominous, sinister mood never yields, the film's plot and themes feel flimsily constructed at times. How Quentin Tarantino put Leonardo DiCaprio in somebody else’s movie Jenna: For me, the distinction is in the fact that Sharon Tate is played very earnestly, whereas most of … Although the camerawork, performances, costuming, and storytelling of, are nothing short of fantastic, it’s hard to look past what, New York Times critic A.O. For all their blood, guts, and mayhem, the best Tarantino movies are love stories. Tarantino’s debut has a bellowing voice. Yes — Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio’s acting is magnificent, but their talent simply can’t save this pointless story. In Hollywood being movie number 9, … Scott described as the “brazenly irresponsible” and historically incoherent politics of the film. Kill Bill marked the dawning of a new era for Tarantino. But not every Tarantino film is on the same level, and as Jules said it best in Pulp Fiction, a few of these movies "ain’t the same fuckin’ ballpark, it ain’t the same league, it ain’t even the same fuckin’ sport.". Tarantino's claustrophobic, Reconstruction-era chamber drama is a study in slow-burn narrative tension. A slasher film at its heart (but replacing a machete with a racecar), Tarantino is on the record saying Death Proof is the worst work he’s ever released. (It's also worth noting that he captures America's love of violence and pop culture unlike anyone else.) But it's impossible to ignore that Once Upon a Time is certainly his most emotionally honest, his most beautiful, and his most fun movie in a decade. Despite cleaning up at the box office and winning its bomb-throwing writer yet another Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, this meandering pastiche of spaghetti Western tropes, broad satirical gags, and old-fashioned Homer-aping epic storytelling comes perilously close to being Tarantino's first total misfire. But he's also redefined American cinema as we know it, with Pulp Fiction working as a blueprint for the future of independent film. Between Kill Bill: Volume 2 and the modern era of Tarantino that began with Inglourious Basterds in 2009, there was a weirdo little project that the director did alongside his friend Robert Rodriguez. Tarantino’s violent revenge fantasy seems wholly misplaced looking back on it seven years later, and the film seems more like nearly three hours of self-indulgence. But instead of improving or addressing these critiques, Tarantino doubled down on his shortcomings. The absolutely stunning acting from Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington is the real selling point of, . It’s not the most emotionally complex movie ever made, but it’s definitely one of the most entertaining. your own Pins on Pinterest Jackie Brown is as much a crime film as it is a love letter to its star, Pam Grier — without whom this movie amounts to very little. No other modern movie so effortlessly created its own language and mythology of cool. Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror preceded Tarantino's vehicular homicide slasher in their double-feature experiment, Grindhouse. The very conceit of philosophically inclined hitmen on an existential and magically real journey has left an entire neo-noir subgenre of films in its wake. One of the few times it felt difficult to meander through the carnage of a Tarantino film and really feel like any of it mattered. Tarantino’s full-length debut remains a masterclass example of a filmmaker who arrived in this world fully formed as both a writer and director. Both wickedly funny and surprisingly thoughtful, Pulp Fiction is even better than you remember. A tightly wound suspense story of an assassination gone wrong, Reservoir Dogs’ unfortunately all-white and all-male cast make this movie much less tolerable than the director’s more colorful films — but the plot itself is absurdly compelling, with unexpected twists and turns around every corner. Even the most ardent Tarantino haters must admit that the strength and resilience of Uma Thurman, who both starred in and co-authored The Bride’s bloody journey, saves these movies from complete excoriation. It’s not the most emotionally complex movie ever made, but it’s definitely one of the most entertaining. But it’s understandable that many simply didn’t have the patience for the payoff. His style and movie language has reshuffled and synthesized decades of film history into something that goes far beyond homage into an entirely new world of storytelling. That joy of filmmaking and our obsessiveness with pop culture is the heart of Kill Bill as much as it is the sheer energy and spirit of our hero the Bride, played with the seering intensity of Uma Thurman. It’s the most understated film of Tarantino’s career and surprisingly his least violent. Tragically under appreciated, Jackie Brown landed awkwardly between the generation-defining Pulp Fiction and the box office-smashing Kill Bill: Volume 1. Tarantino single-handedly redirected the future of independent cinema while creating a new standard of “cool” in movies. While a few performances were brilliantly layered and this was Tarantino’s most commercially successful film, Django feels like a massive missed opportunity for the director to do something spectacular. That being said, you can find more like this from our list of the. The narrative complexity and imminent quotability of, makes this movie impossible to avoid or ignore. While it may lack the flash and formal audacity of some of his bigger hits, it’s undoubtedly Tarantino's most human movie, an empathetic character portrait from an artist who often gets unfairly pegged as a sadist. That being said, you can find more like this from our list of the best action movies on Netflix. But Kill Bill 2 also has some of the best action choreography of Tarantino’s career—specifically the trailer showdown between Beatrix and Elle. Although praise was heaped on Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz for their excellent acting, Mélanie Laurent steals the show with ease. A tightly wound suspense story of an assassination gone wrong.