Quentin Tarantino

Every time I sit and watch a Quentin Tarantino film, it amazes me that the man has still not been arrested.

Now, I used to be a huge fan of Tarantino, and I was one of those who'd rant and rave about how great Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill were- although now I take a very different stance.

As a director, Tarantino is by no means origional. He may claim that his films are homages to his favourites, but in reality their just a series of cliche'd ideas, over used techniques, and stolen content.

He does have a talent for writing screen plays, although anybody who considers these- or any other aspect of Tarantiono's work, to be clever social commentaries or anything else to any true substance or merit, is sadly mistaken.

At best they are light entertainment, and they are entertaining- particularly Pulp Fiction, although they are not as sophisticated or as revolutionary as some would have you believe- especially Tarantino.

His characters have achieved a cult status, although they are not masterful complexities as they are often described as being, rather they are flat and lifeless, shallow and just contrived.

Oh, and then there's the fact that his films are really just other peoples ideas slammed into one another- just look at Kill Bill vol. 1.

Tarantino is a hack. The entire ending sequence from Resevoir Dogs (I believe that was it) was stolen from an obscure Japanese film that was never released outside Japan. The rest of his stuff is stylish, but incredibly empty.

I dont think him stealing ideas from other movies is a way to discredit him, considering that it really is his style. Many of his plot points, jokes, references, anything comes from either other films that he reveres or from pop culture. I don't think it qualifies him as a hack that he pays homage to many, many things in all of his movies. Perhaps it doesn't make him the most original screenplay author around, but it doesn't stop his movies from being damn good.

I'll admit his movies are good, at least in terms of flash and dazzle. But come on, if you painted an exact replica of La Gioconda, but for a top hat and tuxedo on her, I don't think you would be considered a masterful or even "great" artist...especially if all your works were in a similar vein.

I wouldn't venture so far as to say that Tarantino is the worst director of all time, but it doesn't take a brain surgeon to see that he isn't the most original filmmaker out there. In my book he's average, at best.

I'll admit, Pulp Fiction was an entertaining movie, but by no means the absolute, hands down, bar none best movie ever made. It was fun, but it didn't change my life, or present me with anything I hadn't seen in an action flick before.

But Kill Bill, for some reason or other, just really blows my goat. Has it come to a point where a director can ripoff (or in Tarantino-Speak, "homage") a once-proud movie and slam it into an freeze-dried revenge movie?

Apparently so.

What Kill Bill really boils down to is an underdeveloped, two-dimensional charecter wandering through a paper-thin plot. Please explain to me why we should care for such wooden acting and frigid charecterization?

But what about the plot? Girl gets beat up, her baby dies, girl gets revenge, that more or less covers it. One would think that with a man of Tarantino's stature in the industry would want to expand on such a barebones plot. But the connect-the-dots manner in which the story was told left me both shocked and frustrated. A storyteller this man is not.

Kill Bill also borrows many of it's scenes, sequences and ideas from other movies. Namely, Citizen Kane, Highlander, The Green Hornet, Eaten Alive, Game of Death and even Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn. I'm sure there's more, I believe that he also stole (whoops, "homaged") the soundtrack from an obscure Lucio Fulci movie. I have no problem with borrowing from other movies, but this is just plain ridiculous.

I guess what I'm getting at is, no matter how good his movies are anymore, people will continue to believe in the god-like status that Quentin obviously does not deserve. That that truly scares me.

I'm not saying that he's a horrible director, just heinously overrated. But if this trend continues, Quentin Tarantino *will* be the downfall of modern American cinema as we know it.

There, I'm done ranting. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go watch the original Dawn of the Dead, the movie that's got it all. Violence, a plot, and a scathing social commentary.

I think he's a good director because his movies are greatly entertaining.

Personally, I think that talent is overrated.

I guess I'll have to be the first one to say it: his movies suck. Pulp Fiction was only good in some parts, and both of the Kill Bill's were more about humans as blood containers waiting to die than actual story.

Is the blood supposed to funny, realistic, or just nasty?

Originally Posted by Elijah

Is the blood supposed to funny, realistic, or just nasty?

It's an exaggerated throwback to old Japanese samurai movies. It's hardly realistic (at least in the first; it was toned down somewhat in the second), so I'd say it's meant to be funny, although not really in a laugh-out-loud way.

Originally Posted by SearanoX

It's an exaggerated throwback to old Japanese samurai movies. It's hardly realistic (at least in the first; it was toned down somewhat in the second), so I'd say it's meant to be funny, although not really in a laugh-out-loud way.

Principally Shurayukihime, which the film is pretty much a copy of.

I don't care what anyone says: Pulp Fiction is my fave and Kill Bill gave me more excitement than any thing I've ever seen at the cinema. The only flick of his I didn't care about was Jackie Brown.

I really liked Kill Bill... that gunshot at the beginning scared the "poop" out of me. All the blood was hilarious, like he O-ren cuts off that guy's head and there's one or to seconds until the blood comes out... it looks like a red fountain, then the blood stopping looks like a hose is being turned off lol. I'm not all defensive about the movies, but they gave me a lot of enjoyment, good fighting and acting even if it was purposefully overdone. I thought the way some of the shots were done was cool too, like in Kill Bill 2 where Bill is talking to Beatrix and it shows their feet instead of them all the time. Even if he's unoriginal, he still puts entertainment into the world that people enjoy, what's wrong with that?

He's not horrible, but he gets more credit than he deserves, well Kill Bill anyway. I wouldn't know about the others. And even worse, he actually thinks of them as groundbreaking and classic. Or if not that, he seems to think highly of them. I remember him saying Kill Bill was a "great idea" and other bull like that in one of his commentaries about the film. He has this quirky, hard to express in words style added to them(dosen't seem original either, though), but as people have said, its mostly, not even recycled ideas-- but carbon copies of them sometimes rolled up into one that are considered "homages" way too often. A nod at a couple may be good, when you see that the own film itself lacks anything else going for it...that's not good. No substance at all. When you think about it, the form is terrible and loose(it could've worked, but eh, the execution was something else). The storytelling tries to be an engima, but it confuses and gets repetitive at some points. There's not much of engima to make out of it anyways. He tries to emphasize that the elment of simple revenge is super deep or somethnig, but I honestly don't see it there. Overall, the entertainment value wasn't that great either to me(fight scenes were not up the to the par I'm accustomed to, I suppose). But I'll watch it.

The first Kill bill was Samuria, the second kung fu western. Considering its supossed to be viewed as one film I don't think it matters. But yes, being an aviod watcher of cult films on SBS I was able to spot many of the "influences" and "homages". I hope you realise I'm being saracastic. One good then that came out of it, combined with madman entertainment going from strength to strength, is that the orginal films are able to be promoted as being the inspiration for kill bill and may get people who don't prove forking out money for overseas, non english films to do so.

Originally Posted by SearanoX

Tarantino is a hack. The entire ending sequence from Resevoir Dogs (I believe that was it) was stolen from an obscure Japanese film that was never released outside Japan. The rest of his stuff is stylish, but incredibly empty.

The only way you can get away with copying other films is by "paying homage" , yeah, he's a hack, but a damn good one. Sure, tarantino "borrows" a lot of content from japanese only films, but in a way, it's nice that He gives us a taste of whats coming out of other film industries besides the US.

Originally Posted by vacumgod

it's nice that He gives us a taste of whats coming out of other film industries besides the US.

Did you just capitalise his name, comparing (er, paying homage) him to God? :O

I love Tarantino's movies. In fact, I'd boldly state that Pulp Fiction is the single greatest movie ever made. Yeah, I know Tarantino "borrows" ideas but that doesn't mean that his films aren't well made. Plus, they're brilliantly written. Almost every single line in Pulp Fiction is quotable. It's amazing.
Also, Resevoir Dogs had an undeniable positive effect on the movie industry during the early ninties. It was incredibly influential.

Originally Posted by Re-Dead

I love Tarantino's movies. In fact, I'd boldly state that Pulp Fiction is the single greatest movie ever made. Yeah, I know Tarantino "borrows" ideas but that doesn't mean that his films aren't well made. Plus, they're brilliantly written. Almost every single line in Pulp Fiction is quotable. It's amazing.
Also, Resevoir Dogs had an undeniable positive effect on the movie industry during the early ninties. It was incredibly influential.

As far as I'm concerned it was only in the same ilk as the Spice Girls revolutionised the music industry.

Furthermore, many of the characters used in Resevoir Dogs, sceneraios ect. aren't actually Tarantino material.

Originally Posted by Vega

As far as I'm concerned it was only in the same ilk as the Spice Girls revolutionised the music industry.

Furthermore, many of the characters used in Resevoir Dogs, sceneraios ect. aren't actually Tarantino material.

That maybe true, but it falls down to this- I saw Resevoir Dogs before I even knew how much Tarantino had borrowed, as I'm sure many people have. So, I'm not too bothered by what Tarantino didn't come up, I'll always just have Resevoir Dogs. He made it and it was something fresh for Western audiances.