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My short takes on the films of Quentin Tarantino
Without a doubt, Quentin Tarantino has carved himself a niche as one of our most distinctive film directors. My review of his filmography, however, suggests that niche may be becoming a bit too narrow.
Note: This filmography includes only the films Tarantino directed, not the movies he wrote but did not direct, e.g. True Romance.
Reservoir Dogs
Genre buffs may claim that Tarantino stole many of his ideas from other movies, but those detractors miss the point. His debut film about a jewel heist gone very, very wrong may riff on other movies, but the end result is a movie that only Tarantino could have made. It’s perhaps a bit self-consciously showy, but the show is never dull. GRADE: A
Pulp Fiction
No sophomore jinx here. Tarantino’s second film was such a landmark, that even a speech deleted from the film (Elvis people vs. Beatles people) is widely quoted. It drags just a little during some of the Bruce Willis story, but even that lull can’t keep the movie from being a masterpiece. GRADE: A+
Jackie Brown
This is the great underrated film in Tarantino’s canon. It doesn’t boast the iconic moments of Pulp Fiction, but his adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punchrevealed a maturity in the director’s filmmaking he hasn’t displayed before — or since. If anything, it gets better with age. GRADE: A
Kill Bill Vol. 1
This crazy quilt of Tarantino’s favorite genres, ranging from kung fu films to Brian De Palma suspense thrillers, has energy and imagination to spare, and its his best-looking movie, thanks to the great cinematographer Robert Richardson. Uma Thurman makes for a terrific leading lady. However, hindsight reveals that it was here that a lack of discipline began to overtake the director. GRADE: A-
Kill Bill Vol. 2
On the one hand, the film is remarkable in that its very different in tone and style than its predecessor. There are many great moments, especially the fight between Thurman and Daryl Hannah, and Thurman’s escape from the grave. On the other hand, the movie has not held up so well over the years, with one scene after another seeming superfluous; Tarantino might have been better off with one movie instead of two. GRADE: B+
Death Proof
Tarantino’s half of Grindhouse; only runs 90 minutes and even then is still too long. His gift for dialogue desserts him during an interminable first half, although the second half comes roaring back with one of the wildest car chases ever shot. GRADE: B+
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By SRCputt
August 21, 2009 11:10 AM | Link to this
After the adrenalin blast that was the first half of Kill Bill, the second half didn’t work for me. VOl. 2 takes itself too seriously, has surprisingly little action, and is the one film of Tarantino’s I can’t recommend.By SRCputt
August 21, 2009 11:07 AM | Link to this
The unmentioned effort, the final chapter of Four Rooms, is where the discipline started to fall apart. Clearly, by this point Tarantino had fallen in love with his voice so much he missed when it was working and when it is not. In Four Rooms, the last five minutes I found amusing, but the rest of the 20 minutes or slow is boring blather, much like the first half of Death Proof.