comment #1

reno rambler says ...

I don't know about "entire reputatioin" but it's hard to argue against Shelov's assertion. Pretty close to the truth. You could add that Bruce Willis basement scene as well I suppose.

comment #2

Alboone says ...

There's nothing to discuss. It's true.

comment #3

Absinth Quell Pro says ...

Basterds was essentially this scene done a dozen different ways. That entire movie, which I mostly enjoyed, is simply a series of interrogations.

comment #4

Mr Hooper says ...

Crass reductionism. That is all.

comment #5

petunio says ...

Not surprising for a man who rips off things from better movies without a notion of how to be subtle about it.

comment #6

Bob_Roberts says ...

Hey, this seems like a fun game. Let's reduce everyone to one line...

1. James Cameron - The empowered female heroine (Aliens, T1 & T2, Abyss, Avatar, True Lies)

2. Robert (Wells whipping boy) Rodriguez - Gore spattering Genre Savant (Everything except for spy kids?)

3. Spielberg - Families (biological or metaphorical) rising above danger (Private Ryan, ET, Temple of Doom, Last Crusade, War of the Worlds)

I think that we can take almost any director and reduce their work to one or two lines. What separates the good directors from the poor ones are things like storytelling, visual appeal, etc. I know there are Tarantino bashers everywhere here, but for me, the guy rises above hackery and is a good (and sometimes great) director.

comment #7

coxcable says ...

The theme of most Tarantino films can best be described as "Call bad guys be loyal to fellow bad guys?"

- Can the Reservoir Dogs trust each other?
- Can two serial killers, a sleazy TV producer, a corrupt cop and a sadistic prison warden make beautiful media music together?
- Will Vincent Vega bang his boss's wife? Will he let her die of an overdose?
- Will Butch rescue Marcellus from being raped?
- Is Jackie Brown pulling one over on Ordell Robie or on the cops?
- Who is more disloyal to the other... Bill or the Bride?
- Is Colonel Landa a real Nazi or just a real opportunist?

comment #8

coxcable says ...

"CAN bad guys be loyal to fellow bad guys"

Jesus tits.

comment #9

MrTribeca says ...

I wouldn't say entire reputation - Tarantino's skill in juxtaposing specific music and images is equally as important.

His intuitive use of forgotten pop (Stealer's Wheel, Nancy Sinatra), film soundtracks (Twisted Nerve) and rock 'n' roll/surf music (Chuck berry, Dick Dale) has produced some iconic scenes.

comment #10

Circumvrent says ...

coxcable, that's really interesting. I haven't seen Jackie Brown since it came out, and I've never seen NBK, but for the most part, it seems like the answer is "no" except for PULP FICTION - where characters often mean to do bad things, but are stopped by forces outside of their control.

comment #11

MickTravisMcGee says ...

Yes, and the Coen Brothers have built their reputation around two men -- on opposite sides of desk -- debating something: M. Emmett Walsh and Dan Hedaya in Blood Simple; Randal 'Tex' Cobb and Nathan Arizona in "Raising Arizona"; most of "Miller's Crossing" and "Barton Fink" and "Hudsucker Proxy"; William H. Macy facing down Frances Macdormand in his office in Fargo; James Gandolfini in "The Man Who..."; Clooney in "Intolerable"; Stephen Root v. Woody Harrelson and Javier Bardem in "No Country"; J.K. Simmons and Sledgehammer in "Burn After Reading"; Prof. Gopnik and Clive in "Serious Man".

Nothing else in their filmography really matters.

comment #12

petunio says ...

Then it is agreed, QT has never ever left his comfort zone. When he has, he has crashed and burned, and quite badly.

Jackie Brown, which is his least Tarantino-esque movie is forgetable at best. And his ability to use pop songs for some of his scenes has produced some of the most iconic scenes in recent movie history. But the trick worked only in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, by the time of both Kill Bill movies, it felt tired and campy.

One thing to think about QT, before saying he's a genius or anything, is to think about his rather extremely short filmography spanning very limited genres with often the same results for each.

comment #13

MechanicalShark says ...

Jackie Brown is Tarantino's best film. This is an immutable fact. It's sad that it was poorly received, because his career could have gone in a really interesting direction. Though I love Kill Bill and Basterds, I think Tarantino has the capability to make more humanist films.

comment #14

YND says ...

Yeah, that theory doesn't hold water at all. Directors -- particularly writer/directors -- have their interests and their strengths and their recurring themes. But to say that you can boil down the entire output of a savant like Tarantino to these tete a tete scenes that he usually does so well... it's to miss the forest by looking at only one tree.

Further, I would posit that it is hugely undermined by KILL BILL, which I'd say is as good as anything he's ever done... *until* the big tete a tete scene at the end, which I still feel just flat doesn't work.

For me, Tarantino's greatest strength is his ability to create mesmerizing stasis... that goes on nearly too long... and then explodes in an unexpected fashion. This holds not only for the monologue/dialogue scenes we're talking about, but also largely dialogue-free sequences like the entire Budd section of KBv2 leading up to The Bride finally throwing open the door of Budd's trailer and getting a surprise.

comment #15

MilkMan says ...

QT's reputation and genius lies in his re-jiggering of structure at the screenplay level, his seamless appropriation of other material, his direction of actors, and the way he edits.

I agree with Mr. Hooper.

comment #16

Daviddb says ...

Left one off the list:

James Gandolfini and Patricia Arquette in True Romance.

comment #17

Bukowski20 says ...

I've always felt bad for people that don't like and appreciate Tarantino's films.

The scenes listed (including the scene mentioned by Daviddb in comment #16) are brilliant, mesmerizing work.

They wouldn't be nearly as great, or remembered, if they were surrounded by crap movies.

comment #18

The Thing says ...

As people in general, we tend to over-generalize when talking about movies. We break down the stories to their basic elements and then claim that each story is "cliche" and "done before". Yet, while a plot may have elements that have been done many times before, the strength of the movie isn't with having original original elements; it's how the movie uses those elements to tell a story.

This is a great article on this idea.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/moviebob/7190-Trope-a-Dope

comment #19

Daviddb says ...

Bukowski, I agree with you about True Romance, I think that's still one of his best even though Tony Scott directed it (and it's probably HIS best). I appreciate and respect Pulp, but prefer Jackie Brown b/c of the humanity in the film between Forster and Grier. And I thought Basterds was his best film since Jackie Brown...not a big fan of Grindhouse or the Kill Bill movies.

comment #20

Ponderer says ...

He'd have a point if if the scene that really busted Tarantino into the big leagues was the magnificent royale with cheese discussion. (And I seem to recall when Pulp Fiction cane out, one of the huge selling points was managing to stage a dance scene with Travolta.)

So, sorry, no, those six variations are NOT the whole of his reputation. (Fuck, he doesn't even get into the adrenaline shot, which is the most memorable thing I ever saw in a Tarantino film, and has nothing to do with a fuckin' monologue.)

comment #21

berg says ...

if you like the adrenalin scene check out American Boy A Profile of Steven Prince (1978) by Scorsese

comment #22

Wiggumx says ...

Twenty-one comments already, and DZ hasn't come in and made some ridiculous statement about his favorite target? Amazing

comment #23

Kakihara says ...

Shark: That's not saying much about Jackie Brown.

Milkman: http://www.theonion.com/articles/next-tarantino-movie-an-homage-to-beloved-tarantin,2801/

Bukowski: We appreciate 'em when they were directed by other people.

comment #24

Kakihara says ...

Wiggum: Just for you, buddy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HgbSAL8OKY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZKgptV4GmQ&feature=related

comment #25

Bukowski20 says ...

DeeZee,

No you don't. You hate all movies made in America. You have shit taste in movies so I just feel really bad for you.

comment #26

Kakihara says ...

Bukowski: "You hate all movies made in America."

No, just enough of them.

"You have shit taste in movies so I just feel really bad for you."

That's ironic, given the last movie QT remade.

comment #27

Kakihara says ...

On a related note, it's nice to know QT suddenly loves John Woo again, when he threw Chow Yun Fat under the bus. Link via @hiss_driver and @aicnanime

comment #28

Bukowski20 says ...

Yeah, DZ, cause the movie you were looking forward to was really fucking original. And that movie ended up sucking shit.

Dumb ass.

comment #29

Kakihara says ...

Bukowski: "Yeah, DZ, cause the movie you were looking forward to was really fucking original. And that movie ended up sucking shit. "

No, IB sucked shit because it was pro-Gitmo propaganda I could watch on FOX News for free. And if I were going to ignore that issue, it sucked because it suffers from the usual QT problem where the characters only get killed because they're total idiots.

comment #30

Bukowski20 says ...

"No, IB sucked shit because it was pro-Gitmo propaganda I could watch on FOX News for free. And if I were going to ignore that issue, it sucked because it suffers from the usual QT problem where the characters only get killed because they're total idiots."

Did you really think I was talking about IB? Basterds was a masterpiece. I was talking about The Expendables, easily the worst movie I've seen this year.

comment #31

BobbyLupo says ...

"Quentin Tarantino's entire reputation rests on his having delivered six variations of a single scene, which could be called "The Torturer's Monologue.""

Wow, he creates this theory, and he can't even cite more than two actual torture scenes across seven (plus) movies to justify the name?

You might as well just say "Quentin Tarantino's entire reputation rests on his ability to write monologues." That would be a bit closer, a bit less reductive, and would include several scenes that this is completely lacking -- the opening of 'Dogs', the 'Royale With Cheese' scene, the foot massage conversation, Sam Jackson's intro in 'Jackie Brown', etc...

comment #32

crazynine says ...

Wiggumx-- absolutely nothing personal, please take this in the spirit offered, but really: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!?

NEVER call that little shit into a thread.

It's like saying "Beetlejuice" or "Candyman," except the word is "Retard."

comment #33

DiscoNap says ...

For me Tarantino's entire reputation rests on Max Cherry falling in love with the Delfonics.

comment #34

Kakihara says ...

Bukowski: "Did you really think I was talking about IB? Basterds was a masterpiece."

Only if you've never seen Hitchcock's Sabotage.

"I was talking about The Expendables, easily the worst movie I've seen this year."

I admit it could've been better, but Kick-Ass is still more obnoxious in its stupidity than anything else this year besides SATC2.

comment #35

Caged Horse says ...

"I've always felt bad for people that don't like and appreciate Tarantino's films."

I've always felt bad for Tarantino fans -- and Tarantino HIMSELF, for that matter -- that don't like and appreciate 'Jackie Brown'.

comment #36

BobbyLupo says ...

"Only if you've never seen Hitchcock's Sabotage. "

You know that, when DZ says stuff like this, he's never actually seen the thing he mentions. He has no idea what happens in 'Sabotage'. I guarantee it.

comment #37

Wiggumx says ...

DZ doesn't see movies. He only posts about them based on posts he's read elsewhere, usually on one of his anime boards.

comment #38

Kakihara says ...

Lupo: I Netflixed it, actually.

comment #39

Bob Violence says ...

notice how DZ avoids saying he actually watched it, a rather clever dodge coming from a complete retard

comment #40

BobbyLupo says ...

DZ - we all know you never saw 'Sabotage'. Or 'Basterds', for that matter. But here's your big chance to be really smart and prove yourself right about something for once. Explain in what way 'Basterds' is derivative of 'Sabotage'. Don't just talk about the single shot in the movie which is from 'Sabotage', because obviously that would make no sense, since the movie itself has nothing to do with that. You're saying the whole movie is derivative of 'Basterds', fine -- explain yourself. Otherwise, you're doing exactly what you complained about when you said that some stupid website compared 'The American' to a Miley Cyrus movie.

comment #41

Kakihara says ...

Lupo: I said a poster on a website compared the two. And it's not just one shot in Sabotage. The whole film's about a theater owner in cahoots with terrorists making bombs using film canisters, ffs. And you just know if it was made five years later, that it would have Nazis, and thus make IB a further rip-off.