This week we get another film from director Quentin Tarantino, my favorite director in Hollywood. While Movieland keeps cranking out the remakes and reboots, I'm thrilled we still have a visionary like Quentin Tarantino who, not only has his own unique style, but is unapologetic about it.
I've heard some moviegoers call Tarantino a hack, but I think that's just hating someone popular for the sake of hating someone popular. The man has such a unique fingerprint he leaves on his movies that defines them as his. And it's refreshing to see a man who still views his movies, his craft, as an art.
So before I go see Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood, I figured it was worth ranking my top three favorite Tarantino movies. The rule to make my list is simple. Tarantino had to sit in the director's chair for the entire movie. So, no Sin City or From Dusk Till Dawn.
Before I get to the list, let me just say Tarantino hasn't made a "bad" movie in my opinion. And critics seem to agree. According to Rotten Tomatoes, he doesn't have a single "rotten" film. When I was discussing Tarantino movies with a business reporter, I said they're all like Toy Story in that they're all great, but some are better.
At the bottom of my Tarantino favorite film list? Jackie Brown. It's a solid movie, but it's just not my favorite of his movies.
Taking slot number three on my top Tarantino film list is Kill Bill. You may think it's cheating to put Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 as one movie, but let's be real, it's pretty much one fluid movie broken into two pieces. It was originally going to be released as one flick anyway.
Kill Bill has some of the best fight scenes in cinematic history. Is there a better solo battle than The Bride killing The Crazy 88, Gogo Yubari AND O-Ren Ishii? I can't think of one.
Uma Thurman makes a fantastic protagonist on a mission to ... well -- kill Bill, the man who murdered her fiance, took her baby, and left her for dead. I think Tarantino is at the top of his game when he's crafting a revenge story. In fact, every movie on this list has that theme to it.
There are silly martial arts scenes, spaghetti Western themes, samurai showdowns, and it's all brought together by one woman's quest for revenge. Kill Bill isn't for the faint of heart, but then again, none of Tarantino's movies are.
Django Unchained takes the second slot on my list of favorite Tarantino films. And here we have another revenge story. But this one is pure Western, which wins a boatload of points from me. From Tombstone to 3:10 to Yuma, I love Westerns. Put one in Tarantino's hands, and I'm instantly in love.
Jamie Foxx makes such a cool hero, going from slave to bounty hunter over the course of nearly three hours. He gets revenge on the people who used to beat him, he rescues his wife, he blows up an entire plantation. It's just all too cool. And then there's Christoph Waltz, who actually won his second Oscar for this movie. He brought so much laughter and soul to this film because he's just such an unlikely fighter. He's this kind German man, and then there's a bullet in your chest.
While this movie won a lot of awards, I would be doing an injustice to Leonardo DiCaprio if I didn't mention how he got snubbed at the Oscars for playing the absurdly wild villain Mr. Candie. He's the perfect rich Southern plantation owner, and I love that he actually broke a glass in his hand during a take, and they kept that shot in the film. To shatter glass in your hand and keep going with the scene is the definition of committing to a role.
With a fantastic soundtrack (that I actually bought), amazing gunfights and a hilarious KKK death scene, Django Unchained is a masterpiece. I think what I love most about this movie are the characters. Foxx, Waltz and DiCaprio are such a fantastic trio in this movie. They play off each other wonderfully and make a 165-minute movie feel like it's only 90 minutes.
Before I reveal my top film, I wanted to dedicate a paragraph to Death Proof. This is easily Tarantino's most underrated film. It's probably also his most simplistic movie. I think it's a shame this movie doesn't pop up on more favorite lists, so I'm giving it an honorable mention.
While most of you wouldn't put Inglourious Basterds at the top of your Tarantino list, I happily put it at the top of mine. It's such a zany romp through revisionist history of what everyone wishes they could do to Hitler and his Nazis. Waltz (who won his first Oscar in this movie) is such a charming Nazi, if there ever was such a thing.
It's beautiful, really, watching a squad of Jewish soldiers working behind enemy lines in World War II to kill Nazis. But what really sells this movie for me is Brad Pitt. I just love, love, love listening to him talk as Lt. Aldo "The Apache" Raine. And he has some of the best lines like, "... Probably heard we ain't in the prisoner-taking business. We in the killin' Nazi business. And, cousin, business is a boomin'."
And the exchange at the end between Waltz and Pitt? "You'll be shot for this!" And Pitt calmly responds, "Nah, I don't think so. More like chewed out. I been chewed out before." I can't get enough. The tension as this group tries to lure Hitler into a trap and then kill him, the violence against people who truly deserve it and the sweet satisfied feeling of watching one of history's most evil men get pumped full of lead.
You might be mad I didn't put Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs on my list, but like I said earlier, I recognize them as great movies. The breakfast table conversation scene in Reservoir Dogs? John Travolta and Uma Thurman dancing in Pulp Fiction? Fantastic scenes in great movies. But I like the movies I wrote about above even more.
If you hate my list and want to give me your top three Tarantino movies, feel free to shoot me an email at clanning@arkansasonline.com. Who knows? Maybe you'll surprise me and put Four Rooms on your list. Looking to the future all I can say is I hope we get a Vol. 3 to Kill Bill, and Tarantino gets a crack at Star Trek.
MovieStyle on 07/26/2019