Languish.org

So, choose.  It's a free country.

To prove it, I chose Death Proof.

I realize that I often have contrary opinions, but I don't think of myself as some kind of Armond White-type asshole, throwing crullers at Steve McQueen's forehead during a New York Film Critics presentation.  I just really love Death Proof's style, love Kurt Russell (and Rose McGowan, and Rosario Dawson, and Tracie Thom, and Zoe Bell), and I think anyone has to consider it one of the most impressive pieces of stunt work and stunt driving ever filmed.  The only real contender for those titles that I've ever seen is the original Gone In 60 Seconds, and no one is riding on the hood of that Mustang; and of course that famous chase is not embedded in a horror/action diptych with fun acting turns, either.  (In fact, it's barely a movie, but I digress.)

TL; DR.  Yes, really.  So what if Pulp Fiction is "about" something?  Death Proof is about Zoe Bell riding on top of a fucking car.

Ranked:

1)Death Proof (A+)
2)Kill Bill, vol. 1/Kill Bill, vol. 2 (A+)
3)Django Unchained (A+)
4)Pulp Fiction (A+)
5)Reservoir Dogs (A)
6)Four Rooms (A) (to get into the nitty-gritty: C+, B+, A+, A+ for each individual short film, respectively)
7)Jackie Brown (B+)
8)Inglorious Basterds (B+)

Fuck, I forgot to include Jackie Brown.  Can I edit that in, or not, or what?

I have seen 3 of the movies. Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, and Django.

All were good, but Pulp Fiction was iconic. People are quoting that movie and talking about the scenes more today than the other two much more recent films. Also, the soundtrack was outstanding.

Pulp Fiction.

Quote from: Ideologue on February 02, 2014, 04:00:24 AM
Fuck, I forgot to include Jackie Brown.  Can I edit that in, or not, or what?

Edited in for you by your overlairds.

Pulp Fiction A+
Kill Bill A
Reservoir Dogs A-
Jackie Brown B+
Inglourious Basterds B+
Death Proof C+
Django Unchained C

(but graded on a scale where Fs aren't reserved for random movies that piss me off)

I like Pulp Fiction best, but I think technically Django Unchained is his best movie. But I like all his movies. I think Death Proof is underrated, but not an A+.

Picked Pulp, but haven't seen Django or Death Proof yet.

If I were to rank the movies he directed (by personal preference, not artistic merit):

- Pulp Fiction
- Django Unchained
- Reservoir Dogs
- Inglorious Basterds
- Kill Bill
- Death Proof
- Jackie Brown

That said, I really enjoy watching any of those movies, but for different things. He and Stanley Kubrick might be the only two directors where I can watch any film of theirs and have a good time.

Pulp Fiction:  A+
Reservoir Dogs: C+ I really don't get this movies appeal.  They call each other funny names and the ratty looking English actor moans for an hour.
Inglories Bistdurds: B
Kill Bill uno y dos: B-
Jackie Brown: B
Death Proof: C+

Pulp Fiction is one of the most influential movies of its time, and I also is pretty damn good on its own. Easily gets my vote. Death Proof had some fun stuff in it, it's a weird crossover of American grindhouse films with 60s French cinema but ultimately just doesn't feel fullfilling as a film, imho.

My personal rank would be:

- Pulp Fiction
- Reservoir Dogs
- Jackie Brown
- Kill Bill
- Django
- Unglorious Basterds
- Death Proof
- Four Rooms (his episode is easily the best of that mess though)

When I watched Pulp Fiction for the first time in 1998 or so, I rewound the tape immediately after the end credits and watched it again. Only movie that ever made me do that.

I started film school in 1996, just a couple years after it came out, and 90% of the students were doing Pulp Fiction ripoffs as their student films. Jump 10 years later, to my first day of postgrad at Columbia; what's the lecture about? Pulp Fiction. It really was that important.

Pulp Fiction
My ranking:

1)Pulp Fiction (A*)
2)Kill Bill (A+)
3)Reservoir Dogs (A+)
4)Django Unchained (A)
5)Inglorious Basterds (A)
6)Jackie Brown (D)
7)Death Proof (D)
X) Four rooms (Never even heard of it)

Jackie Brown and Death Proof I just didn't like at all. I can hardly remember anything about them. They were dull and forgettable. Not even so-so. His other films are awesome.

Oh yeah, saw From Dusk to Dawn as well.

C

I liked Jackie Brown to be honest. It features possibly the most likeable characters QT has ever created, mostly because they weren't his own but Elmore Leonard's. It's possibly his most mature film, too. Overall, since he took somebody else's story and made it his own (something he only did in Jackie Brown and in his Four Rooms episode) it's a pretty unique film compared to the rest of his work.

[spoiler]The ending between Max and Jackie is great, for example, when he realizes that even though he loves her and she loves him, after seeing what she's capable of he won't be able to fully trust her again[/spoiler]. For all its technical and dialogue wizardry, Tarantino doesn't have that many moments of genuine emotion in his films, and Jackie Brown has the most of them all.

Pulp Fiction - only one from this list I watched several times

I saw Kill Bill, Django, Jackie Brown and Reservoir Dogs and while they are good movies, they aren't as good as Pulp Fiction.
Haven't seen Death Proof, Inglorious Basterds or Four Rooms.

I was talking to one of our interns recently and she had never seen Pulp Fiction. Shows me that the movie and me are getting old. :(

Quote from: Zanza on February 02, 2014, 05:57:45 AM
I was talking to one of our interns recently and she had never seen Pulp Fiction. Shows me that the movie and me are getting old. :(

The other day my teenager cousin told me that the Matrix trilogy are "old films"  :bleeding:

The Matrix has sequels? :P I prefer to forget about those.

Pulp Fiction, no doubt about it.

Reservoir Dogs comes second, then Kill Bill 1&2.

L.

Quote from: Pedrito on February 02, 2014, 06:17:58 AM
Pulp Fiction, no doubt about it.

Reservoir Dogs comes second, then Kill Bill 1&2.

L.

This.

Jackie Brown. Reservoir Dogs. Pulp Fiction.

I think Tarantino's a rare example of critics and fans united.

There are some haters, but they usually have two x chromosomes.

Pulp Fiction by far. I watched it as a teenager and it blew my mind completely, was a total Tarantino fanboy for several years after that.

I'm still angry at the Oscars for giving the award that year to Forrest Gump.

Quote from: The Larch on February 02, 2014, 07:29:21 AM
Pulp Fiction by far. I watched it as a teenager and it blew my mind completely, was a total Tarantino fanboy for several years after that.

I'm still angry at the Oscars for giving the award that year to Forrest Gump.

:yes: Total travesty.  Pulp Fiction is one of the greatest films of all time.

Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill 1&2, Reservoir Dogs, Django Unchained, Jackie Brown and Inglorious Basterds are all excellent movies. I picked Reservoir Dogs because Yi trashed it.

Quote from: katmai on February 02, 2014, 04:06:40 AM

Quote from: Ideologue on February 02, 2014, 04:00:24 AM
Fuck, I forgot to include Jackie Brown.  Can I edit that in, or not, or what?

Edited in for you by your overlairds.

Can you correct Tim's spelling of Inglourious Basterds, too?

death proof? Don't even know that one.

I played safe and went with Pulp Fiction. Most accessible and had a sense of humour throughout

Quote from: celedhring on February 02, 2014, 04:46:48 AM
I started film school in 1996, just a couple years after it came out, and 90% of the students were doing Pulp Fiction ripoffs as their student films. Jump 10 years later, to my first day of postgrad at Columbia; what's the lecture about? Pulp Fiction. It really was that important.

Everybody went ga-ga over the structure and dialogue of Pulp Fiction.  It's the extent to which they did so that's always been baffling; ultimately, it's a great film that became as influential as it did for reasons I don't fully understand.  I love the movie, but I love how it got Tarantino money for his four hour martial arts movie and for an thirty minute long car chase.  (For the same reason, I'm glad Jackie Brown was a disappointment. :P )

I keep wavering on Basterds.  There's something about that movie that I just don't like, even though I enjoy it while watching it and it's obvious that it's extraordinarily well-made.  It might be the two-sufficient-but-unrelated-plots aspect, or the feint toward humanizing the sniper OH BUT HE'S ACTUALLY REALLY EVIL LIKE ALL GERMANS, or maybe it's just how dumb the Basterds' MO is, because they carve swastikas into Heer enlisted men's foreheads, making the one Landa gets and deserves mean practically nothing other than he fought in the Second World War and happened to come across Aldo Raines.

P.S. For anybody who hasn't seen Four Rooms, if you can power through the crappy Allison Anders (who?) segment, it's pretty great.  The Alexandre Rockwell (also who?) segment that follows it is very funny, and the Rodriguez short with Antonio Banderas and his shitty children whom Tim Roth attempts to babysit is actually the best, and still has about the funniest denouement I've ever seen, with the Tarantino segment that ends it being only second best (although it is really excellent and gives it the feeling of being almost a proper movie).

I voted Pulp Fiction.

While Reservoir Dogs was excellent as a low-budget winner and a clinic in how to write an interesting script and storyline, it was the necessary baby steps that Tarantino's skills required before they could mature into the kind of work Pulp Fiction ultimately became, and PF was simply a paradigm shifter in scriptwriting, direction and cinematic storytelling. 

Pretty much everything else afterwards was your typical artist-makes-it-big-gets-free-budget-money-and-indulges-in-himself stuff, with the mild exception of KB 1.  But Pulp Fiction at the time was a truly pivotal masterpiece, the kind of movie that only comes along once in a generation, and changes how movies are structured.

Jackie Brown has my two favorite Tarantino scenes of all time, though, and Death Proof has arguably my favorite Kurt Russell role as the ultimate Last of The Alpha Malehicans, attempting to reclaim masculinity for us all in the post-feminist era by the only method left: muscle car murder.  How can you not dig that.

Tarantino just needs to knock it off with the feet thing for dogs like Uma Thurman and Rosario Dawson--that's right, Languish, she's a horse-faced dog, I said it--or at least keep picking chicks in Hollywood with better looking feet, like Diane Kruger. 

Quote from: Ideologue on February 02, 2014, 12:56:04 PM
Everybody went ga-ga over the structure and dialogue of Pulp Fiction.  It's the extent to which they did so that's always been baffling; ultimately, it's a great film that became as influential as it did for reasons I don't fully understand.

For the same reason your simple-minded text monkey, Adderal-withdrawal generation doesn't get Nirvana's Nevermind;  you weren't there.

It's like bitching about Casablanca being full of quotable cliches;  they weren't fucking quotable cliches at the time.

I watched it in like '96.

Objection overruled.

Quote from: Ideologue on February 02, 2014, 02:35:06 PM
I watched it in like '96.

Pulp Fiction was from his mother's womb untimely watch'd.

I choose the Dogs but I have not seen all his movies.

Voted the Jaron option.  I haven't seen most (actually, probably none) of Tarantino's films, nor do they interest me. :sleep:

I went with KB vol 1. Pulp fiction was great but featuring travolta is a big negative. :(

I've owned RD for several years but have had no desire to watch it.

Pulp Fiction.  One of the very few movies I have seen twice in the theater.

RD was good, but as someone said, it is pretty clearly a learning experience for Tarantino, and so doesn't always get things quite right.  IB tried much, much too hard.  it doesn't even rate "good" on my scale, in spite of its having its moments.  JB was good, but not great.  Not so clunky as IB, so better overall.

Kill Bill 1 was probably my second-favorite.  Tarantino hit once again upon the ideal mix of humor, suspense and surrealism.

Quote from: Habbaku on February 02, 2014, 11:44:09 AM

Quote from: katmai on February 02, 2014, 04:06:40 AM

Quote from: Ideologue on February 02, 2014, 04:00:24 AM
Fuck, I forgot to include Jackie Brown.  Can I edit that in, or not, or what?

Edited in for you by your overlairds.

Can you correct Tim's spelling of Inglourious Basterds, too?

You got it!

-_-

What did I originally write?

Ugh, Uma's gnarly feet.  :yucky:

 :yes:

Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 02, 2014, 02:32:48 PM

Quote from: Ideologue on February 02, 2014, 12:56:04 PM
Everybody went ga-ga over the structure and dialogue of Pulp Fiction.  It's the extent to which they did so that's always been baffling; ultimately, it's a great film that became as influential as it did for reasons I don't fully understand.

For the same reason your simple-minded text monkey, Adderal-withdrawal generation doesn't get Nirvana's Nevermind;  you weren't there.

It's like bitching about Casablanca being full of quotable cliches;  they weren't fucking quotable cliches at the time.

:huh:
Kids love Nirvana. Oddly

Quote from: Tyr on February 02, 2014, 09:49:34 PM
:huh:
Kids love Nirvana. Oddly

Probably because it's so "retro".

Actually, Nirvana is a good example.  I owned that album.

I really, really wish I were as young as you think I am, man.

If Pulp Fiction's relatively simple structural tricks and the voice of the author coming through like a loudspeaker in every character's dialogue really did blow your mind, maybe it says more about your mind.*

*DIRECTED SOLELY AT CDM.  I'm mainly joking, especially about the structure, which probably has a point (Jules' redemption, Vincent's fall).  But seriously, people who treat it like the Watchmen of film are taking it a little far.

Quote from: Ideologue on February 02, 2014, 10:46:54 PMI really, really wish I were as young as you think I am, man.

Same :weep:

QuoteBut seriously, people who treat it like the Watchmen of film are taking it a little far.

I had the same view of Watchmen, when I read Watchmen.

Quote from: Ideologue on February 02, 2014, 10:46:54 PM
*DIRECTED SOLELY AT CDM.  I'm mainly joking.  Though, seriously, people who treat it like the Watchmen of film are taking it a little far.

The fact that you actually referred to Watchmen tells us all we need to know about your thought processes when it comes to film.

Oh, and your reviews don't help, either.

Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 02, 2014, 10:49:25 PM

Quote from: Ideologue on February 02, 2014, 10:46:54 PM
*DIRECTED SOLELY AT CDM.  I'm mainly joking.  Though, seriously, people who treat it like the Watchmen of film are taking it a little far.

The fact that you actually referred to Watchmen tells us all we need to know about your thought processes when it comes to film.

Damn, you're really ignorant sometimes. :lol:

Quote from: SheilbhI had the same view of Watchmen, when I read Watchmen.

OH SNAP.

If you were a comics formalist--and there's no reason to be--you'd probably feel differently.  If you didn't care about film techniques, you could also be forgiven for thinking Citizen Kane is just a nice movie about William Randolph Hearst.

Comics suck. Except for Ziggy.

For the purposes of this poll, I have to say Jackie Brown.

I agree, of course, with everyone in terms of Pulp Fiction being the world-historical film of the bunch, and with Money's comment about Reservoir Dogs being a great example of how to construct an interesting, entertaining film on a low indie budget.

But I like JB best, of the ones I've seen, for some of the reasons that others here don't.  I enjoy watching a Tarantino version of a more traditionally structured film.  The characters are wonderful (as well as easy to engage with), and I think some of the performances are amazing.  De Niro is hilarious, especially in his interactions with S.L. Jackson's girlfriend.  Samuel L. Jackson is great of course.  Even Chris Tucker has a great performance.  Pam Grier is plainly a very talented actress, and her love arc with the bondsman is, as celdh said, about as humane/sincere as QT gets.  Maybe that goes against his style, but I think he pulls it off very well in this film.

Ultimately, I like seeing Tarantino's intense stylistic drives forced to reckon with a story that's already present and not built entirely to serve QT's total cinematic vision.  Again, as celdh said, the fact that it's an Elmore Leonard story goes a long way.

Looking at the recent crop of Tarantino movies, they're good, but I almost feel he'd be one of those directors better served by a more restrictive movie-making system a la Old Hollywood, where his originality would shine even brighter within more conventional frames, rather than being allowed to run completely wild.

Quote from: Capetan Mihali on February 03, 2014, 01:25:40 AM
Even Chris Tucker has a great performance.

Where's Luc Besson's parade? :(

QuoteLooking at the recent crop of Tarantino movies, they're good, but I almost feel he'd be one of those directors better served by a more restrictive movie-making system a la Old Hollywood, where his originality would shine even brighter within more conventional frames, rather than being allowed to run completely wild.

Emphatically disagree, but I'd have to.  Death Proof could not exist; nor, probably Django.  (Although Basterds probably could.)

Fukie brown is a trantino movie?

I didt know.

Jango, hands upp.

Pulp Fiction for me. Watched it in the cinema when it came out and it absolutely blew me away. So fresh and different to anything I'd seen before.

I've not seen Death Proof but like all of his others including Jackie Brown (which I think has the best soundtrack of any of his films and that's high praise indeed).

Django was marred for me by the over-the-top cartoonishness of the shoot out and Tarantino's appalling cameo. The first hour was as good a anything else he's done though.

Quote from: Capetan Mihali on February 03, 2014, 01:25:40 AM
Ultimately, I like seeing Tarantino's intense stylistic drives forced to reckon with a story that's already present and not built entirely to serve QT's total cinematic vision.  Again, as celdh said, the fact that it's an Elmore Leonard story goes a long way.

Looking at the recent crop of Tarantino movies, they're good, but I almost feel he'd be one of those directors better served by a more restrictive movie-making system a la Old Hollywood, where his originality would shine even brighter within more conventional frames, rather than being allowed to run completely wild.

I'd say that this was an interesting and accurate assessment of both JB and Tarantino's latest movies, except that I don't want to re-trigger that whole ad hom/pointlessly rude fuck discussion.  :lol:

 :wacko:

For me it's Pulp Fiction and Django

Quote from: Ideologue on February 02, 2014, 11:44:30 PM

Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 02, 2014, 10:49:25 PM

Quote from: Ideologue on February 02, 2014, 10:46:54 PM
*DIRECTED SOLELY AT CDM.  I'm mainly joking.  Though, seriously, people who treat it like the Watchmen of film are taking it a little far.

The fact that you actually referred to Watchmen tells us all we need to know about your thought processes when it comes to film.

Damn, you're really ignorant sometimes. :lol:

Watchmen: neat movie.  Not a Pulp Fiction.

Quote from: Capetan Mihali on February 03, 2014, 01:25:40 AM
For the purposes of this poll, I have to say Jackie Brown.

I agree, of course, with everyone in terms of Pulp Fiction being the world-historical film of the bunch, and with Money's comment about Reservoir Dogs being a great example of how to construct an interesting, entertaining film on a low indie budget.

But I like JB best, of the ones I've seen, for some of the reasons that others here don't.  I enjoy watching a Tarantino version of a more traditionally structured film.  The characters are wonderful (as well as easy to engage with), and I think some of the performances are amazing.  De Niro is hilarious, especially in his interactions with S.L. Jackson's girlfriend.  Samuel L. Jackson is great of course.  Even Chris Tucker has a great performance.  Pam Grier is plainly a very talented actress, and her love arc with the bondsman is, as celdh said, about as humane/sincere as QT gets.  Maybe that goes against his style, but I think he pulls it off very well in this film.

Ultimately, I like seeing Tarantino's intense stylistic drives forced to reckon with a story that's already present and not built entirely to serve QT's total cinematic vision.  Again, as celdh said, the fact that it's an Elmore Leonard story goes a long way.

Looking at the recent crop of Tarantino movies, they're good, but I almost feel he'd be one of those directors better served by a more restrictive movie-making system a la Old Hollywood, where his originality would shine even brighter within more conventional frames, rather than being allowed to run completely wild.

Yeah, I voted Jackie Brown too. Well articulated :cheers:

Perhaps because I so love Jackie Brown, I can't seem to remember that it's a Tarantino movie. I always think of it as a Soderbergh piece.

I voted Pulp Fiction, because it seems to me to be the quintessence of Tarantino.

I totally agree with CM on later Tarantino. It just leaves me cold. It's good at what it's doing I just don't really care.

Quote from: Sheilbh on February 03, 2014, 04:33:57 PM
I totally agree with CM on later Tarantino. It just leaves me cold. It's good at what it's doing I just don't really care.

Agreed. I feel like I should enjoy them more, but I just don't.
They're still entertaining, but that's not really good enough.

I know he was only the producer, but I liked Killing Zoe.

Eat me.