I have seen several articles online regarding famed movie director Quentin Tarantino’s career, ranking his eight solo directing/writing efforts. But I want to add my take to the collection, because I have a different opinion than most. Tarantino is absolutely one of my favorite directors, behind only Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg in the movie-making business.
With the recent release of The Hateful Eight, more people are becoming aware that Tarantino plans to retire after his tenth film. Hopefully he changes his mind, but regardless he has changed the movie industry forever. I certainly appreciate Tarantino more than most directors, because he writes screenplays. He is in a small group of acclaimed directors who also write their own films and have been doing so far a long time (Woody Allen and the aforementioned Nolan are two other examples).
8. Death Proof
This one is no surprise; there’s a reason why few people have seen (or even heard of) Death Proof. It comes from Tarantino’s love of B-movies, and it is without a doubt a B-movie. I don’t think you’ll find anyone who would place this film anywhere other than last in a Tarantino film ranking.
7. Jackie Brown
I liked Jackie Brown; it features one of frequent Tarantino collaborator Samuel L. Jackson’s best performances and adds a quality execution by Pam Grier. But the film’s pace is too slow for my liking; it sits at 154 minutes and could be more exciting at 120 (by comparison, The Hateful Eight is 167 minutes long but never feels boring or slow). Tarantino’s trademark (and often vulgar) dialogue is in full force in this film, and the theft-based plot is interesting enough. It just fails to reach the same level as Tarantino’s best.
6. Kill Bill: Volumes 1 & 2
Tarantino’s two Kill Bill films are generally lumped together in these lists. He did write it as one movie, but I was so long that he had to break it in two. Tarantino’s love of Japanese movies, spaghetti westerns, and other genres formulates into one of the best revenge films ever. Volume 1 is as gory as possible, with The Bride killing lots of people and scalping a certain someone. But I actually enjoy Volume 2 best, particularly the interaction between The Bridge (Uma Thurman) and Bill (David Carradine). It’s not one of Tarantino’s best, but Kill Bill is always entertaining.
5. The Hateful Eight
Tarantino’s newest film is his easiest to recognize as a Tarantino film. He definitely has his own style, and it is not difficult to tell Tarantino’s movies thanks to the intense violence, imaginative dialogue, and complex plot. But The Hateful Eight exaggerates each of these attributes to new levels. The set is as perfect as they come, with most of the film shot in a single (large) room. The attention to detail is astounding, as is the acting. Samuel L. Jackson provides another one of his best roles, and Jennifer Jason Leigh transforms into the demented Daisy Domergue (intensifying every scene as she is spattered with more and more blood). The best part of the film is the consistent deception; you are never really sure what the characters are really thinking and whether what they say is true. By the way, Tarantino is pretty obsessed with bounty hunters lately, isn’t he?
4. Pulp Fiction
Yeah, I know, everybody loves Pulp Fiction, right? I don’t dislike it, and I think the beginning and ending scenes in the diner are two of Tarantino’s best. But I can’t get over how pointless every scene with Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) is. The whole 1950’s-themed restaurant and subsequent cocaine overdose feels superfluous to the story. I want more of Butch (Bruce Willis) and Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). They were the best characters. Although the bloody accidental car shooting and the scenes in Jimmie’s (Quentin Tarantino) house were impressive and memorable. The dialogue is great, the acting is phenomenal; it’s just not Tarantino’s best.
3. Django Unchained
Django Unchained is a perfect example that directors/writers dictate whether movies are good, not actors. Jamie Foxx, who plays Django, is one of my least favorite actors. But this movie is still awesome. It doesn’t hurt that Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, and Kerry Washington fill out the rest of the main cast. We can thank Tarantino for discovering Waltz, who absolutely deserved the two Oscars he received for Django Unchained and Inglourious Basterds. DiCaprio was equally deserving of an Oscar, marking the second time (the other being The Aviator) that he was ‘robbed’ out of a statue. It’s extraordinarily violent, the dialogue is outstanding, and the film is always entertaining; almost any other director would consider this his or her finest work. But for Tarantino, it’s just number three.
2. Reservoir Dogs
Tarantino’s first film is one of the best crime thrillers of all time. Reservoir Dogs is so well made, with exceptional, interesting characters, an absorbing plot, and, of course, gratuitous violence. I can never listen to “Stuck in the Middle with You” the same way again. It is the best acting performance by four great actors: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, and Michael Madsen. As the story unfolds, the intrigue only increases, delving deep into the minds of Mr. White, Mr. Pink, Mr. Orange, and Mr. Blonde, and ultimately Tarantino himself. With Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino burst onto the movie-making scene, and the film industry changed for good. This is proof that a video store clerk can become an industry-altering genius.
1. Inglourious Basterds
One of my favorite movies of all time tops this list of Quentin Tarantino’s films. The first scene, where Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) talks with a French farmer, is arguably the best scene in movie history. It is so tense, the dialogue is perfect, the switching between languages is realistic, and you genuinely feel like you are transported into Nazi-occupation France. The entire film is a combination of extraordinary scenes; the sequence where Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender), Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger), and two Basterds meet at a tavern is another legendary scene. Brad Pitt’s Aldo Raine character is a bit annoying, but every other actor is perfectly cast and executes the roles superbly. Inglourious Basterds was the first time a large American audience saw European actors Christoph Waltz, Daniel Bruhl, and Melanie Laurent, and all three provide their best performances to date. Tarantino uses his screenwriting and directing abilities perfectly to helm Inglourious Basterds; the plot is detailed and riveting, the dialogue is top-notch (and is not afraid to utilize other languages to make it more realistic), and the finale provides a satisfying alternative ending to World War II. You can’t help but root for the Basterds while they are mercilessly torturing/killing Nazis, and you hope for Shosanna Dreyfus (Laurent) to emerge unscathed from her dealings with Nazis. And the villains, Hans Landa (Waltz) and Fredrick Zoller (Bruhl), are so effectively created and phenomenally executed that they inspire even more fear and tension than the emergence of Goebbels or Hitler. Inglourious Basterds is a masterpiece, and the magnum opus of Quentin Tarantino’s catalogue. It stands with Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan among the best World War II films of all time, despite being totally different in style. That is why this film is #1 on my list of Tarantino films.
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