Is Tarrentino over-rated?

[Middle Earther]

And does anyone really want Tarantino to direct a romantic comedy or whatever?

He should direct a romantic comedy about antiheroes who shoot people up. It'd be the ultimate date movie.

Isn't that more what True Romance was? (Although he didn't direct it, just wrote it, I think.)

 

[Harvey]

Yeah, Tony Scott directed that one, although Tarantino wrote the script (with an uncredited rewrite by Roger Avery to put it all in chronological order). And the movie pretty much is Quentin Tarantino's version of the romance, which he says himself in his audio commentary.

 

[Kegg]

And does anyone really want Tarantino to direct a romantic comedy or whatever?

He should direct a romantic comedy about antiheroes who shoot people up. It'd be the ultimate date movie.

Isn't that more what True Romance was? (Although he didn't direct it, just wrote it, I think.)

He didn't direct it, but that's a really excellent point. One wonders how many types of film there are left that Tarantino can waltz into.

 

[Harvey]

I'd like to see him make an honest-to-goodness western, although Kill Bill (both parts) and Inglourious Basterds are obviously saturated with western elements (especially spaghetti westerns).

A more far-reaching choice? I'd like too see Tarantino's science fiction movie. We know he's a geek, and a pop-culture junkie (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is reportedly one of his favorite films). So what's his take on the genre that most of us here are huge fans of? It might be an unwatchable mess, but I'd be there to slog through it regardless.

 

[Kegg]

A more far-reaching choice? I'd like too see Tarantino's science fiction movie. We know he's a geek, and a pop-culture junkie (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is reportedly one of his favorite films). So what's his take on the genre that most of us here are huge fans of? It might be an unwatchable mess, but I'd be there to slog through it regardless.

I'd actually be very interested in that. How would he twist the conventions of the genre, what would he reference and exactly how preposterous would his characters get when your imagination is the only limit?

 

[davejames]

Not only has Inglourious Basterds only outgrossed Pulp Fiction by only ten million dollars (unadjusted for inflation), but it also has played in twice as many theatres as Pulp Fiction ever did at one time.

Well no matter how you slice it, Basterds was still a hit, and a big success for Tarantino.

Besides, I would hope the box office wasn't the only guage of whether a director is "successful" or not. Most of the Coen brothers movies don't make a lot of money either, but their stuff is still very highly regarded. And rightly so.

 

[Othello]

WAYYYYYYY overrated...

 

[Starkers]

It's been 15 years since Pulp Fiction, and Tarantino has made several of the most popular and successful films of recent times. Tarantino, at this moment, can likely make any film he wants, no questions asked. I can't see this changing in the future, he's largely gotten more successful ($$$ not quality) over time.

And part of the reason for that is that people feel compelled to see his films, even if they found his last one dissapointing. I absolutely hated Kill Bill vol 2, yet there was never any doubt I'd see Death Proof. a certain amount of people will always go to see his films, just on the basis of the great stuff he's done, irrespective of the fact that he's been dissapointing overall.

Personally I think Mark Kermode sums up my opinion...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/2009/08/5_live_review_inglourious_bast.html

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

One wonders how many types of film there are left that Tarantino can waltz into.

There are still a lot of genres and sub-genres that naturally lend themselves to Tarantino's sensibilities: horror (he wrote From Dusk Till Dawn and considered remaking Suspiria), spy (he was interested in Modesty Blaise and The Man from UNCLE at one stage), suspense, etc. I suspect, though, that the crime genre will be the one he'll keep coming back to throughout his career.

 

[Kegg]

And part of the reason for that is that people feel compelled to see his films, even if they found his last one dissapointing. I absolutely hated Kill Bill vol 2, yet there was never any doubt I'd see Death Proof.

I didn't see Death Proof.

Really, a completist attitude is just a consequence of any director with a name and a fanbase, and rare indeed is the director with no duds at all.

 

[Starkers]

And part of the reason for that is that people feel compelled to see his films, even if they found his last one dissapointing. I absolutely hated Kill Bill vol 2, yet there was never any doubt I'd see Death Proof.

I didn't see Death Proof.

Really, a completist attitude is just a consequence of any director with a name and a fanbase, and rare indeed is the director with no duds at all.

Oh I agree, funnily enough I was having this conversation with some friends just the other week and I basically came to the conclusion that the only director to never disapoint me (thus far) is Christopher Nolan.

 

[Thrall]

But what about Christoph Waltz? His performance was a career high and utterly made the movie. I've never seen a tour de force like that in any movie ever.

He was funny and amusing but I really didn't see what the big deal was. He played a polite thug who said a lot of cool things and dabbled in casual violence. In other words, he played a typical Tarantino stock character.

I could be wrong, but it sounds like you just don't like anti-hero thugs.

Not true. I'm a Garth Ennis fan. Those are the only type of characters he writes. But Ennis always does fun, unexpected things with his characters that you don't see coming. Tarantino will do this too I guess. But mostly all he does is set up a character and kill them off unexpectedly. That becomes really annoying after a while to me. It's the reason I hate Lost. To do that is just a big waste of the audiences time IMO. Granted, comparing one of the most successful filmmakers of all time to a comic book writer with a cult following a shitty comparison. But no, I don't dislike anti-hero's. Just Tarantino's.