RATING TARANTINO
NO MODERN film-maker is more divisive than Quentin Tarantino. There are those who adore him and obsess over every detail in each film and there are those who are not reading this piece. The former love ranking his movies (and debating those rankings) ad nauseam and we’re right there with them. So to honour the release of
Once Upon a Time In . . . Hollywood, let’s do just that.
We considered only the nine films he wrote and directed, meaning that, sadly, True Romance and (less sadly) From Dusk Till Dawn were not eligible. Death Wish, as a short, also didn’t make the cut. And while we rank his movies from worst to best, it’s worth noting that the “worst” is still pretty great. Without further ado, let the arguments begin.
8.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Several besuited thieves, all code-named Mr [insert colour], sit around a diner. Mr Pink (Steve Buscemi) starts an argument about tipping servers. Mr Brown (Tarantino) offers an, ahem, interesting theory about what Madonna’s Like a Virgin actually means.
These characters didn’t talk like movie characters; they talked just like any group of pop culture-obsessed friends might, their dialogue peppered with both mainstream and obscure references — only these dudes had a penchant for cutting off ears while dancing to catchy pop tunes. High and low culture lived alongside each other in a way the silver screen had never seen. Ranking the first film Tarantino directed last on any list feels like a crime and probably is. Tarantino’s work would only grow more complex, empathetic and engaging along with his career.
7/6.
Kill Bill:
Vols. 1 and 2 (2003, 2004)
Originally conceived and filmed as a single movie, then broken into two roughly two-hour parts, the Kill Bill movies can best be described as Tarantino’s id. The director grew up on kung fu movies and always wanted to make his own grindhouse epic. When he got his chance, he stuffed it with everything he could — including an anime sequence — until it reached its breaking point. But it never bursts.
5.
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Of the director’s nine primary films, The
Hateful Eight had, by far, the worst critical reception. Even positive reviews tended to disparage the sadistic violence laced throughout the story. Though Tarantino movies are always divisive, this one struck a nerve. Set about a decade after the Civil War, eight strangers of wildly different backgrounds and beliefs find themselves stuck in a cabin. Philosophical debates turn violent, and a whodunnit slowly emerges from what amounts to a bleakly beautiful stage play.
4.
Django Unchained (2012)
Homage to a 1960s spaghetti Western? Check. Violent revenge fantasy? Check. A controversial grenade lobbed into the “woke” blogosphere? Check. It’s the best showcase of Tarantino’s ability to shift between popcorn fun and dark, shocking commentary — confronting the audience with real-world horrors in the midst of entertainment.
3.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Tarantino’s second film shares a lot of DNA with his first — the pop culture diatribes, the pulpy crime, the unexpected violence — but in Pulp Fiction ,he introduced a few new elements. It’s been repeatedly called the most influential movie of the 1990s, despite losing the Oscar for best picture to Forrest Gump. But what might be its most important legacy is just how quotable and rewatchable it is. If you were a teenager into crime fiction in the 90s, there’s a good chance you’ve seen
Pulp Fiction several dozen times, if not more.
2. Jackie Brown (1997)
Jackie Brown dropped into cinemas like a brick and was treated as such by audiences expecting another Pulp Fiction.
The two movies share a lot in common: crime, talkiness, Samuel L. Jackson. But this one, based on the Elmore Leonard novel
Rum Punch, had something else: a beating heart. The movie focuses on people who usually end up as secondary characters: flight attendants, ex-cons, bond bailsmen and the like. Here, they’re all chasing . . . $500,000. That’s it. Sure, it’s a lot of money, but for a crime flick, it seems laughably small (especially as the body count rises).
1.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Perfection is an illusion, sure, and the quest for the perfect film is a futile one. But Tarantino came close with his alternate-history World War II epic. It contains pieces of all his best friends but what truly stands out is the painstaking craftsmanship that went into it. Though there is the violence you’d expect in a war movie, like all Tarantino’s films, it’s really about the conversations — conversations in which the balance of power between countries, between races, between enemies is constantly shifting. What’s more impressive is the fact that most of the movie doesn’t take place in English — despite being an American film. And yet we easily understand everything.