Tarantino. Tarantino is clearly a style-plus auteur (a term I made up to help distinguish even the greatest auteurs on this list) influenced by exploitation cinema, De Palma, Scorsese, Woo, Leone, Godard (though QT disputes that mostly). Despite his influences he creates his own post-modern, violent film world that is entirely his own every bit as much as Lynch, Wes Anderson, Fellini. His influences might be mostly B-cinema but he is clearly a maker of super-produced (very un-B-cinema) films who not only is one of the most accomplished writers in the history of cinema but a masterful craftsman behind the camera as well… and I haven’t even discussed his brilliant work on non-linear narratives…
…. For the purposes of this list Tarantino already has 1 top 100 film, 3 top 500 films (excluding everything from 2009-now) and again, visually and narratively checks every box you’d need from a top auteur.
Best film: Pulp Fiction. Pulp fiction is a big differentiator when picking out QT amongst his peers.
total archiveable films: 7
top 100 films: 1
top 500 films: 3 (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Reservoir Dogs)
top 100 films of the decade: 6 (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds Django Unchained)
most overrated: Nothing overrated by TSPDT on QT. His three films in the TSPDT top 1000 are Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction of course.
most underrated: Django Unchained has moved up a little since 2015 but it’s still #11 for 2012 on the TSPDT 21st century list and that’s underrating it by several slots. It ss a very entertaining film.. Robert Richardson as the DP does some fantastic work here- and I certainly wish this, not Hateful Eight– had been QT’s 65/70mm film. Wondrously zoom-heavy. Waltz’s exacting diction is just perfect for Tarantino’s dialogue. His “brittle brothers” and “Lubbock, Texas”. Flashbacks done in an effective washed-out (what looks like 16mm) taken straight from 1970’s B-picture cinema. Amazing shot of blood splattering on cotton. Narrative is part German folklore, Blaxploitation, western. The surrealism sequences with Kerry Washington haunting the Jamie Foxx character is really well done. Lovely De Palma (or Hitchcock Vertigo if you like) 360-shot near the end. It is a major achievement for these 4 lead actors (DiCaprio, Foxx, Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson).
gem I want to spotlight: Kill Bill is underrated as well but it’s finally starting to get more and more of its due. Perhaps this is the cost of breaking up a movie into two parts for strictly commercial reasons. It may take another decade or two for people to rightly piece it together and conclude it’s one of the best films in its genre of all-time.
stylistic innovations/traits: His dialogue is unmistakable and surely he’s known for this violence. Most of his work manipulates the linear narrative structure beautifully and now his recent films have been tackling and rewriting tragic points in history. He’s a creator of a rich mise-en-scene, he’s a sharp editor (especially of action sequences) in scene along with his narrative editing supremacy, and has gorgeous tracking shots throughout his oeuvre. There are repetition in his shots like the trunk POV shot, the overhead shot (usually of carnage), there’s the 360-shots from De Palma, the doorway shots (The Searchers), chapter breaks, Morricone music, pop/rock soundtracks.
top 10
- Pulp Fiction
- Kill Bill
- Inglourious Basterds
- Reservoir Dogs
- Django Unchained
- Jackie Brown
- The Hateful Eight
By year and grades
| 1992- Reservoir Dogs | MS |
| 1994- Pulp Fiction | MP |
| 1997- Jackie Brown | HR |
| 2003- Kill Bill Vol 1 | MP |
| 2004- Kill Bill Vol 2 | MP |
| 2009- Inglourious Basterds | MP |
| 2012- Django Unchained | MS |
| 2015- The Hateful Eight | R |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
[…] 44. Quentin Tarantino […]
what do you want his next film and final entry to be. he says he might not make one but maybe. a kill bill 3? another rewrite of tragic history? a pulp fiction spinoff? star trek? some are asking for Social Network 2? as for me i hope its about a dude with an abnormally large forehead (and terrible acting) waking up to find out no one remembers his movies and going on a revenge spree. riddled of course with sterotypical monologues and whole scenes about fast food. just kidding. but really what do you think it will be. i’m curious about social network 2 that might be interesting.
Just rewatch Once Upon a Time… a Masterpiece. The only thing that i dont like about the movie it’s the opening scene. It’s not bad, it’s juste not as good as the rest of the movie.
@KidCharlemagne- yes!! start the movie with that great shot after this— the cartoon of Leo’s Rick on his parking spot!
Definitely agree with you here.
@Aldo– almost always a solo venture for me. I don’t talk to anyone during the actual movie so I’ve never really saw the point– been going on my own for 20 years. I’d rather grab a beer with someone after and discuss it. I’m part of a group that meets once a month like a book club that sees one film and discusses. It’s fun. But I almost prefer to be able to sit down and write out my thoughts vs. discussing in person.
I also don’t like to be spoken to during the film (it bothers me), just to watch it and when they finish, sharing their thoughts and if there is debate it is friendly, but it’s actually because i like to hear different points of view.
Pretty sure I watched 2001 for the first time as a kid with my dad. It’s got a weighty reputation, but it was a major popular hit when it was released.
That is sad haha.
Drake, do you have friends (in person) with whom you share the cinephilia and can watch movies on stage (occasionally)?
I have, but very rare that our schedules coincide
Aldo. I also watch movies alone. it really surprise me when someone likes a movie like 2001 or Tarkovsky/Malick-y movies. In rare instances when I do show my friends and family these movies (which is like once or twice a year) , they do not like them. However very rarely they do. My dad had a really emotional/spiritual experience with 2001(he was felt it was very religious) and I felt that there was nothing religious about the movie. But Kubrick said 2001 is open to interpretation. Anyways my point is he liked it. My dad was really devastated in Schindler’s List. And he even liked Jaws (I thought he would find it slow but he loved it).
He walked out of the theatre in LaLaLand (that really surprised me. He liked Schindler’s List and 2001 but not La La Land-strange) while me and my friend loved it…
My point is you never know what someone will like or not. However, you are much better of showing your friends and family ‘accessible’ movies- maybe even family/friendly movies like Spielberg films or Pixar movies. You can even set a day when you watch a movie together. (Me and my dad watch Christmas movies every year together in December and Finding Nemo on father’s day).
However, mostly, 95 percent of the time when I watch a movie, it will be all alone in my basement in the evenings. So i guess I am just like you-haha.
haha yeah not to pile on but as someone who is doing a list of the best 200 directors of all-time I’d love to see any list that had 199 names ahead of Tarantino if someone is saying he’s “top 200”
I strongly agree with your and Mr Harris’ opinion on Tarantino. I still think it’s okay for Fonda to have an opinion too.
Bergman: “Tarkovsky is the best”, ” I don’t like Godard, he made movies for critics” (Bergman was implying Godard was overrated)
Tarkovsky and Kael called 2001 “pretentious” and overrated.
Godard doesn’t like Spielberg.
Supposing some of these famous directors discovered your page and gave their opinions, how would you react?
Would you also tell Bergman “I’d love to see any list that had [a lot of] names ahead of Godard”?
First example, when Kiarostami was alive, I (and many others) considered him to be one of the greatest living directors and even today he is at least top 50. Close up is a masterpiece. Yet you put Kiarostani and close up much lower than the consensus did. Even without close up, Abbas is top 75 in my opinion. However, I do think it’s alright if our opinions differ slightly.
@Azman— everyone can have an opinion of course. But I’m not sure all opinions have equal value (i’m not singling out one person specifically at all). You have to back it up with evidence (which observing and taking notes, screenshots is basically all I do on this site). It doesn’t mean I can prove one film is better than another or one filmmaker is superior to another (and that isn’t what this site is about- it’s about appreciating all the best in cinema) but I think we’re much closer to that than to “everyone has an opinion and everything is subjective”. If that’s the case my brother’s opinion that Dumb and Dumber is the best film of all-time would be just as valuable as mine. He didn’t study film, watches at total of maybe 10 movies a year but his opinion is that Dumb and Dumber is the best.
There’s a reason the consensus on metacritic or TSPDT gets it right most of the time. It helps throw out the outliers like Kael on 2001 or whomever.
Usually when there is a break with the consensus there is a good reason for it (sometimes I’m wrong and haven’t studied someone enough, or sometimes critics’/experts put too much emphasis on the wrong criteria, etc).
Fair enough. Have you tried getting your brother into movies? I tried that with my dad and he ended up loving 2001 which annoyed me a bit because I had a bet with him that he would definitely fall asleep and not understand the movie. So I lost the bet.
Now we share and discuss movies. Maybe you can get your brother into movies so you both can discuss them together.
@Azman- haha that’s pretty funny. No- not really. I sort of know my brother’s tastes at this point and will recommend a movie every once in awhile but he has his own hobbies things he cares about.
How lucky you are Azman, i always watch movies without company, since nobody wants haha. It’s very funny, i did make money with 2001
A brilliant cinematic savant, one of the 2 best American filmmakers of the past 30 years, and one who does nothing but make great movies. But other than that, sure, so overrated.
@fonda- thanks for visiting the site and for the comment here. Pulp Fiction? No? Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?
tarantino annoys me. talks about how movies rip him off and how whether critics like him or not is part of their aesthetic. rates himself way too high. i’m not a fan of his fast paced editing at times, pretentious, thinks he’s a genius. that said inglorious basterds is one of my favorite films, moreso for the actors. though. he is a great director, probably top 200, but most definitely overrated.
Pulp fiction is genius filmmaking. I don’t think he ever said people rip him off. In fact he has said multiple times that he steals from other movies. “Great artists steal; they don’t do homages”-Tarantino. How is he pretentious?
Also nothing wrong with thinking you are one of the best. Ronaldo is one of the greatest athletes of all time and he also has lots of self-confidence like Tarantino does.
@Drake-So yeah #24 is great but with my 4th viewing it’ll be easily top 15 for me.
Fully agree that it’s the production design that makes it special. And I think I’m with you saying that it hasn’t ” The Moment” but many moments that transcend it. I think only one scene blew me away in 2019 like anything else so “The Moment” goes somewhere else.
@Cinephile— thanks for the dialogue here. I wouldn’t say I changed my mind– I had it at 24th of the decade which is already at masterpiece level or close (I think there are roughly 30-35 masterpieces, 3 a year, in most decades).I’d consider a jump of 2-3 levels (like going from a HR to a Masterpiece or must-see to a simple recommend) or something a big jump.
However, I do think Tarantino’s work here appreciates upon closer study and rewards repeat viewings because of the meticulous detail in the world created here in Hollywood 1969. The production design, every choice in wardrobe. There may not be one big jaw-on-the-floor wow moment– but there are a 1000 little choices and details that accumulate.
@Drake. Wow it seems you really changed your mind about it, because it’s new in your head (and mine) we’ll let it sink in for a little but when you update a top 2019 list, a best of the decade or The Once Upon A Time in Hollywood review let me know, I’m very excited about where it’s gonna end up.
Also, what did you discover this time around making you launching it into a MP, Tarantino 2nd best and one of the best of the decade (I mean #24 is still considered one of the best of the decade but it seems the next time you’ll place it really high) ?
@ Cinephile– haha wow- great minds think alike last night, huh?
You’d be smart to listen to Matt Harris- we all would– he knows what he’s talking about.
this so tough trying to rank these great films isn’t it? I really shouldn’t do it today the day after watching it but I’ll say I think there are only a handful of movies from the 2010’s (maybe as few as four) that I feel are indistinguishably better than Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. That doesn’t mean I think I’d put it #5– but it would be in the group (along with Mdisommar) after those big 4.
If you updated this list right now how you’ll rank his filmography?
@Cinephile— great timing sort of– I just saw Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood again last night. Masterful. Ideally I’d like to let it soak in a little but if forced right now I’d go:
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
3. Kill Bill
4. Reservoir Dogs
5. Inglourious Basterds
6. Django Unchained
7. Jackie Brown
8. The Hateful Eight
9. Death Proof
@Drake, I saw Once Upon A Time in Hollywood last night too-Haha, great timing indeed. Here’s mine:
9. Death Proof
8. The Hateful Eight
7. Jackie Brown
6. Reservoir Dogs
5. Django Unchained
4. Inglourious Basterds
3. Kill Bill
2. Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood
1. Pulp Fiction
So here’s the case with Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, I saw it in a cinema and I was like MS the first time”( I had minor issues with the film ). One week later I got to the cinema again knowing what to expect and i was blown away, no problem calling it a MP ( the issues were gone ) and launching it in the top 15-10 of the decade. But some time after I saw it in home, and I dropped it a little to MS/MP, but it was a terrible time to see it because I was exhausted from work and I didn’t give it the attention it deserves. So last night I said let’s do this one more time and I was blown away again-Haha, launching it one more time to MP and top 15 of the decade. Actually it was Matt Harris who turned my head on this one because he named it one of the best achievements of the decade and I gave it another chance ( previously with the 3rd watch I had it like 30-25 of the decade). So yeah, complicated situation.
So it seems you liked it more with your last watch. Is it climbing your top of the decade list? You have it at #24 so is it lower? like top 20-15 ? Also, is it claiming your top #1 spot replacing Midsommar ? Let me know. And Midsommar is another film you turned my head on, I actually moved it at #3 of 2019 replacing Parasite which stands at #4 now.
Holy shit i had almost the same experience with once upon a time in Hollywood. Now its a MP for me. I literally have butterflies typing this.
he is a great director but it is hard to compliment him since he seems to do that to himself enough. anyways, i think inglorious or hateful might be his best. i’ve also seen pulp kill bill and dogs. prbably hateful eight. such a unique narrative and with the sam jackson performance and roy orbison at the end it is near perfect.
@m Interesting. Thank you for sharing. I haven’t heard someone argue Hateful Eight is potentially his best.
Anyone else with a perfect record (active or not) with all films in the archives?
@AP there are many with a perfect record when you start talking about active filmmakers– PTA, Steve McQueen, Wes Anderson, Spike Jonze, Sofia— too many to list. If you go farther back it gets rarer and rarer (I think Tarkovsky is 7 for 7) but I can’t think of any auteur with 10 or more who is unblemished (Bresson maybe? Welles– too messy to tell with all his unfinished projects). There are 73 auteurs with 10 or more archiveable films so it would take me forever to check but nobody comes to mind— most have a Boxcar Bertha (Scorsese) Ladykillers (Coen Brothers) or Jack (Francis Ford Coppola). Good question.
i used to think he was a genius but i dont know any more. sure he can write, but his films lack substance and if i criticize them for nihilism then that is not a judgement because i am not a perfect person and i am not self righteous nor do i think im better than anyone.
@yu— thanks for visiting the site and sharing your thoughts. Tarantino is definitely a genius. A lot of great directors have nihilistic (or near) views of the world. Bunuel, Kurosawa, Haneke … too many to count
My top 10 :
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
4.Reservoir Dogs
5. Kill Bill volume 1
6. Django Unchained
7. Jackie Brown
8. The Hateful Eight
9. Kill Volume 2
10. Death Proof
My Ranking of the films I’ve seen are
1.Pulp Fiction
2. Jackie Brown
3.Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
4.Inglourious Basterds
5.Kill Bill
6. Reservoir dogs
7. The Hateful Eight
I change my mind all the time but this is my list right now.
@Randy- thanks for sharing. No Django yet?
Nope not yet i have it saved on my watch later list on YouTube but I haven’t got a chance to actually look at it.
Once upon a time in Hollywood is in the top 5 of Tarantino?
@Richard Nava— I think it is— I’ve seen it twice and if i was forced to say “yes” or “no” today I’d put it #4 or #5 i think so yes.
And where are the documentaries. Man witha movie camera? I’ve seen it once, and it probably needs another viewing but the visuals in that movie are about as god as they get
@ Wayne– thanks for the comment- I don’t do documentaries, experimental cinema, music videos, etc.
@M– thanks for the comment– I share in the praise of all of your films and filmmakers you mention here. De Palma is on the list but he’s farther down- I’m not at his page yet. I’m a big admirer of him and his work as well. If you think they should be higher that’s fine– but who are you moving down to make room for them at the top? That’s where it becomes tricky. The auteurs in front of them are guys like Bergman and Ozu and Fellini and others– hardly slouches.
Some of the greatest films of all time have flaws. But Pulp Fiction, Citizen Kane, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Blade Runner, Godfather, 2001, Carrie, these are few of the flawless films. These directors, Kubrick, Scott, Spielberg, Welles, Coppola, Tarantino, and also Scorsese (the Departed is near flawless). Therefore I feel tarantino and scott, and speilberg should be higher. And I feel that de palma should be on the list.