Anyone think Tarantino never topped this?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Reservoir Dogs
Binkconn — 9 years ago(August 25, 2016 09:02 PM)
Just a sharp, funny heist thriller, no scene wasted. Pulp Fiction was more adventurous in its casting and time alterations, but there are bits like with Butch and his girlfriend that get tedious, and there's a lot of flab on Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Deathproof, and so on. It just feels like there's a seriousness and tension here that Quentin lost and he fell more in love with getting his actors to say anything that came out of his word processor.
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Stratego — 9 years ago(August 26, 2016 06:30 PM)
I think this was his best film and every movie that followed was a step down. The only movies by him that I like are this one, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. The others just feel like Tarantino following the Tarantino-formula. Those films just seem hollow and insincere.
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JakeZen2 — 9 years ago(September 06, 2016 11:42 AM)
I think he is getting better with age. My favorite top 3 are IB, DU and TH8. Mostly because I think he has learned to add a lot more subtle comedy into his characters/plot. I wish I would have seen TH8 in its original theatre release.
What would really be an interesting exercise for him would be to constrain himself to writing a movie with no violence. I would put him up there with the greats except for the fact that he has not expanded outside of his violent themes.
The Coen brothers are a good example of writing/directing which can go into the dark violent side but also do comedy and drama. -
kmags84 — 9 years ago(September 11, 2016 02:44 PM)
Reservoir Dogs is an amazing first feature film. It's minimalist filmmaking at its finest. The great cast and dialogue carry the film. It's structure keeps the viewer on their toes, even though not much happens. I love it's tone, the Gritty Cinematography and Atmosphere It's just RAW.
However, Pulp Fiction is even better. QT did alot of the same, he just was able to expand his vision because of the larger budget. The Cinematography is more colorful but it's great for the "Modern LA Spaghetti Western" that QT states he was going for. It's more clever and the structure is another step forward than RD. Sam Jack alone makes it the better film. The use of Music is expanded, almost unrivaled IMO, just a notch below Goodfellas in that department. QT was fresh and brimming with ideas. You can see them all over the film.
The rest of his filmography is still fantastic too. It's where he always wanted to go. I love his maturation in Jackie Brown. Kill Bill is when QT became who he is though. Not saying it's better or worse than his first trio of films, it just seems to be when he finally decided to go all out and become the "DJ Director" that he's become. Like a Producer chopping up Samples in Hip Hop, which some people look down on, even though the greats(DJ Premier, Pete Rock, J Dilla and The RZA of course) do things that are completely original. It's not just looping a song and adding drums. It's so much more and Real Hip Hop Fans can tell the difference And that's exactly what QT does with film. Add in the fact that he's without a doubt, one of THEE GREATEST Screenwriters to ever live and you get films like Kill Bill(Vol 1 being more Kung-fu and Action Oriented, Vol 2 is more of a Western, full of beautiful scenery and Dialogue.) Inglourious Basterds is IMO, his BEST Screenplay. Not his best film(Pulp Fiction will always hold that title for me) but IB is his 2nd Masterpiece. Any flaws it might have are an afterthought because the Screenplay is out of this World. How it didn't win an Oscar in that department is an absolute joke. QT stated thru Brad Pitt in the wonderful final scene that he created his Masterpiece and I agree. Waltz deserves every ounce of praise he gets for his role as well. Death Proof was cool. I love Kurt Russell but you can tell QT went a bit overboard. He even admitted it But, it's still a solid picture. I do think Rodriguez got the better of him in that friendly co-op. Django is a film I have mixed feelings about. I love it, that's for sure, but I think it ran too long and personally, I'm not a huge fan of Waltz in THIS case. Leo and Sam Jack stole the show and we get about 20min too much at the end and 20min too little of Leo. The writing is superb as usual but I find myself out of the film once Candy Land becomes a Murder House. No fault to Foxx, I just think QT dragged it out Much like my rant here lol. Ending with The Hateful Eight, I think it was better than Django. I love it's simplicity. The atmosphere is perfect! Richardson shined with his Cinematography. The dialogue, as I keep saying, was QT proving again that he is in a League of only a Few, Paul Thomas Anderson is another in that small list. Anyways So while I'll always love Reservoir Dogs, I'd put it behind Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vol 2 and Inglourious Basterds. Maybe behind Hateful Eight. I need to see how that keeps growing on me. All said though, I'd LOVE to see QT go back to his early roots and make a neat little Crime Caper type of film. Use LA and do what he did to catapult his Career. Similar to Scorsese did with The Departed. -
Robbmonster — 9 years ago(November 15, 2016 07:51 PM)
I like Reservoir Dogs a little less each time I see it.
I watched it again last night and right from the opening scene - a bunch of robbers and their boss parading themselves in a cafe eating breakfast right before a robbery - I just felt the whole premise was relatively juvenile. The idea these robbers would then go to a warehouse and just wait to be caught, the fact the cops didn't arrest them because they wanted Joe Cabot right there (despite the fact if they arrested the robbers there was a good chance at least one of them would sing), and just the sheer amount of talk point to a director who was trying to make an impression rather than tell a story that made sense.
Having said that, when I first saw Reservoir Dogs I'd never seen anything like it and it made a huge impression on me. But I was 15 years old and the nonsensical aspects didn't matter so much because - like most people - I was so enraptured by the dialogue and energy of the piece.
Personally I think Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction are Tarantino's best overall, and the rest I can take or leave to certain extents.
I think scenes ARE wasted in Resrvoir Dogs. The opening scene establishes a bit of character, but doesn't feed story. Imagine if the film had started five minutes later, with a bleeding Mr Orange screaming in the back seat of a car. Then insert the cafe scene in later someplace.
Anyway, just my opinions.
Never defend crap with 'It's just a movie'
http://www.youtube.com/user/BigGreenProds -
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twelveboar — 9 years ago(January 05, 2017 02:10 AM)
Jackie Brown I think trumps this, just due to more rounded, believable and likeable characters (but it had the time to establish them). That said, I think RD is a close second. Pulp is great, but more dated I think. I think the rest of his output is pretty poor, with the odd great scene.