Quentin Tarantino is God. Not in the religious sense, but when it comes to movies. Maybe King Midas is more fitting: everything he is involved with turns to gold. Either way, it is well known that Tarantino is an encyclopedia of every genre of film, due to all the quirky elements his films are based on.
Taking a look back on his previous works of cinematic creativity, back in the ancient times of 1992 “Reservoir Dogs,” this breakout film was deemed groundbreaking in the crime genre. The movie follows the before and aftermath of a failed jewel robbery, including everything but the heist itself, which he leaves as open to interpretation by the filmgoers. The impressive cast (Harvey Kietel, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth etc) made the film a classic in the independent film world and cult culture, even being commonly referred to as the “Greatest Independent Film of all Time.” “Reservoir Dogs” embodies many themes and characteristics that have become prominent in all of his creative endeavors: the nonlinear storyline, violent crime, heavy profanity, memorable dialogue, and plenty of pop culture tributes.
These ideas steadily carried over into 1994’s “Pulp Fiction.” The classic follows many sinful characters and the ways in which their stories are interconnected. The film breathed life into the dying career of John Travolta and although was noticeably a loser at the Oscars (because of excessive violence), it cleaned house just about everywhere else. Hopefully you have already seen the film, otherwise a Jheri-curled Bible preaching motha-lovin bad man Jules Winnfield should take you on a ride through Inglewood.
In 1997 Tarantino delivered us “Jackie Brown,” his take on blaxploitation films. It certainly did not do well as “Pulp Fiction.” In fact, this was Tarantino’s worst film to date critically and financially. However, Samuel L. Jackson and Pam Grier’s head-on confrontations are enough to watch this forgotten gem. Robert DeNiro hitting a ceramic dragon bong certainly adds to its appeal.
Missing from the movie business for a couple of years after this, Tarantino’s absence began to be felt by the lack of intelligent or thought-provoking crime flicks. Thankfully in 2003 and 2004 he gave us “Kill Bill: Vol. One” and then “Kill Bill: Vol. Two.” Both are tremendous films on their own and many have debated over which volume is better. The first volume is more focused on his infatuation with Kung-Fu movies so it’s a grand opera in honor of choreographed violence.
My personal favorite is the second film, which was more of a Spaghetti Western style applied with a script that revises his instant classic dialogue. Both of these films alone are neo-classics in the genre they mimic, and include some heavyweights like Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Darryl Hannah, Lucy Lui, Vivica A. Fox, Samuel L. Jackson and so forth. If you have a strong fear of being buried alive you might want to skip volume two.
“Grindhouse” reunited Tarantino with director Robert Rodriguez who both collaborated together on the El Mariachi series starring Antonio Banderas. Tarantino produced “Death Proof,” the stronger and most stylistically true to the genre of the two, Rodriguez’s “Planet Terror” was parodying zombie movies, specifically Romero’s “Day of the Dead.” “Death Proof” starred and gave wondrous light to the career of Kurt Russell and many beautiful young ladies.
Hopefully this look back at Tarantino’s past creative accomplishments helps prepare you for what is coming later this year. In August of this year the genius is bestowing upon audiences his latest movie, “Inglorious Basterds,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and stars Brad Pitt among a serious list of others (his largest on screen cast to date, look for comedic legend Cloris Leachman).
Tarantino’s non-linear plotline is sure to be prevalent judging by the movie’s somewhat separate stories, although he always ties them together quite neatly.
A revenge-riddled girl whose family is exterminated by Nazi members escapes to Paris where a kind woman takes her in. The girl begins to work for the woman at her movie theater where she is put into a conflicting situation, when an infatuated German war hero persuades his superiors to screen their latest propaganda film in the occupied theater. Informed of the propaganda premiere, elsewhere a group of Jewish-American soldiers, deep behind enemy lines are sent there with the pure mission to “scalp as many Nazis as possible” to stop the war machine.
Tarantino has repeatedly stressed that despite “Inglourious Basterds” being a war film, the movie will come off as “a spaghetti-Western but with World War Two iconography.”
There are a great number of skeptics that simply write off Quentin Tarantino as a has-been, to those people: I should use the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique on you, and then finish you off by sticking my black mamba on you.