A major influence in the 90s/early 2000s.

Any thoughts or opinions welcomed.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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I've only seen a couple of Tarantino films, so I don't know how qualified I am to comment on his "body of work," but anyway...

I can sort of see why some people liked "Reservoir Dogs," but to me it was like a really bad car accident you slow down to look at, then ask yourself, "Why did I do that?" "Pulp Fiction" was two hours of my life I'll never get back. I've seen bits of "Kill Bill" and "Inglorious Basterds" (or however it's misspelled), and frankly, I just don't get it. Nothing of his I've seen makes me even slightly want to see any more.

That's my two-and-a-half cents.

Be seeing you.

GreenFedora Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've only seen a couple of Tarantino films, so I
> don't know how qualified I am to comment on his
> "body of work," but anyway...
>
> I can sort of see why some people liked "Reservoir
> Dogs," but to me it was like a really bad car
> accident you slow down to look at, then ask
> yourself, "Why did I do that?" "Pulp Fiction" was
> two hours of my life I'll never get back. I've
> seen bits of "Kill Bill" and "Inglorious Basterds"
> (or however it's misspelled), and frankly, I just
> don't get it. Nothing of his I've seen makes me
> even slightly want to see any more.
>
> That's my two-and-a-half cents.
>
> Be seeing you.


Thanks for your input, GF.

I saw the earlier stuff as it came out in the theatres. I was impressed in a certain way--at the time there wasn't much else like it--but overall his stuff is HIGHLY repetitive.

He is, therefore, essentially a narrowly talented artist, a one trick pony, really.

The best thing of his that I saw was Jackie Brown. There is at least nuance to it.

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A major influence in the 90s/early 2000s.
>
> Any thoughts or opinions welcomed.


His work is very lurid and amoral. Which can be fun. He lost me when I began to sense the stench of a message. I hated "Inglourious Basterds" and "Django Unchained", which I saw as sadistic brutality using politics as an alibi.

I have only seen Pulp Fiction, and I did not like it. I don't remember anything from it, except the kitsch violence. But the critics hailed it and you had to go see it. So I am sure, by this equation, that it had some insidious political (((Hollywood))) propaganda poking out to enter my brain.

I understand he made a film called From Dusk Till Dawn about vampires in Mexico. And that John Carpenter also made something like that, called Vampires, at about the same time. I have not seen either of these. It is one of the few films by John Carpenter I have not seen. I have great admiration for Carpenter's artistic hand, both as film director and suggestive musician. And as a director of entertainment action/horror films, working in Hollywood, he seems pretty much to have managed to keep his films mostly free from pc propaganda. And he made the odd film They Live, which some interpret as an attack on the whole system and the deep state.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have only seen Pulp Fiction, and I did not like
> it. I don't remember anything from it, except the
> kitsch violence. But the critics hailed it and you
> had to go see it. So I am sure, by this equation,
> that it had some insidious political
> (((Hollywood))) propaganda poking out to enter my
> brain.

No message; it was simply exploiting Tarantino's fine ear for 70s hipness and coolness.

I think that Reservoir Dogs was a more honest film. As soon as he had broadly recognized success, he became extremely self-indulgent, a sort of self-appointed arbiter of what's cool and what isn't.

So mostly it's well filmed, repeatedly exploring hyper-macho themes, as embodied in 1970s black American culture--which if one can recall that period, was actually pretty fun, since people were not afraid to laugh at themselves, nor the more obvious foibles of others.

>
> I understand he made a film called From Dusk Till
> Dawn about vampires in Mexico.

I think Rodriguez actually directed. Tarantino may have written it.

Oddly, among the very best stuff he's done was as an actor playing a character very much like himself--a young turk director--who was narcissistic and exaggerated in the extreme.

This was one segment of the anthology film, Four Rooms.

But I honestly believe that he was poking fun at himself, so I give him credit for that much, at least.

At this point I'm sorta seeing Tarantino as the poster boy for all that's wrong with America today. A person possessed of significant talent--although not even 1/10th of what he, himself, thinks he has. And he sees himself as enlightened --in a way "woke" (in his own way--he's not conventionally PC, you'll be glad to hear, K), and here's the kicker--the part that makes him the poster boy: he thinks this makes his opinion superior to all others.

Very typical of today's emergent generation, who were all awarded trophies for participation--which they were led to believe is congruent with excellence--and were constantly reassured how great they were, when all they were doing was the minimal competent output.

So you see, to them "competence" = "excellence", and this then, to their way of thinking, confers the moral right to arbitrate all issues.

You get kinda tired of this, after a while...

> And that John
> Carpenter also made something like that, called
> Vampires, at about the same time. I have not seen
> either of these. It is one of the few films by
> John Carpenter I have not seen. I have great
> admiration for Carpenter's artistic hand, both as
> film director and suggestive musician. And as a
> director of entertainment action/horror films,
> working in Hollywood, he seems pretty much to have
> managed to keep his films mostly free from pc
> propaganda. And he made the odd film They Live,
> which some interpret as an attack on the whole
> system and the deep state.

Did you like any of De Palma, and say, Phantom of the Paradise? An odd little film, for sure....

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >
> Did you like any of De Palma, and say, Phantom of
> the Paradise? An odd little film, for sure....

Hi Sawfish. I have not seen any of his films! :O

I don't know why I have never seen Carrie; probably because all the blood on Sissy Spacek in the trailer repelled me. I find such things traumatic. And when Dressed to Kill (inspired by Argento?) premiered, I was a young teenager, and it was WAY too scary for me to go see. I was never a fan of slasher films (although I have forced myself through a few; Friday the 13th (1980), Maniac (1980), The Burning (1981), and of course Carpenter's Halloween (1978) ).
I have watched Phantom of the Paradise in parts; it was surrealistic(?), kind of 1970s nightmarish. R. Corben did a movie poster for it.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sawfish Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > >
> > Did you like any of De Palma, and say, Phantom
> of
> > the Paradise? An odd little film, for sure....
>
> Hi Sawfish. I have not seen any of his films! :O
>
> I don't know why I have never seen Carrie;
> probably because all the blood on Sissy Spacek in
> the trailer repelled me. I find such things
> traumatic. And when Dressed to Kill (inspired by
> Argento?) premiered, I was a young teenager, and
> it was WAY too scary for me to go see. I was never
> a fan of slasher films (although I have forced
> myself through a few; Friday the 13th (1980),
> Maniac (1980), The Burning (1981), and of course
> Carpenter's Halloween (1978) ).
> I have watched Phantom of the Paradise in parts;
> it was surrealistic(?), kind of 1970s nightmarish.
> R. Corben did a movie poster for it.

I haven't watched that many of De Palma's films, either. I think he was overrated there fore a while. He did Untouchables, which I saw, and it's really a disappointing film--although I'm not so sure *why* I would think it could have been good.

There was a guy, Baz Lurman I think his name is and he did some pretty distinctive visual films a while back, including Moulin Rouge. Did you see any of that stuff?

Visually stimulating, like an old MTV video done by a good director.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was never a fan of slasher films (although I have forced
> myself through a few; Friday the 13th (1980),
> Maniac (1980), The Burning (1981), and of course
> Carpenter's Halloween (1978) ).
>

I think Black Christmas (1974) was the first slasher film I saw. Managed to sneak into the theatre at age 13 together with a friend. It was VERY VERY scary!
Another great horror-slasher film I saw at the same age was The Ritual (1977). I re-watched this recently, and it was still nerve-wrackingly good! It is similar to Deliverance (1972), although not quite as finely artistic.

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> There was a guy, Baz Lurman I think his name is
> and he did some pretty distinctive visual films a
> while back, including Moulin Rouge. Did you see
> any of that stuff?
>

I didn't see Moulin Rouge! (2001), in sheer protest, simply because it was bombastic and everyone else went to see it and said it was so good. Likewise with Amadeus (1984). I don't like to go with the popular flow of the masses, and think the same thoughts as everyone else. I just can't stand it! I want to be an outsider! But if it had been a horror- fantasy- or science fiction film, I probably would have seen it anyway. Although I just hated Coppola's popular and kitschy Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) (What a presumptuous title! Coppola hasn't a clue of understanding about horror and the supernatural.), and I wanted to walk out of the theatre; but had payed my way in, so ... remained. And after left the theatre in a rage.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sawfish Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > There was a guy, Baz Lurman I think his name is
> > and he did some pretty distinctive visual films
> a
> > while back, including Moulin Rouge. Did you see
> > any of that stuff?
> >
>
> I didn't see Moulin Rouge! (2001), in sheer
> protest, simply because it was bombastic and
> everyone else went to see it and said it was so
> good. Likewise with Amadeus (1984). I don't like
> to go with the popular flow of the masses, and
> think the same thoughts as everyone else. I just
> can't stand it! I want to be an outsider! But if
> it had been a horror- fantasy- or science fiction
> film, I probably would have seen it anyway.
> Although I just hated Coppola's popular and
> kitschy Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) (What a
> presumptuous title! Coppola hasn't a clue of
> understanding about horror and the supernatural.),
> and I wanted to walk out of the theatre; but had
> payed my way in, so ... remained. And after left
> the theatre in a rage.


Mostly agree, and I usually wait until I can see a big split in reviews. A "loved it/hated it" film has a good chance of being interesting to me.

Next would be "hated it", and last would be "loved it".

But you know a mainstream remake I really liked was Spielberg's War of the Worlds. I liked much of it, but there were certainly BS moments...

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~