Director Spotlight: Quentin Tarantino
His star-studded latest, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, hits theaters on July 26th
There’s never been a filmmaker quite like Quentin Tarantino. His wildly entertaining movies smash genres together, give talented actors compelling roles, and simply make for a great time at the cinema. The action is violent and almost cartoonishly bloody, the dialogue is engaging and self-referential, and the style is audacious and over-the-top. His movies may not be for you, but no one can deny Tarantino is one of the most important directors of the last 30 years.
Each one of his films is a capital-E Event, and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, in theaters July 26th, is no different. In fact, you could argue this Tarantino movie is his most highly anticipated since 2009’s Inglourious Basterds. The subject is Hollywood in 1969, when the industry was changing as the 60s peace-and-love counterculture twisted into something darker, represented by Charles Manson and his murderous cult. The cast is as stacked with movie stars as any of his movies have ever been. Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie headline this thing, with Dakota Fanning, Timothy Olyphant, Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, and Damian Lewis just a few of the other big names present.
As we count down the hours until we finally get to see Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, join us for a delightful stroll through the Tarantino films you can stream right now to prepare for this twisted genius’ latest creation.
Billy recommends…
Inglourious Basterds (streaming on Netflix July 22)
Inglourious Basterds was almost named Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France. That is one of the many easter eggs that Quentin Tarantino throws into this movie. The title just mentioned is an obvious nod to Sergio Leone’s two films Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America. While Tarantino does these type of easter eggs often, he does a much better job hiding them in this one. That allows us to be fully immersed into this story without distraction. A truly original film that, as Tarantino suggests in the end of Inglourious Basterds, is his masterpiece.
We open up this movie with what may be the best acting performance in any scene ever. By now most of us know who Christoph Waltz is, but at the time most audiences had never seen this face before. All Tarantino did was find an actor who can speak French, Italian, English, and German. Not only can Waltz, who is playing the “Jew Hunter” Hans Landa, speak these languages, but he can brilliantly act in all four languages. In the opening scene he goes through 3 of the 4 languages with hardly even a breath. We think he and the man he is speaking too (Perrier LaPadite), who is hiding Jews in his floorboard, are playing a conversational game of gymnastics. It turns out Landa is landing the dismount with 10s across the board and LaPadite broke both of his ankles. The terror that Landa instills in this scene sets the tone for the whole movie.
From here on out we follow two major storylines. Shosanna, a woman who owns a movie theater, and whose family was murdered by Landa. Then we have the titled Basterds. A group of soldiers led by 1940’s American stereotype Lt. Aldo Raine. Both storylines are leading towards the same outcome, but the way we get there differs greatly. Shosanna’s storyline thrusts the audience to feel the fear, sorrow, and vengeance this character is feeling. Through all that we see her strength and empathy she has for others. Lt. Aldo Raine’s story is the lighthearted break we need from the backdrop of Nazi Germany. Raine’s squadron has one goal and one goal only: killing Nazis. 100 Nazi scalps per soldier. Through this team we get a group of trained spies and, hilariously, their leader is the only one who is terrible at it. Or at least refuses to play along.
Inglourious Basterds is a movie that has to navigate its way through so many different tones and subject matter, and in my opinion it is done flawlessly. The terror turns to sorrow, sorrow turns to vengeance, vengeance turns to humor, humor turns to arrogance, and arrogance turns to death. In each scenario the audience is hooked and is why this one is so rewatchable. It comes to streaming on July 22nd and is the perfect movie to get you in the mood for Tarantino’s next film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Drew recommends…
Reservoir Dogs (streaming on Amazon Prime)
From the very beginning, Tarantino has always had a knack for the bravura opening scene. Reservoir Dogs, his debut that electrified the Sundance Film Festival in 1992, begins with a group of tough-guy criminals around a diner table discussing Madonna songs and tipping waitresses. Then, you are dropped, suddenly, into a car where two of the men are speeding away from a diamond heist they just pulled off. One of the men is bleeding everywhere in the backseat from a gunshot wound while the driver tries to calm him down. With that gripping opening, Tarantino changed independent cinema forever.
Reservoir Dogs would go on to influence tons of stylish, dialogue-heavy action movies, but there’s nothing like watching the original. The non-linear plot remains a neat trick to pull us in further, since most of the film takes place in the aftermath of the heist gone wrong. The actors all feel authentic to the story. Harvey Keitel was already a veteran of the crime film (he starred in a lot of Martin Scorsese’s early work), Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi are perfect for their roles as Mr. Orange and Mr. Pink, respectively, and Michael Madsen is depraved and terrifying as Mr. Blonde, who is responsible for Reservoir Dogs’ most famous scene (if you’ve seen it, you know the one).
Tarantino’s first film is low-budget and very talky, but somehow also quite bloody and thrilling. As the characters desperately try to figure out which member of the crew is an undercover cop, the manic pace of Reservoir Dogs keeps you engaged throughout. In Roger Ebert’s mildly positive review, he remarked that, “Having created the characters and fashioned the outline, Tarantino doesn't do much with his characters except to let them talk too much.” With all due respect to Mr. Ebert, that is precisely what I love so much about Reservoir Dogs. Watching these criminals converse, from the first scene to the last, is still enthralling 27 years later.
Pulp Fiction (streaming on Netflix)
For his second film, Tarantino collected a grab bag of his favorite pop culture (to name just a few: surf music, Elmore Leonard novels, the films of Hitchcock, Scorsese, and Kubrick), and then birthed a movie that created its own reference points that seeped deep into our culture: Royale with Cheese, the glowing briefcase, $5 milkshakes, Ezekiel 25:17. All of these little details are what make Pulp Fiction so indelible. However, Tarantino’s bold crime flick -- and the quirky references inside -- wouldn’t have reached its lofty status if it weren’t for the brilliant storytelling and fantastic acting at play.
Pulp Fiction is outrageous and unpredictable in the best way, but it’s also probably not for everyone. The violence is sudden and shocking, the plot refuses to move in a straight line, and there’s not many conventional “good guys” to root for, just verbose hitmen, dim-witted burglars, a violent crime boss and his idiosyncratic wife, and a boxer on the run. Each of the interconnected stories in Pulp Fiction are riveting, even if some are more effective than others (“The Gold Watch” segment has always dragged a bit for me). When it comes to unexpected and thrilling plot developments, Tarantino is in a class alone.
Like I said, though, the tremendous cast is what holds Pulp Fiction together. John Travolta (in a comeback role) and Samuel L. Jackson are pitch-perfect as bickering, nonchalant hitmen; both were nominated for Oscars. Also nominated was Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace, mob boss Marsellus’ wife. Her scenes with Travolta were almost instantly iconic in 1994 and remain so today. Bruce Willis is Butch, the boxer that cheats Marsellus (Ving Rhames) out of his money, leading to some truly wild events. Every actor on screen is so clearly having a ball with Tarantino’s outlandish, thrilling, and once-in-a-generation script.
After winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Pulp Fiction went on to win Tarantino a Best Original Screenplay Oscar. QT had truly arrived. Its influence is massive to this day; simply look at how self-referential and pop culture-fluent so many of our movies have become (looking at you, Marvel). And anytime you see a show or movie where criminals talk about mundane subjects before committing violent acts in the midst of a convoluted story, you know you are witnessing a Tarantino knockoff.
Streaming TV Corner
If you can’t get enough Tarantino…
The Hateful Eight: Extended Edition (streaming on Netflix)
Drew: Tarantino’s most recent movie, The Hateful Eight, was re-cut into a four-part miniseries for Netflix this year. It’s an extended edition of the original 2015 release that features four 50ish-minute episodes. While it’s not close to either of our favorite Tarantino movies, The Hateful Eight is a tense and fascinating Western. Just after the end of the Civil War, eight strangers find refuge from a blizzard at the same inn, only to realize that each has their own secrets. If you’d prefer your Tarantino parceled out over 50-minute increments, this would be the way to go.
The Office Episode of the Week
Billy: “Product Recall” (Season 3, Episode 21)
A tasteful drawing of a cartoon mouse having intercourse with a mouse is stamped all over a sizable amount of Dunder Mifflin paper and sent to many customers. The entire office is in damage control mode trying to keep any customer they can. The mistake was clearly made by quality assurance manager Creed Bratton, but he finds a creative way to shift the blame by finding out an employee at the distributing company was sick a random day. Creed tells Michael it was the day he was supposed to meet with her for the quality check. A perfect representation of the character of Creed and an episode where he gets a lead storyline is always hilarious.
Links to get you hyped
The Emmy nominations were announced this week. Game of Thrones led the way with an astounding 32 nods. Check out the full list here.
Tom Cruise is 57 years old and he’s not slowing down anytime soon. In addition to two more Mission: Impossible movies and a sequel to 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow coming in the next few years, Cruise is starring in next year’s Top Gun sequel. Check out the trailer and wonder how it’s possible Maverick has never been promoted after all these years.
And finally, we come to strangest trailer I’ve seen in a long, long time: CATS. If you’ve really been wanting to see Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, Judi Dench, Jennifer Hudson, and more sing and dance as human-looking cats (or cat-looking humans?)… well, this is for you, then. Or you could just read all the hilarious tweets.
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