Tarantino Movies, Ranked!

Snarf Zagyg

Notorious Liquefactionist
Supporter
Having not posted a pop-culture thread in a little while, and having a short period of time on my hands, I thought I'd put up the following for discussion and/or debate! This was caused by a comment in another thread about Tarantino, and I realized ... I have done Cronenberg. I have done Wes Anderson. I have done the Coen Brothers.

But I have never done Tarantino. Yes, he is well-known for his quirks. Rob "Pouches Everywhere" Liefeld is so terrible at drawing feet, even Quentin Tarantino is like, "Naw, I'll pass."

That said, his movies tend to be ... if nothing else ... violent. So they aren't for everyone. And if they aren't, that's cool! Just like not everyone loves Wes Anderson. But for those who appreciate his work, he has an incredibly solid oeuvre.

As a general rule, I have found that people either love, or hate, Tarantino ... with few people falling into the "meh" category. I am one of those people that definitely fall into the "love" category. In my opinion, he is one of the few directors working that I make sure to see every single new release; simply knowing that he was the director of a film is enough to make me go and see it. In addition, he famously cares about his movies and his overall work- he has said that his next movie will be his last, so he ends with ten (which may or may not be correct, depending on how you count movies).

While I normally have "rules" for these types of things, this is very simple- it has to be a Tarantino movie. It cannot be a commercial. It cannot be a short. It cannot be a very special episode of ER. All movies are included.

Edge cases-
Movies that are anthologies (such as Four Rooms) are excluded. Death Proof, which was originally released as half of Grindhouse, is included, because it stands on its own.
Kill Bill will be treated as two separate movies (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2).
That's it.

This will include all ten of his feature length films, from Reservoir Dogs to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and will be listen in order of awesomeness, with #10 being the least awesome. That said, it gets really hard after the last three; all of the movies are good, and most are great.



10. Death Proof. The chase scene is amazing. This isn't a bad pulp film, in fact, it's a great pulp film. But ... it's little more than the lurid tropes that you see.

9. Kill Bill Vol. 2. As a complete movie, Kill Bill is amazing. But compared to the first part, the second suffers. It's good.

8. The Hateful Eight. A movie that is enjoyably, but doesn't demand repeat viewing.

7. Kill Bill Vol. 1. A controversial ranking; perhaps the most thrilling grindhouse film Tarantino has made. Honestly, from this point on it gets really difficult.

6. Reservoir Dogs. No notes. A movie that helped break the indie movement of the 90s, and for good reason.

5. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino is clearly wrestling with the passage of time, and what it means to make a movie.

4. Jackie Brown. A movie that seems to be about a heist, but is really about the struggles of people that refuse to acknowledge they are getting old.

3. Inglorious Basterds. If this movie did nothing other than introduce America to Christopher Walz, then that was enough. A movie set in war, but not about war.

2. Django Unchained. A Western that was outrageous in so many ways, it somehow made circled around to being almost responsible.

1. Pulp Fiction. It is hard to explain what an incredible seachange this movie provided; simply put, there was Hollywood before this movie, and Hollywood after it. A movie that opened the door for people to re-examine their taste in movies, and realize the Out of Africa is not what "good filmmaking" looks like.


That's it! Feel free to add your own comments below.
 

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TiQuinn

Registered User
I would probably put Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown at the top of the list. His later stuff, while funny and entertaining at times, veers into a kind of self-caricature to me. Like, Kill Bill, Basterds, and Django are all similar revenge fantasies with different backdrops to me.
 


Kilimanjaro

Explorer
10. Once upon a time… Mostly boring. Will never rewatch.
9. Death Proof
8. Kill Bill vol 1
7. Kill Bill vol 2
6. Reservoir Dogs
5. Inglorious
4. Django
3. Jackie Brown
2. Hateful Eight
1. Pulp Fiction
 

Top tier - Amazing cinema
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Django Unchained

Good tier - Really good but not quite
3. Inglorious Basterds
4. Kill Bill 1
5. Kill Bill 2
6. Jackie Brown

Ok tier - Not bad, but often overrated
7. Reservoir Dogs
8. Death Proof

Haven't seen - I think I will probably like these once I get around to them
Hateful Eight
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
 

R_J_K75

Legend
I've only seen Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Death Proof and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. If I had to rank them it would be in that order too. Personally, I think his movies are overrated. My younger self thought the shock value was cool rather than them actually being good movies; years later they don't hold up.
 

aco175

Legend
I think Pulp Fiction gets quote at my game table as much as Monty Python.

I recall it premiering on cable a few years ago and I needed to watch to see if/how they could dub all the bad stuff out and put it on TV.

It would be even more funny if they could take all the naughty words out and replace with kindler/gentler language for today's audience.

"Reach into the bag and pull out my wallet."
"How do I know which wallet is yours."
"It's the one that says morally wrong birthing person engaged in intercourse on it."
 

MGibster

Legend
That said, his movies tend to be ... if nothing else ... violent. So they aren't for everyone. And if they aren't, that's cool! Just like not everyone loves Wes Anderson. But for those who appreciate his work, he has an incredibly solid oeuvre.
One of the things I love about Tarantino movies is that I never know what's going to happen. When that first group of women gets into the car in Death Proof, I really didn't know what was going to happen. The same was true when that woman strapped herself to the hood of that Dodge Charger. It builds genuine tension that I rarely find in other movies.

My absolute favorite was Inglorious Basterds in the scene where Hans Landa is interviewing the French farmer. When they started switching languages I thought it was a joke about how everyone speaks English in these war movies but it was cleverly used to by Landa to get his targets. Tarantino is really good at building tension.
 

payn

I don't believe in the no-win scenario
One of the things I love about Tarantino movies is that I never know what's going to happen. When that first group of women gets into the car in Death Proof, I really didn't know what was going to happen. The same was true when that woman strapped herself to the hood of that Dodge Charger. It builds genuine tension that I rarely find in other movies.
QT does tension build extremely well.
My absolute favorite was Inglorious Basterds in the scene where Hans Landa is interviewing the French farmer. When they started switching languages I thought it was a joke about how everyone speaks English in these war movies but it was cleverly used to by Landa to get his targets. Tarantino is really good at building tension.
Problem is his movies are crap with 1-2 expertly executed scenes in each that get confused for being a worthwhile viewing.
 

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