I personally think Tarantino hasn't made a film yet that was anything less than great besides Death Proof. I think he's easily one of the top filmmakers around and he'll probably go down as one of the most influential for what he did for indie cinema. I'm really looking forward to Inglorious Bastards.

The difference between Reservoir Dogs and Death Proof was that, there was a payoff for the dialogue in Reservoir Dogs, it provided for great character development, and frankly it was just much more entertaining. In Deathproof, yeah it told me a little about the characters, but I didn't need to know about the characters in this case. Or maybe I should say I didn't want to. Either way, the only substantial thing I really learned from the dialogue was that the one girl carried a gun.

I don't think Death Proof was a total failure, but I do think that Tarantino was overdue for a mediocre film.

Not sure what you mean... what exactly did Tarintino do for indie cinema?

What's not to get? He made some of the best indie films of all time in a lot of peoples opinions. If you don't agree with that opinion, it's still hard to contest that he made some of most well known. I think a lot of people of this generation wouldn't even know what independent film was if not for Tarantino. I'm not sayiing that's a good thing. I think it's pretty sad actually, but it shows how much of a force he is in independent films. As Joe Carnahan said, he "moved over the entire independent film scene like the ****ing hindenburg."

It begins and ends with Pulp Fiction, the movie breathed life back into cinema and reoriented what was considered "cool". Not to mention the wave of imitations "Two days in the Valley" anyone? He also reintroduced the idea of marketing a movie through a director. Make the director the "rock star" and you can get away retooling B actors and tired plots.

Tarantino after making Pulp Fiction could literally make webcam porn for hte rest of his life and still be a chapter in any film history book. But much like Orson Welles I'm afraid his defining moment came early in his career.

But he has all of us talking about him instead of working on our scripts like we should be so I'm going to guess that he dosn't give a shizz what we think!

In my defense of mispelling Reservoir Dogs, I looked off Perry's post because I didn't know how to spell it and thought he would know...thanks a lot Perry.

basically I don't get exactly what Tatintino's influence on indie cinema was and still is... other than what RedKing mentions about what's considered cool. He basically Americanized and popularized other genres by ripping off other films.

He has some cool movies, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill vol 2 are some of my favorites... but Tarantino himself is overrated I think.

Kurt, I hate to say this, but (I can say this far more harshly than I will) I believe you are entirely wrong. You are completely ignorant to what Tarantino has done, and that's a shame. For reference, look up Roger Ebert's review of Pulp Fiction, as well as his review a few years later as part of his "great movies" segment. It spells out for you exactly how incredibly well made and brilliant Tarantino's film is, and will be all the defense I need. Ebert is without question today's most celebrated and distinguished critics, and I hope to God that his opinion holds as much water for you as it does for me.

AND TO ALL OF YOU SAYING "INDIE"...STOP. It's unbelievably annoying, and I have posted twice already with Jim Jarmusch's response to being labeled as an "indie" filmmaker, or other filmmakers being labeled as indie, as he points out exactly what is so ludicrous about it all. And if I read one more person use the word indie I will have to re-post it. Very bothersome indeed.

While I enjoyed Kill Bill (both of them) and Deathproof a good amount, I feel like Tarantino is afraid of failing, and thus he is making movies that aren't meant to be taken seriously.

Because he set the bar so high with his earlier movies (Reservoir dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Jackie brown to some extent), he's making movies that if the acting is bad, its supposed to be that way, or if its not believable, that was his intent. Its almost impossible for a film like Kill Bill to go over poorly with critics, because if its bad, Q.T has succeeded and thus it becomes, well, good (if that makes any sense).

Reservoir dogs and Pulp fictions are amazing films on so many different levels. With Kill Bill once you get past the violence, there isn't much more. I understand that it is still a very good piece a filmmaking from a technical standpoint, but in terms of substance and depth of story, its lacking. While Pulp Fiction is by no means a "serious" movie, the dialogue was revolutionary, and there is more to it then car chases and 45 minute sword fights.

Every use of the word "indie" on this thread, if I'm not mistaken, has been used to describe the certain sect of films that are made independently. Not as some ****ty marketing term. Indie film is a big part of the movies today whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. If you'd rather me say "independent" from now on, maybe I could consider it if it just bugs you that much... but I have to say, that's pretty pretentious.

I also have to suggest that you get some opinions of your own.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: politicsofecstacy,

Great points NySpree, even though, I thought Kill Bill was a pretty great film. I think that's a perfect way of describing it. As I posted earlier, the guys films have all been recieved ridiculously well for the most part. He's gotta just be thinking "When am I gonna make my first big failure?"

Although, he's already proven himself, I think his upcoming war film will be very telling about how good of a director he really can be.

I'd like to say Tarantino is to movies as DJ Shadow is to music, but I think that would be complimenting him more than I should. Either way, Tarantino did really just popularize old techniques, characters, and plots, but he did it with a distinct style- really someone who loves films. Unfortunately, making a movie that is just a bunch of homages and references to other films can get old by the 9th time.

quote:

Originally posted by Nervous Larry:
I'd like to say Tarantino is to movies as DJ Shadow is to music, but I think that would be complimenting him more than I should.

Well the only experience I have with shadow is his collaborations with Dan The Automater on Handsome Boy Modeling School and Dr. Octagonecologyst. That being said, I think Tarantino deserves a bit more credit than Shadow's work, which I hear includes bands like Keane? I'm not extremely familiar with him, but I think Tarantino deserves to be compared more to a guy like Dan the Automater, who really revolutionized underground hip-hop production with Dr. Octagonecologyst. It is to this day my favorite album. But, I don't want this to turn into a music discussion, so feel free to disregard my entire post.

EDIT: After reading up a little bit on Shadow, I found that he made an entire album using solely samples, which in its own right is pretty impressive. But then again, isn't that exactly what P.Diddy does? Anyway, I see your connection now, and I suppose its relevant, but I'm not sure that that album, "entroducing..." is as skillfully made as Tarantino's films, which believe it or not contains alot of original material as well as "borrowed" ideas.

Fascist, Why comment on the comparison if you haven't really heard DJ Shadow? Entroducing is a great album, but his music still doesn't affect me the way Tarantino movies do.

Well my comparison between the two was aiming towards the fact that both take old pieces of things and piece it together to make thier own new thing. Also, DJ Shadow used a lot of samples from old old old songs people don't even remember and you can't even find anymore. Tarantino does the same with characters and genres and such, I think. I don't think either brought anything totally brand new, the way and style they brought it was brand new and refreshing, which is why it was important and "revolutionary" I suppose (and yes, I realize Tarantino has a lot of originality too, I just think too much of it is cluttered with uneeded homages).



On a side note, entroducing... is a really good album. On paper it sounds like it wouldn't be anything special, but Shadow can really manipulate different pieces of music and sound so well, he makes songs that are completely his own. And at the time it came out it blew everyone in hip hop away, or so I hear.