SCFZ poll: Quentin Tarantino

[flip]

Polling the films of director Quentin Tarantino

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Tarantino films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of his films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of his films than you can list the maximum of five.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Friday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline up to three days, if someone requests an extension

- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: umbugbene, greennui, evelyn, bure, m arkadin, mrcarmady

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward

if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again

[flip]

for this poll, i think it will make the most sense to count kill bill vol 1 and kill bill vol 2 as two different films, so please indicate which one(s) you're voting for

and it's fine to vote for the csi episode he directed (not sure if it's on letterboxd but that doesn't matter too much), but i'll count that as a single work, even if it was in two parts

[flip]

Death Proof
Inglorious Basterds
Pulp Fiction
Grave Danger
Jackie Brown

seen eleven, mixed feelings about him overall, haven't revisited the early films in years with the exception of pulp fiction, which actually does stand up pretty well

[nrh]

death proof
jackie brown
inglorious bastards

3rd is a long way down from the first two.

seen everything, haven't revisited the early films enough to rate them. i thought hollywood was interesting and kind of strangely misunderstood but the collapse in his work after the death of sally menke is just truly strange, only greenaway's floundering after the death of sacha vierny really feels comparable to me.

[oscarwerner]

seen 10. My votes:
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
3. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
4. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
5. Jackie Brown (1997)

[flip]

seen everything

nrh, you can pick our next director if you want!

[nrh]

do we have enough views for tobe hooper or terence fisher?

[Silga]

Seen 10:

1. Jackie Brown
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Django Unchained
4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
5. Death Proof

[therouxxx]

Inglourious Basterds
Jackie Brown
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

have not seen Kill Bill or Death Proof

[Monsieur Arkadin]

Seen everything.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Inglorious Basterds
Kill Bill Vol.II
Kill Bill Vol.I
Pulp Fiction

I agree that there was some sort of artistic crisis post-Menke. He really grew as a director right before/after this period, but he no longer had the right person to hone what he was doing as a director properly. I think Hateful 8 was actually one of his best films (if not his best) in terms of staging, but after the intermission, rhythmically it feels incoherent and the madness of the last act just doesn't feel earned in any way. He seems to have put all his growth into Once Upon A Time while simultaneously crafting a rhythm/aesthetic built around this newly undisciplined editing team, and that's why it really plays as one of his most artistically mature and personal films. But I think he could have reached that level earlier if Menke had still been around.

I know he's quite unpopular amongst a certain type of cinephile, and I really don't have a hard time seeing why. But I do think his ability to pull great performances from his actors cannot be ignored. He is also consistently re-focusing, despite the similarities of his films. Hateful 8 was largely about the staging, whereas Once Upon a Time was so incredibly focused on production design, subtext, and intertextuality. I think as a craftsman he's gotten much better with age despite Hateful 8 and Django being two movies I don't particularly care for.

[harry]

seen all but his part of Four Rooms:

Jackie Brown
Death Proof
Kill Bill vol 1
Pulp Fiction

IMO the top two are his best by far.

[flip]

do we have enough views for tobe hooper or terence fisher?

we can check - seems like it's possible. if i remember correctly josiah morgan has seen a lot of hooper, so if he stops by, that would help a lot, but i haven't seen him in a while

if anyone has seen at least 6 films by either hooper or fisher, please post here! i've only seen three hooper films, and no fisher, unfortunately

[Umbugbene]

Seen 9 Tarantinos if you split Kill Bill. Not crazy about him; he's a skilled director and good at visceral dialogue, but his films seem juvenile to me. Django, Basterds, and Hollywood all use the same formula: What if we went back in time and kicked the bad guys' asses? Jackie Brown is a bit different... it's not a great film, but she always tells the truth in a world that puts no value on the truth, which gives the movie a strong premise anyway. So that's my vote:

1. Jackie Brown

I have 4 Terence Fishers and 2 Tobe Hoopers (Cats & The King's Speech).

[Silga]

2 Tobe Hoopers (Cats & The King's Speech).

Wrong Hooper. You're thinking Tom Hooper. Tobe does horror movies.

[flip]

i think it was a joke

[greennui]

Seen 8.

Bleugh.

This is my favorite Tarantino film review ever:
https://letterboxd.com/anna_imhof/film/ ... hollywood/

[---]

seen 6

this guy is mostly King of Mediocre

[Silga]

i think it was a joke

I got that idea right after I posted.

But that Cats movie was definitely a joke. Even ALW agrees.

[Umbugbene]

2 Tobe Hoopers (Cats & The King's Speech).

Wrong Hooper. You're thinking Tom Hooper. Tobe does horror movies.

Flip's right, I was just testing the reaction I've seen 2 Hoopers regardless whether it's Tom or Tobe

[Silga]

I've only seen one Tobe Hooper and even that film (Poltergeist) was allegedly directed by Spielberg.

[brian d]

seen 4, not very enthusiastic about it but:

inglorious basterds
reservoir dogs


just 3 hooper and 1 fisher (which i really liked)

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Seen 7. I don't like Tarantino at all, with the one exception that I have at times enjoyed his cinephilia, though even there his self-cultivated status as king of the cult genre fans irks me. One film I find interesting enough to vote for:

1. Inglourious Basterds

[DT.]

1. Inglourious Basterds
2. The Hateful Eight
3. Kill Bill: Volume 2
4. Pulp Fiction
5. Death Proof

[Holymanm]

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Django Unchained
The Hateful 8

Seen 8

Saw Pulp Fiction and Kill Bills 1 and 2 too long ago to rate them... unenthused over Death Proof, and I really don't want to watch 154 minutes of Jackie Brown just so I can give it a 2.5/5 but I guess I will one day

[ofrene]

Inglourious Basterds
Jackie Brown
Django Unchained
Reservoir Dogs

[liquidnature]

Seen 5 or so, all about a decade ago. Only one I remember fondly:

1. Jackie Brown

[nrh]

do we have enough views for tobe hooper or terence fisher?

you all haven't seen some dracula movies? some texas chainsaw massacres? life force?

if nobody has anything i'll think of something else

[Holymanm]

Never heard of Fisher; just 1 Hooper... though if you count each time I get cranky at seeing people post "Hooptober" on LBD I will have more than enough!

[Lencho of the Apes]

Five Hooper, six Fisher.

[...]

10+ from both Fisher and Hooper

I'll need to think a bit about the Tarantino poll, my appreciation of his skills is matched by my annoyance at how they're put to use.

Incidentally, regarding Fisher, it throws me a bit to see how much the Hammer horror films have seemed to fade, as with Corman, it was kind of a given people who watched a lot of movies would see at least some of them for how frequently they were on TV if nothing else, but then recent decades have poured out their own glut of horror films, so I shouldn't be so much surprised by the 60s being left behind as just feel old I guess.