My Top 10: Quentin Tarantino Films

For the past 30 years, Quentin Tarantino has been been a calling to multiple generations as a gateway to cinema for a mature audience. Me included.

My first Tarantino experience was like for many others, eye-opening, highly memorable and made you see films in a totally different way.

While paying homage to many styles Tarantino saw through his childhood, his slick style of dialogue, glorious cinematography, romping soundtrack, iconic characters and bloody violence have made him one of the most influential personalities in the industry.

His back catalogue may not be extensive. But one thing is for, the release of a Tarantino film is always seen more as an event then just another project.

It won't surprise me for a second that every other people's list will be different to mine. But I think we can all agree, that Tarantino is one of the greats.

I have seen all but one of Tarantino's 11 films. I am yet to have seen his debut of My Best Friend's Birthday which is now partially lost. I am not counting Sin City and Four Rooms, as he was only either a guest director or directed a partial segment of it.

I will give a short review of my top 10 as follows:

10) Death Proof - While it may be Tarantino's weakest work, it's a still a solid watch.

Seen as Tarantino's homage to grind-house cinema, it sees a stunt-man stalk two groups of women as part of his murderous plans.

Whether the build-up works for you or not, it's worth it for the amazing car chase.

9) Jackie Brown - I probably need to re-watch this as I have not seen this for a long time. But some see this as Tarantino's best. It's most definitely the least Tarantino-looking film he's ever made.

It sees a middle-aged flight attendant get involved in a conflict that could see her go to jail or potentially gain a huge profit.

It's a solid crime drama with some cool twists and has a stellar cast.

8) The Hateful Eight - An Oscar-winning western mystery epic sees a collection of peculiar characters take shelter in a cabin during a winter storm.

It's a well developed story with many memorable characters that is beautifully shot with the iconic Ultra Panavision 70 which Tarantino resurrected.

The cast list is impressive and they all bring their A-game.

7) Once Upon A Time ... In Hollywood - Taratino's latest feature that is seen as a homage to the final years of Hollywood's Golden Era.

It sees a fading TV actor and his stunt double looking for one last major project in their respective careers.

It's a slow burner. But it manages to absorb you into the Hollywood lifestyle and has several iconic sequences.

6) Reservoir Dogs - Taratino's breakthrough feature sees several criminals suspecting one of their colleagues is a police informant when a bank heist goes wrong.

It's well structured, written with a lot of wit and introduced the filming industry of Quentin Tarantino is all about.

5) Kill Bill Vol. 2 - The follow-up to the first Kill Bill which sees 'The Bride' continue her quest for vengeance.

It's a thrilling conclusion to this epic story that also gives a bit more backstory to our colourful characters.

The soundtrack is still tip-top and the action never stops.

4) Django Unchained - An epic western drama about a slave who is releases by a bounty hunter and promises to help him free his wife from a brutal plantation owner.

The performances by Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio in particular are spectacular, the film is a real cinematic spectacle and the soundtrack works perfectly.

Tarantino is always known for his spaghetti western style in most of his works. This is as spaghetti western as it gets.

3) Inglourious Basterds - A thrilling and exciting war drama that sees a rogue group of U.S soldiers head over to Nazi-occupied France to assassinate the major leaders of the Third Reich.

It contains my favourite opening scene of all-time. Also, it introduced the world to Christoph Waltz.

This works so well as a cinematic fantasy look at World War Two whilst also paying homage to the war genre.

2) Pulp Fiction - When people think of Tarantino, this film is usually the first they think of.

Winner of the Palme D'or, an Oscar winner and seen as one of the greatest films of all-time. This crime drama full of stories inter-twining over each other may very well be Tarantino's cinematic masterpiece.

1) Kill Bill Vol. 1 - My first Tarantino experience and one that I will never forget.

Seen as a homage to grindhouse martial arts films, Uma Thurman stars as 'The Bride', a mysterious former assassin seeking vengeance on the team that betrayed her.

The amazing opening it has really sets the tone for a action-packed thrill ride that has all the right ingredients for a fully fledged cinematic experience.

I think even if it was my first Tarantino film, I strongly feel this would still be my favourite.

Review: Artemis Fowl

As I have never read the books and only know this brand by name, I went into this pretty cold.

But from a storytelling perspective, I think it's pretty safe to say that this feature will make fans of the books pretty angry.

The introduction was perfectly fine. The opening gives you an interesting concept that when done well, it can be a solid watch.

But as the film went on, you begin to realise how little of a story we are actually going to have. There's no journey and no adventure of any kind. It's honestly just a prolonged action sequence. It doesn't gain any momentum and never brings this world to life.

Also, there is an annoying amount of over-exposition. This is a device in films that I usually gloss over and it is sometimes necessary and it is usually executed really well that you don't even notice it. But this one did it in such an lazy and obvious way that did not make it entertaining whatsoever.

The only things going for it was the action and the visual effects. The former was not a big positive. It was just perfectly fine to not make this a total waste of time. Plus, the visual effects were solid and never took me out of the film.

The casting was disappointing on the whole. The youngsters of Ferdia Shaw and Lara McDonnell did a solid job with what they had. But the way their characters were written and developed never made them engaging.
The way the titular character is hyped, you expect so much. In the end, you get a kid who lacks charisma and seems to be quick at obtaining information and staying alive for 90mins.

I didn't see the need for Judi Dench or Colin Farrell in this. Especially Farrell, who is basically doing what Chris Pine did in A Wrinkle In Time. Said film is actually a perfect example of what has happened to this film. But at least A Wrinkle In Time showed more interesting imagery.
I have to mention Josh Gadd, as he was more annoying then funny. I understand the hate for Gadd. But I rarely jump on that bandwagon as I don't often see him in that way. Sadly, I saw that in this and couldn't care less for his character.

So while I have never read the book, anyone can see that something was missing. It felt too safe, inoffensive, sterile and lacking that magic, risk and edge. It just looked like another middle of the road Disney feature that they just wheel out as filler.

These are the type of films that actually annoy me more then the films that are actually rubbish. While I felt there's nothing really bad about it from a film-making perspective, there's just nothing good about it. Apart from maybe the visual effects and the interesting concept.
I'll leave the hateful reviews to people who have read the books and know how good the film can be. But from me, I'll say that there's many worse family fantasy films out there. But I cannot recommend this unremarkable feature with source material that shows us the potential of what this could be.

Rating: 6/10