- Pulp Fiction: Perfection
- Reservoir Dogs: he did so much with so little, and I love the idea of a heist movie that doesn't show the heist
- Inglorious Basterds: Beautifully cast, and Tarantino's first collaboration with Christopher Waltz is just amazing. Plus that scene in the bar keeps you on edge for an unimaginably long time before letting the shit hit the fan.
- Kill Bill (1+2): just an amazing soundtrack and he perfectly captures the essence of both samurai films and revenge films.
- Django Unchained: somehow perfectly fuses blaxploitation and westerns. Plus, more Christopher Waltz
- Jackie Brown: the least "Tarantino" of the Tarantino films, but still a pretty good flick.
- Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: pretty good and I love when Tarantino rewrites history, but I don't generally like Hollywood movies about Hollywood as they usually feel a little too much like a circle-jerk.
- Death Proof: I like it for what it is, but it's not really a feature-length Tarantino movie, so it doesn't really scratch the itch.
- Hateful Eight: I grew up on Westerns and love Tarantino, so I really wanted to love this one, but it wasn't really very good. The premise of closed-room Western is fascinating and it was almost great, but the last third/quarter was a huge letdown
this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2024
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This is the closest to my list. I’d swap 4&5 and then 7&9 because I haven’t seen #7 and thought #9 was great.
The bar scene, and the milk. Holy shit
Won't rank rhem all but Jackie Brown is definitely underrated. OUATIH might be my favourite film of his.
I think True Romance is an honourary Tarantino film too since he wrote the script for it and you can see his fingerprints everywhere when you watch it.
I know I'm going to get some shit for this, but I really don't like his movies. Every time I watch one, I feel as if I'm not getting it. Like everyone else saw a 15 minute exposition dump and I have no idea what's going on. Especially OP's top 5 movies.
Bring on the hate.
It's ok to not like popular stuff, no hate required.
we sure as fuck aint on reddit no more, toto
Plenty of folks will be with you on this, me included. Tried a few, didn’t like them, nbd.
Django is in my top 5 movies. hilarious, lots of great cameos and acting, soundtrack was fucking lit. 100 black coffins? fuck yes. love a great underdog movie. don't pay too much attention to the rest of the movies, but they're not bad.
Other than pulp fiction, I don't rate any of his movies.
- Django Unchained. Never gets old.
- Jackie Brown. Watched it twice. Haven't seen it in a while, but remember liking it both times.
- Hateful Eight. Not bad. Crazy in a good way. Well-paced.
- Reservoir Dogs. Impressive results with limited sets.
- Pulp Fiction. This was amazing when it first came out, and I must have watched it 3-4 times since then, but... it got old fast. Maybe because it was so infuential.
The rest I haven't seen. I started watching Kill Bill and Inglorious Basterds but wasn't in the mood.
(Pulp Fiction (1994):
Reservoir Dogs (1992):
Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003):
Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004): )
Really hard to separate these four as they are each classics in their own way.
I put Pulp Fiction first as it's more original than Reservoir Dogs which is largely a re-make of City on Fire.
Kill Bill is slightly lesser due to it's slavish devotion to Lady Snowblood.
(Inglourious Basterds (2009):
Django Unchained (2012): )
Two others that could really go in either order. Historical revenge fiction. They're fine. Waltz is more brilliant in Basterds than Django.
-
The Hateful Eight (2015):
Definition of a slow burn. More fun if you go with the fan theory that this is a remake of John Carpenter's "The Thing". Unlike the last two, there is no stand out performance like with Waltz. -
Jackie Brown (1997):
Pam Grier walking simulator. I get it, she's hot, Tarantino has a foot fetish, felt like 40 minutes of her walking was too much. -
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019): Excruciating to watch. Doesn't even have a Tarantino signature soundtrack. Just people driving around LA listening to radio commercials.
-
Death Proof (2007):
Irredeemably unlikable.
Huh, interesting to see you rate and Inglorious Bastards so highly. A film about killing Nazis. As I recall you weren't a fan of that.
Oh, I'm totaly down with killing Nazis, I'm not down with internet edgelords being idiots putting innocent people at risk through doxing.
See:
Pulp fiction has to be top, hunny bunny. Kill Bill would make a top list of Japanese gore movies, but that doesn't make them good movies. 1 over 2. Towards the bottom. Jackie Brown is a very strong police/mob movie, but just ahead of kill bill series.
Inglorious and Django are both hateful, and grating at parts, but both great films. Christof Waltz acting taking the show, though the script/writing counts.
DeathProof is good, but Jackie Brown better. Reservoir dogs is in this cluster. I'd put tied with Jackie Brown.
The hateful 8 is a very good movie. To me, is 2nd to Pulp. Jules is not back there on brains picking detail, motherfucker, but there is dead negroe storage.
Once upon a time in Hollywood is just ok. Bonus points for historical value as hateful 8 has. Still I'd put it in kill bill group, and just behind.
I'd put Inglorious and Django in the hateful 8 cluster instead of the Jackie Brown cluster... and so I have ranked them all.
- Pulp Fiction - a classic
- From Dusk Till Dawn - Salma Hayek plus just enough camp
- Inglorious
- Django
- Kill Bills
I haven't seen any others. I am surprised no one else is including From Dusk Till Dawn.
Not his movie, but his story I think.
Current. He wrote the script.
Dusk till dawn would rank just ahead of Once upon a time in Hollywood. True romance, still good, but last. Killing Zoe better than everything on this list.
- Basterds
- Pulp
- Dogs
- Jackie
- Death Proof
- Bill
- Hollywood
Haven't watched:
Django
Hateful
I love the top 4, the others are kinda meh, except Hollywood, which I found outright boring. I'm sure it was meant for movie buffs and other people more familiar with the real story. People already into Hollywood and feet probably love it.
Also, I was having hard time choosing between Dogs and Pulp for 2nd. Having said that, they're both on par with Basterds, it's just that my WW2 interest makes Basterds appeal just that micron extra.
And an unpopular opinion: Kill Bill is overrated. Interesting cinematography, but apart from that I find it completely forgettable. The only reason why I cared enough to watch both movies was to figure out the deal with Bill, which I guess was kind of the point. But if someone had told me who he was and what he did after the 1st movie, I probably wouldn't have bothered with the 2nd.
I agree with your order, though I haven't seen Hollywood. If your taste continues to match mine, you would probably put Django and Hateful somewhere around 5 and 6.
There's a fan theory that Tarantino has actually made two different series, splitting at Basterds. That's why some of his movies are more grounded, and some are more cartoonishly violent. The theory goes that the events in Basterds created an alternate universe where violence in movies is way more socially acceptable. The more grounded movies (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, etc) are set in our universe, while the more cartoonish ones (Kill Bills, Death Proof, etc) are set in the alternate universe.
Kinda interesting theory, and I definitely prefer the grounded ones to the alternate universe films.
I heard a similar theory, except instead of alternate universes, it's just that the less grounded movies are ones people go to see in the more grounded ones.
Like even the grounded ones are crazy at times compared to our world, so the movies in that world are even crazier.
I think there wasn't enough Nazi killing in Inglorious Basterds. Would have been better if there were more scenes of the group just really mowing those fuckers down, like a Nazi killing montage or something, but multiple times. I wanna see Nazi killing on a brutality level that's equal to scenes of carnage from The Boys.
Haven't seen Death Proof, so that apart...
- Jackie Brown
- Pulp Fiction
- Kill Bill Pt 1
- Kill Bill Pt 2
- Reservoir Dogs
- Hateful 8
- Django Unchained
- Inglourious Basterds
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Although, in terms of how much I enjoy them there are really 3 closely grouped bands:
1 Jackie Brown
2 Pulp Fiction
3 Kill Bill Pt 1
4 Kill Bill Pt 2
5 Reservoir Dogs
6 Hateful 8
7 Django Unchained
8 Inglourious Basterds
9 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Really hated OUATIH.
Why Jackie Brown?
I think it's his strongest film in terms of characters, probably in part because it's an adaptation of a novel. They feel like real (or at least more real) people to me than those in any of his other movies, who are often a bit more cartoonish.
The stuff about Jackie and Max getting older and looking at what they have made of their lives so far is excellent, and I think really helps up the tension when they are in danger later.
It also feels like a more mature film, more thoughtful and less flashy than most of his work. Which of course is ironic since it was only his 3rd movie and he's made many more crash-bang-wallop movies since then!
I'd argue Jackie Brown is also the movie that cements Tarantino's ability to craft a masterpiece. I really don't think there's a comparison to his other films because it's so opposite to his other films but my god it's a beautiful film.
If anything I look at Jackie Brown and I can see his love for film more than any of his other movies. Not by a little either. By a lot.
Agreed. I'd love to see more like that from him.
The older I get, the more Jackie Brown runs away with it. It really is the most relatable movie as an aging adult, where the rest are generally too fantastical by comparison.
Good point. It's less frenetic as well. Slower and more character driven.
I'm with OP. Why Jackie Brown?
I haven't seen it since it came out, so I don't remember much of it, but I do remember that I was not impressed at all. Probably has some highlights, but I couldnt even tell you what the plot was. That's how insignificant the experience was for me.
Because it was a while ago, there's a good chance I missed or forgot something, so I honestly would like to hear what makes it #1 on your list, because I'd probably rank it right next to Hollywood with a score of "Meh."
That's fair, it's not going to be for everyone, and it's just a personal preference, of course.
I've just posted some thoughts on 'why' in response to OP, hopefully they make sense :-)
Thanks for letting me know about the other comment.
I might have to give Jackie another watch with some fresh eyes. 40-something me might appreciate it more than 20-something me did.
Yeah, possibly 👍
- Jackie Brown
- Django
- Kill Bill The Whole Bloody Affair
- Basterds
- Pulp Fiction
- True Romance
- Hateful 8
- Res Dogs
- Planet Terror
- From Dusk Til Dawn
- Death Proof
Including his screenplay-only credits here.
I have still not seen Hollywood. I imagine it would be below Hateful 8 for me.
Jackie Brown is very underrated and easily his best movie IMO.
Reservoir Dogs is a great film, but in the context of his work, generally overrated. It’s more its own piece of film history than something to be compared to his more mature work.
Kill Bill is tough. I think I could make the argument that it’s easily his best film—but for rewatches, Jackie Brown has it beat handily. It’s hard to rewatch the Kill Bill saga conveniently.
The rest are honestly neck and neck. I think Pulp Fiction is #1 when you’re new, but kinda recedes into itself against his whole catalog.
Top picks:
- Inglorious Basterds
- Django Unchained
- Pulp Fiction
- Kill Bill
- Kill Bill
Full disclosure, I barely remember the plot of Jackie Brown.
Note #1: I named my dl folder Tarantino-bag-of-dicks
Note #2: Jackie brown dvd is niiiice.
- Grindhouse planet terror isn't directly Tarantino but I liked it enough to mention it here (deathproof is meh comparitively imo)
- Jackie brown
- Kill bill 1 & 2
- Pulp fiction
- Hateful 8
- Once upon a time in Hollywood
- Django
- Inglorious bastards
- Reservoir dogs
- Death proof
For context, kill bill came out when I was in high school and I kinda loved the obnoxious jugular squirt he become known for +badass boss lady cast. Jackie brown is just that fucking good.
Those I watched:
- Pulp Fiction
- Django Unchained
- Reservoir Dogs
- Inglorious Bastards
- The Hateful Eight
- Jackie Brown
- Kill Bill 2
- Kill Bill
- Once upon a time in Hollywood
I'd rank them "eh". They're okay, but he is so highly over-rated. I just don't understand how people love them so much.