With all the Tarantino talk lately because of his upcoming remake of Inglorious Bastards I thought I would take some time and reflect on some of his films. I remember when Pulp Fiction came out and it was such a huge deal because suddenly cursing in a movie was really cool. My mom on the other hand didn't think it was so cool and I was not allowed to see it. Time goes by, I get older and I hear about this really cool movie Resevoir Dogs and I see it, and boy were people right. It was cool. I was blown away by that opening dialogue like everyone else and it seemed to never end. They just said cooler things. Time passes by and now I keep hearing my friends talk about one thing all the time...
BLACK MAN A** RAPE
I'm thinking no thanks, not my cup of tea, but my friends are saying you have to see it, you have to see Pulp Fiction. So I watch it and before my eyes appears characters and dialogue that are even cooler then Resevoir Dogs. At this point I'm in heaven and I need to watch everything Tarantino cause I'm hooked. Four Rooms and the last room is by far the coolest, maybe not as sharp as his other movies, but that ending... COOL. Jackie Brown is definitely not as cool but I see he's telling a different kind of story and thats cool. Kill Bill 1 & 2 brings a bad motha in Uma and the action is way cool. Taking everything cool from asian martial arts films and incorporating it in to one american film is cool but not very original. Suddenly my eyes are opened to something not cool.
Tarantino is all style. His dialogue is sharp and when its on point its on point! The only problem is that it's spoken by \characters who are too cool for reality. Hardly anyone in the real world is that cool. So how the hell does everyone in his movies talk like that!!?? Once in a while we have to meet someone who isn't witty. Sure his stories are good and fun but often they are outshined by some memorable dialogue and I'm not sure that's a good thing. He also has a hard time telling a story without flashbacks which most of his movies use. Death Proof is the closest he gets to telling a story straight through, but the second half of the movie feels completely different from the first and the entire storyline is outshined by a ridiculously(in a good way) COOL Kurt Russel with some of the sharpest and well delivered Tarantino dialogue I have ever heard.
Yes, I do love a Tarantino flick and I always look foward to the next. I just want to see him evolve as a filmmaker. Inglorious Bastards can be a great Tarantino movie with cool dialogue, but at this point I would rather see a great story with some cool dialogue from him. A war movie can give him the opportunity to change it up visually and give the audience a new feel. Writing characters instead of writing for actors is definitely the way to go and maybe we will see different actors work with him. You can do it Tarantino and if you need someone to help control your cool urges then I volunteer because I am not cool.