Quake3World

I didn't see True Romance, but Reservoir Dogs and Natural Born Killers were just more gratuitous violence. There was some decent dialogue in Reservoir Dogs, but he pulled the whole concept off much better in Pulp Fiction. I get the fact that NBK was a scathing indictment of America's fascination with violence in the media, but it was so over-the-top schlocky that it undermined its own impact. I wasn't aware (or I'd forgotten) that Tarantino was involved with Sin City. Apparently not too involved as the movie didn't suck ass.

Let me ask you all this: What's so great about Tarantino? I know what I don't like about his work, what do you enjoy about it?

Not sure I buy the gratuitous violence criticism of Reservoir Dogs. It wasn't any more violent than tons of other movies that involved a bank robbery or something similar. I'll give you the cop torturing part; that was over the top, but something like it was necessary for the plot, and the music he set it to made it surreal. The way he did it may have been too graphic, but if that's the biggest complaint about the movie......

What do I like about Tarantino? He's a prick from a podunk hillbilly town -- from a trailer park even, I believe -- in the hills of east Tennessee. So he sure as hell doesn't have that going for him.

But his movies with their pacing, dialogue and awkwardly comic moments, have influenced a lot of great movies that came after them. Not only that, but those components of the movies I listed above make them stand out in my mind.

As for NBK, I think Oliver Stone probably took some liberties with it and put his own spin on a few parts. But that flick was released in '94, and it deals with a lot of real problems that have only become a part of the public consciousness in the last few years. Watching it again today, IMO, shows it is even more relevant than it was 13 years ago when it was released. And (tellingly) watching it today, it seems much much less gratuitous than it did in 94.

Watch True Romance, than say he's a hack. One of the best films with one of the best scenes in a move ever.

"....so now you tell... am I lying?"

"So you -- you're part eggplant."

I agree - it's one of my favorite scenes ever.

Pauly wrote:Watch True Romance, than say he's a hack. One of the best films with one of the best scenes in a move ever.

"....so now you tell... am I lying?"

It may very well be an excellent film, but I think the majority of his work is very formulaic. Take Reservoir Dogs for instance: Temporal shifting, shitloads of violence, some interesting characters that don't get developed very well, some good dialogue and a few memorable lines, all leading up to...squat. It's a film about a heist. Yay. And I repeat, I liked the film. I just fail to see why he's supposed to be such a legendary director. You going to honestly tell me that you'd rank him up there with Scorcese and Kubrick? Cracka pleez...

Nightshade wrote:

Pauly wrote:Watch True Romance, than say he's a hack. One of the best films with one of the best scenes in a move ever.

"....so now you tell... am I lying?"

It may very well be an excellent film, but I think the majority of his work is very formulaic. Take Reservoir Dogs for instance: Temporal shifting, shitloads of violence, some interesting characters that don't get developed very well, some good dialogue and a few memorable lines, all leading up to...squat. It's a film about a heist. Yay. And I repeat, I liked the film. I just fail to see why he's supposed to be such a legendary director. You going to honestly tell me that you'd rank him up there with Scorcese and Kubrick? [LOL RACISM] pleez...

Well I have never said he's up there with Scorcese. I just said that True Romance and From Dusk Til Dawn are great films that happen to be written by Tarantino. I do think he's a creative director, at best, but I do happen to think he's a great writer, especially with dialogues. Even if they are quite samey at times.

As for Kubrick... for me he's one of those directors that it's cool to like. Yet to be honest, Full Metal jacket is the only one of his films that I think I could ever watch again. Clockwork Orange? Shitwank Orange more like.

Pauly, what? Kubrick's a legendary director. Spartacus, Shining, Paths of Glory, and Dr. Strangelove just to name a few. I mean, no doubt Kirk Douglas is one of the greatest actors ever, but Kubrick amazingly made him even better.

Anyways, I'm finally ready to actually rate From Dusk Till Dawn. 8/10 as a crime thriller, 4/10 as a vampire flick. Just when the film had gotten interesting and I wanted to see how it all played out, Salma Hayek turns into a vampire and bites Tarantino's neck. Dumb.

Shining is pretty good.
Spartacus is not bad.

I would watch From Dusk Til Dawn over all of them though. Easy. Dr Strangelove is shite by the way. It's only Sellers that makes it watchable.

Ryoki wrote:Also:

Transformers 3/10

Fuck you, Michael Bay. What a pile of shit.

Or thank Michael Bay for sharing Megan Fox's smoking hot body with us.

I don't go to films about huge robots to see a pretty girl, i go to see large explosions and gratuitous violence.

In fact... you could argue the whole deal of putting her in the movie was typical Bay behaviour... all outward appearance and no content. She played no useful role whatsoever, just prancing about & falling for the incredibly annoying main character for no reason whatsoever - which in the end leads to what exactly? Oh yes, nothing.

Sadly, í've always been unable to suspend my disbelief in movies far enough to imagine girls crawling out of the screen and proceeding to fuck my brains out.

I didn't think it was that bad, actually I thought it was good.

It annoyed the hell out of me
The only reason i kept watching is because i thought 'maybe the final battle will be good!', but again i was dissapointed.

I think i've finally learned to stay away from Bay movies though, that's a plus.

The real dirt on farmer john 10/10

a brilliant doc. on a man who inherits his family's farm. Thats all I'm going to say about it...but its just brilliant and a must see/own.

die hard 4. 2/10

Finally saw the 40 year old Virgin. Wasn't as impressed as people made me expect.

Although, "Let's get some fucking FRANCH TOAST" will live in infamy.

Saving Private Ryan - 9/10

Excellent, as always.

The Wild Geese - 7.5/10 - quality merc action from the days when the brit film industry made war movies that were actually about war instead of the emo costume dramas churned out these days

p.s. fuck off jane austen

Mr. Brooks

The Ultimate Gift 8.5/10

need to give the ol' lady a good cry? make her watch this.

has that young girl from little miss sunshine. how can you not like her?

Shaolin Soccer 7/10

Madness. I'll never understand Chinese humour though, it works on a fundamentally different level or something.


also:


The Descent 8/10

I'm a sucker for these types of flicks, and this was a decent one. The all female cast was a lot less hysterical than i had imagined.

has anyone ever noticed that zarks recommendations are always (well, mostly) "zomg awesome awesome 10 out of 10 out of 10"?

nothing against zark. im just sayin'

he's been hanging around captain spaz

feedback wrote:Mr. Brooks

What'd you think? I loved it.

Chupacabra wrote:has anyone ever noticed that zarks recommendations are always (well, mostly) "zomg awesome awesome 10 out of 10 out of 10"?

nothing against zark. im just sayin'

Quite a few here are like that, makes it impossible to take their ratings seriously.

LawL wrote:

feedback wrote:Mr. Brooks

What'd you think? I loved it.

Thought it was great- brilliantly written and acted. The way his alter-ego was in the movie wasn't cliche at all and really added to the story. They do a great job building him as the protagonist. Oh, and hitting that cunt in the neck with a shovel was sweet. The end bit with the scissors fucked with me a bit.