I checked on him a while back and Jackie Brown was the only offering- come June and voila! his two biggies suddenly appear. So, here's the baxblog VALUE ADDED Quentin Tarantino on Streaming post. I'll go chronologically, just for the hell of it.
Reservoir Dogs
A refreshing burst of cinematic nihilism, one of those films that seems to be blowing away an ossified status quo even though in hindsight its weapons and ammunition are fundamentally traditional. A neat summary of Tarantino at his best, collecting and re-purposing the minutia of genre cinema to craft something fresh and electrifying. It's a high wire act where the slightest misstep can tip the whole project over into simpleminded nostalgia, but when it works (as it does here) it is exhilarating.
A heist movie that moves with the rhythms of its nimble dialogue, scion of a thousand other heist movies, notable for ignoring the heist and focusing on the criminals as they plot and plan prior to their job and then as they grapple with its disastrous aftermath. Notable for what would prove to be another Tarantino trademark, drawing a career performance from an unexpected source. Who else was sure Michael Madsen was destined for greatness after his gleefully depraved performance as Mr. White? Its easy (and popular) to denigrate Tarantino's directorial talents as mere magpie borrowing, but he's consistently drawn defining performances from a range of actors- if that were easy everyone would be doing it.
Pulp Fiction
A tremendous follow up. It took everything that worked in Reservoir Dogs, spun it around until it was dizzy, set it on fire and pushed it into a swimming pool full of kerosene.
The formula seems so simple. One part film nerd euphoria, one part ironic smartassery, one part undiluted WTF!, combine under pressure and shake well.
But a quick look at the multitude of 90's films that applied that formula to generally disastrous effect tells a different tale. Tarantino's best stuff relies on a unique effervescence and enthusiasm, simple in theory but apparently impossible to duplicate.
It's startling, this one film resurrected the career of John Travolta, made the career of Samuel L. Jackson, made Ving Rhames look like he was going to take over Hollywood, turned Uma Thurman into an icon, created the perfect role for Bruce Willis...Pulp Fiction is a cinematic hothouse where all manner of exotic dramatic strains thrive, intersect and bloom. Tarantino's brilliance is in making the whole act looks effortless.
Jackie Brown
A really good movie once you get past the disappointed realization that it could easily have been great. If only Tarantino hadn't been at the absolute peak of his bankability, if only someone had been able to reign him in thismuch, if only he'd been able to sacrifice 15-20 minutes worth of his darlings on the cutting room floor. There are several scenes that survived not because they advance the story or evolve the characters, but because you can tell Quentin fell in love with them. And this is not a film struggling to fill runtime.
And yet, even puffing and laboring in spots like a lazy boxer 15 pounds over his fighting weight, it remains a slyly subversive, generally engaging film. A mainstream Hollywood release starring Pam Grier? C'mon now. Robert Forster as her love interest? Wow! A caper film where the protagonist gets away clean with the loot? Almost unheard of.
This level of risk taking originality carries it a good way.
And as usual Tarantino teases an array of excellent performances from his cast.
Robert Forster leaves you wondering why he isn't in everything all the time and even the aggressively untalented Bridgitte Fonda is effective. Chris Tucker appeared on screen without my wanting to strangle him, a unique occurrence. DeNiro is technically solid but his presence alone is a distraction- what's interesting for him in this basic, straightforward part? I suspect Quentin used him just because he could- it must have appealed to him, the idea of using a preeminent modern actor in a throwaway bit almost anyone could have done well. Or maybe he needed that star power leverage to get such a counter-Hollywood project off the ground, even with his Pulp Fiction leverage.
Definitely worth checking out if you haven't seen it, absolutely worth another look if its been a while since your last viewing.
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