Is Tarantino a Genius or Hack director??

Tarantino is neither a genius nor a hack director.

The man has directed two great films, IMHO (Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs), and a couple of really good ones (Inglorious Bastards and From Dusk 'til Dawn) but he has a ways to go before he can be considered one of the greatest directors of all time.

IMHO...of the current crop, Joel Coen can be considered one of the greatest directors of all time.

 

^^^RocketMan Tex he wrote From Dusk till Dawn, Robert Rodriguez directed.

 

My bad! A thousand apologies.....

 

You do have to watch it more than once to get a full appreciation for it. I've enjoyed the movies of his that I've seen, and love Kill Bill.

 

Off the top of my head I can't think of any pop culture references made in the movie. There are a bunch that come from Pulp Fiction though.

 

I thought Reservoir Dogs was brilliant brilliant, Pulp Fiction overated, Jackie Brown meh, From Dusk Til Dawn was fun but I thought it had some really dumb direction in some parts.

I prefer Tarantino the writer far more than Tarantino the director.

As far as Wes Anderson, The Royal Tennenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited were absolutely great. Bottle Rocket was good and Rushmore was very good..however Anderson sticks to the same formula for all his films..although the story lines and smart writing make up for his formulaic approach.

Kevin Smith - I thought Clerks was excellent..Chasing Amy was cool but all of his movies are the same old-same old stuff over and over. Sadly, the only time he showed some real directorial growth was his worst movie - Jersey Girl..it was truly not a very good movie..but his directorial decisions were actually better.

I do think the Coen Brothers are much for fun writers and better directors. Every one of their movies are written and directed well.

I think the fascination with Tarantino is mainly because he was the "cool" director who used a lot of violence and swear words. There was a bit of a "shock / my parents wouldn't approve of this movie" factor to his stuff.

 

The thing about Tarantino is that he has great actors in his movies.

The actors believe in his scripts and his producers and, for the most part, they're dark comedies that have in themselves the kind of jokes that only some sickos would get. He won't ever direct a kids' movie, he will always do the same style of movie, like the ones you mentioned. I guess this is cool, because you're going to get used to that and know his "style" from the get go.

I enjoy watching most of his movies. I haven't seen the Kill Bill movies, but everyone says how good they are. I am imagining an action-styled Pulp Fiction, with the same kind of undertones and camera movements, script, editing, etc. Am I right?

I think he's a half-hack, but he has enough resources to be a great director. I don't think he has the vision, however, of a George Lucas or James Cameron or Steven Spielberg. Guillermo Del Toro and Judd Apatow are getting there.

That's just my opinion... you can disagree with me if you want.

- Taking a break from being a jerk (according to some people) for a long time at CF.net -
Your friendly MEXICAN ClutchFan ​

 

I think Tarantino is great. I wouldn't go as far as 'genius', but there's no denying the quality there. Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction are two of my all time favorites. Something like the opening of IB really sticks with you. Even the stuff that I liked the least of his work - like Jackie Brown - have some very good qualities.

Looking forward to Django.

 

Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs are probably my two favourite movies. I just saw Kill Bill, that was pretty good- certainly different in terms of style.

 

This is why detest Reservoir Dogs
75% of the film is N-word this N-word B-word that
Which was just a HACK film to me.

I find him overrated . .. but better than Tim Burton

Rocket River

 

Pulp Fiction alone makes him a genius. Everything else just adds on to the legacy.

 

BTW - I have to caveat my opinion on Reservior Boys

I was told it was the greatest movie of all time by my college summer roommate
White Hispanic and his white friends.
They were decent dudes. . . .
So they got me very hyped.
I saw it . . . and all I heard was N-Word N-word N-word etc
I kind was so taken aback by it . . . i really had to look at them for a moment
I was wonder why they would think this was great
and
why they would think *I* would like such a thing.

Rocket River
I concluded they just like to see white folx use the N-Word alot . . .or something
I was very pissed for quite a few days . . .

 

He sold the script to finance Reservoir Dogs.

Contrary to what heyp said, Reservior Dogs premiered at Sundance in 1992 and was a huge critical success.

As B-Bob said, he owes a lot of his creativity to foreign and underground influences, as most of the obsessive nerds do, but he still has to know whats good and what isn't. His taste is definitely on point and his body of work speaks for itself.

Personally I prefer the Coen bros. Big Lebowski is my all-time favorite comedy and will always be. Fargo, Raising Arizona, Blood Simple, Oh Brother, etc. No Country For Old Men was absolutely brilliant no matter what that hack rhino17 tries to tell you.

They've had some misses as well. I never really got into Barton Fink or The Ladykillers. Intolerable Cruelty was kind of a step back from their usual fare as well.

 

My guess it is "edgy" because its how a lot of white folks talked / still talk when black folks aren't around. Sad but true.

I'm not sure exactly why he felt the need to have a lot of white characters using the N-word, even in Pulp Fiction where he says is right to Samuel L Jackson "Dead N***** Storage".

Being raised in Tennessee in the 60s he probably had a decent understanding of how white folks viewed blacks folks during that time.

 

Jesus dude, it's a movie. You said yourself that they are decent dudes. Just because you like a movie doesn't mean that champion everything that happens in it. A guy gets his ear cut off in the movie as well. That does mean that everyone that likes the movie thinks that cutting people's ears off is the right thing to do. Not everything is racially motivated.

 

for me, Kill Bill 2 or Inglorious Basterds did not impress.

at that point I couldn't suspend my disbelief anymore. I could only picture QT at his typewriter laughing to himself how genius he was...