In fact it was that album that precipitated the laws requiring clearance Is this true? I would have assumed that happened earlier, it's not like that's the first album to heavily sample. Tarantino writes great dialogue. There's at least one scene in every one of his movies that will be quotable in perpetuity.
This bolded. Definition of genius is a highly loaded term. Classical musicians were known to rip each others works and those before them. The man spent his early adult life watching these **** movies in a rental store, and with today's digital media, he's pretty much doing a favor to 80% of these obscure ass movies.
Not a fan of Tarantino's movies. I don't like his style. I tried watching Django Unchained, wasn't amused and turned it off after an hour. I made it through 12 minutes of Inglorious Bastards. Never seen Pulp Fiction. To me, his style is too weird. He's like the Wes Anderson of action movies, which I only liked Rushmore and Fantastic Mr. Fox, fell asleep for Grand Budapest.
If I remember my hip hop history it was that and De la Soul that broke the camels back. Sampling wasn't really a thing in hip hop until Def Jam & Rick Rubin. They started sampling big time acts (Zeppelin, Jackson 5, Jimi) and the record labels got pissed.
He also wrote True Romance, which has an amazing script. The man is a genius. I'm fine with the sampling... If it makes the movies better, why not?
As long as what you create has a novelty to it, I'm good. So he's good in my book. Copyright law rarely protects, and more often inhibits progress. Most of what we think as novel from NFL films to Elvis was inspired or stolen from someone else. The key is take something someone else has done and make it better. If you do that, I'm ok with the effort.
Early on he had a bit more reverence for the art form. Now that he's been validated, he tends to go off the rails too much. His cameo in Django Unchained being a prominent example. All told I will agree that Kill Bill vol. 2 and Inglorious Basterds are quality films. But not Kill Bill vol. 1 nor Django Unchained. References aside, you still have to make a good movie.
The thing about Tarantino is that if you love a specific genre of any film, he's able to incorporate that into his style with added dialogue to boot! My favorite film of his and I know probably not his best is Kill Bill vol 1 and 2. I love my samurai and kung fu movies.
He names his favorite 20 movies from 1992-2009: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zv0WlHbBhdc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Pulp Fiction? Reservoir Dogs? Kill Bill? If you're judging him based on IB and Django, you're late to the party.
Referencing material is part of art. I think of art as a dialog, one, between the art and the viewer, but also two, between artist and artist. When an artist takes an idea from his forebears and builds on it, it completes a dialog from one artist to the next. I'd say it's essential to art and it's unfortunate people see it as 'stealing.' I've started dabbling in music history and I find it fascinating to find songs, or even one-liners that trace their roots back 100 years to some Mississippi bluesman. It's cool to see an idea reverberate through so many people generation upon generation through art. I agree with this. His early career with Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, and Pulp Fiction were great. Then it seems like his work ethic went out the window and he felt he had license to indulge whatever childish obsession he had. You can still see elements of his talent to varying degrees in his later movies, but I just don't think he's trying hard anymore.
This topic comes up quite a bit. EVERY director has influences in style in how they choose to direct a story. I can probably cut a Scorsese video just like this one, referencing to other directors. Besides Tarantino's visual signature, the one thing here that isn't being discussed is his writing. Anyone can take one of his scripts and turn it into a movie but it isn't going to look the same. It takes a very talented writer to write dialogue scenes like Quentin does and make them compelling on the big screen. In my opinion, his writing is as equally as great as him as a director. He's gone on record recognizing and admitting his homages to his favorite films growing up, so it's not like he hides it, he embraces it. A hip-hop artist is an accurate description for him.
He is one of the best screenwriters in generations... so this is a stupid poll. Every single director "rips off" from others, just like with the rest of art. The same can be said of music or any other art form. Your art is a reflection of your inspirations, which usually come from other artists and their work that you like and respect.
I've respect the craft that went into pretty much all of his movies. Pulp Fiction is probably the most "rewatchable" for me. His dialogue, music selection, and his story telling are all great to me.
This is just so strange to me. Pulp Fiction is a top 10 Movie for me. If it's on TV, I'm watching it...for the 1000th time. Django I've probably seen at least 100 times. LOVE the dialogue, just a great movie. Period. IB- Not one of my faves, but still loved it. His new movie coming out sounds like it's going to be incredible. Can't. Wait.
