Tarantino

Joe Brody

Well-known member
It's odd -- more and more often I hear people take a dismissive tone when talking about Quentin Tarantino. I on the other hand just see his influence growing. In fact, I'm hard put to come up with someone that's had a greater impact on the recent cultural landscape.

One example, I just saw a pop-up promoting the USA Network's revival of Kojak. The image was a back-of-the-head shot of Ving Rhymes, who will star as the caustic detective. My point? The shot is clearly derivative of the Pride scene in Pulp Fiction. Ten freaking years later and people are still milking Tarantino's creativity.

What other Tarantino rip-offs are out there? Post anything from music from his films finding its way to car ads to Hollywood's craving for Elmore Leonard novels. On the flip side, I'd like to hear anyone try to name one other entertainment figure that's had a greater impact in film/pop culture in the last ten years.
 
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Stoo

Well-known member
I agree with you to a certain extent. Even though I don't
care much for his work I really like "Reservoir Dogs".

As for someone more influential? The "Matrix" guys and
"Crouching Tiger..." crew have defininitely made a major impact.
Slow motion, 360 degrees, martial arts stuff is everywhere.
Heroes & Villians defying earth's gravity is the norm these days. :(
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Stoo,

I agree with on you on the special effects front -- but I'd say Tarantino has had a broader impact. Think of the music and acting careers he's revived (heh, even Keau Reeves had already done Johnny Mneumonic (sp?) prior to doing the Matrix). On a narrative level, think of his use of non-linear story telling and bizarre seemingly tangential scenes.
 

San Holo

Active member
His movies have never gotten the respect that they deserve,nor has his impact on the movie industry been fully recognized. Kill Bill was a masterpeice and got totally hosed at the Acadamy Awards.
 

Jay R. Zay

New member
reading this thread i wasn't sure it's THE tarantino you are talking about. it sounds like a poor little filmmaker who makes brilliant movies but nobody likes him. actually, in his way, tarantino is one of the most successful filmmakers of our time and he has a large and growing fan community. so perhaps you can say goodbye to this little david/goliath ideas.

i for one dislike his movies. unlike oliver stone for example, tarantino makes fun of violence - and i don't think it's too funny. stone is as violent as tarantino but his violence scares off the audience instead of amusing them. apart from this, i almost died when watching kill bill. no real progress, nothing new, just the same **** over and over again. at least that's my opinion but some people seem to like it so... well, Kill Bill was the first movie i saw, so i had a very bad impression of him. Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown were better but still i don't like this style. and i think most of his fans don't like him because they have a deeper understanding of the art of movies but because it's cool and different. and these two attributes are what many younger people want to be like - cool and different. it's this "rebel" idea in modern society. jesus, i don't want to sound as if i was about 80 but i've never liked the idea of kids talking about "revolution" without understanding what it means. but that's what tarantino stands for.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Jay,

I agree with you on Tarantino's approach to violence -- I'm just more focused on his role as an influencer (if there is such a word) of pop culture. Since Kill Bill didn't do gang-busters people are content to push him more out to the margin (which is where maybe he should be) but my point is that just about everything he thouches or produces gets copies or recycled back at us because 'creatives' in marketing or elsewhere in showbiz aren't all that good.
 

San Holo

Active member
Jay R. Zay said:
reading this thread i wasn't sure it's THE tarantino you are talking about. it sounds like a poor little filmmaker who makes brilliant movies but nobody likes him. actually, in his way, tarantino is one of the most successful filmmakers of our time and he has a large and growing fan community. so perhaps you can say goodbye to this little david/goliath ideas.

i for one dislike his movies. unlike oliver stone for example, tarantino makes fun of violence - and i don't think it's too funny. stone is as violent as tarantino but his violence scares off the audience instead of amusing them. apart from this, i almost died when watching kill bill. no real progress, nothing new, just the same **** over and over again. at least that's my opinion but some people seem to like it so... well, Kill Bill was the first movie i saw, so i had a very bad impression of him. Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown were better but still i don't like this style. and i think most of his fans don't like him because they have a deeper understanding of the art of movies but because it's cool and different. and these two attributes are what many younger people want to be like - cool and different. it's this "rebel" idea in modern society. jesus, i don't want to sound as if i was about 80 but i've never liked the idea of kids talking about "revolution" without understanding what it means. but that's what tarantino stands for.
Have you ever watched a movie without expecting some profound philosophical revelation that speaks only to you? Or have you sat in a theatre with your mouth shut,and observed someone's story-without immediatly pointing out it's flaws. They are movies. They are meant to entertain, and Tarantino's movies take audiences back to a time when people didn't expect to have" a deeper understanding of the art of movies".Kill Bill is based on old B kung fu movies, most of which are TERRIBLE from a critical standpoint. But these movies, though flawed, are entertaining-and are "cool and different ". Is that such a bad thing?
 
San Holo said:
Have you ever watched a movie without expecting some profound philosophical revelation that speaks only to you? Or have you sat in a theatre with your mouth shut,and observed someone's story-without immediatly pointing out it's flaws. They are movies. They are meant to entertain, and Tarantino's movies take audiences back to a time when people didn't expect to have" a deeper understanding of the art of movies".Kill Bill is based on old B kung fu movies, most of which are TERRIBLE from a critical standpoint. But these movies, though flawed, are entertaining-and are "cool and different ". Is that such a bad thing?

Well said there San Holo ;)
 

Jay R. Zay

New member
"Have you ever watched a movie without expecting some profound philosophical revelation that speaks only to you?"

actually, i never see a movie expecting this. i don't think my reply sounds like this, does it?


"They are movies. They are meant to entertain, and Tarantino's movies take audiences back to a time when people didn't expect to have" a deeper understanding of the art of movies"."

which doesn't make any of his movies immediately great or "independent" or something.

"Is that such a bad thing?"

is it such a good thing? is it so outstanding? did i say he was making "bad" movies? where? did you actually read my reply?

if you want to contradict me, contradict me in what i've said: that his fans think that his movies were made against all odds, that he is the lonesome rider against the evil, big film industry, that he doesn't earn money with his movies but gets hated by everybody and yet he still continues his fight against the old, conservative, capitalist idiots. a true hero. none of this is true. he is making the sort of movies that he knows his audience will like. he's making it strange but he never offends any of his "fans". he doesn't want his audience to *change*. he just wants to entertain them like spielberg, too. he earns money with it, and not very few money. that's what i've said. i didn't say it was "bad" to earn money. of course it isn't. but most of his fans love him like he was the god of revolution because he dares to do something so different and special - but he never ever risks to lose his audience or support.

so please do me a favor, read my replies, will you? you don't have to agree, that's not the point. brody read it although he didn't really agree and that's fine for me, you didn't read it completely, vogel just adopted your point of view and this unfortunately gets us nowhere. thanks.
 

San Holo

Active member



Seeing your replies is like watching a monkey do a math problem. You just aren't getting it. Nobody here said that Tarantino was this "poor little filmmaker who makes brilliant movies but nobody likes him", or that "his movies were made against all odds, that he is the lonesome rider against the evil, big film industry, that he doesn't earn money with his movies but gets hated by everybody". Maybe you should read the replies "completely" before ranting on about revolution and we just might get there. Thanks, bud.
 
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San Holo said:
Seeing your replies is like watching a monkey do a math problem. You just aren't getting it. Nobody here said that Tarantino was this "poor little filmmaker who makes brilliant movies but nobody likes him", or that "his movies were made against all odds, that he is the lonesome rider against the evil, big film industry, that he doesn't earn money with his movies but gets hated by everybody". Maybe you should read the replies "completely" before ranting on about revolution and we just might get there. Thanks, bud.

I'm sorry Jay R. Zay but I have to agree with San Holo on this occasion. ;)
 

Jay R. Zay

New member
"Nobody here said that Tarantino was this "poor little filmmaker who makes brilliant movies but nobody likes him", or that "his movies were made against all odds, that he is the lonesome rider against the evil, big film industry, that he doesn't earn money with his movies but gets hated by everybody". "

hahahahaha :D

did *i* say so? i don't think so. :p


"Maybe you should read the replies"

exactly, maybe you should. :)

oh and by the way, these little offences "Seeing your replies is like watching a monkey do a math problem." are just as impressive as some "EDITED FOR CONTENT your motha" stuff. brrr. ;)

and for vogel:
"I'm sorry Jay R. Zay but I have to agree with San Holo on this occasion."

actually, you don't have to agree with him on *this* occation only. how about writing own replies? how about insulting other people and getting locked out from some forums... san holo can be proud of having such a prominent supporter :) i for one don't give too much for what you think is right and wrong. but of course, somebody who hasn't much support anyway has to take what he gets, right? ;) i remember some discussion with san about indiana jones IV, do you, too?

for example telling me that i couldn't talk about indiana jones because i didn't know this "cairo swordsman" scene for a long time? you know, leading an argument like this says a lot about how childish you behave. like a monkey, you know? telling me that i waste your time when i reply here? :D funny. and how about this little german paragraph you gave me? i couldn't understand a single word - did you use google as a translation? you shouldn't do so. anyway the only important word you used was deleted by the mods anyway so seriously, this reply was some kind of a waste of time for you. so don't pretend you were busy.

and what does this all tell you? that i have a good reason not to be impressed by your offensive way - you trying foolishly to contradict me and your dog vogel supporting whatever you say. my statements about tarantino were correct and you weren't able to contradict them. and not every statement referred to the people in this tread as most (!) people here probably understood. you unfortunately didn't. make sure you have some arguments before arguing next time. this is rather childish and i'm definitely not going to discuss on this level.

edit:

Please watch the use of profanity on this message board.
 
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But seriously in reply to Jay R. Zay:

You said, "my statements about tarantino were correct and you weren't able to contradict them."

Now that's questionable. :rolleyes:

And "how about writing own replies?"

I only agreed with San Holo because I thought he was correct. Any more words by me would have been superfluous as San Holo writes very eloquently. ;)

Anyway I should be allowed to agree with San Holo without you taking so much offence. And please stop talking of past events and my suspension to help support your argument. I never insulted TommyJohnson, I only said that I thought he might be another Chatter zombie (which isn?t a bad thing). :whip:

Cased closed?

Back on topic!
 

Jay R. Zay

New member
"Now that's questionable."

yeah. it's "questionable". and my statements could be "contradictable". so why don't you just question them? get out of your hole, risk something, tell me that i'm WRONG. WHERE? or just shut up. i can't stand people who are too cowardly to actually make a clear statement and just say "you MIGHT be wrong...".


"Anyway I should be allowed to agree with San Holo without you taking so much offence."

actually, you were also agreeing to this "monkey"-statement. i took this as an offence. if you agree to this i think i have a perfect right to offend you. ooops. you weren't careful enough here. back to the hole now.


"I never insulted TommyJohnson, I only said that I thought he might be another Chatter zombie"

yes. he MIGHT. PERHAPS he might. you never said he WAS, right? san holo MIGHT be right, i MIGHT be wrong, Tommy MIGHT be a zombie. you never offended anybody did you? it's like with the nazi time. "my neighbor MIGHT be jew" "my neithbor MIGHT dislike the Führer". nobody was actually responsible for these people getting killed, right? the SS was responsible, the evil guys. but not the normal people who just made assumptions about their neighbors. are you proud now? you never have any risk. you are careful, say "might" and "perhaps" and stab the people in the back. disgusting. i hope that the moderators will take a notice of this...
 

intergamer

New member
Colonel Vogel said:
he might be another Chatter zombie (which isn?t a bad thing).

:rolleyes:


Jay said:
so please do me a favor, read my replies, will you?

You MIGHT want to try using capital letters more often at the beginning of sentences. This will make your posts easier on the eyes.
 
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Deadlock

New member
I think that Tarantino's influence is not limited to simply knock-off shots but especially to the revival in the interest in film noir. LA Confidential and the upcoming Sin City spring to mind. (Though I think that it should be noted that Hitchcock is a definite influence on Tarantino...)

In terms of breaking new ground, the non-linear storytelling has definitely had it's followers (Memento). But the Tarantino-trademark rants about random stuff... well, I'm not sure anybody has really copied that.

"They call it a "Royale" with cheese..." ;)
 
Hang on there Jay, now you?re comparing me to the Nazis! :mad: Just remember, I wasn?t the lone ranger in thinking TommyJohnson MIGHT be another Chattar zombie? In the thread 2 Imposters unmasked! even Pale Horse, Deadlock, intergamer, & Joe Brody had their doubts at one stage? However one thing I?m SURE of Jay, is that you like to argue! :eek:

Jay, please stop making me out to be an evil person; I?m just a huge fan of Indy!
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Colonel, do not put words into my mouth. You misunderstood my posts. I was not implying that TJ is an imposter or a zombie. Also, considering that your actions have already resulted in a one month ban from certain forums, I would advise you, respectfully, to reconsider your future etiquette while visiting The Raven.
 
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