004 - Mr. Tarantino, Please Make More than Ten

[slight spoilers]

I saw Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood last weekend. It has sat in my stomach for a week, flopping around like a late night chili dog. Internet commentary spicing the dog, adding to the gas it’s producing.

I came out thinking, man that was self-indulgent and had a lot of inside baseball. Not sure I necessarily enjoyed just hanging out with a couple of men of poor character. But as it fermented and I heard others’ takes, I need to re-watch (as I have with all of his movies) and let history settle before I slot it into my list of favorites. I keep coming back to scenes (as I do with all of his movies) and there are some dandy ones here – Cliff on the compound, Cliff driving, Cliff parkour-ing, Cliff taking care of business, Rick and Cliff watching TV, Rick acting poorly. Rick acting with the little girl, and Sharon watching herself among them. They feel like they’ll be infinitely re-watchable like the opening scene to Basterds or the diner scene in Dogs or Walken with his watch and his ass.

It’s currently somewhere in the middle but I could see it creep up. Below is my list #1 - #9 [Kill Bill being one film].

1994 Pulp Fiction

2012 Django Unchained

2003 Kill Bill: Volume 1

2004 Kill Bill: Volume 2

1992 Reservoir Dogs

2009 Inglorious Basterds

2019 Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood

1997 Jackie Brown

2015 Hateful Eight

2007 Death Proof

QT speaks to me and I’d put his filmography up against anyone over the last twenty years. When I say the last twenty years, I’m being specific – Spielberg only gets credit for Schindler’s List (93), Saving Private Ryan (98), Munich (05) and the rest of the safe historic stuff he’s created in the ‘10s. Same for Scorsese – he only gets credit for Goodfellas (90), Cape Fear (91), The Age of Innocence (93), Casino (95), Gangs of New York (02), Aviator (04), Departed (06), Shutter Island (10), The Wolf of Wall Street (13), and Silence (16).

You could make a case for Scorsese and others to make runs to take the mantle (Inarritu, Anderson, Fincher, Villeneuve, Nolan, etc) and they very well could if Tarantino stops after one more.

I’d prefer to render the point moot by encouraging him to continue. So please, Mr. Tarantino, keep going.

Ok, go ahead and dismember me – in the comments below, my Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/marc.baker.121) or Twitter (@MarcBakerPort)

EDIT: Screw it. Django is such a crazy fun mix of a movie. Hell, it's got a Blazing Saddle riff in the middle of it. And Jamie is cooler than Uma.