My Top 5 Tarantino Movies

My top five films by Quentin Tarantino.

By Kieran Brown (Year 13)

5. Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2 (2003 – 2004). 

Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Michael Madsen and Daryl Hannah. 

Reason – Like Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill mixes the Western genre with Martial Arts. For example the non-diegitic music and the stand offs, as a film fan it is easy to admire these sort of things. Uma Thurman is another reason why Kill Bill is such an entertaining film, she is funny, violent and is enjoyable to watch, her performance is highly underrated, she is just as good and memorable compared to her performance as Mia in Pulp Fiction. The action scenes especially when the bride fights the crazy 88 draws you inn and are also funny. Although the film is incredibly violent and gory it adds to the entertainment and also shows that Tarantino has respect for the Japanese film industry and Kill Bill also shows Tarantino’s depth of knowledge of different film genres.

4. Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn and Steve Buscemi. 

Reason – For me personally Reservoir Dogs is the best debut film in film making history. Each is character is cool, slick and quotable. Like in every Tarantino film the dialogue is the strongest part of the film. In the first scene we learn about each characters personality. I was immediately drawn into the first conversation that takes place about Madonna and also how they all debate about why it is important to tip in a restaurant, this makes the film appear more realistic as the characters are talking casually about subjects which have no significance to the plot of the film. The performances of Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Steve Buscemi are for me personally their best performances the script allows each character to show off their acting talents and also for them to make the characters their own. 

3. Django Unchained (2013) 

Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo Dicaprio, Kerry Washington and Samuel L Jackson.

Reason – The second film in Tarantino’s ‘Historical Trilogy’. This film shows audiences how brutal slavery was in America before the civil war. Compared to other films about slavery this one sends out the strongest message. Tarantino doesn’t hold himself back in this film; he shows how cruel Americans were. The acting especially from Christoph Waltz, Leonardo Dicaprio and Samuel L Jackson is world class. The characters for each actor are perfectly written for them and any other year all of them would have been nominated for an Oscar. Another reason why this is one of my favourites is because of Leonardo Dicaprio. He always seems to play similar characters but in this film he is a breath of fresh air. He’s brilliantly sadistic and brutally funny, it is quite disappointing and embarrassing that he wasn’t nominated for an Oscar considering it was one of his best performances to date.







2. Inglourious Basterds (2008) 

Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent and Eli Roth. 

Reason – For me Inglourious Basterds is the most underrated film of the past ten years. The main factor why this is my second favourite is the western conventions used. The ‘Bear Jew’ scene is my favourite ever Tarantino scene because of the Western Diegitic music used to build up for the Bear Jews appearance and also the slow motion editing effect used, everything in this scene fits together. Another reason why I rate this film so highly is because of Christoph Waltz who plays a cruel but also hilarious villain called Hans Landa. Shockingly this is Christoph Waltz’s first American film, and he gives a spellbinding performance. This just shows Tarantino’s talent as he picked an unknown actor Christoph Waltz over Leonardo Dicaprio. 

1. Pulp Fiction (1994) 

John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken and Bruce Willis. 

Reason – the main reason why this makes it to the top of my list is the script. It is brilliantly written and each story in the film is as good as the last. Like in every Tarantino film you expect great dialogue, Pulp Fictions dialogue is the best of the lot. It allows the audience to know characters better, even though some points of conversation are not necessarily important to the plot; it makes the characters appear more realistic and relatable.