Tarantino

Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs: 4 stars
From Dawn Till Dusk: 2 stars

Tarantino is a master at making great screenplays. He is tremendous at writing his own films, but when it comes to acting, he is nowhere near as good as others he surrounds himself with.


I do not recommend any of these three films, though I do give Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction four stars. They have many downfalls, but the artistry of these two films is so good that it couldn’t be less than four stars. There is too much swearing and too many drug and sexual references that just don’t appeal to my taste. Whenever the director and actors have an armory of f-bombs as big as the Grand Canyon, it doesn’t give as much depth to a film as one with a broad vocabulary.

From Dusk Till Dawn is another story entirely. For the first hour of the movie, it seemed like it was going to be pretty good, minus the acting of Quentin Tarantino, but then all of a sudden they went the supernatural route and randomly vampires came out of nowhere. Where did they come from!?! There was no warning, there was no mention or hint of the supernatural before then all of a sudden a vampire attacks them and then there are thousands. And this film is not Harvey Keitel’s (National Treasure) or George Clooney’s best performance.

Reservoir Dogs is not as bad with the crudeness as Pulp Fiction, but it isn’t as well told as Pulp Fiction either. Tim Roth (The Incredible Hulk, Planet of the Apes) did a great job, along with Harvey Keitel, but the other actors weren’t as good. There were fine moments in the film, as there is in every Tarantino. But Pulp Fiction tells the story better and has better lines and story than Dogs. Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta steal the movie whenever they are on screen at the same time.

See it: none of these films. Maybe Pulp Fiction if you don’t mind loads of language and two sexual scenes.

Don’t see it: all of these films.

Next time: Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven