I think I agree that Tarantino is overrated, and I say this as someone who loves Tarantino. This is because I largely disagree with his first films being his greatest. I don't have much love for Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs. Even Kill Bill is a bit too facetious for me.
Inglourious Basterds, though, I think is Tarantino's best work, because I think it's his strongest story and I don't think he ever takes it to the cartoonish heights he does in Django Unchained or Kill Bill. I mean yeah, I understand the Tarantinoverse and the film-within-a-film thing, but I still don't think those stories are clean enough. The thing about arteurs is that sure, they get full reign over their creative vision, but that also means there's nobody to say "no, you need to tone it down and edit", and sometimes that's necessary. ****in' Django Unchained and Hateful Eight were probably 45 minutes longer than they needed to be. Inglourious Basterds though, I don't think it has any wasted scenes. And Christoph Waltz is a spectacle to behold as Hans Landa.
|