It has been downhill for him since that movie with "Once upon a time..." now being his worse film yet. He just didn't evolve and grow as a director or writer and kept doing his tired shtick of having characters have long conversations to build tension before some disaster happens.Everyone of his movies follows that same formula. It became stale.
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Jfleg,
I do agree with your thoughts on Django. I actually thought his films slid down hill and hit rock bottom at Hateful 8. I was very happy when Once Upon a Time In Hollywood came out. I think it’s great.
I haven't seen it yet (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). Maybe I should just out of respect for a man who I once admired his movies.
shareAlthough I don't think he peaked with "Jackie Brown", I agree. I noticed the redundancy of the revenge theme before but personally, when I saw "Django Unchained" I was like: "Okay now.. this revenge-focused-theme thing is really starting to get old." I'm just not excited about his new movies anymore.
shareI thought Jackie Brown was the last film where QT felt like he really had to prove himself. He wanted to follow up Pulp Fiction with something different and show people he wasn’t just a one-trick pony. But after JB, I think he started resting on his laurels a little bit and just indulged in all his violent, comic book fantasies he had in his head.
shareI thought hateful eight and inglourius basterds were both very entertaining. Django not so much, but it was watchable. Could not stand Kill Bills.
Jackie Brown was probably the best. Still it is pretty good to have 3 very good movies, nothing to scoff at or ridicule. I am not a fan of QT ... but I give him his due as a writer/director.
In my opinion Inglourious Basterds is as good as anything he's done besides Pulp Fiction, and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood isn't far behind. Jackie Brown is a great movie, no doubt, and I can see a case being made that it's better than either of the two I mentioned, but even if that's the case, while you may say he peaked there, any decline has been so slight as to be negligible. All opinion, of course, but when I look at his body of work to this point I see consistent greatness.
Pulp Fiction is perhaps the single greatest film ever made, and it's unlikely nothing he makes will ever match that. Were I listing the 10 greatest films ever made, no director's name would appear twice on that list, and capturing lightning in a bottle twice seems impossible.
Jackie Brown, Inglourious Basterds, and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood are all excellent films, better than the best of nearly any other director.
Reservoir Dogs is maybe a hair's breadth behind those three, if at all. Kill Bill: Volume 1 is not to the level of those I've named, but still a masterwork. Death Proof and Django Unchained are both great films. Kill Bill: Volume 2 isn't very good. The Hateful Eight is terrible.
His "tired shtick" as you call it is one of the things he does best. Those scenes of tension-building conversation are often the best part of his movies. They were in Django, Inglourious, Pulp Fiction, and in True Romance (even though he only wrote that one). Tarantino is actually great at building tension. It's some of the other self-indulgent stuff that has become stale.
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