Enter The Tarantino

April 10, 2003 6:21 PM

Wait A Minute! Where's That Great Movie I Saw In The Trailer? I'm not in this world to live up to your expectations and you're not in this world to live up to mine, said Bruce Lee. Still, expectations and anticipation are an integral part of cinephilia and the fun of watching movies in general. For a lot of us, Tarantino's Kill Bill is by far the most expected movie of 2003. [The trailer and the screenplay reviews, whether enthusiastic or not, lead one to expect a sword-swallowing, fire-breathing mix of "Enter The Dragon", "Slouching Tiger, Creeping Dragon" and "Charlie's Dragon Angels". So - will it be up to Tarantino's best? I venture to say oh yes.]
And if you're not a rabid Tarrantino fan, which upcoming film(s) are you most eager to see, from now until 2006?
posted by MiguelCardoso (57 comments total)

2006? That's a lot of films. If the new Indy film ever comes along that would probably top it.
posted by dig_duggler at 6:23 PM on April 10, 2003

I've been saying for a while: Two Matrix flicks, the last Lord of the Rings film, The Hulk and Kill Bill. After this year, there'll be no more movies left to see.
posted by eyeballkid at 6:25 PM on April 10, 2003

Matrix Reloaded (final trailer) on May 15th.
posted by thatothrgirl at 6:30 PM on April 10, 2003

I'm waiting for that movie where he's 14 and he runs away from home with a 15 year old and they steal a Jeep Cherokee and they get run off the road by 12 semis and then they go to the Grand Canyon and sleep together in each other's arms every night and then he falls in love with a girl and they turn themselves in and go home after spending some time in jail and then they live the rest of their little lives never forgetting the other and it would be rated R for the sleeping together with all their clothes on but kids would sneak in because they heard it was good and they want to piss off their parents by seeing it and then they talk about it in school or maybe they blog about it or maybe they don't tell anyone after all.
posted by WolfDaddy at 6:32 PM on April 10, 2003

I await A Mighty Wind.
posted by liam at 6:39 PM on April 10, 2003

meta-aintitcool-filter
posted by Fofer at 6:43 PM on April 10, 2003

If you've seen the trailer, you've probably seen the best moments of the movie, not to mention that rip off ticket prices, obnoxious teenagers, crying babies, cell phone assholes and five bucks for a small soda have kept me out of theaters for years.

Who cares? Six to nine months from big screen it will all be on DVD anyway, with cake and frosting.

BTW Miguel, isn't your post just another big Metafilter ad? Tarantino's always been a poseur anyway.
posted by mark13 at 6:44 PM on April 10, 2003

Gah,

Theatre's better than your home no matter what. Just go to a late show after it's out a few weeks to avoid the rabble. Then just sneak you snacks in a back pack.
posted by velacroix at 6:50 PM on April 10, 2003

MiguelFilter
PollFilter
MovieFilter
ComingAttractionsFilter
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posted by matteo at 6:50 PM on April 10, 2003

The Return of the King. Nothing else even comes close...

(Then again, there are those who object to taking the King's name in vain...)
posted by JollyWanker at 6:52 PM on April 10, 2003

BTW Miguel, isn't your post just another big Metafilter ad?

Mark13: Though there is one negative review - and some others in the two unofficial websites - I see your point have to agree. Perhaps I'm afraid I got too carried away by my enthusiasm and didn't look hard enough for counterpoints. Sorry about that. Thanks for helping correct the balance, though.

[From the trailer liam linked:]

"There had been abuse in my family, but it was mostly musical."

Teehee!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:53 PM on April 10, 2003

Movies largely suck these days, making it harder and harder to justify going to the theatre (the commercials don't help). I don't look forward to much of anything in particular.

Maybe the next Coen Brothers movie; their stuff is usually interesting.

And I hope that Spielberg and Lucas don't screw up Indiana Jones IV (like ignoring the fact that Harrison Ford is getting older -- one of the traps Star Trek I fell into into).

I heard Robert Redford is working on a sequel to The Candidate, which could be interesting. Alas, Michael Ritchie isn't around anymore to direct.

Other than that... ehhhh.

BTW, I think it's impossible to remake The Manchurian Candidate and do it any better, but someone (Paramount, I think) is determined to try.

Oh, and of course, John Travolta claims he wants to do a sequel to Battlefield Earth.
posted by pmurray63 at 7:02 PM on April 10, 2003

I suppose it's hip to call Tarantino a poseur, or it, at the very least, makes you feel cool, but there's no arguing that he's made three great movies, one of which can easily be considered an American classic.
posted by eyeballkid at 7:06 PM on April 10, 2003

How are people still fans of Tarantino? Okay, Pulp Fiction was good. Jackie Brown was fucking laughable and he hasn't done anything else since.

zzz.
posted by xmutex at 7:07 PM on April 10, 2003

How many people are still fans of Tarantino

Me.

I didn't realize there was some kind of expiration date on respect for someone's work. That Ford guy hasn't directed a film in years. He must suck now.

Jackie Brown, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction were all great films.
posted by eyeballkid at 7:12 PM on April 10, 2003

Classic Tarantino bashing.

beware: bad audio clips galore
posted by delapohl at 7:23 PM on April 10, 2003

Come ON guys, only two more years to wait for "Episode III" and the inevitable let down that it will be.


Uhhh....nevermind.
posted by tgrundke at 7:23 PM on April 10, 2003

I'm with EBK. Tarantino is already up there with Ford, Hawks, Ray and Peckinpah - if not yet with Welles, Wilder, Lubitsch, Hitchcock, Lang, Berkeley - as one of the greatest American directors of all time.

He's also a great writer and critic. I reckon he's done more for Cinema (the making of and the appreciation of) than anyone of his generation, whatever the nationality.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:26 PM on April 10, 2003

I'm getting really tired of the theatre vs. DVD debate. I've seen it in at least three threads in the past few months. It doesn't add anything -- particularly in this thread, which isn't about that.

Kill Bill looks fantastic -- fight choreography by Yuen Wo Ping (director of the fantastic Iron Monkey, fight choreographer for the Matrix, among others.) Also has Sonny Chiba...and word has it that Tarantino even did some of the shooting at the old Shaw Brothers studios in Hong Kong! I haven't seen the trailer yet (dial-up...) is QT doing wire-fu/wuxia?

Tarantino's a great director. He's a shitty actor and has a colossal ego, though. (Doesn't diminish his greatness.)
posted by Vidiot at 7:36 PM on April 10, 2003

Tarantino is also working on a WWII Dirty Dozen type film called Glorious Bastards, which I am looking forward to. I also think that bashing him is kind of like bashing the french; way too obvious and really, really played out. For only having made three films, he's sure done a hell of a lot, including creating (maybe synthesizing is a better word) a new genre, giving the indie film movement a kick in the ass, and re-invigorating a lot of careers. Most of us probably wouldn't be Sam Jackson fans were it not for Pulp Fiction.

Sometimes Tarantino does dumb things, though: like not doing a director's commentary for the Pulp Fiction DVD? Hello? The man loves to talk about movies, why not discuss his own?

The Hotei Tomayasu music in the trailer for Kill Bill was rad, too. (I say Hotei Tomyasu as though I know who he is besides the one mp3 I have)
posted by Hildago at 7:38 PM on April 10, 2003

Kill Bill looks fantastic -- fight choreography by Yuen Wo Ping (director of the fantastic Iron Monkey, fight choreographer for the Matrix, among others.)

I'm greatly looking forward to the cinematography - it's by Robert Richardson, whose work amazed me in Scorsese's "Bringing Out The Dead". The only mention I could find of his work on "Kill Bill" was on a Uma Thurman website.

The Kill Bill trailer won the "best trailer" award from the terrific Trailer Trash website. Their awards page is great fun.

Greg's Reviews (which includes a lot of information on the film) tentatively says Kill Bill will be shown next month in Cannes. Production ended March 3 so it doesn't leave much time for post-production. But just enough time to dream of a quick sortie to Cannes...
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:58 PM on April 10, 2003

What JollyWanker said.
posted by Lynsey at 8:00 PM on April 10, 2003

I don't know what trailer you saw, but the one I saw totally put me off seeing the movie. It was actually painful to watch. "Ooh, Kung-fu is, like, cool!" Gah. Tarantino's a one-rant pony, all his characters sound exactly alike, i.e., just like him. He reached his peak with Pulp Fiction, which was a breath of fresh air in the industry at that time, but I haven't liked much he's done before or since, with the possible exception of Jackie Brown. And no, I didn't like Reservoir Dogs. I can only take so much strutting around looking agitated and cool.

Kill Bill looks like Tarantino's fetish on film. Uma Thurman? Ew. The wire-fu was bad enough in The Matrix; this looks just horrible, and if I want to see those sets I'll look for them in real Kung-fu movies.
posted by Poagao at 8:01 PM on April 10, 2003

Well, I'm looking forward to seeing Darren Arnofsky's Batman prequel because I just can't imagine what an Arnofsky-directed Hollywood blockbuster would look like. The Kidman/von Trier collaboration Dogville sounds like it might be interesting, although I hope it's not another movie about a pure-hearted but downtrodden woman being degraded, abused and killed by the evil uncaring world. I don't think I could hack another one of those after Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark (although I though both were quite good).

And, of course, Return of the King and the Matrix sequels.

However, I'm greatly saddened that there are no Terry Gilliam films in the works. That man is my hero. I'm still hanging onto hope that Don Quixote will somehow get made.
posted by boltman at 8:11 PM on April 10, 2003

I've been waiting forever for "A Confederacy of Dunces" , which seems to keep getting pushed back... But I can't imagine it could do anything other than fall greatly short of the book, especially with David Gordon Green directing, and Drew Barrymore *vomit*.
posted by Espoo2 at 8:21 PM on April 10, 2003

I'm waiting to see the truth revealed in Farenheit 911, Michael Moore's next flick.
posted by ahimsakid at 8:34 PM on April 10, 2003

Wow.
That little teaser for Kill Bill was a big pile of steaming crap. Tarantino's best? God, I hope so. Everything else he's made has been pretty dissapointing to me.
I realize I'm in the minority here, but Tarantino has never impressed me.
posted by bradth27 at 8:45 PM on April 10, 2003

I'm guessing that once again, the only people who will be calling Tarantino's latest innovative are those who don't watch movies from Asia.
posted by wrench at 9:17 PM on April 10, 2003

"Truth" and "Michael Moore" in the same sentence? Now that's irony.

I'm with you, boltman. Somehow, someway, Gilliam MUST be allowed to make that movie. Seeing that come to fruition would be a wonderful impossible dream.

I think I also heard there is a sequel coming to "Dude, Where's My Car?". I'll wait to see that one until the crowd of artsy film school types thins out.
posted by John Smallberries at 9:21 PM on April 10, 2003

However, I'm greatly saddened that there are no Terry Gilliam films in the works.

Click here.
posted by rushmc at 9:21 PM on April 10, 2003

There's only two that I am definitely going to pay $$$ to see in a theatre: X2 and Kill Bill.

X2 because the X-Men are cool, and the first movie was very well done.

Kill Bill because Tarantino is one of the only directors whose work I will see simply because of his involvement. Tim Burton is another one.
posted by davidmsc at 9:23 PM on April 10, 2003

I love Tarantino. He has entertained me as frequently and as well as any other director. Only the Coen Brothers come close. If he's made one movie that has allowed you to escape reality for 2 + hours then give him some props.
posted by vito90 at 9:29 PM on April 10, 2003

Tarantino is an obsessive movie-watching video store clerk at heart, and always will be. He's the guy you know who finds every cliched movie genre and revels in it.

He's really at his best when he's writing over-the-top dialog or violence, all while pillaging the best scenes of his favorite movies. I remember watching Kiss Me Deadly last fall and noticing several scenes Tarantino lifted. His movies are a melting pot of ideas, but most of them remain pretty close to their original forms.
posted by mikeh at 9:48 PM on April 10, 2003

The film I'm looking forward the most is Jim Sheridan's "In America". Which has more to do with its soundtrack than with the film (which no doubt will be quite good, seeing that Sheridan made "My Left Foot" and "In The Name Of The Father".) The score and the film's original song was composed by two friends of mine and it's their shot at an Oscar nomination so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
posted by prolific at 9:49 PM on April 10, 2003

Lets see,

Wong Kar-Wai's 2046... Chinese sci-fi film thats been in production forever,

von Triers Dogville... no idea just like the director.

Couple more I'm looking forward to set in Asia, The Last Samurai, and Battle Royale II.

the only people who will be calling Tarantino's latest innovative are those who don't watch movies from Asia.

Probably right Wrench, I thought the trailer looked awful, but if the reviews are positive I might check it out. To me it just looked like a mish-mash of the worst Asian cliches.
posted by bobo123 at 10:11 PM on April 10, 2003

oh yes, bobo123...I'd forgotten about Wong's 2046; will that be coming out this year? If I had to pick an absolute favorite director, the competition would be stiff but Wong might well be it.
posted by Vidiot at 10:16 PM on April 10, 2003

I'm looking forward to Identity. It has my RDA of Cusack (either will do, in this case it's John), and even if it's lame, it's of the noir thriller variety, which I can't resist and (nearly) always find entertaining.

I've been heartened about the state of modern movies, what with things like Adaptation and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and all.

I'm on the fence about Tarantino: part of me thinks he's been a breath of fresh air (where "fresh" = "recycled old") and I respect him for that, and I sympathise with the plight of following up movies like his first ones, but at the same time, he's getting to have the aroma of a one-trick pony about him, which isn't the worst thing in the world, but he seems to be trying to pretend that he's not. I really liked Jackie Brown (and anything with Pam Grier at least gets points for having Pam Grier), so who knows, maybe Kill Bill will be fabulous.
posted by biscotti at 10:35 PM on April 10, 2003

Since all the films I'm really excited about have already been mentioned, I'm going to chime in about 2 films that I would be excited about if they didn't look so awful. The first is, of course, T3. Arnold can't really throw a punch anymore and they resorted to sticking in a hot LA babe as distraction, but the first 2 were so cool in their time that I still hope they get something right. The next is the league of extraordinary Gentleman. Such a great comic, and it has Sean Connery who I even watched The Avengers for, but it just looks awful and seems to have lost the restrained victorian pacing that was so great in the original. Plus whatever extreme-addled marketing exec decided that the name should be shortened to LXG needs to be strung up, although I will admit that LEG doesn't work either.
posted by BenNewman at 11:00 PM on April 10, 2003

If I had to pick an absolute favorite director, the competition would be stiff but Wong might well be it.

I'm right there with you, Vidiot.

It did annoy me that Chungking Express was for a long while only available in the Tarantino edition, with an interview with him before the film. But then again, maybe many people were introduced to Wong Kar Wai through Taranitino's efforts.

Pulp Fiction was a good flick, if gimmicky, and Resevoir Dogs was good when I saw it lo these many years ago, but I can't say I'm really excited for his next movie.

I think it's because he got a little schticky. How the hell do you spell that?

Have yourself an egg roll.
posted by Kafkaesque at 11:00 PM on April 10, 2003

I don't know. You have to give it to Tarantino that he can write dialogue, not just exposition. I haven't seen a movie in quite some time where it really seemed the characters were talking _with_ one another, rather than just reciting lines and pithy witticisms in the prescence of another person.
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 11:30 PM on April 10, 2003

Goonies 2. That's the one I'm waiting for...
posted by herc at 12:37 AM on April 11, 2003

I guess the one film that I am looking forward to (besides the obvious ones) is Spun the Movie (not safe for work) [QT trailer]. Although I doubt it will make it to a North Carolina theatre.
posted by Rattmouth at 12:46 AM on April 11, 2003

Goonies 2 - The Sorority
"Hey...you...girls..."
posted by lightweight at 1:28 AM on April 11, 2003

Hitchcock, Lang, - greatest American directors of all time.

That's just silly.

And while there's the argument that they both worked in America for large parts of their careers, Lang's best stuff was done before he took up residence in the US and Hitchcock did an awful lot before he got there. (And by the same argument Gilliam is now a Brit.)
posted by biffa at 4:13 AM on April 11, 2003

2006? I eagerly await Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Was Thursday
posted by wobh at 5:35 AM on April 11, 2003

Bulletproof Monk comes out in a week.... should be pretty rad.

You know -- for those who missed it and like intelligent action flicks, Wasabe, another fine Jean Reno/Luc Besson joint, was just released on DVD stateside. Course, it's no Transporter, but pretty darn cool, nonetheless.
posted by ph00dz at 5:45 AM on April 11, 2003

Red Dwarf: The Movie. It was supposed to come out in 2002, now it's 2004 that it's supposed to come out.
posted by stoneegg21 at 6:27 AM on April 11, 2003

Tarantino also wrote the screenplay for the excellent and very Tarantino-esque True Romance [IMDB], which was directed by Tony "Top Gun" Scott. (One of the high points of Tarantino's acting career is his deconstruction of Top Gunas a gay parable. "Ice comes up to Maverick, and he says, 'Man, you can ride my tail, anytime!' And what does Maverick say? 'You can ride mine!' Swordfight! Swordfight! Fuckin' A, man!") I like Jackie Brown and I'm psyched to see Kill Bill.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:43 AM on April 11, 2003

I'm definitely looking forward to Kill Bill. Whether or not you like QT's previous films, it's better to have him actually releasing films. Maybe he'll put out something good.

But then again, I "look forward" to so many movies coming out, that it's really nothing special. I could list all of them but there'd be too many, with about one every week for the next couple months. This week: House of 1000 Corpses. Hell yeah, only waited 4 years.
posted by dogwalker at 6:55 AM on April 11, 2003

I can't wait for the "At the Mountains of Madness" movie currently slated for 2004. There is an excellent chance that it might suck terribly, but there is still a chance that it might do Lovecraft's story justice.
posted by ttrendel at 7:00 AM on April 11, 2003

Been going through some release dates, just noticed that QT's Kill Bill and Coen brothers' Intolerable Cruelty are slated for the same week. That'll probably change, but it'd be a pretty sweet weekend if both movies open on the same day. (October 10th, if you don't want to look for it)
posted by dogwalker at 7:07 AM on April 11, 2003

If Rendevouz With Rama ever gets made I'll be eagerly anticipaiting it.

I hope Holes is good. My nephew handed me the book one day and I read it that night. Excellent.
posted by bondcliff at 7:16 AM on April 11, 2003

Japanese yakuza using Chinese swordsmanship just looks wrong.
[/martial arts nitpicking]
posted by PsychoKick at 8:11 AM on April 11, 2003

I am awaiting PTU, which opened 3 days ago in HK.
posted by infowar at 8:19 AM on April 11, 2003

That's cheating, infowar. :)

In that same way, I'm looking forward to Douglas Sirk's Written On The Wind and Antonioni's Deserto Rosso, which I've unforgivably never seen.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:45 AM on April 11, 2003

Movies largely suck these days, making it harder and harder to justify going to the theatre (the commercials don't help). I don't look forward to much of anything in particular.

You forgot to mention that you don't own a TV.
posted by NortonDC at 8:46 AM on April 11, 2003

Miguel: PTU hasn't opened in the US. :)

There's another, animated film called "Wonderful Days" I know hasn't opened yet.
posted by infowar at 11:23 AM on April 11, 2003