Director Profile: Terrence Malick

This is the seventh entry in my Director Profile series.

ABOUT TERRENCE MALICK

In my not-so-favorable review of Miranda July’s The Future, I described July as a “take it or leave it” filmmaker; an artist that people tend to wholly embrace or find horribly grating. There’s very little middle ground. Either you like what Miranda July does, or you don’t. Another such auteur is likely Terrence Malick, a filmmaker whose work is famous for its emphasis on visuals and beauty over plot and character. If someone were to go on a 20 minute anti-Malick rant, I likely would be hard-pressed to retort without going into overly-snotty territory. Few people can argue that Malick doesn’t achieve what he sets out to each and every time. If it’s not your taste, so be it. You’re not wrong.

Edgar Wright (Director Profile)

This is the sixth entry in the Director Profile series.

ABOUT EDGAR WRIGHT

Edgar Wright, 36, has only directed three films but has already made an impact on the filmmaking scene with his energetic visual style and clear love for the medium. After working on the cult television show Spaced for Channel 4 in Britain, he went on to make two feature films with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, two of the stars of Spaced. These films are Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, two very British comedies that work brilliantly and hilariously on their own while lovingly spoofing zombie splatter films and Michael Bay-esque cop films, respectively. This past summer he released Scott Pilgrim vs. The World starring Michael Cera. While its box office was modest, it's clear it is a film that, like his other work, will go on to develop a following for a long time to come. Also, he's just 36, so I'd say he's got a whole lot of career left.

THE FILMS


Shaun of the Dead (2004)

With the new millennium has come a wave of new zombie films in the vein of George Romero, which really merely exist as a form of blood-filled water balloon. The audience merely sits around waiting for them to pop. Maybe with a gun, maybe with some more creative objects, just so long as we get some good splatter. Shaun of the Dead hits many familiar beats of those films, but with a brilliant comic edge. The film opens as if we're going to be watching a slacker comedy with some romantic elements, but then people start getting a little hungry for human brains, and havoc ensues.

Wright in all his films is able to spoof various film genres not because they're terrible, but because he has an appreciation for the medium. Only people who have watched zombie movies several times over could have pulled off such a pitch-perfect parody, all the while making the film truly his own. The cast ain't too shabby either, with Pegg and Frost's chemistry never growing old, even in their later collaborations.

However, Shaun of the Dead doesn't hold interest for the entire length, despite a brilliant first half. By the end the film gets a little too caught up in its blood-soaked zombie wasteland for its own good, but as an entire film this as assured a directorial debut as we saw in the last decade.
(Rating: 3/4)

Hot Fuzz (2007)

The spoof/homage formula introduced in Shaun of the Dead is just about perfected in the pretty darn brilliant Hot Fuzz, as fun a time as I've had watching a comedy in recent memory. As the film goes on you become increasingly impressed by its absolute audacity. It's more than two hours long and some of the twists it takes in the final act are absolutely insane and wonderful. Nothing it does should work, but it ends up succeeding spectacularly at everything it does. Not a scene goes by without a laugh, be it a laugh of appreciation, disgust, shock, you name it. I barely want to reveal the plot, because I went in knowing absolutely nothing and as a result the roller coaster ride was all the more fulfilling. I will say it involves Simon Pegg, a relentlessly efficient city cop, being sent out to the small village of Sandford.

The havoc that ensues in unbelievably absurd, yet somehow perfect. I always complain about comedies not taking risks, but if you want to see an example of one that doesn't stop taking them, look no further. Throw in an incredible supporting turn from Timothy Dalton, the most underrated James Bond, and you've got something fearless and always hilarious. It's not a movie that begs for you to love it, but it dares you to love it. If I were to make a top-ten list of 2007 films I would likely include it. Mind you, that was a year that gave us No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Zodiac, Juno, and several other good-to-great films.
(Rating: 4/4)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

(Read my original review of this film here.)
When I saw Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, I came away with mixed-to-positive feelings. I appreciated what Wright was trying to do, I felt he mostly succeeded, but darn it all if I wasn't able to completely submit myself to it. It wasn't even a day later I felt the nagging need to see it again, something that doesn't happen often with films I had a lukewarm reaction to. There were many people who wanted to declare their undying love for it, others who didn't like it very much at all, and I found myself uncomfortably in the middle. However, the more I look back on it the more I absolutely, positively need to see it again. I very much await its November 9 release on DVD so I can get that opportunity. For now, however, I keep my 3-star rating, and I stand by my original review. It's got a lot of energy and great moments, but as a whole it didn't quite equal the sum of it's parts.
(Rating: 3/4)

CAREER GRADE: B+


Obviously, this profile was a bit of a quickie considering there are only three films, but all of them are complete originals despite a few faults in Shaun and Pilgrim. There are many people who disagree with me and say all three are masterpieces, and others who may call Hot Fuzz the weak link. Either way, I can not help but admire Edgar Wright, who has given everything he's done thus far is so energetic and vibrant that they make other films seem lethargic. As far as cult success, he is absolutely 3 for 3, and it won't be long until he is seen as a deity in some circles.

I leave you with Don't, a Wright-directed fake trailer which was part of Grindhouse, the Tarantino-Rodriguez project from 2007.


Other Director Profiles
David Fincher
Christopher Nolan
M. Night Shyamalan
Quentin Tarantino
Oliver Stone (partial)

David Fincher Director Profile

This is the fifth entry in my Director Profile series.

ABOUT DAVID FINCHER

The buzz for The Social Network is now reaching deafening levels, with the few early reviews not only being positive, but full-on raves. Peter Travers has not published a full review yet, but he has tweeted about it being a defining movie of the decade. Ah, the power of 140 characters or less. To prepare, I have decided to write a director profile on David Fincher, the director of The Social Network, and one of the best going right now. On top of that, I feel we’re about to enter the peak of his career.

David Fincher started working lower positions on various movie sets, eventually able to work his way up until he directed commercials, music videos, and eventually motion pictures. His most well-known music video work was with the likes of Madonna and Paula Abdul, and eventually he made his feature debut with Alien 3. I haven’t seen it, but the consensus is that it’s less than average, though Fincher is said to show a certain visual flair even with dire material. His career didn’t explode, however, until Se7en, and that is where we begin.

THE FILMS

Se7en (1995)

A dark, unflinching film that is my second favorite serial killer film behind Fincher’s own Zodiac, which we will talk about a bit later. Make no mistakes, Se7en is constantly morbid and paints as bleak a picture of our modern society this side of every Coen Brothers movie. The plot follows Detectives Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Mills (Brad Pitt) as they investigate a series of connected murders based on the seven deadly sins. Freeman is great and is the soul of this movie as the old man who has just about had enough of the dismal world around him. Nothing surprises him anymore, but it’s enough to tear a man apart, Lisa. Unlike later films of its ilk, Se7en is not filled with pure nihilism, but instead shows us all of the horror with a humanity that has been unmatched. Fincher is able to create an almost nonstop sense of dread, and his unique style comes through quickly and furiously. Many people debate the ending, which is a punch in the gut, but it is memorably impactful. It’s not a pleasant film, but it’s a great one.
(Rating: 4/4)

The Game (1997)

This one, for one reason or another, doesn’t quite click with me. Fincher injects it with a great style and sense of foreboding, but the stakes are never high enough to care. Michael Douglas plays a Gordon Gekko wannabe who is forced to go through a specialized “game” as part of a birthday gift from his brother. Essentially an overlong episode of The Twilight Zone, Fincher does his job well enough, and you always feel like you are being watched by a faceless organization, but Douglas isn’t anything special here. Fincher is best with more complex, ambiguous material, but The Game is straightforward to a fault. Does anyone REALLY care what happens to Douglas’ character here? I didn’t whatsoever. It’s great to look at, but ultimately an unimportant and disengaging experience.
(Rating: 2/4)

Fight Club (1999)

Fight Club is one of those films that can mean a million different things to a million different people, and on top of that about a third of them (if not more) would probably hate it. To some, it cuts to the very bone of being a man in the modern world, to others it misinterprets that very idea, and to others it’s about a bunch of guys who punch the crap out of each other. It’s a satire, it’s an action movie, and it’s perhaps the most DISTINCTIVE film of Fincher’s career, if not his best. It follows one man (Edward Norton) and his endless frustration with the apparent emasculation he faces on a daily basis. He can’t sleep, that is until he attends various support groups for diseases he doesn’t have, and from there the plot moves a mile a minute. Eventually he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), a confident man that the narrator looks upon with envy. Eventually he and Tyler start a fight club, but eventually it becomes bigger than all of them. Not only is Fight Club a great “State of the Union” for the modern man, but it speaks to the very culture we live in. It takes our inner desires and lets them run rampant, and Fincher is the brilliant madman at the controls.
(Rating: 4/4)

Panic Room (2002)

After the soaring ambitions of Fight Club, Fincher tones waaaaaay down with Panic Room, a modest but quite effective thriller the likes of which we should have more of. Essentially this: Meg (Jodie Foster) and her daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart, already pouting) move into a new house. A group of robbers break in, and Meg and Sarah are forced to hide in their impenetrable panic room. Here’s the catch: what the robbers want is in the room. Let the cat-and-mouse game begin! Expertly filmed by Fincher with his usual visual flair, Panic Room delivers some pretty great thrills en route to an expected ending that still packs a decent emotional punch. Meg and Sarah’s claustrophobia becomes ours, and we feel every moment slip away. Panic Room never cheats and as such is a memorable thriller that a lot of people could learn from. Sometimes, it doesn’t take much to get the job done.
(Rating: 3/4)

Zodiac (2007)

(This will be a little short, because I have already written on Zodiac HERE.)
David Fincher’s best film is also one of the best films of the 2000’s, and perhaps the best police procedural I’ve seen. It’s a vivid look at obsession and paranoia in the age of the Zodiac killer in San Francisco. It’s not incredibly violent, but it’s haunting, and knows its characters and how the Zodiac affects them personally. The script, by James Vanderbilt, is Sorkinesque in its attention to minute detail, verisimilitude and humor, and as such this is the film that I think got Fincher the job for The Social Network. Where the 90’s was more violent for Fincher, the new millennium finds him more reserved, and he does each brilliantly.
(Rating: 4/4)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Here is a film that isn’t bad, but not nearly as good as it thinks it is, and as such I never really connected to it at all. The premise is interesting enough: a man is born old and ages backwards. The idea, I think, was to portray him living as normal a life as possible, and thus giving us a Synecdoche, New York-esque study of how we live our lives. It never comes close to that, and it lumbers on without much direction. A lot happens in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but nothing is said. The film is saved by Fincher, who creates the world and Benjamin himself brilliantly. The look is very much that of Fincher, but it’s the material that doesn’t quite gel. Like The Game, it doesn’t give Fincher the meat that he likes to work with, but just gives him a flashy bone. The whole time the film is CONVINCED it’s being profound, at that is what annoyed me most. It tries to be Forrest Gump for a new millennium, but at least that film was fun where this one was somber.
(Rating: 2.5/4)

CAREER GRADE: A-

Here is a case that my ratings alone might indicate a slightly lower grade, but the sheer brilliance of his best films (Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac) far outweighs my reservations about the rest (The Game, Benjamin Button). Now, we look ahead to The Social Network which opens on October 1st, and if the hype is any indication this will be pretty amazing, and maybe one of his best. Either way, he has an incredibly body of work up until this point, and even the films I’m not crazy about are beloved by others. After The Social Network the next Fincher film will be the American version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. I believe that he, like Christopher Nolan, is just now entering the prime of his career, and we have just as much to look forward to as we have to look back on.

Other Director Profiles
Christopher Nolan
M. Night Shyamalan
Quentin Tarantino
Oliver Stone (partial)

Christopher Nolan (Director Profile)

This is the fourth entry in my Director Profile series.

ABOUT CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

Inspired by my appreciation for Inception, I have decided to devote an entire director profile to Christopher Nolan, who in the past 10 years has established himself as one of our most imaginative and captivating filmmakers. He has devoted films to playing brilliant mind games with the audience (Memento, The Prestige, Inception) and he has also made some of the best straightforward thrillers and action films in recent memory (Insomnia, both Batman films). He is a rare case of a filmmaker able to bring big ideas to big-budget films, and he has set the table for a one-of-a-kind career which is likely to place among the more important to ever do the job. This is not a retrospective of a great director, but one who is going to be great for a while.

The only film I will not discuss is Following, a 1998 film he made on a shoestring budget that very few have seen.

THE FILMS

Memento (2000)

A run-of-the-mill revenge story gets the Nolan treatment in his first major feature, told through the eyes of a man with short term memory loss. He remembers everything up until the murder of his wife, but since then he has been unable of forming new memories. He does not remember anyone he meets, and on top of that the story is told backwards. This is the first example of the technique Nolan would use often in future films: The experience of the characters becomes the experience of the audience. Our memories are tested as the film goes on, just like Guy Pearce’s character Leonard we only know what we are told at any given moment. We see every character different as the film goes on, and just like Leonard we are not able to see anything beyond the present. Nolan wastes no time in showing everyone that he was the kid who could tear through a Rubix Cube in thirty seconds. Heck, he probably built them as a hobby. If you dismiss the narrative as a cheap gimmick you are missing out on an incredibly absorbing and unique experience.
(Rating: 4/4)

Insomnia (2002)

Now, here is a film I did not anticipate loving as much as I did. The premise sounds shallow: Al Pacino plays a world-weary veteran cop (yawn) who is sent to Alaska to help solve the murder of a local teen girl. One way or another I found myself completely engrossed in the film, and Pacino is not playing his usual over-the-top breed of law enforcer, but instead is more subdued, and thus delivering one of the more impressive performances of his in recent films. Robin Williams also is incredibly effective in a more serious role, and Hilary Swank does an admirable job as the innocent young cop. This is the only Nolan film in which he has had no part in the writing process, which leads the film to be less of a head game and more of a straightforward story, but this story is told with such style and an emotional punch to boot that I loved it. Nolan is not as successful at projecting Pacino’s insomnia on the audience as he is Pearce’s memory loss in Memento, but as a basic cop thriller they don’t get much better than this.
(Rating: 3.5/4)

Batman Begins (2005)

Big-budget Hollywood came a-calling and Nolan was drafted to return Batman to the big screen in Batman Begins, and at the time this was an amazing achievement. However, in the shadow of what was to come in the form of The Dark Knight it seems a bit dwarfed. A good film is a good film, however, and Nolan is finally able to make Batman the dark figure he is meant to be. Batman is not intended to live in the Tim Burton-Pee Wee on drugs universe (which might make an interesting Inception sequel: an acid trip within an acid trip within an acid trip?), but instead he meant to be a morally ambiguous character. Even good superhero movies give us the hero, the villain, and in the end they battle it out, but in Nolan’s Batman films he often has multiple villains all for the purpose of moving the story of Christian Bale’s Batman forward. In retrospect this film might seem like table setting for the next Batman film, but you can’t see where it goes without seeing where it started.
(Rating: 3.5/4)

The Prestige (2006)

The Prestige is well-made and entertaining, but darn it all if it all seems a little shallow and unimportant. Not surprisingly, it remains one of Nolan’s more polarizing films. It tells the story of a pair of magicians (Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman) who devote their entire lives to the longest one-upping contest in history. I was absorbed in the movie throughout, and then we reach the ending. Well, I’ll admit I did not see it coming, but it didn’t click for me. The explanation of the twist was a tad long-winded, but the final few shots were able to give the end a bit more power, and if every movie ever made ended with Thom Yorke’s song “Analyse” I’d be perfectly fine with that. The process of the magic trick is explained often throughout, describing the three acts: The Pledge, The Turn, and The Prestige. The film itself works in that way as well, and the first two acts are performed greatly by Nolan, but the Prestige didn’t pay off quite so well. Either way, Nolan is always five steps ahead of the viewer in each of his films, and that doesn’t change here, but this time I didn’t want to go the whole way, though it’s still an enthralling film for nearly the duration.
(Rating: 3/4)

The Dark Knight (2008)

What Christopher Nolan achieved with The Dark Knight cannot be understated. I have a hard time even referring to it as a superhero movie, because I’m not sure it is. Sure, it’s about a character that is easily recognized, but Batman does more harm than good to Gotham City in this film. Most films about vigilante characters tend to idolize them, but Nolan never strays from taking the more complex route. The Dark Knight is a tragedy, not a popcorn film, and most recognize its heart (or black hole of a heart) lies in the Oscar-winning performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker, the movie villain to end all movie villains. He sees anarchy in all around him, and sometimes you just need to pop the lid off to let all the chaos out. He proves more right than anyone could imagine. Audiences were stunned as well, and The Dark Knight became the second-highest grossing film of all time. (It later dropped to third, because of a little film called Avatar.) At last a movie was made that mixed big ideas with big-budget blockbuster elements, and he’s just getting started.
(Rating: 4/4)

Inception (2010)

You might have heard of it, and my review is here. I also wrote a bit more here, and a bit more here. Also, a look at the music here. I don’t think I need to say more. I have now not only beaten the dead horse, but I now gaze upon an unrecognizable pile of flesh.
(Rating: 4/4)

CAREER GRADE: A

I was hesitant to go all the way to an A, simply because of the smaller sample size than most, but when you go six films without a rotten one in the bunch that is saying something. Each film is worth seeing, and most of them are some of the best pieces of work cinema has seen in the past decade. If he stays on this path I believe he will represent the best of an entire generation of films. His next film is going to be his third and final Batman movie, and he says he is going to end the story there completely. Hopefully it’s half as good as The Dark Knight, but more importantly I look forward to the movies he has waiting for us. Some will be as complex as Memento or Inception, others will be straightforward narratives, but no matter how high the ambition his films are always entertaining. With the box office success of Inception, I don’t think he’s going to have any budget problems, and that means there will be nothing to hold back this one-of-a-kind talent.

Other Director Profiles
Oliver Stone
Quentin Tarantino
M. Night Shyamalan

M. Night Shyamalan (Director Profile)

This is the third entry in my Director Profiles series.

ABOUT M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN

M. Night Shyamalan, or “M-dawg”, is a mystery of a filmmaker. He alone has given us one of the best supernatural thrillers of recent times (The Sixth Sense) and now he has recently given us one of the worst mainstream movies I have seen in a long, long time (The Last Airbender). How did we reach this point? It is now time to go through his films and track the downfall of the once-promising M. Night Shyamalan. I will not discuss Wide Awake, his real first film, because it is a supposedly mediocre comedy starring Rosie O’Donnell, and thus does not fit in to the rest of his oeuvre. Also, I haven’t seen it, and I really don’t care to.

THE FILMS

The Sixth Sense (1999)

I have already written on The Sixth Sense here. Going through the rest of his films it is shocking to me how the same person can make this and The Last Airbender. I truly believe The Sixth Sense is one of the best films of its kind, and it is certainly worth checking out if you haven’t yet.
(Rating: 4/4)

Unbreakable (2000)

An impressive, if unessential movie. It follows the same narrative pattern as The Sixth Sense, making it seem a little repetitive, but I was engaged throughout. This is, I believe, supposed to be Shyamalan’s idea of a comic book movie, but it doesn’t truly explore that territory until the second half. I was never fully satisfied with this movie, but it dares to be different, and it gets points for that. Unbreakable is a testament to how Shyamalan can create a mood of suspense, but also begins to show his weakness as a screenwriter. The SHOCKING TWIST ENDING here also doesn’t quite work, but I bought it well enough. I also haven’t mentioned the grittier style Shyamalan uses here, which is what I wish he stayed with. This is a film with strengths that outweigh the weaknesses overall.
(Rating: 3/4)

Signs (2002)

If it weren’t for the ending, this might have been my favorite Shyamalan film. The tension he creates here is genuine, and the more awkward visual style he begins to use actually compliments the material rather than detracts from it. Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix are pretty terrific, and Shyamalan’s considerable cameo isn’t a complete distraction as it would be in Lady in the Water. However, the final scene doesn’t do it for me, as the forward momentum drags to a halt. Shyamalan avoids quick cutting at all costs, and all suspense is lost at the end, not to mention the aliens’ weakness is completely unbelievable. As a whole, though, I try not to let that spoil the filmmaking that came before it, which provides some of the strongest material he’s delivered.
(Rating: 3.5/4)

The Village (2004)

Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is where the wheels come off the wagon. Of his bad films, though, The Village is the most tolerable, and most of the credit goes to cinematographer Roger Deakins (for my money the best one going) for providing Shyamalan with the best looking film he’s made. Most of the visuals are a wonder to behold. The same cannot be said of the screenplay, which might be Shyamalan’s dumbest. He thinks the way to write 19th century English is to make it as long-winded as possible and fill it with words he learned in 8th grade English class like “prudent”. This is not taking into account the dumb phrases he has his actors recite such as “Those We Don’t Speak Of” and “The Bad Color”. Last but not least, the “creatures” look like something out of another movie, and the SHOCKING TWIST ENDING is cheap and unsatisfying. On paper, a lot of this probably did look promising (hence the truly impressive cast), but in execution it is just a bunch of pretentious, humorless hooey.
(Rating: 2/4)

Lady in the Water (2006)

Shyamalan’s most inexcusable piece of work, and was just recently surpassed by The Last Airbender as his worst. Paul Giamatti is surprisingly unimpressive as Cleveland Heep (now THAT is a name), a man who discovers a narf (no, I did not throw up on my keyboard) named Story who shows up randomly in his pool to find a writer who lives in his apartment complex whose work will better humanity’s future. Who does he cast in this role? Himself, of course! The dumb and unbelievable twists the story itself takes are bad enough, but ego-stroking of this magnitude? You’ve got to be kidding me. There is also a film critic living in the apartment complex who is shown as out-of-touch, and his plan almost gets everybody killed. He is then violently killed by a grass-wolf thing. One must keep in mind that Shyamalan had only made ONE critically disliked film before this, and this is his reaction? This is a disgraceful, obvious piece of work.
(Rating: 1/4)

The Happening (2008)

This is just a dumb movie, and let’s leave it at that. It is not insultingly bad, it is just kind of there. It is certainly a step forward from the dismal Lady in the Water, but this film has a ton of problems, the largest of which is the screenplay. I have posted this video in my The Sixth Sense review, but I think we need to watch it again:



Is there a universe in which an actor could deliver THAT line, in THAT situation? No, I say. In every movie since Signs, Shyamalan has screwed his actors with some of the dumbest dialogue known to man, and The Happening has some of the most unintentionally hilarious moments I’ve seen in a film. Mark Wahlberg is a good actor, he was nominated for an Oscar (rightfully so) for his work in The Departed, but here everyone comes off wooden, and I can blame no one but Shyamalan because nearly every actor here is good. Shyamalan wanted this to come off as a “fun B-movie”, and to be sure Shyamalan does not take himself too seriously for once, but the environmentalist message is a little too obvious for my taste.
(Rating: 2/4)

The Last Airbender (2010)

There’s not a lot to say. Read my review here if you don’t want to scroll down two inches.
(Rating: 1/4)

CAREER GRADE: D+

Before The Last Airbender it would have been a C, but you don’t make a film this awful and inept and get away with it. If my dream husband Martin Scorsese made such a film he would have fallen to a B+. I do truly think Shyamalan has a lot of talent as a filmmaker, but most of his work of late has been ruined in the screenwriting stages. I now offer my career rehabilitation advice to M. Night Shyamalan. Trust me, M-dawg. I’ve got three figures in my checking account.

1) Don’t write your next screenplay. Look at other people’s work and settle on a project, preferably a smaller thriller.

2) Work with your actors. Watch all your films and notice how the acting deteriorates over time. Choose actors that can identify with their characters. I’m sorry, but Mark Wahlberg is not a polite high school science teacher. Make sure your actors can feel comfortable. And for God’s sake pull the camera away, and don’t get too in the audience or actors’ face.

3) Don’t get too in love with yourself. If it isn’t good enough, make it better. Know how to be critical of yourself.

4) Don’t make The Last Airbender 2.

I want to like you, Shyamalan. Your time to redeem yourself is running out.

I should also note that even in Shyamalan’s most dreadful films the constant has been the musical scores by James Newton Howard. He makes even the worst films seem like they are better than they actually are.

Other Director Profiles
Oliver Stone
Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino (Director Profile)

This is the second entry in the Director Profile series.

ABOUT QUENTIN TARANTINO

As you can probably tell, I’m a sucker for energy. If a movie has a driving energy and creativity behind it I automatically give it a few bonus points I would otherwise not give it. Take, for example, Kick-Ass, which has some pretty indefensible content. However, it is made with such convincing zeal that I didn’t mind so much the fact that a 12-year-old was shooting people in the face. The same can be said of the filmography of Quentin Tarantino. His films are overly violent and foulmouthed, but made with such skill and love of filmmaking that they end up being some of the most entertaining films made in the past 20 years. He has directed 7 feature films while getting writing or story credits for 3 other films. He is one of the loudest voices in film right now, but he truly cares about his craft, and thus is also one of the best.

THE FILMS

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Tarantino burst on to the scene with this crime film which is exceedingly simple, yet there lies a brilliance beneath the picture. The film revolves around a robbery gone bad by a group of felons who identify each other by color. However, we never see the robbery itself, hearing the characters describe the events, and we see the before the after played out on screen. For these 99 minutes we observe these men who work by a different moral code than most, and it has such a violent intensity throughout that it was obvious a new force was on the scene. He is still getting a hold of his unique dialogue style, at times a little too “wink-wink” for its own good, but this is as good a debut as we’ve seen for a filmmaker.
(Rating: 3.5/4)

This movie also showed Tarantino’s skill at choosing the perfect music to fit the scene. Thus I begin:
SONGS FOREVER RUINED BY RESERVOIR DOGS
“Stuck in the Middle With You” – Stealers Wheel
“Coconut” – Harry Nilsson
“Little Green Bag” George Baker Selection
“I Gotcha” – Joe Tex

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Pulp Fiction is one of the most important films of the 90’s if not the most important. It singlehandedly defied every convention that was set beforehand, and told its story in such a unique way that the entire world was forced to turn and look. After winning the top prize at Cannes, it came to the United States where it became a surprise box office hit. All the while it was hailed by critics, and went on to win an Oscar for best screenplay while it was nominated for 6 more, including Best Picture. This film is a masterpiece of anarchic filmmaking, telling its narrative in chapters, yet told in a nonlinear format. The film is notorious for being incredibly violent, and while it certainly is, it is not as graphic as its reputation. This comes from the energy that is emitted. I could talk for days about Pulp Fiction, but I have more to get to.
(Rating: 4/4)

SONGS FOREVER RUINED BY PULP FICTION
Every surf rock instrumental in existence
“Jungle Boogie” – Kool & the Gang
“Son of a Preacher Man” – Dusty Springfield
“You Never Can Tell” – Chuck Berry
“Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon” – Urge Overkill

Jackie Brown (1997)

After the world-changing chaos of Pulp Fiction Tarantino tones things down a bit with the very satisfying and dialogue-heavy Jackie Brown. From the outside it may appear to be a blaxploitation tribute, but instead it is a creation that is purely Tarantino. He resurrects the long-dormant careers of Pam Grier and Robert Forster and they each deliver incredible performances, Forster being nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The film is not perfect, at times it lags, but this is a crucial film in the Tarantino filmography in that it establishes him as one of the best writers in the business. It is not one of his more well-known films, simply because it lacks the usual eye-popping style Tarantino is still known for. This is a quieter, more determined film than most of his, but I implore you not to skip it.
(Rating: 3/4)

SONG FOREVER RUINED BY JACKIE BROWN
“Across 110th Street” – Bobby Womack

Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)

The first part of Tarantino’s two-part ultraviolent revenge epic which tells the tale of a character named The Bride whose groom was murdered on her wedding day as she was left for dead. The first volume is the less substantive of the two, but it is still incredibly entertaining with some of the best put-together fight sequences captured on film in the last decade. The final sequence, which seems to last half the movie, is filled with such energy (and pools of blood) that you cannot help but be thrown back in your seat. In fact appreciation of this film increases even more once one views the second volume, released several months later.
(Rating: 3.5/4)

SONGS FOREVER RUINED BY KILL BILL VOL. 1
“Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” – Nancy Sinatra
“Battle Without Honor or Humanity” – Tomoyasu Hotei
“Woo Hoo” – The Rock-a-Teens
“Nobody but Me” – The Human Beinz

Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004)

The Kill Bill saga was originally intended to be released as one long film, but they were understandably cut in two. Not only does it get the studio more money, but it also allows the audience to breathe after the chaotic battles at the end of the first volume. The second volume focuses on the characters, and the dialogue is increased exponentially, and that is not a bad thing at all. The second film puts the first film in context, and perhaps it is best not to look at Kill Bill as two films but as one. Well, it’s too late for me. That does not change the fact that this is quite an achievement. In the second volume the plot becomes something beyond a woman slicing her way through enemies for revenge, but instead behind all the comic book material there exists many fully-developed characters, and THAT is what separates Quentin Tarantino from the hordes of wannabes.
(Rating: 4/4)

SONGS FOREVER RUINED BY KILL BILL VOL. 2
Congratulations, music. You got out of Kill Bill Vol. 2 mostly unscathed. The same cannot be said of the works of Ennio Morricone, the famed Italian composer whose work Tarantino begins to use in this film, and again later in Inglourious Basterds.

Death Proof (2007)

The only Tarantino film I really didn’t like. There are moments of genius, particularly Kurt Russell’s performance, and the final car chase. Everything else is disposable. This film came as part of Grindhouse, the two-film double feature project by Tarantino and buddy Robert Rodriguez. I did not watch Death Proof in the context of the double feature, as I have only seen the nearly two-hour cut. The Grindhouse version is only 90 minutes, and I feel this movie would be best enjoyed at that length. The longer version runs on forever, and goes through the following motions:
1) Meet cute girls.
2) Watch them talk about nothing for a while.
3) Watch them get gruesomely slaughtered by Kurt Russell.
4) Meet new cute girls.
5) Watch them talk about nothing for an obscene amount of time.
6) Watch them nearly get slaughtered by Kurt Russell.
7) Watch them beat the living crap out of Kurt Russell.

Nothing special here. I admit Tarantino writes some of the best dialogue in the business, but it has to be going somewhere. There are nearly 20 minute long scenes of nonstop dialogue in Inglourious Basterds, but it all leads up to an ultimate climax. Mostly here it goes nowhere, and I was bored. The final car chase is terrific though, once again showing Tarantino knows how to shoot action.
(Rating: 2/4)

SONGS FOREVER RUINED BY DEATH PROOF
“Chick Habit” – April March
“Baby It’s You” – Smith
“Down in Mexico” – The Coasters

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

I have already written a "My Favorite Movies" post on Inglourious Basterds, which you can read here, so I won’t take long. Just to reiterate, it is my second favorite movie of Tarantino’s, and it shows that Death Proof was a fluke, and he has a whole lot of filmmaking ahead of him. Here is just a brilliantly constructed piece of work and a thrilling film to observe. There is nothing more exciting than watching a filmmaker like Tarantino at the top of his game, and I think this is also his deepest piece of work, with actual themes, whether they are intentional or not. It was my favorite film of last year.
(Rating: 4/4)

SONGS FOREVER RUINED BY INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
Everything by Ennio Morricone
“Slaughter” – Billy Preston
“Cat People” – David Bowie

CAREER GRADE: A

Quentin Tarantino is without a doubt one of the most influential filmmakers of the last 20 years, pumping out great film after great film with only one slight bump (Death Proof) on the resume, but even that is minor. Tarantino loves what he does more than any other guy on the planet, and he’s translated his love for all things filmmaking into some of the best films in recent memory. The energy is infectious when one watches his work. His stuff is not for everyone, to be sure, but for those who can stomach it they are in for a terrific ride. I look forward to whatever he has left.

Oliver Stone (Director Profile)

There’s a lot of movies out there, folks. In order to cover the ground I intend to, I am going to start this new feature, in which I go through a notable director’s work and rate each film I’ve seen. For some reason I’ll never comprehend I’ve decided to start with Oliver Stone.

ABOUT OLIVER STONE

Stone is most famous for being “that director who went to Vietnam”. Upon returning he began a film career with such screenwriting credits as Conan the Barbarian and Scarface. He would go on to direct films about war, politics, the media and more. Many of his films are based upon true stories, though he has made a habit of altering the truth in these films. In fact, in his films such as JFK and The Doors, there are entire characters and sequences added to fit his artistic vision. Of late his films have not been as virulent or political, leaving some feeling disappointed. However, in the 90’s he was one of the most important filmmakers going.

FILMS I’VE SEEN

Platoon (1986)

A semiautobiographical (that was rough to type) account of Stone’s experiences as a soldier in Vietnam. Stone is not subtle… ever, and that may be the one problem this film has. We have an idea who the good guys and bad guys are from the very beginning, so the ultimate schism is thoroughly unsurprising. However, the rest of the film is both exhilarating and heartbreaking. The basic thesis of the film is its own tagline: “The first casualty of war is innocence.” The beginning of this film offers us a clean-cut young man named Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen), and by the end he is simply not the same. This film brought Stone to the forefront, and I have a hard time arguing with its 4 Academy Awards.
(Rating: 3.5/4)

Wall Street (1987)

Stone’s look into the dealings of Wall Street, warts and all. Sadly this film’s look and tone has not aged well, but the story therein is just as relevant today. Michael Douglas is sublime as Gordon Gecko, so good that he makes Charlie Sheen look like an amateur. This fall a sequel is being released, probably due to the current economic situation, and I am quite looking forward to it. This film is an interesting experience, even if it is a tad overrated. Not by much, but a little.
(Rating: 3/4)

The Doors (1991)

An incredibly uncomfortable experience, with Val Kilmer playing Doors frontman Jim Morrison as an alcoholic monkeyman. This film also begins Stone’s more psychedelic phase in which every shot vies to cause a headache. This film is certainly well made, but the actions occurring onscreen are not only incredibly inaccurate, but so over-the-top as well. Most musical biopics follow the rise-fall-rise outline, but Stone has none of that. Nothing but downfall here, and it is just incredibly unpleasant. As Roger Ebert so adequately puts it, “Watching the movie is like being stuck in a bar with an obnoxious drunk, when you're not drinking.” I’d say it’s more like being locked in a room with a drunk and there’s no way out.
(Rating: 1.5/4)

JFK (1991)

My favorite Oliver Stone film, and one of my favorite films ever. It still might warrant a “My Favorite Films Essay” (we’ll see). It follows the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. The film essentially alleges that there was a conspiracy, at one point indicting Lyndon Johnson. That’s why this film is best approached as a fiction, and when one does that it is exhilarating. The Director’s Cut runs almost three and a half hours long, and it whizzes by as if it was barely 90 minutes. From start to finish I was captivated by the mystery that is presented, as it is all slowly explained to the audience in some of the best-edited sequences I’ve ever seen. As I mentioned before, Stone takes some liberties with the truth, but as a film it is superb.
(Rating: 4/4)

Natural Born Killers (1994)

An ultraviolent, seemingly drug-induced tail of Mickey and Mallary Knox, a husband and wife duo who travel across the country carrying out senseless and brutal murders. Stone uses every trick in the book to transport your mind into a world run by the media, who turn the Knoxes into celebrities. This movie is made with such unique style and vision, yet at the same time is often a rough go. Robert Downey Jr. is terrific as a reporter who searches for that exclusive interview with Mickey and Mallory. There is not a single frame of this film that is not over-the-top, and at times it can be grating. Watch at your own risk.
(Rating: 2.5/4)

World Trade Center (2006)

A movie chronicling the events on September 11th through the eyes of two police officers who end up buried in the rubble. Nicolas Cage gives a performance here that is more subtle than most, and it comes off very effectively. Everything else comes out bland. There is no Oliver Stone at any point in this film. It lacks the energy you see in other Stone films, and is shockingly insignificant. I do, however, give him props for avoiding the politics seen in his other films; otherwise this could have gotten REALLY ugly.
(Rating: 2/4)

W. (2008)

Here is a film that simply came too soon. There are moments when I was truly interested, and others when I was wondering why this was even made. There are two terrific performances: Josh Brolin as George W. Bush and Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney. Everyone else seems to have been cast out of the Saturday Night Live audition line. (I should give props to Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush, who is more than decent). Most of the positives are nearly depleted by an ending which is such a dud that it highlights the main problem: They made this TOO SOON. We could have had a terrific film here, but the eager beavers of Hollywood could not wait. The best biopics have something this film didn’t have: hindsight.
(Rating: 2.5/4)

FILMS I HAVEN’T SEEN

Talk Radio (1989) Tomatometer: 80%
Born on the Fourth of July (1989) Tomatometer: 89%
Heaven and Earth (1993) Tomatometer: 50%
Nixon (1995) Tomatometer: 75%
U Turn (1997) Tomatometer: 57%
Any Given Sunday (1999) Tomatometer: 49%
Alexander (2004) Tomatometer: 16%

CAREER GRADE: B

Some terrific stuff here, no doubt. However, at times his work can be a tad self-important, and lately his stuff has started to get bland and forgettable. I’d rather see more ambitious misfires like The Doors than safe yawners like World Trade Center. I’m certainly looking forward to whatever he has to offer for the rest of his career, particularly Wall Street 2.