Quentin Tarantino
Movie Review: The Hateful Eight
Quentin Tarantino can do whatever he wants. At this point in his career, twenty-two years removed from the pop-culture milestone Pulp Fiction (1994), the lowbrow aficionado has dabbled in everything from Kung Fu (Kill Bill, Vol. 1 & 2 [2003/04]) and Blaxploitation (Jackie Brown [1997]) to world war (Inglorious Basterds [2009]) and revisionist westerns (Django Unchained [2012]). Each crucially ...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Breaking Down the Teaser for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight
We’re more than halfway through August, dear readers, and the summer movie season is almost over. But there are always new trailers for me to watch and analyze. This week’s installment of Trailer Trashin’ takes a look at the teaser for Quentin Tarantino’s next film The Hateful Eight. Premise: In post-Civil War Wyoming, eight strangers seek shelter in a haberdashery during a...[Read More]
The Muse in Film
[pullquote_left]“The history of cinema is boys photographing girls.” – Jean-Luc Godard[/pullquote_left] Since D.W. Griffith discovered stage actress Lillian Gish and immortalized her in dozens of silent movies, film directors, like other artists before them, have looked for inspiration in the muse. There is no more magical relationship in the world of art than that of the muse and the artist and t...[Read More]
Once is Enough: Ten Movies I Do Not Need to See Again
At a gathering of friends a few years ago, our host was proudly showing off his new big screen TV with surround sound. Nobody was paying much attention during the Road Runner cartoons and even less during the Charlie Chaplain movie. At the end of the night when just the inner circle remained, gathered in front of the TV, our host decided to put on a movie for us to watch: Saving Private Ryan, a pe...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Bullets are Flying in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained
It’s finally December, and that means it’s the time we’ll all start preparing to celebrate our winter holiday of choice – Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Festivus/Decemberween/etc. And this week’s edition of Trailer Trashin’ brings us another look at the most awesomely inappropriate movie of this holiday season: Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Premise: Django (J...[Read More]
Interview with RZA, writer/director/star of The Man with the Iron Fists
“I said to [Quentin] Tarantino, I want to do what you do.” That is what the acclaimed music producer and leader of the Wu-Tang Clan turned director RZA said when asked how his new project movie The Man with the Iron Fists came to be. RZA (aka, Robert Diggs) studied Tarantino for two years on set to learn from the man he affectionately refers to as the “Godfather” of the sam...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Blood and Blades Go Flying in The Man with the Iron Fists
With the end of August, the summer movie season finally ends with the last handful of releases. Of course, ridiculous B-movies are in no way restricted to the summer months, and the subject’s of today’s column is proof of that. This week’s Trailer Trashin’ looks at the second trailer for the blood-soaked, hip hop-infused martial arts extravaganza The Man with the Iron Fists...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Tarantino’s Django Unchained Looks Off the Hook
As I said last week, the summer is a time when movie studios start promoting their big films and Oscar hopefuls that are coming out in the fall and winter. And just like last time, this week’s installment of Trailer Trashin’ is looking at a promising December release – Django Unchained, the new film from writer/director Quentin Tarantino. Premise: Django (Jamie Foxx), a freed slave, tr...[Read More]