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Quentin Tarantino makes one hell of a first impression.
TheReservoir Dogsintro is funny and cinematically vibrant, and it has the ring of truth.
Theyre more effective in the context of their entire movies.
(Be warned: This list will contain spoilers for every one of these films.)
But each is catchy and exciting just on its own … like a hit single from a classic album.
18.PulpFiction: Pop-Tart time!
That scene in and of itself is worthy of this list.
Butch notices a big gun on the kitchen counter.
Thats what makes what happens so startling.
Its such a mundane and silly act of violence for two such archetypal characters.
17.The Hateful Eight: Once upon a time in a haberdashery … Then the gun-toting assholes arrived and spoiled everything.
MeTV should get Leo and Brad to audibly annotate any old show that Rick Dalton couldve been in.
Itd be a ratings bonanza.
Instead, she finds him playing with their daughter.
Hes fascinated by how the Clark Kents of genre fiction spend their days because he knows their big secret.
(See Bill, in re Superman.)
Meanwhile Hans, a stooge in an authoritarian regime, is certain Raine will be executed for his impertinence.
Aldo just shrugs: Nah, more like chewed out.
Ive been chewed out before.
The lieutenants world-weary cocksureness not to mention Tarantinos is enough to make a person proud to be an American.
Mainly giving common-sense commands, but in a supercool and calm way.
Tarantinos take on it though is, naturally, more prosaic.
Its a funny gag, well set up.
12.Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: Could Cliff Booth lick Bruce Lee?
The martial artist takes round one easily, then the stuntman flings Bruce into a car in round two.
Did this really happen?
Or is this just how Cliff remembers it?
But Waltzs finest moment in a Tarantino film is much shorter and gentler.
But Tarantino occasionally flashes back to the lead-up to the heist, showing how the gang got together.
So much of what Tarantinos movies are about is hard-boiled types playacting as badasses.
Hes unhappy with the hippie wardrobe his director wants him to wear.
Hes rattled by his conversation with an uncommonly wise, serene child actor.
He keeps forgetting his lines during his first scene.
But they all get sidetracked by how poor the visibility is through their hoods.
I cant see shit out of this thing, Don Johnsons Big Daddy Bennett complains.
Hold on, Im fuckin with my eyeholes.
Tarantino doesnt downplay how dangerous a racist mob can be.
But he doesnt miss the opportunity to make them look like clowns, either.
6.Kill Bill: Vol.
(Hence the name:Grindhouse.)
Then he tops the picture off with about 20 minutes of one the most exciting car chases ever filmed.
Its the ultimate scene of car-on-car violence that exploitation fans have always wanted to see.
Inevitably, the scene ends with guns blazing and a bar full of dead soldiers.
Plot-wise, the scene does what it needs to do in about two minutes.
But she leans in to kiss him good-bye anyway, looming over his smaller frame as she approaches.
Thats a lifetime of regret encapsulated in one hazy image.
Hes slowed down by smack; shes coked-up and jittery.
But then isnt that true of most of his movies?
