How to Rank a Perfect Filmography, or Happy Birthday, Quentin!

With the recent news of Quentin Tarantino allegedly setting his sights on another movie circulating on the mouths of film bloggers, tweeters and other denizens of the widespread online film community, the customary conversations regarding the quality of his filmmaking output have also arisen in the same circles. Now, I have never been particularly fond of writing listicles; though I won’t go as far as to claim that if you see me writing one, you should do me a favour and take me behind the shed to put me out of my misery (that’s likely because I am pretty sure I have written some in the past). However, these recent revelations of Tarantino circling another movie, which by his own admission may be his last even though I’d be willing to bet a substantial amount of money on his coming out of this self-imposed retirement sooner than he would ever imagine, combined with the fact he is turning sixty today, brought me to write a few words about the way I go about ranking his movies.  

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The Uncut Gems Podcast – Episode 23 (Death Proof)

If there is ever a reason to start a podcast, it is to force a bunch of people to watch a movie they won’t like. Just kidding. Or am I?

Seriously though, I honestly created The Uncut Gems Podcast with the expressed desire to talk about movies like Death Proof. Even though it has recently gained some appreciation (as evidenced by the improving reviews found on Letterboxd), it is still considered a bit left-handed (to borrow a phrase from Tarantino himself). But at least in my opinion it is an absolute misunderstood masterpiece of action and suspense and – most of all – a love letter to men and women who put their lives on the line to bring the magic of cinema to life. Therefore, I was really looking forward to having this conversation and to see how others (whose tastes in cinema are quite eclectic too) read this movie. Suffice it to say, it almost came to blows… But seriously, I think we dug quite deep trying to interrogate Death Proof as we talked about Tarantino himself, projected a handful of social commentaries on the film, and tried to identify what makes this movie click for some (here!) while it disgusts others.

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Quentin Tarantino and Recreational Outrage

Although it is completely coincidental, I find it uncanny and extremely interesting to me as a film lover that just after we recorded a new episode of The Uncut Gems Podcast (coming to your ears very soon) on Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, the man himself spent a weekend doing the talk show rounds and he ended up appearing on a bunch of podcasts to boot. As a result, our own discussion, which invariably touched on the Weinstein scandal, Uma Thurman’s crash and much more, has been given an interesting new context, ex post facto as it may be.

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