Movie-Specific : Django Unchained

[movieboy]

Yeah, I'm not saying that it's impossible to genuinely like that movie (that's a matter of taste), but I guess that a good portion of the T9 and T10 ratings are caused by peer pressure to conform to the general consensus, because I doubt I'm the only one who thinks the movie gets tedious after the first two chapters (that's also what I experienced during the premiere.. people seemed to lose interest after a while and seemed glad when it was over).. I'm pretty sure that with a different name attached to it, the movie would have received a lower rating.

Just because you didn't like the movie doesn't mean most people who ranked it T9 & T10 did so because of peer pressure. It's very probable and possible that a majority could love a move which one person didn't love. Otherwise, I would have to assume that most people who ranked TWBB as T10 did so because of peer pressure.

FWIW, I have QT in my list of fav directors and this is how I have ranked his movies
Pulp Fiction -90 - T10
KB1 -75 - T10
KB2 -75 - T10
Reservoir Dogs -73 - T9
Inglorious Basterds - 68 - T6
Death Proof - 68 - T6
Jackie Brown - 65 - T4
Sin City - 15 -T1


And I loved the first half hour of Inglorious Basterds and found the remaining very tedious

[movieboy]

Well, you're saying here yourself that you agree with my findings about Basterds.. I'm just trying to examine if the high rating for that movie can be attributed to fanboyism or that there are valid points in favor of why it's perceived as a great movie by some instead of a partially tedious and somewhat artificial one by other people (including us).

FWIW, I found TWBB to be far far more tedious than Basterds. In fact, so tedious, that I couldn't finish the movie.

I've yet to see any arguments for why it should be overrated.

IMHO, Overrated means little more than "I liked it less than others" and Underrated means "I liked it more than others".

In the end, movies are about entertainment - it's qualitative, not quantitative. No conclusive argument can be put forth as to why the reason someone disliked a movie was a 'personal reason' and why someone else disliked some other more movie was a 'real reason'.

[Pickpocket]

Movie looks strangely artificial and doesn't really excite me that much

This matches my response. But then I wonder why you find Basterds any less artificial? It feels like a stageplay imho. I'd be interested in hearing what you think is so great about it (especially the later chapters), because you're clearly not a 'fanboy' and don't care about going against mainstream opinions (judging from e.g. your low rating for The Tree of Life and other movies that are sometimes considered by people as being overhyped).

I was referring mainly the way this one is shot, it just looks strange to me. Basterds didn't have this same artificial tone like this one does in any regards. Maybe it will look better on the big screen though

[ShogunRua]

In fact, I like Basterds more than either "Pulp Fiction" or "Reservoir Dogs", two good movies that were overhyped by fanboys far more heavily.

Maybe you could explain why you liked it more?

I believe I already did?

"Basterds was easily his best script, with his best dialogue, and is probably as original as anything he has done outside of Pulp Fiction."

Well, then let's define it as the difference between the critics consensus (metacritic score) and the user ratings (imdb score):

The only thing I find more annoying than populist arguments (lots of other people liked/disliked this film, so that means it's a good/bad movie!) are really intricate populist arguments incorporating worthless metacritic rankings that come from equally worthless shill reviewers.

How about we argue the actual quality of the films, instead? And not what number some random person gave to it?

[movieboy]

Well, then let's define it as the difference between the critics consensus (metacritic score) and the user ratings (imdb score):

I don't know - it's just not my definition of overrated/underrated.

[Zozan]

Basterds is among my all times favorites. It is in my top 10. Death Proof is in Tier8. Jackie Brown is Tier3. Wouldnt have mattered if it was you who directed those movies. I don’t really care if people praise Jackie Brown, if they consider Death Proof to be the weakest work etc. To me it was way better than Jackie Brown.

I still watch the final chase of Death Proof from time to time and I find it to be very entertaining. The first 5 minutes of Jackie Brown, where we kept watching that lady walk through that airport, I got so bored, soooo bored, I thought she is gonna keep walking the entire movie. The movie could never recover from that fall for me.

The farmer interrogation scene in Basterds, I don’t think I have seen anything like it anywhere else. Not only becouse of the dialogue but the acting also is so powerful, even when waltz is asking for milk, the tension is exploding out of the room, you can see the once confident stance of the farmer falling apart bit by bit, the power shifting. The breaking of a man can’t be portrayed in a better way. Rest of the movie was very good too but what makes basterds special to me is this scene. And no movie can maintain the same amount of intensity throught out its entire span thus I find the "but the rest of the movie was not equally good" argument to be a lame one but I dont need to come up with words like antitarantinoism or whatever.

If you dont like the movie, it is ok. If that scene is artificial, too stylzied for your taste, it is ok. If you are irritated by the long dialogues, that is ok too. We are not getting paid for the movies we rank highly so no need to dig up words like fanboyism if you can't figure out why some people liked something that you disliked.

[TheDenizen]

The first 5 minutes of Jackie Brown, where we kept watching that lady walk through that airport, I got so bored, soooo bored, I thought she is gonna keep walking the entire movie. The movie could never recover from that fall for me.

That lady? THAT LADY?!?! Pam Grier is like a goddess, dude. She was one of the biggest stars of low budget exploitation flicks in the 70's and 80's...the stuff that Tarantino worships and usually emulates with his own work. That lady is an American film icon.

Zozan, your homework for this weekend is to track down copies of "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown" and watch them. Then rewatch Jackie Brown with a whole new appreciation for how great Pam is.

Anyways, every topic about a Tarantino movie seems to rapidly devolve into a critique of his work in general...lets try to stay on point here folks. DJANGO UNCHAINED trailer was pretty fun....very stylized looking, but that's not unexpected from QT.

[ShogunRua]

Zozan, your homework for this weekend is to track down copies of "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown" and watch them. Then rewatch Jackie Brown with a whole new appreciation for how great Pam is.

When you say "great", are you talking about Pam's ridiculously sexy, perfect body, or her embarrassingly futile attempts at acting?