Reservoir Dogs

The birth of the Tarantino style: non-linear storytelling, flashy dialogue, filmic and pop culture references, iconic characters. But it's not executed all that well; the acting isn't that good and only a few scenes sparkle. And it's all style, little substance. There's not much humanity to it. Sometimes it just seems like an excuse for these guys to dress up in suits and act like big bad gangsters. I mostly enjoy watching it but then when it's over I feel a slight sense of "well, that's that".

Shocked Harvey Keitel didn’t whip his weiner out as this was made during his whip his weiner out phase.

It's frighteningly cool, and it knows it almost too well. It alternates flawlessly between being stylish and gritty (but gritty in a stylish way).

QT's debut runs like a filmed stage-play: the bulk of the action is centered in one setting, and there's plenty of talking-head dialog where characters stand around going over their situation. We come to know this situation in great detail, which is a feat considering we are never really shown it. There are times when the dialog strains a bit to throw in more details ("And then remember when this happened next?"), but on the whole it's quite well done. Roth, Buscemi and Keitel are excellent.

best debut ever