Listless: Best 5 Films by Quentin Tarantino

This past Sunday we finally saw the winners of the 2013 Oscars. While most of the Oscars were predictable, one of the biggest surprises was Christoph Waltz’s win for Best Supporting Actor in Django Unchained. While no one doubted Waltz’s acting ability and prowess, the fact that Waltz had won an Oscar only a few years earlier with the same director seemed to upend the usual Oscar trend of not giving awards to actors consecutively.

This win, along with Django’s win for Best Writing, is a credit to the skill and power of Quentin Tarantino, probably one of the last few artists left from the era of filming that also holds the works of Steven Speilberg, Martin Scorsese, and Stanley Kubrick. Tarantino considers each one of his films to be an important piece of work; he recently went on record stating that he believes every bad film is equivalent to three good ones in terms of how much people remember. So when one looks back at Tarantino’s filmography, it’s no surprise that almost every single one is a great piece of cinema.

Today, Pixel Splatter takes a look at the best of the best of Quentin Tarantino, the top 5 of his films.

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#5: Django Unchained

The D is silent

While this may be Tarantino’s most recent film, it certainly will have a lasting legacy. While Tarantino’s films have always been controversial, to say that Django was abnormally so even for Tarantino might be an understatement. Everyone from Spike Lee to The New Yorker criticized the movie for its portrayal of African-Americans to its use of violence.

To say that Django Unchained is not a brilliantly unique piece of work, however, would also be a mistake. As with all Taratino’s films, the characters, dialogue, and acting all work in conjunction. While Jamie Foxx was nothing to write home about, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson all stole the show. Waltz’s turn as a German bounty hunter managed to show a morally complex character, one who opposed slavery and racism but who was able to kill someone without mercy. More surprising was DiCaprio’s inspired portrayal of the eccentric plantation owner Calvin Candie; he was hilarious, yet incredibly disturbing and dark. It was even more surprising when you realize this was DiCaprio’s first time not being in the lead role and being a villain. Jackson’s portrayal of a slave who liked things the way they were, the Uncle Tom character, seemed one dimensional at first, but became much more complicated and interesting as the film went on.

This is not even mentioning the controversial look at the antebellum South. While Tarantino’s film did have some historical inaccuracies, it certainly provided an interesting look at the darkness, pain, and attitudes of the South. The use of the N-word (a recurring theme in Taratino’s work), while also controversial, seemed to show to the audience that after a while, the word can, and should, lose its power, especially when Django starts using it himself. However great this movie is, its overly long third act sadly drags it down to #5 on this list.

#4: Kill Bill Part 1 and 2

I'd hate to be Bill. Wait, maybe...

Here is a film that is just sheer fun. This was Tarantino’s time to explore two new territories for him: Kung Fu and Western films. As with both genres, a common theme running throughout is revenge, and Tarantino took that theme and ran with it. Spread out through two films, Tarantino explored a very interesting mix of both genres that maintained his normal episodic style.

The Kill Bill films have some of the best-choreographed fight scenes that are a feast for the eyes. While the storyline is relatively simple for most of the film, it’s really about one woman trying to take back her dignity and get back at the man she once truly loved. As the film goes on, Uma Thurman’s character, The Bride, transforms from a simple outline of a person trying to get revenge into a woman who was betrayed and hurt by the man she loved most. When the Bride finally meets up with Bill, it’s a deep and emotional moment that Tarantino lets us revel in. Kill Bill stands as one of his most engaging and evolving movies and able to be a hybrid of two different genres.

# 3: Pulp Fiction

Watching Uma Thurman is like a stab to the heart (See what I did there?)

The placement of this film at number 3 on this list might be surprising. That isn’t to say that Pulp Fiction isn’t a great work. What makes Pulp Fiction work seems to be the opposite of what a great movie should have; chaos instead of order. From its non-chronological structure to its seemingly random plot developments (such as Bruce Willis finding himself in a sex dungeon), this is a piece that really tries to mirror real life. In real life, storytelling can’t work; things happen that don’t fit the narrative, people don’t always follow a single path. Like real life, Pulp Fiction is chaotic and doesn’t have a clear beginning, middle or end. It has no set plot and it makes no real sense. It’s a way to show us that trying to impose a story on real life can’t and won’t work.

Tarantino also blurs the line of whom you are supposed to like and whom you are supposed to hate. Initially Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta’s characters are supposed to be hated, yet Tarantino forces you to start identifying with them. They are mob hit men, but they talk about cheeseburgers, read magazines, and even go to the bathroom. All the characters in the film, from the mob boss to Bruce Willis’s boxer all seem to initially fit in the mold of hero or villain, but by the end are shown to be much more complex then what the normal movie character mold would have us believe. Pulp Fiction might be the most accurate depiction of real life and real people that movies are likely to give us. 

#2: Reservoir Dogs

This movie confused me about tipping

Tarantino’s first film might also be his strangest. Reservoir Dogs is a true character study. The film follows a group of robbers after they fail to rob a diamond store. We are never given their real names, but are only given names like Mr. White or Mr. Green. Yet, despite not knowing their names, we know who they really are. The movie’s first extended scene at the family restaurant where events like Steve Bucemmi’s character talking about his disagreement with the idea of tipping a waitress show us that these characters are real people. Like all of us, they have strong opinions even about the most minor of details. This idea continues throughout the film. Put in an extremely stressful situation, some of these robbers are shown to be torturers, cowards, or brave men. Tarantino found a way to push these characters to show us who they really are.

Also, like Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs tries to say something about real life. When Mr. Blonde deicides to torture and cut off the ear of another robber, he dances to the song “Stuck in the Middle With You.” It’s a completely ludicrous juxtaposition: a horrible act committed to one of the most jumpy, upbeat songs of the age. Real life is rarely poetic and contradictions can exist together. Reservoir Dogs has easily the most complex, contradictory, and compelling characters of any movie.

#1: Inglorious Basterds 

The movie that taught a generation how to spell swear words

What can’t you say about Inglorious Basterds? There is so much to love about this film; from the plot to the acting and the dialogue, everything about this film is clever and unique. While this film initially seems to be a straight up historical fiction, you quickly learn that that is not the case. While using WWII as a backdrop, this film totally makes history its own and never apologizes. It revels in its own world, from “killin’ Natzis” to the “Bear Jew.” Taratino literally rewrote WWII to give it the ending that everyone wanted, and to give back the ultimate revenge to Hitler for his terrible atrocities.

Yet there is much more going on here then sheer fun and historical revisionism. First, the acting is fantastic. We are wowed by Michael Fassbender’s first major acting role where he owns the scenes. Brad Pitt’s wonderfully simple Lieutenant Aldo Raine, with his brilliance and stupidity, surprises us. Like Django Unchained, Christoph Waltz makes this movie work. Who would have thought that someone could write a Nazi character that we would both love and hate at the same time? Hans Landa is so amazingly compelling, every scene he is in feels electrifying, and Tarantino knows it. Instead of zipping from scene to scene or set piece to set piece, Tarantino lets us sit in every single scene. Each scene is long, so very long, yet it never overstays its welcome. The acting and dialogue becomes so compelling that you never want it to end.

Even the film’s themes are complicated. While the film shows Tarantino’s trademark ultra-violence, there is something more interesting at play. The climax of the film takes place in a crowded theatre, with dozens of people including Hitler sitting to watch a movie that is essentially historical revisionism showing the Nazi’s doing better than they were. A fire breaks out and we get to see Hitler’s face blown off. Yet it seems oddly creepy because at the same time this happens, you yourself are sitting in a (hopefully) crowded theatre, sitting with dozens of people to watch a movie that is essentially historical revisionism. The people in the movie are doing the same thing that you are, yet we are supposed to be horrified by their enjoyment of the violence they watch. How are you to think that when you yourself are enjoying Tarantino’s own violence? It’s hard to come to terms with once you start to look at the complicated way Tarantino sets out to provoke his audiences.

While I know that many will agree with the films that ARE on this list, they may disagree with my placements on the list. Do you agree or disagree with this list? What are your favorite Tarantino films? Discuss below!

Why Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the Best and Worst Trek

By James Earl

Over the past few weeks, I have found myself to be more and more excited for JJ Abrams upcoming sequel to his 2009 reboot of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek Into Darkness. As I prepare for another adventure with the newly recast original Trek crew, I began to go over why I fell in love with Star Trek and why it became my gateway into my love of Scifi, from Battlestar Galactica to Mass Effect to Blade Runner.

Star Trek Into Darkness looks to be an exciting followup to 2009's Star Trek

However, as I searched I once again stumbled upon Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The middle child of the Star Trek franchise’s hight of popularity (Deep Space Nine’s run coincided with the runs of Next Generation, Voyager, and the Next Generation films), DS9 easily the most different of the Star Trek shows. However, was different actually better? As I dived back into the world of DS9 and its crew, I found that DS9 is at the same time both the best and worst of Star Trek.

DS9 was something wholly new in the Star Trek world. Instead of being set on a starship, this series was set on a Space Station. Not only that, but this space station was not even part of Starfleet, but the abandoned mining station left behind by the brutal occupation of highly religious planet of Bajor by the Cardassian Empire. As the Cardassian’s moved out, the newly freed Bajorians called on Starfleet for aid and help. However, as soon as Starfleet comes in, a wormhole to the other side of the galaxy is discovered and Commander Sisko, the Starfleet officer who watched his wife die in the Borg Invasion led by Captain Picard as Locutus of Borg, suddenly finds himself to be a accidental spiritual leader to the people of Bajor.

As the basic premise of the series shows, the setting of a space station allowed for extremely complex storylines, as the characters no longer had the ability to zip around in a starship and leave any lasting issues behind them. DS9 was the first Trek show to have real lasting consequences, and was perhaps, along with similar show Babylon 5, one of the first successful semi-serialized shows. It was also the only Trek show to have long-lasting, slow-building storylines (unless you count Voyagers series long quest to get home or Enterprise’s season-long Xindi storyline). As the show progressed, the series’ numerous mysteries and storylines merged, bounced, and split off each other. The religious fever of Bajor, the discovery of Odo’s ancestry, the war with the Dominion, and many other storylines all interwove with each other to create fascinating tales.

However, it was the series’ ability to mix complex storytelling with complex character development that sets it above. While the series always had an eye on the larger picture, it never forgot to show how things like war, loss, and grief can have a personal impact. In the episode “In the Pale Moonlight,” we see Commander Sisko surprised to learn that he was willing to lie, manipulate, and even kill to help ensure an alliance with the Romulans in order to save the lives of millions of Federation citizens fighting in the Dominion War, and that he wouldn’t change what he had to do if he could. In the episode “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” we watch as Nog, who we have watched from Season 1 grow from a teenager kid talking to girls on the station, has to deal with the pain and fear of shell shock and losing a limb in war as he locks himself in the fantasy world of the holosuite. These moments are not only important to the overall story, but show the powerful personal effects that galactic politics and events can have, something that many science fiction shows miss. Even side characters like the former-spy Garak and the Ferengi-turned Starfleet recruit Nog and unlikely characters like greedy bartender Quark are given interesting and complex moments.

However, it was the shows depiction of its villains that set it apart. While Star Trek always had a history of great villains (see Khan or the Borg), DS9 was the first series to try to understand its villains. Series-long villains like Gul Dukat, Kai Winn, and the Dominion were unique because we could understand that these villains did not see themselves as evil or cruel, but as the heros of their own story, trying to find their own way to fix the galaxy. Kai Winn was a spiritual leader of Bajor who believed that Sisko’s place as a religious figure on Bajor was dangerous and wrong. Gul Dukat was the Cardassian commander of Deep Space Nine and saw himself as Oskar Schindler-esque type who did his best to give Bajorans a fair shake during the Cardassian occupation of the planet. The Dominion and the shapeshifters who ran it believed the universe was full of constant chaos and death and believed that the best way to protect it was to rule and control it (similar to the Templars of today’s Assassin’s Creed games). Unlike any other Star Trek show, it was these regular villains (and anti-heros like Garak and Quark) that made Deep Space Nine so interesting to watch.

Complex "villains" like Gul Dukat help set DS9 apart from its fellow Treks

However, Deep Space Nine might also be the worst Star Trek. From its very inception, Star Trek motto was to “seek out new life and new civilizations.” Yet here was a Star Trek where we weren’t finding a new planet every week, meeting a new race of people. On Deep Space Nine, we were stuck in one place, with the same characters. It didn’t have the luxury of escaping to a new place once the episode ended.

Also, Gene Roddenbery, the creator of Star Trek, wanted to create a show where the future was bright, and we could see that humanity had a future. It was why he made the original bridge so colorful, in terms of actual color palette and in terms of the races and types of people who filled that bridge. It was also why he created the idea of the Federation, an inter-planetary group that welcomed diversity, freedom, curiosity, and discovery. It showed humanity that it could have a bright and positive future. Yet on Deep Space Nine, we were shown a darker future, a place where the Federation could be threatened and its very ideals attacked from not only without, but from within (see the excellent Section 31 storyline for a perfect example of this).

The original Star Trek was diverse, colorful, and positive

In the end, Deep Space Nine is a masterwork of science fiction that took the Star Trek franchise to new hights in terms of character development, storylines, and atmosphere. However, in the process, it lost some of the very ideals that Star Trek stood for since the beginning.

In my opinion, Deep Space Nine is the very best of the Star Trek shows. It is the one that I most recommend to anyone who wants to see some great science fiction. I have watched this series over and over again and still marvel at how complex it truly is. It helped spawn some great science fiction writers, like Battlestar Galactica reimaginer Ron Moore. However, if someone was to ask me to show them was Star Trek was really about, and what it means in the ethos of science fiction and cultural history, Deep Space Nine might be the last place I look.

As I bring this admittedly long article to a close, I look forward to JJ Abrams new movie. However, while I have little doubt that the new film will be a great work of scifi, with a title like Into Darkness, I wonder if these new Trek will be a good representation of the original meaning of Star Trek, or if it will find itself exploring the same uncharted, even darker frontier of Deep Space Nine.

List-Less: 5 Things I'm Glad Happened Before the End of the World

Well, as many of you may or may not know, this upcoming Friday is December 21, 2012, the end of the Mayan calendar and, as it happens, the end of all human civilization whatsoever. It seems sad that human civilization has to end in 2012, as we had so much more ahead of us, so much to look forward to. But alas, that is not to be. However, as we sit at the end of human existence, I have decide to look back at what I am thankful for having happened before the end of the world. Here is my short list.

 1) The Hobbit came out... in one movie!

One movie to rule them all

When I heard that Peter Jackson was again going to be in charge of Middle-Earth once more, I was excited! Jackson had done a wonderful job putting 3 classic fantasy works and making them into exactly 3 classic movies. So when he was put in charge of The Hobbit, I was certain I was in for a great movie, told in exactly 3 hours time. And what a 3 hours it turned out to be. Trolls, Giants, Dragons, Elves, a war... all in exactly one movie. I was surprised that he could fit it all in. At least it was better then unnecessarily stretching it out over two movies. I could understand that, but two would have to be a minimum. I mean, why would you have three movies for one book when you already did three movies for three books? That would be ridiculous!

2) George Lucas given a restraining order from the Star Wars franchise

Lucas signs the restraining order with Skywalker family lawyer, Mr. Bob Iger

Nerds around the world were given an early Christmas present. It was reported in late October that George Lucas had finally lost in court and was forced to sign a restraining order that states he must stay at least 200 ft from Star Wars at all times. The statement from the court read “the defendant, Mr. Lucas, is prohibited from assaulting, threatening, intimidating, coercing or otherwise defiling the childhood memories of the plaintiffs and the entire Skywalker family.” After leaving the court, Mr. Lucas was heard to say “Well, at least I still have Indy.”

3) Song of Ice and Fire finished quickly

Did winter finally come? No... probably not.

After taking 7 years between A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons (two books that were supposed to be one book in the first place), no one really dared hope that George RR Martin would finish the Song of Ice and Fire series anytime soon. So it came as a huge surprise when George RR Martin announced that The Winds of Winter and A Song of Spring would both be released on the same day and end the series, almost a year after Dragons. “I realized that my fans have been more then patient with me as I write my 1,000 page descriptions of each character’s dinner,” Martin told the press. “I really hope they enjoy the series’ end.” Reviewers loved the series, with one even stating “This is certainly Martin’s magnum opus. One of the best parts comes as Martin takes 300 pages to describe how Tyrion waddles around the Throne Room talking about sex and wine. It really is an epic. Fantasy at its best!”

4) Alison Brie, Emma Watson and Felicia Day telling me I was the most awesome person ever

Sorry, I think this was actually I dream I had. Lets just move on.

5) Half-Life 3 came out... and was awesome!

Why Valve? WHY!?

HA! Even I know this is never going to happen. Ever. Just accept it. Half-Life 3 is a dream. Just pick up your old copies of Half-Life one and enjoy beating aliens in with a crowbar. Cause you're never gonna have Gordan Freeman with a Portal Gun. I'm sorry.

Don't forget to set your watches

I hope everyone has a wonderful end of the world!