comment #1

Ray says ...

Haven't read the script. However, I guarantee you it's being overrated by all of these fawning journalists and fanboys.

Wake up, people. Every one of Tarantino's movies are self-indulgent, but his one true masterpiece - PULP FICTION ... duh - was a very, very long time ago. In the eons that have passed since then, Tarantino has put out, what, three movies?? And these films have been vastly overrated and cultishly slobbered on.

JACKIE BROWN? Meh.

KILL BILL - ridiculously pointless homage with a story thinner than a one-ply piece of toilet paper. AND HE MADE IT INTO TWO MOVIES!!

DEATHPROOF - Awful film. Terrible writing. Terrible directing. Terrible structure.

At this point, it's obvious that Tarantino believes the press about himself. He could shit in his underwear, and Jeff and others would be feverishly reading the stains for some pop culture reference or misguided homage masquerading as an original vision.

comment #2

Arran says ...

It is a good read all right, even though he's not really saying anything a hundred others haven't.

Meanwhile, I await QT's heartfelt tribute to Troll 2.

comment #3

hiviper says ...

pretty much a good synopsis of everything wrong (and what little there is right) with Tarantino. Since Jackie Brown, his characters increasingly speak the same "hip" dialogue. Although they did in Pulp and Reservoir, he was able to get away with it. At this point though, we're all on to him, and he's going to have to try harder.

I don't think he's capable of it.

comment #4

D.Z. says ...

>"Reservoir Dogs" saluted (some would say stole from) the >Hong Kong thriller, "City on Fire."

It *was* stolen. He's never once acknowledged the connection.

>The underrated "Jackie Brown" for example, tells you >about its characters

What characters? They're all just mules or accomplices of some kind.

comment #5

D.Z. says ...

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117988855.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

comment #6

T. Holly says ...

So I guess there never was going to be a bidding war for the script. If he could make this for 7 mil without a U.S. theatrical run and an international cast of English speaking unknowns, it'd be done.

comment #7

Richard_Stone says ...

Inglouirious Basterds is an entertaining script, but it's pretty much full of QT's usual tricks, and all the fun scenes are variations of already seen successful QT scenes. Scenes are either one powerful character exercising brutal power on another weaker character while disserting on the situation at hand in the generic QT voice that hiviper described above, or they are a set-up for a mexican stand-off of some kind. 70% of the classic Tarantino moments are basically a sadist's fantasies fulfillment.

QT's only attempt at characterization in IG is to give Aldo a lynch scar and Shosanna a reason for revenge. All the other characters are difficult to tell apart on the page.

There's one or two clever and fresh structural twist that milks tension in IG, notably the Bear Jew's backstory in Boston revealed just before he springs into action, and the surviving German being given two alternate cover stories in parallel by Aldo and Hitler, but that's about it.

comment #8

CinemaPhreek says ...

And what exactly is the rationale behind reviewing film scripts?

Other than waving a flag to world to the world that says "Overall, I really have no understanding of how movies are made..."

comment #9

T. S. Idiot says ...

Agree with C'Phreek about scripts. How many times has Wells been enthusiastic about a script only to be disappointed in the final product? Aren't scripts mere guidelines for a large array of collaborators?

Agree with everything Whitty says except for Lucas' adult fare. What adults? Peter Pan?

comment #10

Balthazar says ...

I think it's interesting and blog-worthy for no other reason than this: How often do film geeks get their mitts on a script by an A-List director -- and be sure, this script is EVERYWHERE -- before a single role has been cast or a single location has been scouted? We're mostly aware, I think, that what we're reviewing and discussing at this point is a script (perhaps even just a first draft), not a final product. That's a fun, though. So much of what we do is Monday Morning Quarterbacking of the final product. This is fairly rare insight into big-time picture and the opportunity to mull it over, scene by scene, and play "what if" over a yet-to-filmed project is entertaining in and of itself. This is precisely what blogs are for!