Ranking Quentin Tarantino's Films (Worst to Best)

This post is about ranking feature length films that Quentin has directed.  I won't be talking about Natural Born Killers, True Romance, Sin City, or Four Rooms anywhere but in this preamble.  Anyway get ready for a list of movies that I will most likely be ranking on which one had the best dialogue exchanges since that's what I come to Quentin Tarantino films for.

Ranking/Film:
#8- Death Proof (2007)

Highlights:
I watched this movie the way it was meant to, which is to say right after Planet Terror in a theatre with cool trailers in the middle.  And I think it has an amazing second set of characters mixed with probably my favourite Kurt Russell performance.  Listen to Lindsay and me discuss it further here.

Low points:
I don't think this movie is as bad as people want it to be, but it has a slow first half.  I also found those first set of characters off-putting; men and women the same.

Ranking/Film:
#7- Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Highlights:
Hear me out Steve Buscemi!  This is a film with stellar dialogue and amazing conversations that help you suss out who is up to what as the story progresses.  I also love the way the story unfolds.  How'd you get put here then, you ask?

Low points:
That pesky N word.  I'm pretty sure the Kill Bill films are the only movies in Quentin's stable that don't have that word in them and Inglorious doesn't use it but the Nazi occupied France equivalent does appear.  So trust me, I am not adverse to hearing the word, but I gotta knock this movie for the whole "You're acting like a bunch of N....ers" line and general disdain for black people throughout the film without a black character to offset that.

Ranking/Film:
#6- Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)

Highlights:
This movie got my attention right away.  The way the bride looks right as the movie fades in from black made me put my popcorn down right away and be like "oh that's why the ticket taker didn't want me to go into this movie..."  This movie is brutal in the best way.  So much unforgettable imagery in addition to dialogue!

Low points:
Not enough Vivica A. Fox.  She didn't even die first in the chronology of the film.  They actually moved her death to the beginning so I could say "of course the black person dies first!"

Ranking/Film:
#5- Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004)

Highlights:
I always go back and forth on which of the Kill Bills I like better, but today I will honour the genuine feeling of wanting Beatrix to succeed I felt in the theatre as she burst through that coffin for her daughter!  I have never wanted a Tarantino character to have everything they ever wanted more than Uma Thurman's Beatrix Kiddo... and there's a slave trying to fight for his freedom and his wife's on this list...  Also we can't forget David Carradine's amazing Superman speech!  He killed everything about that final act of the movie.

Low points:
Not as action packed as the first movie.  Not really a problem for me, but it does make it hard for me to justify placing it ahead of Vol. 1 to my action oriented friends.

Ranking/Film:
#4- Pulp Fiction (1994)

Highlights:
Go get 'em, Sammy J!  Jules Winnfield was that character that Reservoir Dogs was missing.  A black character that isn't there just to be black and has agency.  He's amazing in every scene he's in and I quote his burger scene to this day anytime I need to test someone's food or drink.  There's so much going on this film that it really feels like there are countless entry points for people to enjoy this movie.

Low points:
Yeah, sorry, Quentin the whole "Dead Ni..er storage" x 100 scene really takes me out of this movie.  Trying to unpack why a white man who is married to a black woman would speak like that really takes me out of the movie and the scene and prevents this movie from ever breaking my top 3.
 

Ranking/Film:
#3- Django Unchained (2012)

Highlights:
Thank you for making this movie, Quentin.  It's a weird world where a white Tennessee native portrays the true cruelty slavery as well as depict the disdain black people felt for other black people in that time.  It wasn't simply white vs black, and Quentin got that.  Maybe you should have watched this, Spike... you could pick some things up.  Listen to Noah (of dorkshelf.com) and me discuss this movie further here.

Low points:
The ending feels tacked on even though it shouldn't  Steven is the main villain.  It's there in the dialogue.  Candie wouldn't ever respect Django as a true adversary so he should die first along with Dr. King...  I guess it just speaks to awkward editing.

Ranking/Film:
#2- Jackie Brown (1997)

Highlights:
I have some theories on why people don't like this movie as much as other Quentin movies, but we've got enough of a racially charged post on our hands as it is.  I'll just say this, when Foxy Brown,  Batman, Nick Fury, Deebo, Carter from Rush Hour are all in one movie with the added bonus of Bobby D working with Nick Fury, then you've got a movie that will top a lot of my lists!  The dialogue is great, the story unfolds in a fun way, and please forgive me for enjoying watching black people move the plot forward in a movie as opposed to simply helping out.

Low points:
I'll let other people speak on those if they have any to speak of.

Ranking/Film:
#1- Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Highlights:
It's a rare feat to be completely unknown to me and have me think that you're not only the best part of a movie filled with people I enjoy watching, but to also be the main reason I'll  watch a movie going forward.  Christoph Waltz did that!  To a lesser extent Michael Fassbender did too but anyone who listens to "Let's Discuss Films" knows how I feel about him.  This movie has an amazing opening scene and then keeps adding to the high it set up with that first scene.

Low points:
Some actors' screen time didn't match the amount they spoke about being in the movie, but that's none of my concern.

-YG