(Image credit: Getty Images)
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Quentin Tarantino changed the course of American cinema. When “Pulp Fiction” was released in 1994, it kicked off an independent-film boom that still resonates today, helping launch the careers of fellow DIY cinephile filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith.Since then, Tarantino has gone from an outsider to a Hollywood power player, racking up numerous Oscar nominations and huge box-office returns. He's done all of that without compromising his unique vision, making films that are digressive and idiosyncratic, full of references to the obscure genre and arthouse cinema that he admires. Seeing “Pulp Fiction” for the first time was a formative experience for me, and I’ve eagerly anticipated every subsequent Tarantino movie, even when some have been disappointments.With “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair,” the long-awaited unified version of Tarantino’s previously two-part “Kill Bill,” now streaming on Peacock, here’s my definitive ranking of Tarantino’s filmography.9. ‘The Hateful Eight’
The Hateful Eight Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell Movie HD - YouTube
Watch On
Tarantino’s longest film (aside from the combined “Kill Bill”) feels even longer than it is, with its slow-moving, primarily single-setting story about an assortment of nefarious types converging at a Wyoming stagecoach stopover in 1877. As a blizzard rages outside, bounty hunters John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) eye their fellow travelers with suspicion, since any of them could be in cahoots with vicious killer Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), whom Ruth is transporting to be hanged.Although it belatedly turns into a sort of locked-room murder mystery, “The Hateful Eight” is mostly a slog, as the characters talk in circles and make repetitive threats toward each other. As a Western, it’s pretty meager, and it’s not nearly as thrilling as Tarantino’s other period pieces. It’s an unassuming, small-scale story stretched thin over nearly three hours.Watch on Peacock8. ‘Death Proof’
