Now in a bold new 28 minute featurette, Tarantino takes audiences behind-the-scenes of the making of Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood in incredible and intricate detail.

Watch the new featurette below:

Having already won a host of awards for its production, and especially for Brad Pitt’s laid back portrayal of ultra cool stuntman badass Cliff Booth, Once Upon A Time….In Hollywood is being given serious spotlight at this year’s Academy Awards and could well come out the winner here.

The post Quentin Tarantino offers up love letter to ‘Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood’ appeared first on SpicyPulp.

In the dead of a Wyoming winter, a bounty hunter and his prisoner find shelter in a cabin currently inhabited by a collection of nefarious characters.

Quentin Tarantino is lauded for his extensive knowledge and understanding of genre, character and cinematic technique and this knowledge led into what would be his most audacious project to date with The Hateful Eight. Best described as one part western, one part thriller, one part detective mystery and one part horror, this ensemble cinematic experience took audiences for one hell of a shocking ride. The director threw any type of heroism out from this script and instead introduced us to a band of untrustworthy cutthroats, turncoats, schemers, liars and all-around villains and let them ‘have at it’ in the most inhospitable place in the Old West. The resulting action of the film was packed full of the director’s trademark dialogue and plenty of shocking moments that made this film one of the most original pieces of cinema to come along in a long time.

The director assembled an incredible cast for The Hateful Eight and Tarantino regular Samuel L. Jackson was in demand here as mercurial bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren. Warren is a sly, devilish fox of a man who was definitely the smartest one in this room and set the tempo for what was to come here in The Hateful Eight and Jackson, of course, brought his A-Game here. Sparring with the Major was Walton Goggins as the disreputable Chris Mannix, the supposed new sheriff of Red Rock, whom the good Major did not trust for an instant and their back and forth really tension made things interesting. Both actors set the stage for the level of distrust that was to come in The Hateful Eight and both were quick to grab their guns when need be in typical Tarantino fashion.

Joining Warren and Mannix where bounty hunter John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth and his prisoner, the deplorable Daisy Domergue, and actors Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Lee made the ultimate odd couple here. These two were literally chained together for the entirety of the movie and their antagonistic back and forth between one another led to a definite reaction from the audience. Their relationship is brutal, dark, wicked, fiendish, and incredibly funny. From the get-go, Ruth is determined to hang Daisy and Daisy is determined to make Ruth’s life miserable and unbearable until he does just that. While Russell makes for a terrific brute here, it’s Lee who really steals the show as on the surface she’s the person with the least amount of power, but through the actions of the film she actually becomes the most dangerous out of all of these villains and Lee does a terrific job of being a very bad girl.

Filling out the rest of the collection of Tarantino’s Hateful Eight are Tim Roth as Oswaldo Mobray, the chipper and sprightly hangman of Red Rock; Michael Madsen as cow-puncher Joe Gage, a reserved and extremely untrustworthy individual; Demián Bichir as Bob, the new barkeep of Minnie’s Haberdashery who seems especially suspect in regards to his duties and Bruce Dern as General Sandy Smithers, a former Confederate General who harbours plenty of ill-feeling to having been on the losing side of the Civil War. All four of these characters add to the dark and foreboding ambience of The Hateful Eight, and when mixed together with Warren, Mannix, Ruth and Domergue, well, you can expect that it’s a powder keg of hate just waiting to go off! And Tarantino certainly revels in it.

The Hateful Eight is a film that plays on its audience and from the very outset you never know where the narrative or these characters are going to go. Of all of Tarantino’s films, it’s the one that keeps you on edge the most as a boiling sense of cabin fever rage and bad intentions set the stage for plenty of horrific moments to play out in Minnie’s Haberdashery. Part of the sinister feeling of The Hateful Eight occurs via the way that Tarantino plays with genre here. The Hateful Eight is filled with the tense moments of the detective story, while the film’s blistering setting and it’s character’s atrocious actions bring about plenty of events that occur in the best moments of the horror genre. Tarantino went for something different here and this originality marks The Hateful Eight as the director’s most visceral film he’s ever created.

Alongside its twisting narrative and genre concoction, The Hateful Eight is also shot with incredible detail thanks to the presence of cinematographer Robert Richardson and the grand vision of Tarantino. The director definitely goes big here and The HatefuL Eight was shot in Ultra Panavision 70mm using a series of specialist Panavision anamorphic lenses with an aspect ratio of 2.76:1, that led to the creation of a very large widescreen image that was last seen in classic films of the 1950s and 1960s including Ben Hur and Khartoum. This wide scope offers up plenty of incredible visuals and the detail and colour in these images are utterly beautiful to behold. These lenses open up the vistas of the wintry Red Rock, Wyoming landscape, while also instilling a deep sense of claustrophobia and tightness within Minnie’s Haberdashery. All of it adds to the ambience of The Hateful Eight and it’s a credit to the vision of Tarantino.

The ‘Tarantino Film’ experience of The Hateful Eight also gets dialled up here and there is a continual stream of shocking moments that take your eyes for a ride as an audience member. There’s gore here in The Hateful Eight, lots of it, and Tarantino delivers it with restless abandon. The director brings the shock factor to the canvas of the big screen and uses it to establish narrative and throw his characters around. This extreme level of gore added to the ill intentions and twisted nature of his characters takes the idea of a ‘Tarantino Film’ to new heights. It’s unpredictable, crazy, confronting and completely brilliant, and audiences walk away from this one with plenty of surprise.

The Hateful Eight is a film that burns its narrative into the minds of its audience and you don’t forget the chaos of this narrative. It’s a maverick film from a maverick director and it offers up audiences something different and reactionary from this cinema genius.

The post The Tarantino Countdown – ‘The Hateful Eight’ appeared first on SpicyPulp.

Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore. The ninth film from the writer-director features a large ensemble cast and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age.

As a piece of work, Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood feels like it’s the culmination of everything that Quentin Tarantino has done in his career. All of his previous cinematic titles have led to this monumental work, Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood and it undoubtedly reigns as QT’s masterpiece wrapping its audience fully into its director’s story.

Conceived as Tarantino’s love letter to the end of the Golden Age of Hollywood and Los Angeles, Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood takes its audience for a ride. Shot with a fairy tale motif, this multi-arched story pulls audiences into its diverse group of characters and setting, and it’s an utterly marvellous experience. Tarantino has always said that he wants to get a reaction out of his audience and he does here with Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood.

Taking the lead in Tarantino’s 9th film is none other than supreme acting talent and Academy Award winner Leonardo DiCaprio. Starring as fading TV actor Rick Dalton, a man who at one point had a good measure of success in his life, but whom now is starting to fear that his career and life are at an end. And let it be heard that DiCaprio is absolutely brilliant in his portrayal of Rick. DiCaprio’s Rick is the ultimate prima donna and is constantly plagued by and expressive of ego, anxiety, narcissism and a severe self-loathing and all of it is incredibly captivating to watch.

As a character Rick is obsessed with his fading star power and how this weighs on him, in several astoundingly realised scenes, is incredible to witness as we get to see Tarantino’s hand in shaping DiCaprio’s performance. You really feel for Rick throughout the entire story and this all comes back to the performance on DiCaprio’s part who steps out of himself and fully into the role of Rick. Performances don’t come much better than this and it’s a credit to both the star and his director.

Standing beside DiCaprio is Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth, Rick’s longtime stunt double and best friend and Pitt brings the cool factor here. While Rick might be on the ropes, Cliff is flat out on the canvas and this dynamic between these two men, and their place in this changing Hollywood landscape is extremely fun to watch.

In terms of characterization, Cliff is a straight-up cowboy. Tough, strong-willed and capable, Cliff has a real sense of calm about him and the ability to handle any situation. Which leads into some very interesting moments up on the screen. Pitt’s portrait of Cliff is that of the heroic figure of another time and he brings plenty of strength to this badass stuntman. Pitt also fits in well with the relationship dynamic that exists between himself and DiCaprio’s Rick, and he offers Rick a solid foundation and a credible anchor in his crazy and hectic life. Both performers share a great back and forth between one another and each of them adds to the other’s performance and this partnership is what makes for the success of the film.

Balancing out the presence of DiCaprio and Pitt is Margot Robbie in the role of Sharon Tate, the glowing Hollywood beauty of the moment whose mark on Tinseltown was filled by shocking infamy. Here in Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood, Robbie’s Sharon is the sunny glow of the picture and she fills every frame with a beautiful sense of light and love. The actress is perfectly cast as this 1960s It Girl and she effortlessly merges herself into the character that Tarantino has written.

In regards to the film’s narrative, Sharon Tate occupies a unique place within the director’s narrative and her presence directs the audience’s focus. On her behalf, Robbie’s performance takes on a very physical presence and she communicates her role via action over dialogue and her very physical performance leaves its mark on her audience.

If you desire to feel that QT feeling, well, you’re in luck because Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood is a film jam-packed full of the director’s trademark energy and style and it’s a piece of cinema that’s easy to get lost in. Everything, from cinematography to wardrobe, hair and make-up and the incredible set design fully resurrects the landscape of Hollywood, 1969, and Tarantino fully captures that feeling of change that is present in the air. Here the slick cool of the earlier part of the decade clashes with the ensuing sense of free love that is circulating through the streets of Hollywood Boulevard and it makes the film’s narrative pop. The groove factor is dialled up here and it doesn’t get much cooler than the crisp images that are presented up on the screen, all of which are captured in beautiful detail thanks to the lens of cinematographer Robert Richardson.

Alongside his stylistic portrait of the era, Tarantino also captures the very essence of Hollywood at that time. This was an era where huge change was occurring. The classic studio system was beginning to crumble, and the New Hollywood wave was breaking all the rules and the rise of the international market, particularly the Spaghetti Western, was spearheading what cinema was going to look like in the future.

Tarantino explores all of this in considerable depth within his film, and he does so in an extremely clever and articulate way that makes audiences sit up and take notice. As a cinematic artist, Tarantino has always been lauded for his extensive knowledge of all things pop culture and this knowledge finds good use here as he takes us into Rick Dalton’s world within the space of 1960s television. The writer-director presents all of this to his audience with incredible detail and spot-on knowledge and it is something incredible to witness.

In terms of genre and character, Tarantino goes to town here with his film and the finished print is something quite extraordinary. While Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood is very much a fairy tale story of Los Angeles and Hollywood of yesteryear, the director also pulls together a collection of different genres within the film. Everything from your classic drama and comedy troupes to the presence of the car movie, the buddy movie and even certain documentary filmmaking stylings making their way into Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood. Tarantino’s favourite genre, the western, is also a significant part of the make-up of this film, and its presence is felt in structure, craft, characterization and narrative plot elements. All of these genre musings twist together to capture the audience’s attention thanks to the beautiful respect for the art of filmmaking that Tarantino pays homage to here.

For those seeking a cinematic experience with Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood, well you can be damn sure that Tarantino delivers it here. This is a director who has always prided himself on delivering something different for his audience with every single one of his movies and he doesn’t disappoint in his 9th film.

While I’ve avoided any kind of narrative description of Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood, I will say that this film simply put is a ‘Tarantino Film’. And it delivers to this description. As previously stated, Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood is the ultimate example of Tarantino’s work as a filmmaker and he takes his audience for one very original ride. You never know which corner the director is going to take and the result is simply marvellous to look upon.

Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood is Quentin Tarantino’s ultimate love letter to the craft of filmmaking and the power of cinema. It is the culmination of a thirty-year career and all of the cinematic choices and rule-breaking that this maverick filmmaker has made through it and the result is utterly brilliant to look upon. Powerful in its originality and captured with perfect vision, this is a piece of cinema to be studied, lauded and loved. The cinema was made for a film like Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood and it is the exact reason why we go to the movies.

Image: Sony Pictures

The post ‘Once Upon A Time In… Hollywood’ – Review appeared first on SpicyPulp.

With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

Following on from the massive success of Inglorious Basterds, Tarantino would make what is arguably his most epic and most mainstream project with Django Unchained. A heroic tale of love and revenge centred on a freed slave turned bounty hunter who desires to rescue his enslaved wife, Django Unchained was delivered to the big screen with plenty of passion and was a sure-fire hit. Watching it you get a picture of Tarantino’s youthful glee coming through here as he crafts a film that you believe his teenage self would have lined up to see in repetitive viewings. It’s big. It’s bold. It’s operatic. And it’s completely uncompromising. Tarantino held nothing back here and the result is one hell of an entertaining story of a hero’s rise to save the woman he loves the most in the world.

Taking on the central role of Django was one of Hollywood’s coolest cats in the form of Jamie Foxx and it was a real change of pace for the actor. Foxx had to switch his performance up here as he has to go from broken slave to bounty hunting hero in one hell of a dramatic story arc and it took everything of himself as a performer to pull it off. Foxx invests himself heavily into the character of Django and as the narrative moves forward we see him grow and develop and there are plenty of monumental changes to his character. As he becomes known as a skilled bounty hunter and ‘the fastest gun in the South’, Foxx’s Django transcends to one of the coolest heroes ever seen on the silver screen and Django’s got a real style that’s all his own. Added to Foxx’s performance is the passion he brings to Django for his wife Broomhilda, and this quest to return to the woman he loves really sets the screen alight.

Shaping Django into the cinema legend that audiences come to know in Django Unchained is Tarantino’s new muse Christoph Waltz and the actor takes a sharp dramatic turn here. Stepping out of his villainous turn as Colonel Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds, Waltz takes on the character of Dr. King Schultz, a former dentist turned bounty hunter who possesses a quick tongue and an even quicker trigger finger. Waltz is great as the mentor to Foxx’s Django and helps form him into this tough guy hero that fills the screen. He’s also an incredible scene-stealer and Waltz’ mastery of Tarantino’s dialogue and his incredible delivery of it pulls the audience deeper into the story. Above all else, you buy into the genuine trust and friendship that forms between these two men and they sure do go on one fantastic adventure together.

Every hero needs a villain and Django finds his in Calvin Candie, a brutal and sadistic slave owner who is played to chilling effect by a sensational Leonardo DiCaprio. As Candie, DiCaprio’s performance is shaped by both a burning racism and a narcissistic, self-indulgent superiority, which is then mixed together with a frightening temper that he levels on anyone who moves against him. Candie is a terrifically crafted bad guy and DiCaprio is utterly fearless in going to the extreme edge with this deranged villain. Candie makes a good match for both Django and Schultz and in one particularly brutal scene, DiCaprio unleashes a furious performance that grips audiences and rams home just how dangerous this racist is. To be effective as a bad guy is a very hard thing to do, but DiCaprio crafts a truly heinous villain here that really adds something to the finished film.

In terms of a viewing experience, Tarantino set out to give audiences his interpretation of the western, or what he called a ‘Southern’. As a film, Django Unchained is shaped by both the traditional Hollywood western such as Rio Bravo and The Searchers along with the Spaghetti Western tradition that followed with pictures like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Tarantino borrows from both subsets of the genre here, including Sergio Corbucci’s classic Spaghetti Western Django, starring Frank Nero as the title character, with Nero appearing here in a cameo appearance, and with Django Unchained you get a sense that we’re seeing Tarantino at his most inspired with this project. He uses everything that we know about the western from location to characters to action and then switches them up through his own stylized lens and the result is a film that is striking to look at and incredibly original. Tarantino’s love for the western genre shines through in every frame of Django Unchained and makes this genre and it’s heroes and stories relevant and cool for a modern audience once more.

Django Unchained wouldn’t be a Tarantino film without a good serving of violence and the director doesn’t hold back with it here. Whether it’s the brutal terror that is struck down upon the shackled slaves of the plantations, the shockingly gory Mandingo fights that inform Calvin Candie’s lusts or the outlandish splatter that is applied to the film’s full-on gun fights, blood is spilled in Django Unchained! While this is of-course a stylistic choice on the behalf of Tarantino, the violence of the film is an integral part of the film’s narrative, while at the same time causing a reaction from the audience. Django Unchained is extremely manic at times, and the violence on display pulls the audience further into the visceral experience that Tarantino is crafting for us here in his film.

But while Django Unchained is a thoroughly epic action-adventure-romance film, it’s also a film that does examine the context of slavery and the horrors that it inflicted on America’s past. Obviously, Tarantino examines slavery through his own grindhouse filter, and he is intent on building a movie that is designed to entertain, but he doesn’t shy away from the cruelty that defined the film’s time period. There are moments in Django Unchained that feature shocking brutality and a level of racism that will make your skin crawl and in essence, Tarantino flips the switch on the gentle South here. He drives home the idea of the evils of slavery, while at the same time crafting a hero that you want to root for and see win out in the end.

When it comes to sheer viewing experience, Django Unchained makes for one hell of a fun watch and Tarantino delivers home the heroics with Django’s bigger than life actions to put the wrong things right and ride off to freedom with the setting sun behind him. The fun never stops with Django Unchained and this is a film that demands repeat viewings.

The post The Tarantino Countdown – ‘Django Unchained’ appeared first on SpicyPulp.

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner’s vengeful plans for the same.

From the very outset, Inglorious Basterds feels like something different in the long-running list of Tarantino’s credits. This film feels like a brand new direction for the filmmaker. It’s glossier, crisper and is more grown-up than his previous films. Part of this could be that Tarantino took his time in developing the film spending more than 10 years on writing the script and all this thought and care shows through in the finished product. Inglorious Basterds is Tarantino completely dialled in and focused, with a narrative structure that goes back to the director’s work on Pulp Fiction. Plus plenty of surprises thrown in for good measure. It’s as if Tarantino reinvented himself with Inglorious Basterds, and thanks to its tight pacing, and superb visuals, courtesy of cinematographer Robert Richardson, it’s a film that grabs the viewer and draws them into every single frame.

With a production of such monumental size, Tarantino needed an actor who could carry the film with that classic leading man quality and he found his guy in Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt. Starring as the gung-ho Lt. Aldo Raine, a backwoods tough guy who decides to go native on the Nazi’s in France with his own breed of Apache justice, Pitt holds the centre of the screen and has a ball doing it. Pitt’s balance of dramatic talent and dashing movie star appeal comes together with his performance as Raine, and his crazy battlefield tactics definitely raise a few eyebrows. He’s the anti-hero who gets shit done and when you’ve got a war to win that’s exactly the kind of guy you want on your side.

Facing off against Aldo is Tarantino’s uber-villain. The meanest, nastiest, most scandalous villain he’s ever created. Colonel Hans Landa of the SS. Nicknamed ‘The Jew Hunter’. And he was played to villainous perfection, in a performance that is now a part of movie legend, by the one and only Christoph Waltz. Described by Tarantino as ‘the guy who gave me my movie’, Waltz is superb as Landa and completely steals the entire movie. Whenever you see him you can’t take your eyes off of him and make no mistake this charismatic character is very, very scary. Part of what makes Landa so scary is that he doesn’t see himself as any kind of villain. He’s just a guy doing his job and he happens to be very good at it. And what’s more, he’s proud of how good he is at it. There’s not a single moment where Waltz is not excellent as Landa and he certainly leaves the audience on edge.

Such an epic movie like Inglorious Basterds demands an equally epic supporting cast and Tarantino rustles together a terrific collection of collaborators. First up there are the Basterds, Aldo’s rag-tag group of Jewish-American Nazi scalp hunters and they certainly cause a lot of chaos. Filling out the ranks is Eli Roth as Sgt. Donny Donowitz aka ‘The Bear Jew’, a super-jacked soldier with a serious grudge and an even bigger baseball bat. And he likes to hit home runs. Then there’s Til Schweiger as the psychotically unhinged Hugo Stiglitz, a former German soldier who killed 13 Gestapo officers and who has deserted to the Basterds cause. Both Roth and Schweiger add something to the cause and provide great stand-out performances.

Coming into contact with The Basterds mission is the chipper Lt. Archie Hicox played with great upper class delivery by Michael Fassbender. A Royal Marine and former film critic, Hicox is drafted into a top-secret plan to destroy the German High Command, and his interaction with the Basterds leads to plenty of interesting moments. Fassbender’s Hicox is very much the realist of the group and is always trying to keep everything on track. Alongside Fassbender, and bringing plenty of style to the picture is Diane Kruger as Bridget von Hammersmark, a German actress and film star who is in league with the Allies. Kruger gets a great role in the film, and she’s a terrific study of Tarantino’s dialogue and her delivery, flair and feet light up the screen.

But as for a wildcard, well that position is snapped up by Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus, a young Jewish woman running a cinema in Paris who has her own ideas on how to barbecue the Nazis. With a performance that is delivered entirely in French, the young actress holds her own here as Shosanna. This girl also has a history with Waltz’ Landa and their scenes together inspire a sense of skin-crawling terror that leaves Shosanna shaking with fear. Of all of the characters in the film, Shosanna is definitely the outlier and as an audience member its fun to watch her performance as she brings something different to the film and spices things up. It’s fun to watch this young Jewish girl with an axe to grind work her way up the Nazi chain of command and Laurent delivers plenty of surprises with her performance.

As a cinematic experience Inglorious Basterds stands out in Tarantino’s filmography. He was going for broke here and wanting to prove he could still command an audience. And, well, he succeeds in crafting a picture that stood out from his already existing filmography, but which also completely flipped the idea of the war movie on its head. Tarantino describes Inglorious Basterds as his “men on a mission movie” and he captures a unique portrait of WWII. It’s a vision of the Second World War that is loud, bold and completely original. All of the elements were working in his favour here, and each scene is more entertaining than the last.

Inglorious Basterds is also a film that is a complete love letter to the art of cinema. From the outset, Tarantino makes the very fabric of cinema integral to the plot of the script with the film’s third act taking place within the confines of a Parisian cinema. And it’s in this location that Tarantino gets going with one of the cinema art forms craziest ever scenes committed to celluloid. Everything from the make-up of the cinema to quirky facts about film stock and film equipment to long monologues referencing obscure cinema works of the 1930s and 1940s makes it into Inglorious Basterds, and it absolutely makes things more interesting. This obsessive passion for cinema elevates Inglorious Basterds as a cinema experience and gives it that extra spark that only Tarantino is capable of.

From beginning to end Inglorious Basterds is one crazy ride and Tarantino gave everything of himself as an artist to this film. Packed together with a terrific story, great characters and one of the most satisfying endings ever shot, this is one Tarantino movie that truly delivers on the promise of its director.

The post The Tarantino Countdown – ‘Inglorious Basterds’ appeared first on SpicyPulp.

Two separate sets of voluptuous women are stalked at different times by a scarred stuntman who uses his “death proof” cars to execute his murderous plans.

Along with good friend and fellow filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, Tarantino decided that it was time to resurrect the classic grindhouse cinema of his youth and the result was Death Proof. This slasher film involved a deranged stuntman, plenty of voluptuous women and all kinds of twisted metal. Fed by his mastery of dialogue, Death Proof takes its time to build to the gore, but when it does it delivers with plenty of blood. Tarantino dives headfirst into the grindhouse genre here, scarring up his footage, and adding a grain into the film to highlight it’s lower quality style. But this film’s key plot of vehicular murder by a homicidal maniac comes at you by complete surprise and it doesn’t stop for a moment.

Of all of the director’s films, Death Proof, to me, feels like it’s Tarantino’s most personal thus far. Not only did he write and direct it, but he also stepped behind-the-camera to serve as cinematographer and in doing so audiences are offered a completely unfiltered vision up on the screen. Packed out with a diner sequence that riffs off of Reservoir Dogs, dialogue sequences that recall both Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, a colour pallette that recalls the vocal hues of Kill Bill and plenty of feet, Death Proof is the total QT package. Narratively it’s also one hell of an original concept as Tarantino uses his vast knowledge of Hollywood cinema to resurrect the car chase movie and he comes up with a thoroughly original slasher film in the process.

At the center of Death Proof is the great Kurt Russell and it’s a complete return to form for the action star. Tarantino decided to resurrect Russell as the badass that he was in the late 1980s and early 1990s and he succeeds here with the character of the homicidal Stuntman Mike. Scarred up and smoking cool, with a seriously shiny jacket, Stuntman Mike is one dangerous dude and his particular talents behind the wheel lead him to cause plenty of damage on the roads of Austin, Texas and Lebanon, Tennessee. It’s a great role for Kurt Russell to play and the veteran actor does a terrific job as he pulls out plenty of menace, and gives this deranged character a sinister charisma that manifests in a total villain package as this slick automotive serial killer.

Alongside Russell, Death Proof is also the perfect showcase for Kiwi stunt woman and Tarantino’s new muse Zoë Bell. Having established herself on the set of Kill Bill as the chief stunt double for Uma Thurman’s The Bride, Bell plays herself here and gets to engage in all kinds of crazy stunts for this gonzo feature film. Chief among them involves a 1970 Dodge Challenger, the featured car from cult classic 1970 car chase film Vanishing Point and a game of “Ship’s Mast”. Bell has plenty of fun displaying her talents here, and alongside co-stars Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms, these three women get to put a hell of a beatdown on Stuntman Mike!

As a horror film, Death Proof stands out for its uniqueness. I mean how many times have you seen a slasher film where the main villain kills people by the way of a death proof car? It’s a concept that pops, and Tarantino gets to try something new here. While horror cinema had always had a strong influence on Tarantino, he’d never really jumped into that arena before. Yes there were shout outs, such as in Kill Bill Volume 1, but Death Proof was his chance to go for it. And it’s all about the throwback here. With the use of a synthesized score and plenty of creepy camera angles to highlight Russell’s sadistic glee, there are a whole heap of moments when the horror gets under your skin with its creepiness here.

Death Proof is also a complete and total love letter to classic car chases and auto fans certainly had a fun time here. Tarantino has long talked of his disdain for all things digital, and that includes what he refers to as the ‘digitization of stunts’. In Death Proof the director goes back to basics with a film that is all about the reality. We’re talking full-on American muscle cars that are supped up, stripped down and ready for the backwoods blacktop of America. Serving as his own cinematographer, Tarantino is able to capture all of these high speed chases with full-frame precision that allowed audiences to feel the rush of these crash and bash car chases that involved a slew of classic cars including a 1971 Chevrolet Nova and a 1969 Dodge Charger.

While Death Proof is not the most standout of Tarantino’s film credits, it’s a film that certainly has plenty of visual zeal and it’s bold car chases and menacing performance on the part of Kurt Russell gives audiences plenty to look at it. It’s also a film that should be watched at the dead of midnight to heighten it’s 1970 exploitation scares and is another interesting addition to the director’s long list of credits.

The post The Tarantino Countdown – ‘Death Proof’ appeared first on SpicyPulp.

With it’s 1969 setting, and all the glitz and glam that comes with that we’ve selected five films that you need to watch before you see Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

Check out the full list below:

5. Valley of the Dolls

Holding the center of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is the ravishing Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate, the epitome of New Hollywood hippie glam and who at the time was the most captivating woman in the whole world. Key to the attraction for Sharon Tate was her breathtaking beauty. This beauty would be captured in director Mark Robson’s 1967 picture Valley of the Dolls which charts three young women and their rise and fall in the world of show business. Valley of the Dolls is a film that truly showcases the essence of the changing times of the late 1960s, and Tate was able to display her developing talents as an actress at the time.

4. Enter the Dragon

If you’ve seen the trailers for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood you’ll notice that a certain Hong Kong martial arts star named Bruce Lee steals just about every scene that he’s in. While Lee was around the Hollywood scene at this time and was a personal friend to both movie stars Sharon Tate and Steve McQueen and hair stylist Jay Sebring, he had yet to achieve any kind of mainstream success. But that all changed with his seminal martial arts film Enter the Dragon. Released in 1973, this film would showcase the power of Lee’s handling of the martial art of kung fu as he took on an assortment of despicable bad guys, including uber villain Han (Shih Kien) in a series of dramatic fight scenes that changed action cinema forever. Sadly the film would prove to be Lee’s final completed film appearance before his death on 20 July 1973 at age 32. To this day Enter the Dragon still remains as a classic of action cinema and anyone who sees it is sure to be influenced by it.

3. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Since the start of production on Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Tarantino has called stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt “the most exciting star dynamic since Paul Newman and Robert Redford.” What he’s referring to is the landmark western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which when released in 1969 and took the box office by storm and would define outlaw cool for the next decade. Everything about this classic film came together perfectly when it was released in 1969, from its direction by George Roy Hill, the screenplay by William Goldman and the duel complementary performances of stars Newman and Redford who made this film a classic. Still to this day there’s immense power watching this story of two renegade outlaws trying to find their place in a rapidly changing world and a wild west that’s dying out as they attempt to runaway from their growing legend.

2. Easy Rider

In the film’s setting of 1969, the New Hollywood movement is blazing across the Hollywood scene and a whole new generation of directors, writers and stars are coming to the forefront and changing the world while they do it. No film epitomized the New Hollywood movement more than Dennis Hopper’s 1969 road movie Easy Rider, which followed two modern day outlaws Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Hopper), and an appearance from a very young Jack Nicholson as alcoholic lawyer George Hanson, as they took a cross country journey across America in a bid to reach New Orleans. With it’s hippie free love vibe, genre bending narrative, wild and excessive production and frequent on camera usage of real drugs, Easy Rider really captures the very essence of 1969 and the summer of love. Still to this day it’s opening scene set to Steppenwolf’s ‘Born to be Wild’ is sure to set your soul alight and make you want to rebel!

1. Smokey and the Bandit

In the creation of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino has been clear that his model for the film’s lead character Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, was inspired by Hollywood legend Burt Reynolds. Tarantino has had a long connection to Reynolds, even being named after his character of “halfbreed” blacksmith Quint Asper on classic TV series Gunsmoke. If there happens to be a quintessential Reynolds performance then it’s undoubtedly his turn as Bo Darville aka The Bandit in 1977’s Smokey and the Bandit as he portrays a modern bootlegger with a real need for speed as he attempts to transport 400 cases of Coors from Texarkana to Atlanta. It’s a perfect showcase for Reynolds explosive supreme acting talent and his turn as this ultimate rebel is sure to inspire your own outlaw style. Reynolds himself was supposed to star in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and even started rehearsals before sadly dying of a heart attack on September 6, 2018. An extraordinary man who lived one hell of an incredible life, Reynolds served as the ultimate hero for Tarantino and I’m sure the director will pay tribute to him here in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood promises to be a phenomenal watch and audiences will be in for a fantastic sense of nostalgia, packed together with the director’s trademark directorial cool, when it arrives in cinemas on August 15.

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The Bride (Uma Thurman) continues her quest of vengeance against her former boss and lover Bill (David Carradine), the reclusive bouncer Budd (Michael Madsen), and the treacherous, one-eyed Elle (Darryl Hannah).

Building off of the exploitational atmosphere that he introduced to audiences in Kill Bill Volume 1, Kill Bill Volume 2 picked up with The Bride looking to settle the score with Michael Madsen’s Bud, the shit-kicking brother of Bill, Daryl Hannah’s pathological psycho Elle Driver, and her ultimate nemesis, in the form of revered performer David Carradine, who portrayed Bill. While the first film fell into the martial arts genre, Tarantino worked to push the narrative into the outreaches of the exploitation genre here. With everything from the redneck movie to Italian Giallo, a dash of Shaw Brothers action and a heartwarming domestic drama, all of this was contained in Kill Bill Volume 2 and this mismatch of styles helps to deliver home a powerful narrative.

At the end of Kill Bill Volume 1, three names remained on The Bride’s Kill List and Bill’s younger brother Budd was the first person she hunted down. Played by Tarantino favourite Michael Madsen, Budd was a redneck shitbird of the first order. Behind his greasy hair and alcohol-laden posture hid a dangerous and formidable brute who was more than happy to put The Bride in her place six feet under. Madsen had a sick glee to his performance and he complements Tarantino’s dialogue perfectly. Also on the list was The Bride’s mortal enemy Elle Driver and she was one mean spirited bitch! Played to villainous perfection by Daryl Hannah, Elle was a bad girl who liked being bad and her seminal duel with The Bride in Budd’s trailer park home is a grim and gritty brawl that stays with you. Not to mention its shocking conclusion which gives new meaning to ‘an eye for an eye’.

But if Kill Bill Volume 2 has a star that steals the entire film then it is unequivocally David Carradine as the titular Bill. This master assassin and former lover of The Bride is packed full of wild west charisma and Eastern wisdom. Carradine is an absolute scene-stealer as Bill and when the camera is upon him you can’t look away. This cult actor of cinema and TV absolutely gave Tarantino his movie and you completely buy into how damn cool he is on screen. Along with the cool factor is his place as a ruthless killer in the film’s narrative and Carradine’s sly performance helps to communicate this to the film’s audience with ease. The famed actor also shared great chemistry with Uma Thurman and you brought into these character’s tragic tale of love and hate even more because of it. Carradine gave the perfect performance as Bill, and the film is all the better because of his involvement.

While Kill Bill Volume 1 was an out and out action film, Volume 2 moves at a different pace. Not only does it keep audiences on their toes, but it also affords them the freedom to interpret the film’s narrative and draw out the events of the past that shape this story’s present. Part of this is due to Tarantino’s masterful blending of genres within the exploitation genre. But this is also in part to the director’s maturing craft as a storyteller. With Kill Bill Volume 2 you feel that Tarantino is exploring different parts of himself as an artist up on the screen here, and the result is something both interesting and different.

A massive part of the story that finally reveals itself to the audience in the third act (and which was eluded to previously at the conclusion of Kill Bill Volume 1) is that The Bride’s daughter B.B. is still alive. And their reunion has plenty of significance to the film’s narrative. This story of a mother and daughter reuniting is something that many would not assume to ever be included within the structure of a Tarantino film. But it fits perfectly here. Thurman’s performance is heightened during these scenes as her own emotions as a mother come into their own up on the big screen, and Tarantino uses them to his advantage. Chaos and action aside, this is the most crucial and compelling part to the entire Kill Bill saga, and its inclusion certainly stays with you.

But everything in Kill Bill Volume 2 leads to the final confrontation between The Bride aka Beatrix Kiddo and Bill and this exchange between Thurman and Carradine is the stuff that cinema legend is made of. Featuring a beautifully delivered monologue about true nature and intent from Carradine, and exploding in a quick hack and slash exchange of Hattori Hanzo katana’s, Kill Bill Volume 2 is brought to an end in dramatic and shocking fashion. It’s an end that eludes to cult martial arts film Five Fingers of Death, and with image and music working together in unison The Bride finally gets her revenge!

Kill Bill is an incredibly important part of director Quentin Tarantino’s list of works and it is essential viewing for anyone who loves cinema. Blending performance, genre, action and emotion for a film that grabs you and does not let go. It’s an example of Tarantino doing what he loves and loving every second of it.

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After awakening from a four-year coma, a former assassin wreaks vengeance on the team of assassins who betrayed her.

In terms of cinematic flavour, Kill Bill was a real departure from his previous films, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, which had all focused on one aspect or another of the crime genre, as filtered through the eyes of Tarantino. Here in Kill Bill audiences got something extremely different that was a mad cocktail of martial arts violence and grindhouse driven-in sensibilities that they were craving for, and which they adored upon seeing. A hard-hitting revenge film, where no one was to be spared, Kill Bill was a piece of cinema that went for it with everything it had and this innovative director truly delivered on the spectacle here.

Kill Bill would also introduce us to Uma Thurman’s The Bride, a woman with no name, who was once one of the deadliest assassins in the world until she was fucked over and left for dead. Awakening with violent fury, this lethal killer was out for blood and nothing would stop her in her quest for vengeance. Thurman had long been recognized as Tarantino’s muse, and with this unique character and narrative, the director had purposely crafted a piece of cinema to show off all of her acting talents and turn her into one of the medium’s most badass characters. Spot on with the burning dramatics at The Bride’s core, along with proving herself to be very talented with a katana, Thurman was perfectly cast as The Bride and she created one truly memorable character here.

Alongside Thurman’s The Bride, audiences would also be introduced to the other members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, specifically with Lucy Liu’s O-Ren Ishii and Vivica A. Fox’s Vernita Green. Both of these ladies were ready to get some, and the action got intense for each of them with Fox and Thurman engaging in a viciously damaging knife fight, while O-Ren and The Bride would fight the duel to end all duels in the neon lit corners of the Tokyo Underworld. Both women made great adversaries for The Bride, and each was part of the perfect casting that Tarantino assembled for this film.

While Quentin Tarantino had made a name for himself as one of the coolest and most stylistic directors on the planet, his work on Kill Bill took this to a whole new level. Everything about this film was a lesson in style, from its crazed narrative to its awe-inspiring production design and costuming to the thoroughly epic soundtrack, that blended both Western and Japanese sounds. All of it made for one very cool feat of filmmaking. Kill Bill Volume 1 was also the first time that Tarantino would work with noted cinematographer Robert Richardson, and the result was a visually lavish and crisp cinematic experience that made for a very fun watch.

If you were looking for action, well, you came to the right place with Kill Bill Volume 1, because it was loaded with it. Until this point, Tarantino had never really shot action before, yes his films had dealt with incredible feats of violence and over-the-top gore, but as a filmmaker, he had yet to dip his toe into the action waters. Kill Bill changed all of that and this director proved that he had a unique eye and a real flair for crafting some of the most striking action sequences ever committed to celluloid. Tarantino would hit his audience up early with it as well, in a terrifyingly destructive knife fight at the home of Vernita Green, and after this beat down audiences were committed to what would come next.

And what came next was one bold feat of cinema! Taking place exclusively at The House of Blue Leaves, this thirty-one minute extended fight scene was a piece of gonzo martial arts chaos captured to perfection. Wielding a famed Hattori Hanzo sword and dressed in a yellow and black striped jumpsuit inspired by Bruce Lee’s The Game of Death, The Bride was ready to go to town and boy did she. Fighting a combination of O-Ren Ishii’s personal army The Crazy 88, O-Ren’s psychotic bodyguard Gogo Yubari and finally gaining her revenge on O-Ren herself, this scene is martial arts epicness at its finest. With blood and limbs flying at every turn, and incorporating a vast range of stylized, choreographed fight exchanges, The House of Blue Leaves sequence is simply extraordinary to watch.

Kill Bill Volume 1 is one hell of a fun ride, and Tarantino truly put everything of himself as an artist into this film. And that’s why it is essential viewing for any moviegoer.

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A middle-aged woman finds herself in the middle of a huge conflict that will either make her a profit or cost her life.

Adapted from the novel Rum Punch by celebrated author Elmore Leonard, a man who is regarded as a personal hero of Tarantino, it allowed the director to really try something different within the crime genre. Tarantino took Leonard’s novel and really made it his own, changing the protagonist from a white woman to a black woman and envisioning a very quick-witted and character-driven narrative that really plays with its audience, along with the crime genre itself. Packed out with Tarantino’s trademark dialogue, Jackie Brown is packed with twists at every turn and you never know which corner the movie or the director is going to take you down next.

Stepping into the role of down-on-her-luck flight attendant Jackie Brown is legendary Hollywood actress Pam Grier. Sassy, fierce and extremely street smart, Grier really takes audiences for a ride here with her turn as Brown, playing all the men around her for suckers. Grier was another personal heroine of Tarantino and you can tell from the attention that he gives her on the screen that the director had a blast working with her on set. Grier gives the character a real capability, and her relationship with co-star Robert Forster as bail bondsman Max Cherry has plenty of real sparks, which shifts up the drama of Jackie Brown and allows Tarantino to try his hand with a bit of romance here as well.

Giving audiences a terrific showcase of his fabulous range is star Samuel L. Jackson as gun dealer and hardened criminal Ordell Robbie, and it’s a performance that totally grips you. Bringing the street cred and delivering Tarantino’s lines as if they’re the prose of some kind of Harlem Shakespeare, Jackson channels a slick too cool for school attitude as the sinister Ordell and he brings a dangerous charisma to the screen with his actions here. He literally steals every scene that he’s in and it’s fun to watch him play cat and mouse with Grier’s Brown who ain’t gonna put up with any of his shit. Jackson is once again a pleasure to watch and he makes this bad guy a whole lot of fun to watch.

Tarantino packs out the rest of his cast with an eclectic mix of terrific performers including Robert DeNiro as recently paroled bank robbing bruiser Louis Gara, Bridget Fonda as surf bunny sex pot Melanie Ralston, Michael Keaton as hard-charging ATF agent Ray Nicolette and Chris Tucker as fast-talking and ill-fated petty crim Beaumont Livingston. All of these performers bring their A-Game and there’s plenty of fun to be had with their interactions through the movie which really keeps you guessing as an audience member as they constantly zig and zag.

In relation to his entire collected works, Jackie Brown is, in my opinion, Tarantino’s most experimental film, and the director has a lot of fun playing with genre here. As Tarantino’s homage to the 1970s blaxploitation genre, with films such as Coffy, Super Fly and Shaft being key homages, Jackie Brown also has a very French New Wave style to it in relation to how it was shot, and the director blends two genres to create a very unique work. It’s a very clever piece of cinema that really plays with the genres that it sits in, and it absolutely keeps you on your toes. A lot of attention is paid to the visual language of Jackie Brown and there’s a real L.A. flavour to it with plenty of bright colours and open spaces that capture the essence of the city at play.

Jackie Brown makes for a very groovy watch and is jam-packed with a narrative that keeps you guessing at every turn. It’s an incredibly interesting entry to the directors’ list of work’s and there’s considerable passion at play here that make it a must watch for any Tarantino fan.

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