Today THE FUTURIST! ends his week of Tarantino's epic verbal praising of some of his favorite films. The film he salutes in this post is Taxi Driver. He calls it the best movie of the 70s. This is a double video post, due to the fact that the first video cuts off suddenly ... and the second video is the conclusion with a rumored story about Scorsese and his thoughts of murdering a film executive due to the studio wanting to cut his film.
It was exciting to watch Mr. Tarantino expound on certain cinematic delights he relishes. THE FUTURIST!, as he watched these little verbal dissertations, thought of the excitement a food fetishist would have with a grand banquet. Tarantino gets into an orgasmic-like lather over cinema ... he cuts his arms through the air around him like cutlery and almost needs a lobster bib to catch the drippings from his voracious movie love drooling. "Ah, yes ... I'll have that Scorsese Salad, a bit of that DePalma Split Screen Soup, some Altman soft focus cheese, a slice of Bava Devil's Food Cake with that really really red cherry sauce, oh .. and two of those MacGuffins! yes! A blueberry and a cranberry MacGuffin! ... and some Blaxploitation pudding and Superfly Pie! Some Linguine a la Leone ... Dessert? Oh, an Italian Morricone with a glass of red Argento. Oh, dear God, I'm famished!"
Today Quentin Tarantino speaks about Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood. He is quite eloquent on the film's status as a masterpiece (though he thinks PTA's Boogie Nights is the real masterpiece) and his words on Daniel Day-Lewis' performance match exactly what THE FUTURIST! thinks on this iconic bit of cinematic acting; there is no performance in recent memory, in films, that can equal that of Day-Lewis' Daniel Plainview. Mr Tarantino says you should see this movie twice to be able to even talk about it ... THE FUTURIST! saw it only once (so far) and left the auditorium speechless ... totally in awe at the achievement in film making and acting. Please watch this 9 min video and hopefully, if you haven't seen it, it will inspire you to see a true masterpiece of modern film.
Some people say Paul Thomas Anderson has made films in the style of Scorsese (Boogie Nights), Altman (Magnolia) and Kubrick/Malick (There will Be Blood), but THE FUTURIST! sees them as true original films. In the case of Quentin Tarantino, who speaks of his "friendly rival" relationship with Anderson in this video, THE FUTURIST! sees Tarantino as imitating other movies in his movies in a blatant manner ... whole sequences, shots, sound effects, visual puns, and not even using original music. He constantly takes film music from other sources, mostly Ennio Morricone. His new film is titled the same as a film from the 70s only with mis-spelling ... it is not a remake at all. Tarantino's passion for the films he loves is morphed into his own films. THE FUTURIST! sees a great difference in the two filmmakers.
P.S. Yesterday's See You Next Wednesday! trailer was in keeping with the Tarantino flavor this week. It is referenced in the Kill Bill films. For instance: did you hear that siren-like musical cue when the kung fu hero out stretches his death dealing hands? Yup ... you heard it in Tarantino's movies. It's actually from an old TV show called Ironside.
Here is Mr. Tarantino on Robert Altman's revisionist western. THE FUTURIST! loves Mr. Tarantino's frequent affected way of speaking ... is it real or a way of appearing very important in a vocal manner? If one doesn't agree with everything he says about the film, he is right on about the ending. And THE FUTURIST! thinks Robert Altman was a genius no matter what Tarantino says!
THE FUTURIST! devotes today through Friday (minus Wednesday for the regular See You Next Wednesday! trailer feature) to film director Quentin Tarantino. This Friday will be the American premiere of his latest film Inglourious Basterds. Mr. Tarantino hosted a festival of movies he admires on Sky Movies Indie on August 14 -16. THE FUTURIST! will feature several of these introductions to the movies each day for your entertainment. Mr. Tarantino showed great brilliance once, in THE FUTURIST!'s humble opinion, but seems to have squandered it a bit in his choices in what he has created for the screen; he seems to have become a parody of his own style. His habit of having characters talk and talk and talk and then have punctuations of visual violence seem to get longer and longer and seem obvious and uncomfortable ... case in point, his last film Death Proof. The last few ventures seem like vulgar Eric Rohmer movies with breaking bones, samurai swords and high speed cars. One thing THE FUTURIST! likes, though, is when Mr. Tarantino talks. He loves loves loves movies and his passion is so evident and contagious. You may not agree with everything he chooses or says, but his rapid fire patter is hypnotizing and he invites you to engage your own passions for that white screen in the dark depicting dreams brought to life by moving light.
The first video is Mr. Tarantino listing his favorites films of the last 17 years ... this is since he made his first film in 1992. THE FUTURIST! has not seen many of the films he lists, but one film is an amazing pick ... Anything Else directed by Woody Allen. This is the film by Woody that THE FUTURIST! himself believes is Woody's last great film. It blows quirky indie cliche rom-com piffle (that aspires to be cynical Woody-esque love story material) like (500) Days of Summer out of the water.
A salute is performed (but not in a Fascist manner) in honor of The Amazing Mike Frollo for bringing this Tarantino material to THE FUTURIST!'s attention.
