Why are so many people interested in Quentin Tarantino’s favorite movies? Maybe because he’s been so influential or maybe because he’s had so many influences? I’m not sure, but a big topic on the film blogs today is a top 20 list QT came up with for Sky Movies. It’s not his favorite films of all time, however. It’s just his faves since 1992, the year he broke big with his directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs.
The list is filled with a lot of obvious choices, including new Asian cinema classics like The Host, JSA, Audition and his very, very favorite of the past 17 years (the rest of the list is alphabetical), Battle Royale. Surprisingly Oldboy is nowhere to be found despite the fact that QT is responsible for the film’s surprising win at Cannes five years ago. He picked two by Bong Joon-ho, why not two by Park Chan-wook? Is it because that would be too much like self-praise?
The biggest shocker appears to be his inclusion of Woody Allen’s Anything Else, and that’s the main reason people are talking about the list today. I was more stunned, though, by QT’s claim that Supercop has the best stunts of any film ever, including those starring Buster Keaton. I guess I’ll have to see that one again.
Anyway, since QT is known for his borrowing from his influences, I’m excited to see when his movies start pilfering from the likes of Dogville and Shaun of the Dead, both of which would be in my top 20 of 1992-2009, as well.
Check out what other film blogs are saying about the list after the jump:
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The producers of Tokyo!, three short films by two Frenchmen and a South Korean, aim to do for Japan’s metropolis what New York Stories did for the Big Apple or Paris Je T’Aime for the City of Lights. That the two Frenchmen are indie darling Michel Gondry and former film critic/Pola X director Leos Carax, and the South Korean Bong Joon-Ho, who made an international splash with The Host, would seem to lend these three very different takes on a single subject some serious cache. Unfortunately, only two directors rise to the occasion, leaving a gaping hole in an otherwise thoughtful trilogy.
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Ever since the great Italian director Sergio Leone rode into town, it’s been clear that the Western is not solely the domain of American filmmakers. Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns boosted Clint Eastwood’s career and forever changed the genre. A new film from Korea, what many are calling a Kimchi Western, may change the genre once again. Kim Ji-Woon’s The Good, the Bad, and the Weird is in many ways an homage to Leone’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but is also an excellent example of the energy and originality emerging in Korean cinema.
The Good, the Bad, and the Weird, set in Manchuria in the 1930’s, follows the story of three bandits, all in pursuit of map that leads to an untold amount of treasure. Woo-sung Jung (the Good), Byung-hun Lee (the Bad), and Kang-ho Song (the Weird) all give excellent performances. Cool and outrageous enough for an action comedy, but not overdone. Kang-ho Song, who you may recognize from the hit Korean monster movie The Host, is particularly good at playing his own brand of lovable dork.
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