On The QT

I think I've been posting too much about movies and not enough about comics this week, but my comics haul was pretty weak and the movies have been so good. And now there's a new Quentin Tarantino movie to see...so I've got to post about that!

I'm a devoted Tarantino fan. I've seen all of his films, most of the movies that have cribbed his style since his debut, and even a bunch of the obscure forgotten B-movies and foreign flicks he's championed through the years. He's one of the central figures in my movieverse, influencing my preferences and my own attempts at writing.

I think what he does on film is cool. I think the people he puts in his movies are cool. I think what he thinks is cool is cool.



He's not cool, by the way. Quentin Tarantino is a big weirdo and a total dork. But he knows cool.

And at the end of the day, the reason I am such a fan is because I think he knows me. My first exposure to Tarantino was True Romance, which I saw in the theater with my mother and brother.



The story of Clarence and Alabama had all the quirky, dangerous, romantic appeal of star-crossed lovers like Sid and Nancy and Bonnie and Clyde, plus Clarence worked in a comic shop and liked kung fu movies! And Tarantino was working in a video store when he wrote the thing. He was living my real life while writing about my fantasy life. How could I not love this guy from the start?

And I can forgive the occasional over-indulgences, like the droning monologues about pot and car chases in Jackie Brown and Death Proof, respectively. Those happen to be his weakest films because of those and other indulgences that killed the pacing and mood for me...but there's still some greatness in both.

As for his other flicks--I love them all and can watch them repeatedly. I even have some personal sentiment toward them. I saw Natural Born Killers at a sneak preview while on a cross-country road trip (not a killing spree, though) with my brother. Reservoir Dogs was one of a handful of movies me and my video store co-workers would quote during every shift, taunting each other in our best Michael Madsen voice or imitating a gut-shot Tim Roth from the back office while customers wondered what the hell was going on. Pulp Fiction was the movie I watch on video with my wife-to-be the first time I stayed over her place. The bridal party at my wedding came out to the Crazy 88's theme (from Kill Bill) at the reception.

And now, if my fancy new throat scar heals the right (wrong?) way, I'll have the perfect Halloween costume as Aldo Raine!