Rank the Tarantino Movies

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Reservoir Dogs
3. Inglorious Basterds
4. Death Proof
5. Django Unchained
6. Kill Bill Volume 1
7. Jackie Brown
8. Kill Bill Volume 2

Some days I like Reservoir Dogs more than Pulp Fiction.

Reservoir Dogs
Pulp Fiction
Django Unchained
Jackie Brown
Inglorious Basterds

Haven't seen Kill Bill or Death Proof. I agree with Gary that Reservoir is more style than substance, but what style and impact this had the first time I saw it. Pulp Fiction is both more ambitious and more polished, but I just like the simple premise of Reservoir Dogs and everything he was able to squeeze out of that.

1. Reservoir Dogs
2 Pulp Fiction (I will readily acknowledge that PF is the better movie, I just like RD more.)
3. Jackie Brown
4. True Romance (screenplay)
5. Kill Bill, vol. 2
6. Death Proof
7. Inglorious Basterds
8. Django Unchained
9. Kill Bill, vol. 1 (I need to revisit this one, because I absolutely hated it when it came out. I was shocked by how much I liked vol. 2)

1. Pulp Fiction. It changed both the business of movies and the critical perspective of them. It's easily one of the best films of the past 50 years, for screenplay, performances, pacing, and especially for its willingness to not talk down to it audience. 20 years later, it still resonates in the industry on a regular basis.
2. Reservoir Dogs. Essentially the precursor to Pulp Fiction.
3. The Four Rooms segment.

[sizable gap]

4. True Romance. Even though he didn't direct, the screenplay alone is better than most of what has followed.
5. Django Unchained. I think the performances saved this one. The story is completely linear and we spend a lot of time wondering why things aren't happening.
6. Parts of Kill Bill. A lot of it is an overstylized slog where he was attempting to show something new in the same he did with Pulp Fiction but ended up with a half-assed comic that didn't retain the density of the latter format or the dynamism of film.
7. Inglorious Basterds. It didn't really do anything new. It's a collection of moments and quotes.
8. Jackie Brown. This seems like a screenplay made up of other things he wanted to do but didn't get around to doing. He saw the chance to work with Grier (who was solid) and took it without taking the time to really build a good script on top of a thin story.

Just for fun, I looked up the ratings for the 8 movies directed by Tarantino at Rotten Tomatoes. Here are the rankings by all critics, top critic, and audience:

All critics:
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Reservoir Dogs
3. (tie) Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained
5. Jackie Brown
6. Kill Bill volume 1
7. Kill Bill volume 2
8. Death Proof

Top critics:
1. Pulp Fiction
2. (tie) Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill volume 2
4. Kill Bill volume 1
5. Inglorious Basterds
6. Django Unchained
7. Jackie Brown
n/a: Death Proof (no reviews by top critics)

Audience:
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Reservoir Dogs
3. Django Unchained
4. Kill Bill volume 2
5. Inglorious Basterds
6. Jackie Brown
7. Kill Bill volume 1
8. Death Proof

My ranking basically is the same as Top Critics, except I would put Death Proof at #6

There is an odd discrepancy about Death Proof at Rotten Tomatoes. It's the second half of the Grindhouse double feature, but most people saw the two movies separately. However, the top critics only rated Grindhouse. And the combined movie outscores either Planet Terror or Death Proof in every category.

Planet Terror:
all critics: 77%
audience: 78%

Death Proof:
all critics: 67%
audience: 72%

Grindhouse (Planet Terror+Death Proof):
all critics: 83%
top critics: 78%
audience: 87%

The only explanation that I can offer is that the combined Grindhouse feature included several hilarious fake movie trailers, including the Machete one that actually became a real movie. Maybe those fake trailers were so great that they elevated the overall ratings in every category.

If you substitute Grindhouse for Death Proof in the rankings of movies directed by Tarantino, it still comes in last place with all critics. However, it comes in just after Kill Bill volume 1 with top critics, and ties with Inglorious Basterds with the audience category. But that isn't a fair comparison, because we already saw that Planet Terror outscored Death Proof with both critics and audience.

This is a hell of a lot easier than "your ten favorite movies"...

1) Django Unchained- violent, vulgar and quite possibly the best movie made about what made slavery such a tragedy beyond the obvious human cost. There is no more profound comment on the subject then when Candie's wife asks the maid to cover Brunhilde up in the middle of dinner. Southern manners and civility masking utter barbarity.

2) Inglourious Basterds- Ridiculous, hilarious and full of screw-tightening tension throughout...all expressed in dialogue. The way conversations develop and evolve in this picture is as exciting as any action sequence.

3) Kill Bill- Hated it at first, thought it was just homage-y pandering, but then realized that it was an incredible story about motherhood told through borrowed cinematic motifs. Some really great scenes throughout.

4) Everything else.

1. Inglorious Basterds
2. Pulp Fiction
3. Jackie Brown
4. Django Unchained
5. Reservoir Dogs
6. Kill Bills
Never seen Death Proof.

True Romance way above the others. Flirting with my top 10... but probably wouldn't be there if QT directed.

RD/PF/JB on the second tier. Love 'em all, all different experiences. PF was an amazing theater experience, otherwise it's a notch below the others.

Didn't care for KB at all.

No interest in DU (Jamie Foxx - ugh) or IB (setting), but I am extremely selective about the movies I see these days. Like, probably less than 5 in the past 10 years.

i think this is about right...

1. Pulp Fiction - it was really ground-breaking. i had never seen anything quite like this. What a soundtrack too.
2. Kill Bill vol 2 - I absolutely love this movie
3. Django Unchained - I was shocked by the violence which is tough for Tarantino to do to me.
4. Reservoir Dogs - I'm surprised to see so many people put this in the top two, I think it's an amazing film but the two above this are clearly better, in my eyes.
5. Grindhouse - Death Proof was fantastic
6. Natural Born Killers - he only did the story but this deserves a mention since it's so obviously him.
7. Sin City - didn't he direct this?
8. Inglorious Basterds - I thought this was amazing. I was so insanely stressed out. The scene in the bar was white-knuckle terrifying. The opening scene just as much.
9. Kill Bill vol 1 - Tons of fun. Tons. It just lacks the depth that the vol 2 has. That one has it all.
10. Jackie Brown - man does he ever know how to shoot Brigit Fonda. omg

Black Barney wrote: i think this is about right...
7. Sin City - didn't he direct this?

He directed one tiny section. Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller co-directed the rest.

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Reservoir Dogs
3. Everything else

Any other ranking is inexplicable to me. On a different day Django might rise above the murk to take 3, based solely on managing to weave a Croce song into an otherwise depressingly violent film. Oh, and the klansmen scene. Ok, Django is a solid third choice.

The day Pulp Fiction lost best picture to Forest fucking Gump was the day my slight interest in the Oscars died altogether.

mutagen wrote: 1. Pulp Fiction
2. Reservoir Dogs
3. Everything else

Any other ranking is inexplicable to me. On a different day Django might rise above the murk to take 3, based solely on managing to weave a Croce song into an otherwise depressingly violent film. Oh, and the klansmen scene. Ok, Django is a solid third choice.

The day Pulp Fiction lost best picture to Forest fucking Gump was the day my slight interest in the Oscars died altogether.

That Croce song knocked me out of the movie. A period piece set during the Civil War should not feature a song that repeatedly uses the word "highway." After that, I kept consciously identifying things that annoyed me as they cropped up.

I agree regarding the Oscars. That plus the Jethro Tull fiasco with the Grammies pretty much ended my interest in all award shows.

I still think Return of the King beating Mystic River is Oscar's biggest folly (and I LOVED Return of the King)

there was no way that Pulp Fiction was going to beat Forrest Gump at the Oscars. It doesn't matter that it's a MUCH better movie. See the demographics of the Academy for the answer.