The Plot

The plot follows a character known for most of the story as The Bride, her name withheld. The Bride was an expert international assassin who left her team when she found out she was pregnant and decided to get married. But her team, particularly her boss and lover, Bill, did not accept this. Their attack leaves The Bride in a coma she is never expected to wake up from…but she does. After nearly being killed, losing her child and many other loved ones The Bride seeks revenge on her old team and in particular – Bill

After 20 Years…

The story is very much broken into chapters as The Bride crosses people off her revenge hit-list, there are intense action scenes followed by quiet moments and sections of anime or odd almost comedic sketches of The Bride getting the things she needs. It jumps back and forth in time around each of these showdowns – giving the audience relevant information, showing backstory between characters etc. It crosses off many items on a Tarantino checklist: extreme violence, an interesting and unusual soundtrack, and homages to other films.

Every fight scene is amazing and distinctive and for a revenge film where everyone is an assassin that is important. There are unusual shifts in tone in these fights – for example when The Bride goes to face O-Ren Ishii she must first battle through her samurai gang, killing dozens of people and verges on cartoonish fighting and jarringly over-the-top amounts of blood with a loud pop music soundtrack. But then her encounter with O-Ren, moments later, is a one-on-one sword fight comprised of only a handful of strikes, fought in a peaceful snow-covered garden and sometimes all you can hear is the sound of water and wood of a fountain.

It is perhaps outside these fight scenes – which do contain emotion as well as action – that the film falls down. This is particularly true of Kill Bill Vol.1 where there are large sections of the film that feel like they serve no purpose. Tarantino’s inability to cut down his movies is legendary and perhaps it was better to have two films rather than one very long one, but there is certainly stuff that could be removed. Kill Bill Vol.1 also contains, in my opinion, the most shocking and gratuitous example of violence in the entirety of Tarantino’s work, and that is saying something. I don’t think an actual description of what happens is necessary but suffice to say there is a moment of horrific abuse perpetuated on The Bride (and suggestion that this has happened many times before) that has no reason to be included other than to cause The Bride more suffering.

The final confrontation with Bill is a little overblown, with long monologues and even bringing out the very convenient trope of a truth serum but it ultimately is a very good end to the movie. David Carradine plays Bill, an actor best known for the tv show Kung Fu and very much part of Tarantino’s idiosyncratic casting style and is very good as the older mentor figure, turned lover, turned nemesis.

Music

Like all Tarantino films the soundtrack is a very important part of the film and has been chosen with care and while there are great tracks from The 5,6,7,8s and some old classics that most people won’t know (including me) what is most striking and memorable is the use of Ennio Morricone. Morricone did not compose new work but Tarantino used songs from other films. The work of the genius composer best known for westerns like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly brings tension, pathos and dread to the film, and is used intentionally to evoke the themes of westerns, and one can see the Kill Bill story told through a western – a gang turning their back on a member who then tracks them through the Wild West taking revenge.

For me looking at both Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol.2 and assessing the whole work is difficult as I do not like the first film, but think Vol.2 is great, and it’s hard to reconcile those two ideas. Certainly, the film has a huge legacy with outfits, songs, quotes quickly settling into the cultural understanding of the 2000s but does not belong in Tarantino’s top tier.

Also Read: Quentin Tarantino Directing A Star Trek Film? Here’s What It Would’ve Been Like

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Given The Matrix’s themes surrounding the “metaverse”, the franchise seems primed to take advantage of a growing NFT space. The digital collection will feature both “red pill” & “blue pill” collectables. Fans of Pulp Fionction will be able to get their hands on seven uncut scenes from the movie, which will be available via auction on the NFT Marketplace OpenSea. This isn’t the first time a film company has entered the NFT space as Lionsgate has already released a series of NFTs for the Saw franchise earlier this year.

What are NFTS?

NFTs stand for Non Fungible Tokens. Much like cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin) and crypto tokens (like Enjin), NFTs use Blockchain’s distributed ledger technology to provide digital proof of ownership. If you’re old enough to remember the Pokémon card craze of the early 00’s it’s the equivalent of being able to create digital collectables: they can be of pictures, videos, even VR/AR art, which can be accessed via your crypto wallet. Even the NBA has already “minted” and released their own NFT collection: NBA Top Shot. Blockchains are very much in their infancy, NFTs even more so, therefore it will be interesting to see how the minting of these collectables is received.

Whilst protocols that govern how information is shared across the internet is standardised, Blockchains operate on a number of different protocols, often without interoperability with each other, additionally, they often lack wallet solutions that are both secure yet easy to use for the wider public. So whilst fans of Tarantino and The Wachowski’s may want to get their hands on the digital collectables on offer, it may be a while before we see true broader public adoption.

Are NFTs Here To Stay?

Whilst it can be easy to dismiss Cryptocurrencies as a passing phase (and there are undoubtedly some outright scams in the crypto space), The crypto space has exploded since Bitcoin came onto the scene in 2009 to now a total market capitalisation of £2 Billion / $2.8 Billion (at the time of writing). Film studios are always looking for ancillary revenue; as merchandise sales and licensing provide additional revenue (MCU Merchandise generated $41 Billion for Disney in 2020) so digital collectables can be seen as part of the merchandising offering. Additionally, Blockchains are also starting to address environmental concerns of critics: Ethereum’s 2.0 upgrade will reduce the second-largest Blockchain’s energy consumption by 99.95% and carbon-neutral blockchains such as Wax.io have been developed to address environmental concerns – like those expressed by the billionaire Elon Musk.

The possibilities of blockchain use within the film industry are not limited to just NFTs; applications in film licensing and even crowdfunding can allow filmmakers to have better ways to track their work and help to avoid “Hollywood Accounting”. With Facebook’s rebranding to Meta, we can also expect more companies will make use of digital tools and environments to create new ways of engaging fans in the new virtual space. For example, one of the biggest media blockchains currently in the broadcast space is the Theta Network, which acts as an alternative to YouTube, the blockchain network has hosted a number of live stream screenings in collaboration with distributor Lionsgate Films. We’ll continue to see what the future holds for Blockchains & the film industry.

Also Read: Research Shows How Cinema Therapy Helps Reduce Anxiety

The post NFTs For “The Matrix” & “Pulp Fiction” Announced As The Film Industry Embraces Blockchain appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Spoiler warning – minor spoilers for Scream

Baby Driver

The opening scene of Baby Driver has been decades in the making, with Edgar Wright using the idea of a waiting getaway driver listening to music in a music video for Mint Royale in 2003. In the film Baby is waiting while his criminal comrades rob a bank, whilst waiting he listens to Bellbottoms by the Jon Spencer Blues explosion, dancing as best a person can while sitting in a car. As soon as his accomplices get in the car Baby is away and what follows is, in my opinion, the greatest car chase ever filmed. It contains jaw-dropping scenes of the car dodging all manner of traps and pursuers as well as edited to match up with the song that is still playing.

Death of Stalin

One of the best comedies of recent years is Armando Ianucci’s Death of Stalin. Not immediately a film that suggests hilarity as it deals with the death of one of the most despicable humans who ever lived but it is is very, very funny. The opening scene is in a concert hall where a performance of classical music is being broadcast live on the radio. In the studio a call comes through from telling the director to call this number back to speak to Stalin himself. Stalin wants a recording of the performance but it was not recorded. The unbelievable panic that takes control of everyone is terrifying as they are all convinced they’re going to die. It doesn’t matter that’s a fairly trivial request, it doesn’t matter that really Stalin should have asked for a recording before the performance. The mix of sheer terror and absolute absurdity is the hallmark of the film.

A Clockwork Orange

There are a number of Kubrick films that were options, the creepy flying shot from The Shining following the winding road, the introduction to the insane drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket but I chose A Clockwork Orange. Even the title cards are involved in this – alternating between bright red and bright blue completely filling the screen, and then the close up of Alex’s face, who, costume and makeup aside, is terrifying as he stares down the camera. The camera pulls back revealing the bizarre milk bar and with Alex quickly starting a voiceover using the “nadsat” slang language which further makes the characters something alien. Like many costumes in films the droogs could potentially look silly – they do not, they are exceptionally sinister-looking.

Scream

I’m not actually a big fan of the Scream franchise but this opening scene is undeniably great and sets up the rest of the film perfectly. The first great aspect to it is that while Drew Barrymore is in it, she is also killed in this first scene, and she was the most famous person in the entire film (with the possible exception of the legendary Henry Winkler as the principal who also dies) so after that it felt like anyone and everyone could die. The scene also contains the entire premise of the movie – a serial killer with a love of and encyclopedic knowledge of horror films and will use these tropes to kill their victims. Also as a pedantic film fan I appreciate they correct Barrymore’s character when she got film trivia wrong.

The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight has a great opening scene – the Joker robbing a bank while his accomplices kill each other, but The Dark Knight Rises has a great one too that is talked about a lot less. On an isolated airstrip somewhere in Europe the CIA take into their protection a renowned scientist with some dangerous knowledge and also take into their custody a number of hooded individuals – soldiers for the “masked man”. Once in the air it is revealed one of them is the masked man himself, Bane. It’s hard to describe what happens next but Bane basically uses a bigger plane to “steal” the plane they’re on, all to kidnap the scientist with dangerous knowledge. Bane’s ferocity, strength and devotion to his cause is evident from the very beginning and it is clear this is a very bad guy. Also I’ve never seen someone steal a plane in a film before.

Tarantino

When I was compiling a long list of potential films there was a lot of Tarantino – the argument about tipping in Reservoir Dogs, the diner conversation about robbery in Pulp Fiction, the introduction of the wedding massacre in Kill Bill, the unforgettable entrances of Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained. They all feature Tarantino’s trademark witty dialogue and usually mixed with violence (of the scenes I’ve mentioned only Reservoir Dogs contains no violence and it certainly makes up for that later).

Also Read: What Makes A Tarantino Film?

The post What Are The Best Opening Scenes in Cinema? appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Bloody Violence

Star Trek films have typically shied away from much of the possible blood and gore of fight scenes. Even when featuring Klingons, whose favour sword-like weapons, there was little blood. But even if you know next to nothing about Tarantino you will probably know his films are bloody. Kill Bill 1 and 2 are horrific limb slicing, blood spurting rampages. Reservoir Dogs has THAT scene involving Stuck In The Middle With You. At times Django Unchained is drenched in blood and one would expect Star Trek: Tarantino would be too. The traditional weapon in Star Trek, phasers, have never seemed to do too much damage but I’m sure Tarantino would have them blasting off arm and leaving gaping holes in people. I would have said at some point there would have been a samurai fight but with Star Trek already having done a sword fight maybe not.

Swearing

There has never been much swearing in Star Trek. Certainly, at times it has been seen as a broadly family show. I watched it as a young child and only learning a few Klingon insults. Obviously, with a show running over decades, the idea of what they can and can’t be said has changed, the original series was usually restricted to Bones shouting dammit. I distinctly remember being shocked at Data’s use of the word “shit” in Generations. Quentin Tarantino, however, fills his films with profanities, The Dallas Observer went through his films and totalled up the swearing, Tarantino dropped the f-bomb 269 times in Reservoir Dogs, and throughout all his films has used that word 901 times. While it does point to a downward trend in swearing within Tarantino films we could expect Bones to be far more aggressive when explaining what he can’t do.

Star Trek Further Into Darkness

The single biggest change would simply be the tone of Star Trek. Traditionally, it has been a “nice” show, Earth and the Federation were beacons of justice, prosperity and equality. The original series was praised for its diverse cast and over the years it has become a near-utopian vision of the human race. They journeyed through space as explorers and scientists, never looking for a fight. The more recent films have tried a grittier and darker view of the universe they inhabit and I think it’d be safe to say Tarantino would raise this 1000%. In Tarantino even the good guys aren’t that good, in Inglourious Basterds, the heroes explicitly go out to torture, maim and do everything they can to terrorise the Nazis. In Kill Bill The Bride seeks revenge on those who wronged her but she spent years doing exactly the same work, hardly a hero. Would Captain Kirk go a revenge rampage? Is Spock using the science labs to make drugs? Has the ultimate epitome of Federation-niceness Captain Picard started mutilating captured Klingons? You dread to think what the actual villains might be like.

The problem with auteurs…

Ultimately the problem with having Tarantino direct Star Trek is that it wouldn’t be a Star Trek film, it would be a Tarantino film. I think this is what happened with Star Trek directed by J.J. Abrams – he is a director with a very particular style that I don’t think he could relinquish for the good of the franchise. On top of that a director like Tarantino would want to make his presence felt, much in the way Abrams did, starting over and rewriting what happened so he could tell the story he wanted to tell.

At the time of writing, it seems like this film won’t happen and another director will take over, which I think is broadly a good thing. Of course, there is a perfect Star Trek vehicle for Tarantino – the Mirror Universe, the alternate reality where all the main characters are evil. This is the origin of the trope of evil versions of good characters having beards, referenced in everything from South Park to Community. In the Mirror Universe, the director could have the characters go full Tarantino without spoiling Star Trek itself.

Also Read: What Makes A Tarantino Film?

The post Quentin Tarantino Directing A Star Trek Film? Here’s What It Would’ve Been Like appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Interesting Dialogue For The Sake Of Interesting Dialogue

Tarantino has a very particular style of dialogue. A lot of filmmakers would say dialogue that doesn’t move the plot on is unnecessary, but many of Tarantino’s films contain long conversations that are just people talking. They aren’t setting up for something later in the film or giving important exposition; they just talk. The best scene in Reservoir Dogs is the discussion between hardened criminals about whether or not they should tip in restaurants. Inglourious Basterds opens with a harrowing but mesmerising scene of a French farmer being interrogated by an apparently very polite Nazi, and while this does set up a lot of the plot, I would argue you could do that in ninety seconds. Later in the film, characters play a version of the Rizla Game, which is equally riveting. Many people have tried to imitate Tarantino’s dialogue and failed, and he is probably one of the most quotable writers working in Hollywood today.

The Actors

Like many auteurs, Tarantino likes to use the same actors again and again. Samuel L Jackson has featured in seven Tarantino films (eight if we include True Romance), and actors like Michael Madsen, Tim Roth and Uma Thurman pop up again and again. Tarantino also has an odd trait of casting actors who perhaps wouldn’t be on most directors’ wish-lists. Who will get a small role in one of his films – someone like Oscar-nominated Christopher Walken, who gave a great performance in Pulp Fiction or someone like Don Johnson, star of Miami Vice, who certainly managed to say his lines in the right order in Django Unchained? These unusual choices are all the more mystifying when Tarantino’s credibility and budget would allow him to hire just about anyone.

Music & Sound

Tarantino soundtracks are usually very, very good. Not only in picking good songs like Misirlou by Dick Dale and Del-Tones or Woo Hoo by The 5.6.7.8’s, but also in picking short bursts of music and sound. Songs that get featured in Tarantino films can lose all other context. Stuck In The Middle With You is a very good song and has a very pleasant sound, but for millions of people, it will bring back one of the most brutal scenes in Tarantino’s work.

It doesn’t even have to be whole songs; it can just be a snippet of music – in Kill Bill: Vol 1, the character Elle Driver whistling as she calmly walks down a corridor to murder someone, and after watching it, the sound will be stuck in my head for days.

Tough Women

Tarantino does have a habit of including tough, strong women in his films. Obviously, four of the five Deadly Viper Assassination Squad in Kill Bill are women (as well as one member’s bodyguard, Go-Go). Shoshanna in Inglourious Basterds is an unstoppable force of nature, Daisy Domergue is as dangerous a villain as anyone, and, of course, Jackie Brown is a much more toned down and realistic portrayal of a strong woman. The shot of Uma Thurman wearing the yellow and black jumpsuit holding a samurai sword is already an iconic image.

However, Tarantino’s sensitivity is not always what it could be, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 has a very distressing rape scene which I don’t think needs to be in the film at all and I have heard people say they were disgusted at the violence meted out against Daisy Domergue in The Hateful Eight; as they felt it was being played for laughs. With all that being said, I do think Tarantino shows women in roles they often don’t get to play.

Adult Themes

Tarantino films are violent, and characters swear a lot. There’s lots of sex and drugs. Sections of Kill Bill are blood-drenched massacres. A YouTube edit of Pulp Fiction in which every word apart from the F-bomb is removed is almost four minutes long. If you make films about gangsters, drug dealers, assassins, slave-owners etc then you’re going to have to include unpleasant things. I’m not complaining about this as such, but it’s something to be aware of. Jackie Brown, a film about drug dealers, is probably the tamest, with the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) only giving it a 15 certificate, practically a family-friendly film in Tarantino’s world.

The Problems

Tarantino is by no means a perfect director and there are many problems with his work. Tarantino makes long films, and I think even the biggest fan of his work would admit he needs an editor, or more accurately, someone to tell him not all of his ideas are brilliant, and you can cut bits out. The Hateful Eight was over three hours long, and bear in mind, nearly all of that film takes place in one building.

Then there is his other notorious problem – he keeps casting himself in his own movies when he can’t act. Sometimes it’s tiny, almost unnoticeable roles, like Answering Machine Voice in Jackie Brown, but in Reservoir Dogs, he was one of the gang, and in Pulp Fiction, he has the utterly bizarre role of one Jules’s friends. Not only did he cast himself in Django Unchained, but he also made the unwise decision to adopt an Australian accent. Tarantino may well be a filmmaking genius, but he’s been told that far too many times.

As I have mentioned, Tarantino is a fan of strong language, and he is very loose with using certain words – racial epithets – that he should think more about whether he really needs to use them.

So there is a brief overview of Tarantino’s work. How will Once Upon A Time In Hollywood fit in with it?

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