Quentin Tarantino’s top 20 films since 1992

  • Print this article!
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • MySpace
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter
News | by Mark Pollard

Quentin Tarantino

Speaking in an interview, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and KILL BILL maker Quentin Tarantino has put forth what he considers to be the top 20 movies made in the last 17 years. Not surprisingly, he has a few Asian action and martial arts films on his list.

In the video, QT cites BATTLE ROYALE as his favorite and lists the remaining titles in alphabetical order.

1. BATTLE ROYALE
2. ANYTHING ELSE
3. AUDITION
4. THE BLADE
5. BOOGIE NIGHTS
6. DAZED AND CONFUSED
7. DOGVILLE
8. FIGHT CLUB
9. FRIDAY
10. THE HOST
11. THE INSIDER
12. JSA
13. LOST IN TRANSLATION
14. THE MATRIX
15. MEMORIES OF MURDER
16. POLICE STORY 3: SUPERCOP
17. SHAUN OF THE DEAD
18. SPEED
19. TEAM AMERICA
20. UNBREAKABLE

I’m not always in sync with what QT has to say or has filmed over the years but I do heartily agree with his inclusion of Tsui Hark’s highly underrated wuxia actioner THE BLADE, as well as POLICE STORY 3: SUPERCOP. But how he managed to leave out DRUNKEN MASTER 2 or chose THE HOST over OLD BOY is beyond me.

I also agree with his assessment of THE MATRIX films. The structurally flawed sequels make it impossible to completely enjoy the first one knowing where the mythos is heading.

Tags: , , ,

  • Print this article!
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • MySpace
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter

  • Mark,

    I can't agree with you more and oddly enough, I watched OLDBOY last night. All I can say is WHOA!!! How about that fight scene in the hallway of the "prison?"

    FYI I am in the midst of watching Chan Wook Park's revenge trilogy in order--SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE, OLDBOY and I have LADY VENGEANCE in my Netflix watch instantly queue (I can't wait until after the wifey retires tonight).

    All you Asian film fans out there should make sure that you watch these amazing Korean films.
  • ARCANG3L
    HERE IS WHAT I RECKON IS GOOD TOP 20 REGARDLESS OF TARANTINO'S PICKS 1) SAW 2) THE MATRIX 3) SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION 4) CRASH 6) 7 POUNDS 7) FIGHT CLUB 8) PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS 9) 36 CHAMBERS 10) ONG BUK 11) ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA 12) HERO 13) IPMAN 14) DRUNKIN MASTER 2 15) SNATCH 16) DEVILS ADVOCATE 17) GODFATHER 18) GOOD FELLAZ 19) LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKIN BARRELS 20) ONCE WERE WARRIORS IN ANY ORDER
  • cumpa
    Battle Royale is a great movie, but I wouldn't go that far to name it the top 1 movie, maybe on the top 15 IMO. DM2 is a way superior movie then the Blade and why he doesn't even mention Once Upon a Tme in China 2 is beyond me, and for the crime/drug category, why isn't neither of these three movies on his list (The Usual Suspect, Heat and Traffic), Shaun of the Dead and Team America should not be on nobody top 20, I mean don't get me wrong they fun to watch once or twice but that's about it and I rather watch Christian Bale's Equilibrium or Milla Jovovich's Ultraviolet before I watch the Matrix. Sorry Quentin but I disagree with at least 7 of the films on your list, IMO.
  • RAJOADO
    The Blade was awesome, and FIGHT CLUB was original, but from the 10,000 movies released in the last 17 years, there are some great ones that deserve to be on this list.
  • GrandMasterT
    I remember, as just a young pup, many, many years ago being taken by my old man to see The Blade at some asian film festival. I’d nagged him constantly for two weeks after seeing it being advertised in the local rag. At that point, it was the coolest and most out of control thing I'd ever seen. What struck me most was when I rewatched it years later, when the wide-eyed optimism/ignorance of youth had been replaced with the crushing cynicism of a man who had spent the better part of the past 12 years rotting his brain with the dripping cheesery of kung fu films. It was still awesome. Bits of it were still hilarious- like when the main protagonist can only learn the techniques for one side of his body because he only has one half of the kung fu training manual- 'If only I had the other half raaaaaaaa!!!' Awesome. The battle scenes weren't really kung fu- more like hyper stylised super fast spinning sword duels. They were awesome too. The whole story was generally far bleaker and far more demented than anything else coming out at the time. Kinda reminded me of Pan's Labyrinth- not in content or theme- but in the same way Pan's was a sort of adult fairy-tale, The Blade was like a mature version of a classic kung fu fables- which I guess it was being a remake and all but anyway. I'll stop rambling now. Movie is awesome. If you haven't seen it- see it.
  • PurpleCobra74
    Nice list, but remember that QT prefers Psycho the remake over the original :-)

    Shame Micheal Mann's Heat didn't make the list. But at least one of his films did.

    I agree about DM2. Shame no Donnie Yen :-(
  • jiujitsu77
    mark, i think the reason he chose the host is simply because he needed to find a film that also represented the giant monster genre. he kinda touched all the bases in regards to his influences (meaning films in genres he likes made in the last 17 years), and kaiju is one of them. the host is an awesome monster movie
  • Rhythm-X
    He didn't choose THE HOST over OLD BOY, any more than he chose MEMORIES OF MURDER over OLD BOY. If anything, he chose JOINT SECURITY AREA over OLD BOY. Frankly I'm fine with that - JSA tends to get cast to the side or considered irrelevant for not being part of the Vengance Trilogy and it really deserves MUCH better. More inexplicable is choosing PS3 over DRUNKEN MASTER 2. Just... no.
blog comments powered by Disqus