Casey Chong presents a selection of ‘Tarantino-esque’ movies for your watch list…
Love him or loathe him, it’s hard to deny that Quentin Tarantino’s works, particularly his first two features in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, have influenced many filmmakers who’ve tried to ape his unique style. His trademarks from signature non-linear storytelling to over-the-top blood and violence, vibrant characters and pop-culture references are among the must-have elements seen in plenty of movies that incorporate the Tarantino-esque feel and look, and here are ten of the best…
Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane (1998)
It’s easy to forget that Joe Carnahan got his start making a no-budget indie movie. The cost for his feature-length directorial debut in Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane? A tiny $7,300 (!) and he managed to make it work. The movie may have been rough around the edges but it’s hard to deny Carnahan’s talent behind the camera, pulling off multiple duties, both off- and on-screen including writing, producing, editing and even playing one of the leads as a used car salesman.
The story is a riot with Carnahan firing all cylinders to make good use of his limited budget. The Tarantino influence is all over the place, notably in its pop-culture dialogue reminiscent of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. The opening scene is the highlight as we see a pair of used car salesmen (Carnahan’s Sid French and Dan Leis’ Bob Melba) using every possible tactic to convince the customers to buy their automobiles. Carnahan even pulls a leaf from Oliver Stone’s visual playbook: rapid-fire editing, handheld camerawork and black-and-white intercut, all efficiently paced under a tight 90 minutes.
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
At one point in Grosse Pointe Blank, hitman Martin Blank (John Cusack) yells “Popcorn!” and what happens next, well, let’s just say it isn’t pretty. Back in the ‘90s, the idea of casting someone like John Cusack to play a hitman seemed like a bold risk, but it works here, thanks to his effortlessly cool and charismatic lead performance. The movie combines various comedic styles from darkly humorous to crime, action and a dash of romance between Cusack’s Martin and his high-school sweetheart Debi played by Minnie Driver.
The dialogues are snappy while George Armitage, best known for his work with the Alec Baldwin-starring Miami Blues, does a good job balancing Grosse Pointe Blank between the dark and lighthearted tones. The movie also features a gleeful Dan Aykroyd as Martin’s rival hitman while the action evokes the stylishly kinetic John Woo-like flair, evidently during the thrilling gunfight in the convenience store.
Go (1999)
Doug Liman got his early start making comedies during the ‘90s and his third movie Go remains one of his best works to date. A fast and witty crime comedy in the vein of a Tarantino-esque style, the story zeroes in on three perspectives: Ronna (Sarah Polley), who is desperately in need of quick cash to avoid getting evicted from her home; Ronna’s co-worker Simon (Desmond Askew), whose trip to Las Vegas ends with a disaster; and finally, two criminally charged actors (Scott Wolf and Jay Mohr) posing as ecstasy pill buyers to help a detective (William Fichtner) to bust the dealer.
The interconnected stories are efficiently paced with enough wit, whip-smart dialogue and fascinating characters facing all kinds of troubles. Liman brings incredible youthful energy to his movie, mixing genuine laughs and violence into a whirlwind cinematic ride from the energetic start to the end.
Freeway (1996)
Matthew Bright’s debut feature saw the writer-director take a twisted spin on the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale classic through a modern lens. The first half establishes the 14-year-old Vanessa Lutz’s (Reese Witherspoon, in one of her best earlier performances) hardship from watching her mom and stepdad arrested to fleeing from her social worker, and the story gets darker once she hitches a ride from a seemingly kind driver (Kiefer Sutherland).
What begins as a casual two-hander along the freeway soon becomes increasingly sinister as Sutherland’s character happens to be a wanted serial killer. He is essentially the big bad wolf, complete with a suggestive surname as Wolverton (get it?). Interestingly, Witherspoon’s Vanessa may have been portrayed as a naïve young girl in the beginning, only to be revealed that she’s no pushover. This is especially true when the tables have turned, subverting the expectations of portraying Vanessa from an initial victim to a fearless anti-heroine character.
2 Days in the Valley (1996)
It’s easy to accuse 2 Days in the Valley of ripping off Pulp Fiction minus the non-linear narrative, but writer-director John Herzfeld’s ensemble crime comedy does have its idiosyncratic charm. The movie focuses on the multiple characters and how different events are intertwined. It starts with a pair of hitmen (James Spader and Danny Aiello), both have respectively distinct personalities: one’s cold and sadistic, while the other is more compromising.
A murder takes place, triggering a series of events within the San Fernando Valley from Teri Hatcher’s panicked former Olympian over a dead ex-husband to a suicidal TV director (Paul Mazursky), a pair of cops (Jeff Daniels and Eric Stoltz), and a Norwegian femme fatale played by the sultry Charlize Theron. Excluding her uncredited role in Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest, the latter marks her official feature debut and she made quite an impression playing the assassin’s girlfriend. Herzfeld blends dark humor, and violent crime drama with neo-noir elements and even a touch of Robert Altman-like storytelling vibe to a mostly entertaining result.
The Last Stop in Yuma County (2023)
This sun-baked, 1970s-set crime thriller coming from writer-director Francis Galluppi in his debut feature may be heavily indebted to Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction but he manages to stand out with his deliberate, yet assured direction right from the start. True to its title, the story follows a few characters who all end up at the same diner while waiting for a fuel truck to arrive to fill up their vehicles parked at the nearby gas station. Among them are a traveling salesman selling a set of kitchen knives (Jim Cummings), a pair of getaway bank robbers (a no-nonsense Richard Brake, and Nichola Logan) and two young criminal wannabes (Ryan Masson and Sierra McCormick).
The movie moves like a ticking clock waiting for something to happen and when it does, Galluppi ratchets up the tension at one point with a violent Mexican standoff and the tension continues to boil until the end. Pop-culture references can be heard in this movie, notably Badlands and Psycho with an obvious nod to the Coen brothers for their macabre humor and violence.
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)
Moving away from Western horror in his directorial debut Bone Tomahawk, S. Craig Zahler brings back the 1970-style exploitation cinema in Brawl in Cell Block 99. The first thing you notice is Vince Vaughn, unlike the one you often see him in comedies. He’s all bulked up with his head shaved and a no-nonsense attitude that makes his 6’ 5” tall significantly imposing. Zahler takes his deliberate time telling the story from Vaughn’s Bradley Thomas getting laid off from his mechanic job to finding out his wife is cheating on him before his life takes a drastic turn after ending up in prison.
From there, Zahler gamely exploits the prison genre with stylized dialogue and over-the-top violence to a delirious B-movie vibe. Casting Vaughn in such a role is a bold but interesting choice, where his character means business if anyone tries to test his patience. The action hits hard on all things visceral, which at one point, we even see a poor guy get his face brutally caved in and dragged across the concrete floor.
Thursday (1998)
The little-seen Thursday marks the feature-length debut of Skip Woods, who pulls off triple duties including a co-producer, writer and director. A dark comedy that blends Tarantino-esque violent and anything-goes storytelling, the movie gets off to a promising start in the convenience store, where a frustrated drug dealer played by the trigger-happy Aaron Eckhart gets into a heated argument with a store cashier over a cup of coffee.
The story mostly takes place within the confines of a home as Thomas Jane’s down-on-his-luck protagonist faces one problem after another: a hitman (Glenn Plummer) disguised as a pizza deliveryman, an adoption agent (Michael Jeter), more hitman (James LeGros) and a cop (Mickey Rourke), each arriving at his doorsteps. Then, there’s the sultry Paulina Porizkova, whose seduction leads to a scene reminiscent of Clint Eastwood’s The Rookie. Clocking in at just under 90 minutes, Woods fills in his movie with plenty of witty and rapid-fire dialogue along with an exhilarating mix of gritty violence, pitch-black humor and colorful characters.
What are your favourite Tarantino-esque films? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Casey Chong
