Few people are as qualified to opinionatedly discuss the future of cinema as Quentin Tarantino, a creative force so unique upon its crashing arrival in 1992 with Reservoir Dogs that he single-handedly reinvented the entire industry. With his latest canon entry The Hateful Eight arriving in December, Tarantino recently spoke to Vulture with his usual refreshing candidness regarding the film's cultural importance and the future of cinema as a viable medium for artistic bravery.
When asked about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas's collective pessimism surrounding so-called "tentpole" filmmaking, a franchise-centered approach of which both directors are clearly a part, Tarantino takes issue with the assertion that this is a seemingly new problem, or even a problem at all:
Tarantino also directly criticizes The Matrix Reloaded, which he deemed as "the last time" he felt competitive. "That was the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads," Tarantino says of the Kill Bill era. "I saw Matrix Reloaded at the Chinese Theatre the day it opened, and I walked out of the cinema singing that Jay Z song: 'S-dot-Carter / Y’all must try harder / Competition is nada.' I was like, 'Bring it the fuck on.' I was worried about that? Ho-ly shit." He also takes issue with The Town, a film he otherwise liked aside from all the annoying attractive people:
As for the filmmaking that most excites him these days (aside from HBO's Aaron Sorkin vehicle The Newsroom), Tarantino is quick to reference mumblecore as a source of concentrated interest ("I was curious and watched Baghead, and I thought it was really good") and even quicker to discount supposed indie films like The Kids Are All Right as victims of extremely short shelf lives:
Addressing his repeated assertion that he plans to retire after releasing his tenth film (The Hateful Eight will serendipitously be his eighth), Tarantino stands by his plan. However, the possibility of another Kill Bill installment isn't totally hopeless:
The entire novella of an interview is well worth a thorough reading or two, particularly his outright dismissal of another HBO-bred source of critical contention, True Detective:
The Hateful Eight significantly improves the American holiday season on December 25.