Quentin Tarantino, no stranger to lists and ranking things that blow minds and ruffle feathers alike, has done it again. In a recent episode of "The Bret Easton Ellis" podcast, the renowned director laid out what he deems the crème de la crème of 21st-century cinema. Topping his list, Ridley Scott's military operation drama, Black Hawk Down, has been lauded by Tarantino as "a masterwork" and a movie with an 'Apocalypse Now' sense of ambition that completely achieves it, according to an interview obtained by The New York Post.
Pixar's gem, Toy Story 3, brought out an unexpected emotional response from the director, with Tarantino confessing that "that last five minutes ripped my f—g heart out." The soft spot extends, as three films with Bay Area connections grace his top six picks. These selections include Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation and David Fincher's Zodiac, as detailed in an article by The San Francisco Chronicle.
While Tarantino admits that his views on films can evolve over time, his current top ten list has a few surprise entries that might not jibe with everyone's idea of cinematic gold. Alongside the aforementioned, Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, and the adrenaline-infused action of Mad Max: Fury Road make the cut. Interestingly, his list featured no love lost for Paul Dano's performance in There Will Be Blood, which he boldly critiqued for being a "non-entity performance," despite previously stating, "I'm not saying he’s giving a terrible performance," according to The New York Post.
Not one to shy away from controversy, Tarantino even touched on the topic of authorship and originality in storytelling during the podcast. He pointed out the glaring similarities between Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale and Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games series, bluntly questioning why the Japanese writer didn't sue, as reported by The New York Post.
