Quentin Tarantino is back on his BS. He’s truly one of the industry’s best talkers, in that the man cannot shut up whatsoever. QT appeared on Bret Easton Ellis’s podcast this week, and he ended up naming his “top twenty films of the 21st century.” What surprised me most of all is the lack of recency bias – many of Tarantino’s top films of the past 25 years came in the first seven years of the millennia. Tarantino obviously described why he placed all of these films on his list, and his reasoning for There Will Be Blood has already caused a lot of controversy. First, here’s his list:
1. Black Hawk Down
2. Toy Story 3
3. Lost In Translation
4. Dunkirk
5. There Will Be Blood
6. Zodiac
7. Unstoppable
8. Mad Max: Fury Road
9. Shaun of the Dead
10. Midnight in Paris
11. Battle Royale
12. Big Bad Wolves
13. Jackass: The Movie
14. School Of Rock
15. The Passion Of The Christ
16. The Devil’s Rejects
17. Chocolate
18. Moneyball
19. Cabin Fever
20. West Side Story
I listened to a podcast where Tarantino described watching Dunkirk in England, with an all-British audience, and how that experience made him love the film. I’m surprised to see certain films on here, considering the directors made better films in the past 25 years. Like, West Side Story?? Yes, it’s Spielberg making the big Hollywood musical of his dreams, but for my money, The Fabelmans is a much better film overall? Same with There Will Be Blood – it’s Paul Thomas Anderson expanding his artistry as a director, but PTA’s collaboration with Daniel Day Lewis on Phantom Thread is the far superior film. I feel like Tarantino put certain films on his list to be trollish – The Passion of the Christ, is he for real? In any case, this is what he said about There Will Be Blood which has caused a lot of outrage:
“Daniel Day-Lewis. The old-style craftsmanship quality to the film. It had an old Hollywood craftsmanship without trying to be like that. It was the only film he’s ever done, and I brought it up to him, that doesn’t have a set piece. The fire is the closest to a set piece. This was about dealing with the narrative, dealing with the story, and he did it fcking amazingly. ‘There Will Be Blood’ would stand a good chance at being #1 or #2 if it didn’t have a big, giant flaw in it … and the flaw is Paul Dano. Obviously, it’s supposed to be a two-hander, but it’s also drastically obvious that it’s not a two-hander. [Dano] is weak sauce, man. He is the weak sister. Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. He’s just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy. The weakest fcking actor in SAG [laughs].”
I haven’t watched There Will Be Blood in years, but what I remember is that I was surprised by Paul Dano performing like he didn’t give a f–k that he was opposite DDL. It was a very gonzo performance for both men, and of course DDL can act anyone under the table. But Dano held his own and Tarantino is incredibly rude here. Dano is, imo, a very underrated actor. (But I still think Phantom Thread is the far superior PTA-DDL film.)
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
