+1
Perhaps my response is a tad belated, I don't know, but it concerns Tarantino. Pulp Fiction is sharply scripted, with a great cast and innovative spin on storytelling (however eclectic he is, even here), Jackie Brown minor but entertaining, Reservoir dogs off-putting and Kill Bill (Vol1&2) a gawky collage, an excessive album of film homages, a dazzlingly nerdy fantasia in Quentin's turnip head. What that guy lacks is the moral depth, the grandeur of themes and the command of mood that made, say, Kurosawa great. C'mon! He's like, my mother's age and he still bounces 'round giggling like some teenage nerdy buff. Sure, Leone 'borrowed', but he also helped redefine not just a genre, but the moviemaking craft. But then, Leone is no Kurosawa. I'll tell you a terrific director though: Peckinpah. Most people know the Wild Bunch, but perhaps don't appreciate the significance of his greatest achievements (this and, Ride the High Country). They are grand, potent, sometimes warm, literate and superbly performed films. Nothing he did after these was ever quite as good, I suppose, and since the Western is a preference of genre, it wouldn't be to all tastes (especially not modern tastes). As for the other thing that was said of Tarantino, sure, he may be trying to introduce the great filmmakers into the mainstream, but if that's what you want, give him his own slot with that Weirdy Beardy Leonard Maltin, for **** sake.