Running Movie Fight Thread: PT Anderson v. Tarantino

First up,

Better Director: Paul Thomas Anderson or Quentin Tarantino? Who ya got?

 

Tarantino. Although PT Anderson did make the best film between the two of them.

 

Basterds is the best film* ever made.

* in the group of "best film ever made"

 

Dogs, Fiction, Bill... Tarantino


And I looooooooooove Boogie Nights.

 

I'm with Anderson. His movies are a hell of lot more original, better screenplays and they're usually "about" something. Rotten Tomatoes leans heavily toward Anderson, though I admit Tarantino movies are usually more fun - I typically don't find myself emotionally "rooting" (or invested) for any of his lead characters, with the exception of Jackie Brown and Django.

 

As a filmmaker and imagemaker? Anderson. And it’s not close in that regard. It’s actually worked against him since the back half of The Master, which drifts off into a thematic ending, and carries over to Inherent Vice.

As a pop culture/moviemaker, probably QT. Not a particularly great image maker. I suspect he knows that. The basement scene in Basterds is such good culture commentary it’s hard to put into words. But there are profoundly stupid moments in that movie (the basement scene involves none of the moronic performances), and there have been issues with pacing and editing and all kinds of other stuff in his last 3-4 movies.

People tend to be very split on Magnolia. I’m a big fan. That tips me into the PTA camp.

 

seconded

and add my usual Tarantino-as-Jeff Koons characterization: a brilliant postmodern maker of shiny, empty chromium balloon animals.

 

If someone has another "movie fight" idea, I can update the thread title. Daves of Thunder podcast mentioned Boogie Nights and it got be me thinking. I was ticked Burt Reynolds didn't win the supporting actor Oscar (but losing to Robin Williams from Good Will Hunting takes the sting out a bit). Both big time actors who made Hollywood a lot of bank. Tom Cruise doesn't seem that interested in making Oscar type movies any more.

 

He’s not with Nicole Kidman. She pushed him in that way. His best work (save Born of the Fourth of July) came married to her.

I do think Cruise believed Valkyrie (2008) would be an Oscar type. It wasn’t.

 

Mel Brooks vs John Hughes

 

Mel Brooks in a walk. Though I do think The Breakfast Club would be a terrific musical.

 

Magnolia is incredible. Cruise as TJ Mackey was great in '99 but even moreso in hindsight the more we got to see couch-jumping, OT VIII Cruise in later years. Kind of like Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler," i.e., a guy playing himself.