Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has always been outspoken, whether it's his stance on violence in movies or even his personal opinions on films, and he has recently made headlines for praising the fourth Indiana Jones movie, an unpopular opinion, to say the least.
The director has a long history of praising movies that having been universally scathed by critics, and his opinions just go to show how thoughts on movies are completely subjective, as he loves films that are rated as low as 3% on Rotten Tomatoes. Between tenth installments of horror franchises, underwhelming superhero flicks, and shot-for-shot remakes of Hitchcock classics, Tarantino has some hot takes.
Jason X (2001)
If the Pulp Fiction director, who confessed his love for the 2001 movie.
Tarantino loves Jason X despite it being one of the worst-reviewed horror movies of all time. However, the director does have a great defense, as he refers to when a woman's head shatters after it was dunked in liquid nitrogen, which is one of the most creative deaths in the long-running franchise.
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)
Tarantino's most recent hot take on movies is that The Last Crusade, which many think is the best Indy movie.
The director thinks the 1989 threequel is boring, arguing, "I don’t like the Sean Connery one at all. … That’s such a boring one. It’s boring. And he’s not an interesting character." Between Indy and Marion's reunion and Indy's detective work, there's an argument to be made that The Crystal Skull is underrated, and even though a lot of critics have gone back on their original opinions, the fourquel is actually fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 78%. However, there's no way the CGI-fest is better than The Last Crusade.
The Lone Ranger (2013)
Studios often learn the wrong lessons from movie successes, and The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
But Black Pearl also had a compelling story, a ing cast of more unique characters, and spectacular visuals, something that The Lone Ranger lacked. Tarantino thinks the action movie is incredible. According to Slash Film, he calls the first 45 minutes excellent, the next 45 minutes "soporific," and concludes, "Then comes the train scene—incredible! When I saw it, I kept thinking, 'What, that's the film that everybody says is crap? Seriously?"
Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
2010's Deadpool was released.
The sequel couldn't quite capture the original's success and was criticized for being too cynical, spiritless, and full of misogyny, with a low 32% on Rotten Tomatoes. Nevertheless, according to Indie Wire, Tarantino named the superhero sequel one of his 10 favorite films of 2013. This is hardly surprising, as the 2013 movie is full of the ultra-violence that Tarantino clearly loves so much.
Green Lantern (2011)
Though Green Lantern. However, instead of being smug after seeing 2011's Green Lantern, the writer-director actually sang the comic book movie's praises.
According to Drive, released the same year. The superhero movie was on his list of favorite 2011 movies, whereas he gave Drive the "Nice Try Award."
The Hangover Part II
Along with Green Lantern, The Hangover Part II is another one of his favorite movies from 2011, and, once again, despite the film's RT score of 34%, it's easy to see why the film resonated with Tarantino so much. The movie is full of crude humor, something that the director has often dabbled in himself, and neither the film nor the celebrated filmmaker hold back on the shock value either.
But for as hated as it is, Part II still managed to become the highest-grossing comedy of all time, and even though a lot of audiences saw the movie based on the success of the first film, Tarantino isn't alone when it comes to his love for it. And if it wasn't for the first film, Part II would probably be critically acclaimed, as its biggest problem is that it's too similar to the original.
The Intern (2015)
Robert De Niro is one of the most celebrated directors ever, but he delved into comedy in the late '90s and early 2000s with movies like Meet The Parents, and the results have been fairly inconsistent. One of the actor's many comedic misfires was the 2015 movie The Intern, which sees a 70-year-old widower (De Niro) take an internship at a popular fashion website, and it's one of the many all-but-forgotten 2010s comedies.
But Tarantino is still a big fan of the movie and, according to Slash Film, the director explained, "One of my favorite movies this last year was Nancy Meyers' The Intern. They're not considering that for the Oscars even though I think Robert De Niro gave one of the best performances this year in that movie." In fairness, while the film is rated rotten, it's on the high end and has a 59%, just 1% shy of being rated fresh.
Knight And Day (2010)
The Tourist, and unfairly so.
Both movies are about a secret agent and their love interests who inadvertently become their accomplices, but Knight and Day is full of surprises, and with a starring role from Tom Cruise, it's also typically full of death-defying stunts. Cruise and Cameron Diaz's have a surprising amount of chemistry too, but it didn't completely resonate with critics, as it sits at a low 52% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Psycho (1998)
The original Psycho is an all-time classic movie and was a huge influence on thriller movies, specifically when it comes to editing, and its influence can still be found in new movies released today. The remake, on the other hand, is considered one of the laziest remakes ever made, and it's almost identical to the original and completely unnecessary.
However, Tarantino is not only a big fan of the 1998 release, but, according to Slash Film, he even prefers the remake to Hitchcock's classic original. The remake will always be a strange iteration of the story that doesn't feel completely right, and with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 38%, Tarantino is very much in the minority.
Battlefield Earth (2000)
One of the most surprising movies that Tarantino loves is Battlefield Earth, which was slammed by critics when it was first released, and it isn't exactly one that was misunderstood at the time or ahead of its time. But back in 2000, according to Den Of Geek, after attending the premiere, Tarantino sang its praises.
The filmmaker apparently told Roger Christian, who directed the science fiction movie, "You’re gonna be killed, all of you. But I just loved this film. Wait ten, twelve years, it’ll all come ’round… Forget it now. You’re gonna go through hell." The filmmaker was both right and wrong, as Christian did indeed go through hell, as it has a 3% on Rotten Tomatoes, but more than 12 years has ed, and nobody is looking at the movie in a different light.
