Kill Bill Vol. 2 ****

Writer/Director: Quentin Tarantino
Year: 2004
Cinematographer: Robert Richardson

Vol. 2 is just what the title suggests, the second half of what really is one film. Somehow though, Vol. could be self contained.

It establishes her need for revenge better than Vol. 1, and then comes full circle by the end as we see the climax of her revenge. There is a fully resolved story arch in Vol. 2, but because of Tarantino's willingness to tell the story out of order, to get the tone to progress and to pull the viewer in, Vol. 1 basically has scenes that he couldn't fit into Vol. 2.

In other words, he had too many long scenes that he wanted to show us, but instead of cramming the bulk of plot in the first film, he actually gives you the bloodiest, least important scenes in Vol. 1, and then has room for the plot arch in Vol. 2.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 ****

Writer/Director: Quentin Tarantino
Year: 2003
Cinematographer: Robert Richardson

Vol. 1 is not quite as rewarding as Vol. 2 for me, but really these can be reviewed as one film. Tarantino's anime kung-fu samurai revenge film takes a little bit of everything you can see Tarantino loves about Hong Kong and Japanese b-movies and puts it into a blender with American actors and locations, lending the concoction a bit of the old west shoot-out vibe. Fun, but you have to be able to stomach a lot of fake blood hyperbolically spewing and drenching the audience.

Wall Street ****

Director: Oliver Stone

Year: 1987

Writers: Stanley Weiser, Oliver Stone

Cinematographer: Robert Richardson

Shutter Island ***

Director: Martin Scorsese

Year: 2010

Book by: Dennis Lehane

Adapted by: Laeta Kalogridis

Cinematographer: Robert Richardson

Inglourious Basterds *****

Writer/Director: Quentin Tarantino

Year: 2009

Cinematographer: Robert Richardson

I was hooked when I saw the poster of Brad Pitt announcing "Brad Pitt is a Basterd." And then I saw in print below "The new film by Quentin Tarantino."

I will always go along with Tarantino for his cinema-loving violent revenge-flick romps. And by now I know I will always have guilty pleasure watching his glorified revenge violence. Although I want to condemn his plot lines for their unabashed brutality and accuse him of being nothing but a pop-culture blender and smut dealer to the blood-thirsty desensitized first-person-shooter video-game generation... I must confess that this film may be his masterpiece.

The simple structure of the film, being slimmed to a few great, long scenes, the most spectacular of which being the opening sequence featuring Christoph Waltz's powerhouse villain, totally won me over. Each scene is a delight to watch, and Tarantino must be crowned the king of entertainment. Only a cinephile as notorious as Tarantino would rewrite history, giving a group of violent Jewish-American soldiers the chance to reap revenge against the Nazis, but leaving the massacre of Hilter and his entire SS elite up to the work of a Jewish Cinema owner. Oh, and a British film critic, a german soldier-turned-actor, and Hitler's propaganda minister, Goebbels are also essential characters.

This is a film made for Tarantino, by Tarantino. A revenge flick that lets film itself execute revenge. It's meta. And I have to confess I continue to have fun when Tarantino has fun, even though I still feel guilty for liking it.