Editor’s Note: After the publication of this piece we made an internal discovery that this interview was not a one-on-one interview between our writer and Quentin Tarantino, and that some of the questions attributed to “Big Hollywood” were asked by other journalists in what was a roundtable interview.
 
Upon discovering this, we temporarily removed the piece from the site until all the facts were known and a proper correction could be added.

Quentin Tarantino exploded on the world film scene in 1992 with “Reservoir Dogs,” a brutally profane yet ingeniously plotted and often funny deconstruction of the heist-film genre. He took things to a whole other level in 1994 with “Pulp Fiction,” reviving the foundering careers of superstars John Travolta and Bruce Willis while launching the star careers of Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman while winning a Best Screenplay Oscar himself. 

Yet in the 15 years since that classic, Tarantino hasn’t been able to score quite as big an impact. 1997’s “Jackie Brown” made just $39 million, while the two “Kill Bill” films scored $70 million each yet were considered hyper-violent trifles compared to what he was really capable of. And he really bottomed out with 2007’s “Death Proof,” which made up half of “Grindhouse,” a three-hour homage to the trashy drive-in films of America’s past. Its 21st-century audience didn’t get the joke and largely ignored it, earning just $27 million at the US box office.  (more…)

4am PST - Time Machine, The (1960) – A turn-of-the-century inventor sends himself into the future to save humanity. Cast: Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Yvette Mimieux, Sebastian Cabot Dir: George Pal C-103 mins, TV-G

George Pal’s take on the classic story by H.G. Wells is further proof that story triumphs CGI. Even as a kid watching this on a fourteen inch television, the special effects looked cheesy. But it takes more than bad costumes and cheap models (the stop-motion photography remains impressive, however) to undermine imagination and a great story. You get so wrapped up in the drama and ideas the bad effects barely hit the radar. The remake came out in 2002 (directed by Wells great-grandson Simon, no less) and enjoyed all the latest technical movie magic available, and still it laid there like poorly written, PC-infected roadkill. (more…)