Jackie Brown is an underappreciated Tarantino film. But sometimes, films have to be protected because one moment is so perfect. The Pixies playing while all the destruction is happening at the finale is a film moment I don't ever want to lose.
Evan Wilcox - 6 years ago
In a battle between weirdly underrated but bro-loved movies with great music, great romance and great endings, I guess I'm voting Jackie Brown. Its romance is between adults, and the subterfuge around the romance is entirely of the characters' making. Fight Club is the first Fincher movie with ideas in its head, but Jackie Brown has people in its heart. I'll take the latter every time.
Erin Teachman (Washington, DC) - 6 years ago
I voted against a Fincher film that I thought was too bleak and without hope in Se7en and I feel compelled to vote here for a Fincher film that manages to be both deeply cynical and very tentatively hopeful. Fight Club is far lighter than the book it is based on and the ending suggests the possibility of moving beyond both the ruthless and occasionally brutal repression of mainstream capitalism and the dark, destructive desires of utter nihilism. Jackie Brown navigates these same waters with a bit less bombast and aplomb. I can't say that I feel great about this vote but that's the territory we're in, the Filmspotting Madness Circle of I Hate This Decision You Monsters, isn't it?
Wade McCormick - 6 years ago
Both weaker (but good) films in these directors' filmographies. Seven vs Reservoir Dogs was the much better Fincher-QT matchup. I guess I'll take Jackie Brown, but if we only get to keep one 90s movie, I'm fine throwing both of these in the incinerator.
Jessica in Somerville, MA - 6 years ago
This one is killing me. I have seen Fight Club countless times and love how I can get something new each time. But Jackie Brown is just too brilliant and perfect to get rid of. It’s the more special film, though I am hard-pressed to find a replacement for Fight Club. I prefer Tarantino to Fincher overall, but Fight Club is the main reason that I can’t completely dismiss Fincher. If we can’t get a woman president, then the least we can do is a female-led film.
Daniel - 6 years ago
Gary, Good Will Hunting possibly didn't make it onto one of the criteria ranking lists Adam mentioned. I too was a bit surprised as it is a top ten from the 90s for me. It may not have been a big enough box office hit to make the list. One of Gus's best for sure, though My own private Idaho was in the running.
Daniel Camacho - 6 years ago
I'm one of the rare film buffs that consider Jackie Brown the best film Tarantino has ever made.
Fight Club is great. But it doesn't have Pam Grier and Robert Forster talking about growing old while having coffee, and I can't let a scene that beautiful be forgotten for all of eternity.
Chad Hill (Monticello, AR) - 6 years ago
I have a feeling we'll still have Pulp Fiction when all of this is over, and for that, Fight Club gets my vote. Fincher's dark satire was one of four films watched in rapid succession as a budding cinephile, Tarantino's opus included, that kicked me straight into full-on film obsession. Fight Club was like a firecracker, it's nihilism and disaffection acidic but also deeply satisfying and addicting, while maturity and growth have changed my perception of its intricacies and intent over time. Jackie Brown is the more mature film, and a notable anomaly in Tarantino's filmography for it, and though I love it so, Fight Club makes me feel alive.
Neil Mitchell - 6 years ago
Tarantino's second worst film as director for me, disappointing if better on rewatching, against Finchers second masterpiece. Pitt and Norton deliver the knockout blow!
Mike H. - 6 years ago
Both of these films were pretty exciting for me as a teen. Jackie Brown felt like I met a cool, smart guy at a backyard party who shared my unironic love for obscure blaxploitation flicks. Fight Club felt like the (maybe much more common) experience of meeting someone who shared my love of "edgy" fiction like Palahniuk. Both epitomize certain visions of "cool". Both probably aren't as deep as I once thought they were.
But Fight Club deserves some defenders in this thing. At least based on all the comments I've seen throughout this tournament and it's waning reputation among film nerds in general. People tend to be pretty eye-rolly and dismissive about it these days, but I really believe it's much better and relevant to our current time than all the "woke" internet commentary about it implies. After all, the last 2 years have been chocked-full of young males clashing in the streets in elaborate costumes ostensibly to fight about serious politics......while also actually being pretty obviously thrilled. To be a part of something. To conflict. To feel something.
Or maybe I'm wrong and it's just a dumb pretentious movie about nothing. I still think it's doing more leg work than Jackie Brown.
The thing with Tarantino is that he may be even better than his films. He's so consistent - in good ways, ways to which to look forward - that his filmography is greater than the sum of its parts, and they're darn good parts.
Jackie Brown vies for my Top Tarantino Spot, with Inglorious Basterds, out of a set of films I rate 8-10 out of 10, with only one exception. But film to film, Fight Club is just better, from start to finish. It's better the first time, and remains superlative post-reveal. It has more going on cinematically, and maybe... mayyybe... even has richer characters than Jackie? Actually, no, not with the leads, but for all side characters, I would say that yes, it definitely does.
Andy Mitchell of Chicago - 6 years ago
Kevin Kiley almost makes me want to change my vote.
Erick Roque - 6 years ago
This is one of the easier picks for me this round.
I love Tarantino and love Jackie Brown. Fight Club is good, but it relies heavily on its twist. I think all movies that rely on a big twist at the end suffer a bit from repeat viewings. This applies to The Sixth Sense and The Usual Suspects as well. Both are good movies, but neither can make you feel the way you did the first time you watched it. .
That isn't a problem with Jackie Brown.
Erick Roque
Miami, FL
Kevin Kiley - 6 years ago
FIght Club is my pick.
I can't talk about why!
I like Jackie Brown it is my favorite QT movie. However, like most of his work it is much more style that substance. QT is rarely original instead borrowing from others and this is no exception.
Peter Blunden - 6 years ago
Real hard choice here... between two films I think are HUGELY overrated.
Voted for Jackie Brown because I dislike it less.
Ethan - 6 years ago
Okay Okay, hear me out here: Fight Club... is bad. It's not a good movie. Meanwhile, Jackie Brown is arguably Tarantino's greatest. More so than any of his other films he is able to harness his writerly instincts to create characters that, yes, are very much Tarantino types but with an added pathos that elevates it to another level. Not to mention it features career best performances from Grier and Forster. It's not better than Chungking Express, but it is certainly better than Fight Club... most things are.
Gary - 6 years ago
Hey yeh, how come Good Will Hunting didn't make this competition?? Anyone got a view on this? It was a breakout film for the lads, Robin Williams best performance and won the Oscar for best screenplay.
Jackie Brown is an underappreciated Tarantino film. But sometimes, films have to be protected because one moment is so perfect. The Pixies playing while all the destruction is happening at the finale is a film moment I don't ever want to lose.
In a battle between weirdly underrated but bro-loved movies with great music, great romance and great endings, I guess I'm voting Jackie Brown. Its romance is between adults, and the subterfuge around the romance is entirely of the characters' making. Fight Club is the first Fincher movie with ideas in its head, but Jackie Brown has people in its heart. I'll take the latter every time.
I voted against a Fincher film that I thought was too bleak and without hope in Se7en and I feel compelled to vote here for a Fincher film that manages to be both deeply cynical and very tentatively hopeful. Fight Club is far lighter than the book it is based on and the ending suggests the possibility of moving beyond both the ruthless and occasionally brutal repression of mainstream capitalism and the dark, destructive desires of utter nihilism. Jackie Brown navigates these same waters with a bit less bombast and aplomb. I can't say that I feel great about this vote but that's the territory we're in, the Filmspotting Madness Circle of I Hate This Decision You Monsters, isn't it?
Both weaker (but good) films in these directors' filmographies. Seven vs Reservoir Dogs was the much better Fincher-QT matchup. I guess I'll take Jackie Brown, but if we only get to keep one 90s movie, I'm fine throwing both of these in the incinerator.
This one is killing me. I have seen Fight Club countless times and love how I can get something new each time. But Jackie Brown is just too brilliant and perfect to get rid of. It’s the more special film, though I am hard-pressed to find a replacement for Fight Club. I prefer Tarantino to Fincher overall, but Fight Club is the main reason that I can’t completely dismiss Fincher. If we can’t get a woman president, then the least we can do is a female-led film.
Gary, Good Will Hunting possibly didn't make it onto one of the criteria ranking lists Adam mentioned. I too was a bit surprised as it is a top ten from the 90s for me. It may not have been a big enough box office hit to make the list. One of Gus's best for sure, though My own private Idaho was in the running.
I'm one of the rare film buffs that consider Jackie Brown the best film Tarantino has ever made.
Fight Club is great. But it doesn't have Pam Grier and Robert Forster talking about growing old while having coffee, and I can't let a scene that beautiful be forgotten for all of eternity.
I have a feeling we'll still have Pulp Fiction when all of this is over, and for that, Fight Club gets my vote. Fincher's dark satire was one of four films watched in rapid succession as a budding cinephile, Tarantino's opus included, that kicked me straight into full-on film obsession. Fight Club was like a firecracker, it's nihilism and disaffection acidic but also deeply satisfying and addicting, while maturity and growth have changed my perception of its intricacies and intent over time. Jackie Brown is the more mature film, and a notable anomaly in Tarantino's filmography for it, and though I love it so, Fight Club makes me feel alive.
Tarantino's second worst film as director for me, disappointing if better on rewatching, against Finchers second masterpiece. Pitt and Norton deliver the knockout blow!
Both of these films were pretty exciting for me as a teen. Jackie Brown felt like I met a cool, smart guy at a backyard party who shared my unironic love for obscure blaxploitation flicks. Fight Club felt like the (maybe much more common) experience of meeting someone who shared my love of "edgy" fiction like Palahniuk. Both epitomize certain visions of "cool". Both probably aren't as deep as I once thought they were.
But Fight Club deserves some defenders in this thing. At least based on all the comments I've seen throughout this tournament and it's waning reputation among film nerds in general. People tend to be pretty eye-rolly and dismissive about it these days, but I really believe it's much better and relevant to our current time than all the "woke" internet commentary about it implies. After all, the last 2 years have been chocked-full of young males clashing in the streets in elaborate costumes ostensibly to fight about serious politics......while also actually being pretty obviously thrilled. To be a part of something. To conflict. To feel something.
Or maybe I'm wrong and it's just a dumb pretentious movie about nothing. I still think it's doing more leg work than Jackie Brown.
The thing with Tarantino is that he may be even better than his films. He's so consistent - in good ways, ways to which to look forward - that his filmography is greater than the sum of its parts, and they're darn good parts.
Jackie Brown vies for my Top Tarantino Spot, with Inglorious Basterds, out of a set of films I rate 8-10 out of 10, with only one exception. But film to film, Fight Club is just better, from start to finish. It's better the first time, and remains superlative post-reveal. It has more going on cinematically, and maybe... mayyybe... even has richer characters than Jackie? Actually, no, not with the leads, but for all side characters, I would say that yes, it definitely does.
Kevin Kiley almost makes me want to change my vote.
This is one of the easier picks for me this round.
I love Tarantino and love Jackie Brown. Fight Club is good, but it relies heavily on its twist. I think all movies that rely on a big twist at the end suffer a bit from repeat viewings. This applies to The Sixth Sense and The Usual Suspects as well. Both are good movies, but neither can make you feel the way you did the first time you watched it. .
That isn't a problem with Jackie Brown.
Erick Roque
Miami, FL
FIght Club is my pick.
I can't talk about why!
I like Jackie Brown it is my favorite QT movie. However, like most of his work it is much more style that substance. QT is rarely original instead borrowing from others and this is no exception.
Real hard choice here... between two films I think are HUGELY overrated.
Voted for Jackie Brown because I dislike it less.
Okay Okay, hear me out here: Fight Club... is bad. It's not a good movie. Meanwhile, Jackie Brown is arguably Tarantino's greatest. More so than any of his other films he is able to harness his writerly instincts to create characters that, yes, are very much Tarantino types but with an added pathos that elevates it to another level. Not to mention it features career best performances from Grier and Forster. It's not better than Chungking Express, but it is certainly better than Fight Club... most things are.
Hey yeh, how come Good Will Hunting didn't make this competition?? Anyone got a view on this? It was a breakout film for the lads, Robin Williams best performance and won the Oscar for best screenplay.
Ah, the old "movies based on books that friends of mine in college talked about way too much" matchup.
I'm voting for Fight Club just because I will never forgive anyone who voted for Jackie Brown over Chungking Express.