The Directors: Quentin Tarantino Quiz

Answer: Personification of animals and inanimate objects

Tarantino's films are often satiric, the music typically are pop hits from a bygone era, and honor an intriguing genre of film history. He is also known for incorporating scenes from other movies and giving them his special touch.

Quentin Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and named after Burt Reynolds' character on "Gunsmoke" but spent his formative years in the Los Angeles area with his oft-married mother. He dropped out of high school to attend acting school. To support himself he worked at a theater that featured pornographic films and at a video rental store where he was sought out for film recommendations.

Answer: True Romance

Although his name is on the credits as screenwriter, opening scenes are predictive of later Tarantino films. Slater meets Arquette at a Kung Fu movie. She confesses that she works as a prostitute but since they are in love, they get married anyway. From there the plot twists and turns augmented by outstanding performers in supporting or cameo roles such as Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, and Christopher Walken. Sharp eyes may spot James Gandolfini, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Sizemore, Chis Penn, and Conchata Ferrell.

Director Tony Scott changed Tarantino's ending because, he said, he fell in love with the two lead characters. Tarantino commented that the change improved the film.

"True Romance" garnered a 93% rating from Rotten Tomatoes web site.

Answer: Reservoir Dogs

A group of thieves meet to organize a jewel robbery. To protect their identities from each other, they used code names. Harvey Keitel is Mr. White, Tim Roth is Mr. Orange, and Michael Madsen is Mr. Blonde. Steve Buscemi dominates an early scene when he objects to his assigned code name Mr. Pink. The opening slow motion scene that finds the 'dogs' striding is a classic film technique often imitated.

Shooting on a shoestring budget, Tarantino was able to complete the film with the encouragement of Harvey Keitel, who help not only to find investors but attract other actors interested in the project. The film made money and has since become a cult classic. Its break-through came mainly from film festivals such as Sundance.

An independent film bucks the odds as often there are lesser known actors, slim budgets, and distribution issues. One cynic said that the definition of an independent film was a sure way to lose money.

Rotten Tomatoes gave it 94%.

Answer: Pulp Fiction

The other nominations were for Film Editing and Best Director for Tarantino but it only won for screenplay.

"Pulp Fiction" is an innovative film that revised in many ways how films are perceived. It contains all the Tarantino trademarks--non-linear time, ensemble cast, stylized violence. It does not fit well into traditional cinema genre. Some have called it "postmodern film", "black comedy" and "neo-noir". It requires you to at least see it more than once to understand the integrated plot and the time-line.

The plot is complex involving a fixed prize fight, a souvenir watch, a lonely wife, a mysterious brief case, a rape--not necessarily in that order.

Fans of "Pulp Fiction" recall what a Big Mac is called in France, that a hypodermic needle can solve a lot of problems especially when stabbed in the heart, it is fun to eat at restaurants where the servers are dead rock stars, it really gets messy when you accidentally shoot someone in the backseat of your car, and there innovative ways to hide a pocket watch. The list goes on.

Rotten Tomatoes score--96%.

Answer: Blaxploitation

Blaxploitation came about as films began to emerge as black actors and filmmakers attempted to tap into black movie-goers as audiences. Such films addressed the black culture that was not portrayed in the typical Hollywood fare.

Tarantino denied the blaxploitation label but it is certainly clear that the film is a homage to that genre. Pam Grier, who was sometimes referred to as the Queen of Blaxploitation Films came on board to play Jackie Brown, a character not unlike title roles she played in "Coffy" (1973) and "Foxy Brown" (1974) Tarantino adapted Elmore Leonard's 1982 novel "Rum Punch" into a screenplay and directed.

Both Pam Grier and Robert Forster had career boosts as Forster had an Academy Award nomination, and Golden Globe Awards nominated both Samuel L. Jackson and Grier. Rotten Tomatoes gave it 85%

Answer: Five point palm exploding heart technique

Beatrix Kiddo, a deadly member of the "Deadly Viper Assassination Squad", has left the squad and intends to live an ordinary life with an ordinary guy. But on her wedding day, Bill shows up with the rest of his team and slaughters the entire wedding party and leaving Beatrix for dead. Kiddo somehow survives and begins an odyssey that is a bloody trail leading to her opportunity to extract the revenge on Bill. The five point technique, taught to her by Pai Mei, her martial arts instructor, spells Bill's doom.

When the final cut was made, "Kill Bill" ran over four hours. A decision was made to divide the film in halves, thus we have Volume one and two issued separately in late 2003 and early 2004. Understanding the use of stunt doubles and computer generated action, Uma Thurman gives a remarkable performance as she is in nearly every scene in the film and on a schedule that by accounts must have exhausting. One scene took eight weeks to produce.

"Kill Bill" as a unit averages out to about 85% from Rotten Tomatoes.

Answer: Grindhouse

"Grindhouse" films were mainly exploitation films that did not reach first line theaters but were relegated to second or third tiers of theaters. They were often violent and lurid and may capitalize on current events. Rodriguez contributed "Planet Terror" while Tarantino did "Death Proof". Released in theaters as a double feature, they found separate lives as video releases.

Kurt Russell is a Hollywood stunt man who has built a 'death proof' car but only for the driver, not his passengers. After winning a lap dance prize, he brutally kills four young women using his car. Later, three young women turn the tables on him and he gets his comeuppance.

The film did not recover its costs and received a mediocre 67% from Rotten Tomatoes.

Answer: Killed by machine gun and explosions in a Paris theater

Tarantino worked on and off for several years on the screenplay for "Inglourious Basterds" (Tarantino's spelling). When it was released in 2009 it got eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

A young Jewish girl, trying to escape German oppression, ventures to Paris and becomes the manager of a movie theater. Meanwhile, Brad Pitt leads an American/Jewish brigade in behind-the-lines operations. The Germans have produced a film glorifying German/Nazi culture and the premier is scheduled for that Paris theater. Pitt sets up an ambush as key figures of the Nazi regime will be in attendance. After the bloody weapons battle and the subsequent explosion, we presume that losing its leadership will end World War II European hostilities.

Rotten Tomatoes rated it 89%.

Answer: Christoph Waltz

Christoph Waltz won his first Best Supporting Actor award as SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa, a relentless Javert hunting down Jews for the Nazi cause in "Inglourious Basterds". Landa is cruel, intelligent, and relentless but with charm and the utmost courtesy.

In "Django Unchained" as Dr. King Schultz, Waltz emerges as a complex character. On one hand he is from a profession that relieves pain into a bounty hunter that inflicts it. Although not directly stated, he is anti-slavery. He rescues Django from the slavers and trains him in the profitable business of bounty hunting. As their relationship matures, Django becomes his partner and Schulz agrees to help him locate his wife Broomhilda from whom Django was separated when he was sold. Thus many bloody scenes ensue.

Tarantino won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and for the most part positive reviews. Director Spike Lee said "... it's disrespectful to my ancestors. American slavery was not a ...Spaghetti Western. It was a Holocaust".

The film was rated at 91% by Rotten Tomatoes.

Answer: Jennifer Jason Leigh

Jennifer Jason Leigh has a distinguished acting career both in big productions and independent films. Among her credits are "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982), "Single White Female" (1992), "Dolores Claiborne" (1995), and "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle" (1994). She has been compared at times with Meryl Streep for her versatility and range. It took some courage to attempt the role of Daisy Domergue but she earned an Academy Award nomination.

Daisy enters the film with a black eye and is the film's scapegoat and punching bag. Through her "The Hateful Eight" mutates from an "exploration of racial animus into an orgy of elaborately justified misogyny", according to a "New York Times" reviewer.

Eight strangers are stranded at a way station amid a blizzard. Slowly, their true selves emerge beyond their façades with revelations, double-crossing, and violence. Agatha Christie might had called it "And Then There Were None". Members of Tarantino's stock players contribute to the mayhem including Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell. Tim Roth, Bruce Dern, and James Parks.

Rotten Tomatoes: 77%.