The movie is great - I don't like it.

Rating: 6/10 (27 January 2013)

The movie is great - I don't like it. But that can be explained. Well - I like Tarantino movies, I adore them even. Bad thing he does not make more of them. Undoubtedly the most successful one so far was Pulp Fiction, it's a cult classic. It just has great actors and a huge number of really classic scenes in it. A famous movie scene has something magical about it. It not only has an impact while it lasts, it also has an impact on the whole movie: Before the scene you kind of look forward to it, then you like it while it happens and then the impression even lasts after the scene. That is the kind of magic that makes you watch movies over and over again thus making it a true cult movie. However human nature has it, that good emotions have a smaller impact on us than bad emotions. You can have the most sensual experience with the most stunning girl - you would not want to have it in exchange for HIV, just the thought of it would turn you off, right? You would not want to have the nicest imaginable sensation on your skin if you had to except the worst imaginable or painful sensation on your skin afterwards. The need to avoid the bad emotion is much more developed than the need to seek the good sensation. And this is not only true for a 1:1 comparison but also for a 1:10 ratio. You could enjoy your favorite most delicious spaghetti a hundred times - but if you bit on huge disgusting cockroach while enjoying our meal just once, you would not only stop enjoying the rest of your spaghetti but would probably condemn the whole place and never come back, no matter if all the previous meals were OK. Now what does that have to do with movies? Well, Tarantino movies are mostly filled with intriguing conversations or impressive violent scenes. Most of them are good and cause a sensation of excitement. You can see that actually by the reaction of the crowd in the movie theater. If a rapist gets struck with a ninja sword or Lucy Liu loses half of her brains in a sword fight or some poor gangster gets shot in the face on the back of a car and his brains splatter all over the place - funny enough everybody, including me, likes these scenes - you can clearly see that in the peoples faces and the sounds they are making: 'ouch!' or 'whohoooo' or 'damn! haha' . And as I said, a good scene not only last while it last, but influences the viewer before, while and after it happens. However, there are scenes, like the baseball bat scene in Inglorious Bastards and the mandingo Scene and the dog scene in Django that do not seem to entertain the audience in the same way. You don't hear an 'ouch!' or 'whohoooo' or 'damn! haha' - what you hear is complete silence! It's like suddenly people are not watching Tarantino anymore but more like everybody is forced to watch a scene from Schindlers List. You are not entertained, not the slightest bit - you are deeply disgusted. That is not what you have come for. You will not look forward to that scene in the future, you will want to avoid it! This scene is not neutral or dull, it is the cockroach in your spaghetti and no mater how good the rest might be, it will have spoiled the whole thing forever. Now how can a cinematic genius as I always like to think of Tarantino, make such a huge mistake? It seems as if he blindly stumbles through a minefield of dreadful ideas for showing violence and was magically able to avoid all mines in Pulp Fiction while treading on one or two mines in the last two movies. Don't get me wrong - those movies might still have very high viewer counts initially, but they will not be seen repeatedly for the above mentioned reason. Which is sad. I liked to think, those mistake are just bad luck, but then I saw an interview with Tarantino the other day. He was talking about violence in Django and he even mentioned that he did show the movie to a test audience and he saw the reaction during the mandingo fight and the dog scene and realized that he had to 'cut the scenes' since they seemed to be too much for the audience. Jesus! You can't help the problem by cutting the scene. Just like cutting a cockroach in half and putting it in the spaghetti wouldn't help the smallest bit. The scenes just have a totally different quality, no matter how much of it you actually show in pictures. Even if you did not show a single picture of the mandingo fight at all and would only have the happenings narrated or hinted at: 'Here we have a man squashing a helpless mans eyes out and then bashing his whimpering, struggling even more helpless skull in with a hammer while the audience is cheering and applauding'. Just knowing that these events take place would cause a bitter silence in every movie theater no matter how much of it was actually shown. I for one don't want to see that again. Why do we perceive certain types of exaggerated violence with excitement while other forms seem to stun and disgust us deeply? In short you could say that the a bad scene is not too violent, but rather violent plus way too mean. Please Mr. Tarantino, go back to the sickness of Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill that most people like so much and only some stupid people criticize you for. No more cockroaches in your delicious meals. They destroy the whole thing.