Quentin Tarantino Kicks Off 21st-Century Best Movies List, Says Scorsese Hasn’t Made One This Exciting
Quentin Tarantino just jolted Hollywood with a bold claim that could upend how we talk about the movies—and who’s really shaping them.
Quentin Tarantino went on Bret Easton Ellis' podcast and dropped the first half of his best-of-the-21st-century movie list. And he led with a pick that comes with a take so spicy it could peel paint.
The top slot (so far): Spielberg's 'West Side Story'
Tarantino opened by putting Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake of 'West Side Story' at the top. Critics loved it, the Oscars noticed it — Best Picture nominee, Ariana DeBose won Best Supporting Actress at the 94th Academy Awards — but audiences barely showed up. It made $76 million, which is not exactly a musical theater stampede.
'This is the one where Steven shows he still has it. I don't think Scorsese has made a film this exciting [this century].'
That last line is the face-melter. Martin Scorsese has, in this century alone, rolled out 'Gangs of New York', 'The Aviator', 'The Departed', 'Hugo', 'Shutter Island', 'The Wolf of Wall Street', 'Silence', 'The Irishman', and 'Killers of the Flower Moon'. Whether or not you think any of those are as purely adrenalized as Spielberg's street-rumbling musical is a fair debate, but calling them less exciting is... bold.
The rest of the list (part one)
Tarantino is revealing his top 20 in two chunks, with the back half coming in the next episode. For now, here are the first 10 he put out, in order, starting with that Spielberg pick:
- West Side Story (2021)
- Cabin Fever
- Moneyball
- Chocolate (yes, spelled like that)
- The Devil's Rejects
- The Passion of the Christ
- School of Rock
- Jackass: The Movie
- Big Bad Wolves
- Battle Royale
It's a very Tarantino spread: prestige baseball strategy sits next to splatter, a faith-based blockbuster next to a classroom comedy, and a gnarly Israeli thriller next to a Japanese teen dystopia. If you were hoping for tidy genre lanes, sorry.
What Tarantino is doing next
He also has his own old-new project on deck: a maximalist re-release of 'Kill Bill' called 'The Whole Bloody Affair'. It's a remaster that stitches Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 into one ultra-long cut and adds a never-before-seen anime sequence. In other words, the all-in version he's been teasing forever.