Tarantino Slams Hollywood, Praises Netflix's 'The Rip'
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Tarantino wrote in Sight & Sound that he can barely sit through new Hollywood releases, calling the industry a "flavorless sausage factory" and saying the concept of movies today inspires "contempt" rather than generosity in him
- Tarantino said the past six years of cinema make even the 1980s "seem like the 30s," and that he'd "rather read a book" than sit through most new releases — naming only "West Side Story" (2021) and "Horizon: An American Saga" Chapters 1 and 2 (both 2024) as recent films he liked
- "The Rip", the Netflix crime drama directed by Joe Carnahan and starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, was the sole new release Tarantino said "grabbed me and held me for its entire duration"
- Tarantino singled out the screenplay by Carnahan and Michael McGrale as the "real powerhouse component" of "The Rip," and praised the "look of the film" from cinematographer Juan Miguel Azpiroz
- Tarantino is developing the play "The Popinjay Cavalier," a "swashbuckling comedy" set in 1930s Europe, set to world premiere on London's West End in 2027, and has not yet announced his planned 10th and final feature film
Why it matters: Tarantino's endorsement is a rare public boost for Netflix's film slate — he praised "The Rip" across screenplay, direction, and cast, the only new release in his essay he said truly gripped him. His broad swipes at Hollywood also keep the spotlight on his own unannounced 10th and final feature, a project whose title and plot he has not yet revealed.
