Reservoir Dogs – Just the Tip

Full transcript of Reservoir Dogs – Just the Tip.

0:00KT: Bon appetit. Welcome back to another week in the For Your Reference household, and welcome back to another year of our Reference Degustation. For all of those that are learned and have joined us along the journey, thank thank you. We love you so much. For those that are relatively new to the For Your Reference podcast, this is the third time we're doing it. The first one was Miyazaki masterpieces. Last year, we covered Taika Tastations. And this year, we are definitely going to have quite a sizzle. Mhmm. Let's get on with the show.

0:59KT: Howdy friends and stuck in the middle lovers. Welcome back to the For Your Reference podcast. You got your host, KT.

0:59Oti: And Oti.

0:59KT: Suit up, watch your back, and always remember to tip. Color me Badd with Reservoir Dogs this week. Mhmm. Hoo hoo hoo. We are starting off a six film series, a footlong celebration of Quippy Tarantino debauchery. Wow. Wow. Wow. We will get into a first impression, so let's just get into general stats and information. If most interestingly,

1:35KT: we always talk about the undeniable voice of a director when they are also penning the screenplay. So we have Quentin Jerome Tarantino, just to remind everyone. Maybe that's where he feels like he has the credits for the n word. Yep. Must be it. Released in January 1992 with a budget of 1,200,000 and a worldwide gross of 2,900,000. Oh, 1,200,000 only. Yeah? Yeah. So I guess if you wanna call it a cult classic, if you wanna call it a pulp classic, perhaps we can. Mhmm. In way of cast, obviously,

2:09KT: in the time, contemporary to the time, just in general, we have quite a lot of mavericks in this cast, but just generally, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, and wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Oh, we're back at it again, friends and lovers. And I guess we'll see what type of a tasting menu, and I guess sort of tasting notes that we have. We put it out to our patrons to help us in regards to current and recurring, sort of themes in Tarantino's specific filmography.

2:45KT: And spoiler alert, we have a whole section on racism and the n word. But before we get into that, Oti, before we even get into Reservoir Dog's first impression, how did you feel about Tarantino when he was first introduced to you? I'm assuming he penetrated Kenyan shores. How do you feel about Tarantino now? And then we can talk about Reservoir Dogs.

3:10Oti: Watch I think Reservoir Dogs was my first Tarantino movie to watch. Okay. And I didn't care for it back then. I heard a sigh already. We just started bro. No. Like, I didn't care for his style even with I don't know we'll cover this soon with things like Pulp Fiction. I never got into the Tarantino train and rewatching some of the stuff now. I'm still outside the train. Like, I'm not getting into the Mugen Train anytime soon, mate.

3:10KT: Oh, Demon Slayer, you weeaboo reference.

3:38KT: Okay. So I guess you've kind of felt lukewarm and you still feel the same way? Yeah. Okay. How did you feel about Reservoir Dogs then?

3:38Oti: Considering the budget that you just mentioned, the style felt a bit indie.

3:38KT: You say that as if it's a negative thing.

3:54Oti: No. Like like watching I don't know. Maybe in my head, I had a preconceived idea of where Tarantino movies should are like. And then when I went back and watched this because the first time I watched Reservoir Dogs was when I was quite young and frankly didn't really understand anything. So me watching it now, it did take me aback. I was like, oh, okay. Cool. Fast movie. Alright. I didn't get the gist behind all the plot. It's Okay. That's fine. Is it? Well, it gave me an eye. And I'm like

4:20KT: No. I I I guess I guess we'll see. You you've always been firm about your nonchalance in regards to Tarantino. And I know you'd secretly besmirch me under your breath whenever I would talk about Pulp Fiction. Yep. I do alright. Settle down. You know, I've mentioned in a lot of podcast episodes, you know, when you start to dabble into film more than it just being in the background while you're doing household chores, Tarantino is a very accessible. It's a very consumable,

4:51KT: and it makes you feel like you're the only one that gets the vibes and that gets the references. It makes you feel like the pretty one at the ball.

4:51Oti: Because I feel like I'm outside of watching him. I feel like I'm watching

4:51KT: Do you think you're outside because of the use of the n word and the carelessness of it?

5:12Oti: That's a whole conversation. Not necessarily. I feel like I'm watching Wes Anderson movie that's that has a bit of color to it.

5:21KT: So are you are you saying are you saying on the pendulum of whiteness, Tarantino is like

5:29Oti: He's a he's like accessible Wes Anderson. And it's fine. Everyone has their own flavor. I just never really got into his quirkisms and and all.

5:29KT: Like, needed more than that?

5:29Oti: I needed more than that.

5:45Oti: And people will hate will say like, oh, Pulp Fiction. And the one that we saw recently is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Yeah. Which we barred from ever covering on this podcast because it pissed us off. Like, I'm just not I've never really managed to get the appeal of him. Okay. And I can appreciate some of the work that he's done. But as a whole, like his whole filmography,

6:07Oti: I can sit back and say, I've not really been that big of a fan. And I'm still not big of a fan, and I'm starting to rewatch his stuff now. So I'm yet to be won. We still have five more movies to go, and maybe that will change my mind. Well, Kill Bill is too. So

6:24KT: well, hold on to it. I'll sit on it. Let's write it and snap it off. Especially when you talk about being outsided. That's very interesting, and we'll we'll get to our very specific racism theme. So we'll leave it for that. But for me, I was having a good old time with Tarantino. Pulp Fiction was the first that I watched. I actually haven't watched a lot considering how much I really love Pulp Fiction, which will be, you know, the next episode coming up, which I'll talk more about. But I really enjoyed Pulp Fiction.

6:54KT: It you know, it I'm more embarrassed of me liking Pulp Fiction as a part of my personality than my whole Twilight fandom. Like

7:05Oti: I remember.

7:07KT: I'm I'm I'm more embarrassed of being a Pulp Fiction wanker than a Twilight simp. Like, that's like and I guess that's just now reflecting over it because you just get so obnoxious. There's like obnoxiousness of loving Tarantino. And there's nothing wrong with how you feel, but I think when it comes to Tarantino, people either really love him or really hate him. And because you're Oti stuck in the middle, it feels a bit lukewarm.

7:25Oti: No. Like, in my circles, most of the people love him. And and that's why I even started watching some of his stuff back then because people continue going on about Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs. And I'm like, did I are you talking about different Reservoir Dogs? Like, I'm not I'm not getting it. Yeah. But anyway,

7:50Oti: now that I'm older and I could get to see in a different sort of light, I'm still trying to he's an acquired taste that I'm yet to acquire.

8:03KT: Okay. That's that's a very diplomatic way to say it. Yeah. So I guess just quickly before we get into recurring themes specifically in regards to Reservoir Dogs, I just wanna say that I really enjoyed this film. At least I would say up until they started randomly saying the n word, like, I was really enjoying it. Like, I I like Tarantino's way of writing dialogue. Like, it's kind of a double edged sword with Tarantino because the things that make him great are also the things that undo him. Like, I really love the way he has, like, very banal sort of observations, but he can make it very interesting

8:35KT: with the ensemble sort of cast that he has and also the characters that all have their very distinct sort of personalities. Like, when they have the opening scene and they're talking about Madonna, like, it's so fun and it's muy caliente, and you wanna eat every sort of morsel up. And that's the great thing. That's that's the the great part of the double edged sword. And then the other one is, like, randomly gratuitously

8:59KT: saying the n word for no reason. And, obviously, we've watched other Tarantino films, so we should have expected it, but it literally didn't like, it had no place. If there were ever a place to not have a place for it, it would definitely be in this film because, like, it hadn't it had no reference at all. It just felt weird. And then even in the car when they were talking about black women and I'm like, I don't know. So really,

9:25KT: it had me until it didn't have me and it's a double edged sword in the way that he writes such delicious dialogue and unnecessarily gratuitous. I don't know. Are we using the r word? Are we using racism? I guess we'll come to it, but we'll leave it for now. Okay. Let's get into themes. Again, shout outs, love, and splooshes to all of our patrons that contributed. The first section of themes are general sort of questions. And what I really like about these general questions is as we progress throughout the filmography,

9:56KT: perhaps our answers will change or maybe they'll be bolstered in our initial answers. So this is from Jamie, very lovely learner Jamie. What are your views on Tarantino's approach to violence? For example, how we use contrapuntal music for the torture scene in Reservoir Dogs. In my two monocles Google search, contrapuntal means interdependent as well as dependent on.

10:21Oti: I think it elevated Mr. Blonde's sort of character because we got to see him more as a psycho. When you have that cheery music playing and him just fully torturing someone without a care in the world. But that's just it. There's no sense of conscious, which makes it creepier. Yeah. It's definitely more disturbing than if they used some somber music.

10:48KT: Yeah. Absolutely. It it it plays to the mood and I guess it also informs what we're going to get into tonally. Yeah. And it also reinforces it. It's like, if you're surprised, that's on fucking you because we've informed you throughout this whole film, this is exactly what's going to happen when it's going to happen. I absolutely agree. It is gratuitous with a capital g, you know, the approach to violence.

11:08KT: It didn't it it it got a bit squeamish at points, but that's obviously it's kind of like why people go on roller coaster rides. Like, you know you're going to be scared, but like it's a controlled sort of frightening as opposed to actually being in a Jurassic Park and Goldblum won't help you.

11:28Oti: Yeah. And I think the only sort of squamation, any violent y type, to a gratuitous level I was, was they touch us in with Mr. Blonde. I think the rest of the stuff was quite mild. The shooting randomly, like, that's just things we're used to now.

11:38KT: You've been through a lot. It's been it's been a long couple of years, hasn't it, Ratin? Oh, yeah. Let's move into the next one. Shout outs to Rob from Smoke and Mirrors. He wants to know what our thoughts are on the QT verse theory. The fact that there are films within films and they all interconnect.

11:59Oti: Yeah. I think ancestry.com would be able to play a bigger part in this.

12:05KT: To justify the n word or

12:08Oti: People are related as fuck in this it is it is movies. So I think the most common one is Mr. Blonde to Vincent Vega, isn't it? Uh-huh. Yeah. Out of the top of my head.

12:08KT: Hey, you're pretty good. You should have a film podcast.

12:08Oti: Sure. Sure and die. But things like he does his own brands, which is which is cool. I think he he makes his own world and everyone's sort of related in the next movie. There's references and callbacks.

12:37KT: That's really cool. Yeah. And I don't gender the term, but film bros salivate over it. What are your thoughts on it? Do you care? Does it care? Like, does it mean anything to you? Or

12:37Oti: I don't. If I was writing shit, I'd recycle names as fuck.

12:37KT: Yeah. Let them think they're related, I say. There was a handsome man, Oti. And then there was another handsome man, Oti. And they're all just Oti and they all g each other. Exactly. The Oti Oti.

13:07Oti: It's it's easier. It's easier to do that rather than coming up with a fully functioning different sort of characters each every time.

13:12KT: Yeah. It's like and I I guess there's certain types of people that watch stuff and for the ones that are the initial people that noticed the Starbucks cup in Game of Thrones, like, I had my little Twilight and also Criminal Minds forum. Like, you super get into watching something or just the fact that you've watched something so much, you're naturally going to be able to, you know, pick up references. We love a good reference as well. So I guess it's understandable if you're super fans of Tarantino

13:45KT: that you are going to see it. But fuck me, man. Like, go and watch a fucking other movie. Like, how many times like, how many times do you have to watch something to get to the level of granular detail? I'm not watch shaming. Watch what you want, but fucking hell. Go and try something else. If you're getting to that point where you're noticing one sort of dialogue possibly, maybe, maybe not connects. Like, I'm not saying get a life. I'm just saying go and watch something else.

14:14Oti: Maybe his end goal is M. Shyamalan Glass sort of movie where everything collides. We get a

14:20KT: Well, Bruce Willis, there's another. See, we've got a reference first. Don't worry about us, friends and lovers. I I guess it's just like those monkey NFTs, you know? Unless you're into it, you're gonna be into it. Otherwise, everyone's looking at you like, get a life, you simp. Like, just

14:37Oti: Nah. It it really doesn't do much for me. I have to give him credit for some few things that he's done as well with his with his consistency in all the movies that he's done. I think they are bigger more than just names and things

14:51Oti: put in there. So

14:51KT: Yeah. And it's yeah. So yeah. I I I'm not gonna yuck your yum, but also go and try other yums, friends and lovers. Finishing off general questions, we have Jamie again. And this is a big one, Oti. And I I'm more excited to see answering this throughout the films. Is Quentin Tarantino the best contemporary director to match visuals and music?

15:16Oti: He does have a good taste in music. I think most of the movies I've watched, I've enjoyed the the the score, the soundtrack more than anything else. Mhmm. So there's that. But then again, I'm the person that said, Save the Last Dance had the best. The best soundtrack, you know, you know, in all movies. So who am I?

15:47KT: Jamie, specifically, since this is your question, I would like to personally know if Oti's answer was to your satisfaction.

15:58KT: So what's your answer? Yes or no?

15:58Oti: I don't know. I'm I'm not sold yet. I'm not sold to that statement. I don't think he is the best that does it currently.

16:07KT: Okay. Well, I I will say partially yes. If I can pseudo give a yes, I'm going to say partially yes. Undoubtedly, the best way to inform the tone of the film is exactly the way that he matches the music with the scenes, like, you know, preemptively and also throughout. I think Quentin Tarantino does it very well. Also, you know, the amount of films that he's been able to release consistently, he is able to traverse the visuals and the music very well from a tone point of view. Because even with Oti,

16:47KT: I don't I don't know if he's being serious, but, you know, Save the Last Dance. If we're also gonna throw out great soundtracks, because I don't know when else we're going to say it, all of the Bad Boys films, all of Rush Hour. And also, if you're gonna talk about dance movies, You Got Served, Jamie. Again, I would like to know if we answer this satisfactorily. But if we're talking about matching visuals and music, I agree if we talk about tonality. Yes. Quentin Tarantino is the best contemporary director to do it. However,

17:18KT: even if we mentioned like James Gunn. Right? I don't necessarily care for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, but I also have enough joy in my heart to enjoy the way that the music weaves itself and fuck Chris Pratt as a record label and as a motherfucking establishment. But I do love the way that the music interweaves with Guardians of the Galaxy. Also, the Suicide Squad. Check out our Suicide Squad episode. That was also a really beautiful way of weaving

17:47KT: music and visuals and The Harder They Fall. One of the best soundtracks and also one of the best sort of interweaving. Jeymes Samuel, go and check out our episode. But he talks about writing the script cohesively with the dialogue as well as the music. That musicality is all throughout the film. So is he the best to do it in general? I would say no. Is he the best to do it in in regards to informing tonality, in regards to consistency

18:13KT: over the averages of the films that he's released? I would say yes.

18:13Oti: Okay. You've raised some good points there.

18:13KT: Oh, why thank you. Can I have a film podcast? Yeah.

18:23Oti: Jeymes Starwell, definitely. I think what he did with The Harder They Fall was just out of this world. Don't think Gregorian or Western. Yeah. I I don't think we've seen that before. Yeah. But I do agree with some of the points. Like, he does when it comes to tonality, no one comes close to Tarantino currently in terms of portraying that or just elevating a scene based off that. I think it's a foundational landmark in the cinematic landscape in the sense that, you know, every time you see slick action or kung fu involved in western stories,

18:56KT: just in general, when you see great action that is more than as much as I love Bob Odenkirk or as Oti would say, O'Derick. If you have more than middle of the lane sort of action films, it it's always referencing The Matrix. You know? There's so much leveraging of The Matrix, which again, Friends and Lovers makes Matrix Resurrections one of the best fourth sequels of a film franchise ever because it there's commentary in regards to the fact that it's been done and leveraged before. But that's what I would say about Quentin Tarantino.

19:27KT: Like, he had a very distinct voice whether you liked it or not, whether you partially like his films or not, he has a very distinct voice. Perhaps it gets to a point of fan service or maybe he's just being consistent in his tone and his voice throughout all of his films.

19:45Oti: I don't think it's fan service because Reservoir Dogs was his starting point. I think that he used it quite well. Maybe carrying it on, fan service could play a big part in that, but he's been quite consistent and I love that aspect about him.

20:03KT: Yeah. And I I guess while we're at this juncture, if we're talking about Quentin Jerome Tarantino in general, like, I really enjoy Pulp Fiction and I've held on to that for a lot of years, but I still couldn't figure out why it never really penetrated like my inner circle of feelings. And I'm starting to realize it now with watching Reservoir Dogs and I guess also the incoming films that we're going to come to, it's the dialogue is fun and usually I'm a dialogue gal that really that really, you know, gets me. I enjoy that. But it misses a lot of heart. Like, you can tell that Quentin

20:34KT: Tarantino does not care about his characters. It's more about what's going to serve the tonality, what's going to serve the music, what's going to make a great film. So that's not necessarily a bad thing. But for me, I do like the considered care that you do care about whether the characters are going to fall out in one way or another. I like that there's a lot of considered detail. Again, I'm going to reference Sex Lives of College Girls with Mindy Kaling. Like, I love that there's

21:01KT: a consideration for the characters and they're not just there to say quotable quotes and gifable gifs. And I think that's what's missing for me in Reservoir Dogs, and I guess we'll see how I feel with Pulp Fiction. It's fun. It's absolutely fun, but there's not a lot of heart in it. It's kind of like whether you choose to or not, you end up at a social event, perhaps a party, and you meet someone and they're so fun and they're so interesting,

21:30KT: but you never really wanna connect to them on a day to day basis after that. It's a moment, you enjoy it, but you don't wanna tell them all of your deepest, darkest secrets and become best friends forever. Yeah.

21:30Oti: So like Rick and Morty super fans. Szechuan of it all.

21:30KT: Thank you. You're coming with a lot of, again, non gendered Filmbro references, Oti. Uh-huh. What Reddit thread have you been radicalized by? Let's continue on to the next section of themes. We have direction slash stylistic choices.

22:03KT: This is coming from Ben. At what point does Quentin Tarantino's stylized, hyper aware of itself dialogue become a hindrance to the film rather than part of the magic slash charm? Ding ding ding. I think that's that's it for me.

22:20Oti: And that's one of the biggest reasons why I was so blasé watching Reservoir Dogs again. Okay. I think part of it was, I can hear what they're saying. I understand the situation. Uh-huh. But a, I don't care about any one of them. Yep. It was pretty clear who was undercover, and everyone else was just playing dumb for the sake of delivering quotable lines. Mhmm.

22:44Oti: And I think at that point, even before the n word started flying around, I was like, yeah, cool. I get it. I think that's his biggest thing for me. It's always just about, oh, how am I going to deliver this the best way possible? Rather than just like what you said, it sacrifices a bit of their characters as well. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Most of the time I really don't care. And I'm a feelings guy. I really go into movies wanting to root, wanting to understand, wanting to empathize,

23:15Oti: wanting to hate someone. Mhmm. When I see through a movie and it evokes no emotion whatsoever rather than me bumping to a tune of someone being tortured, that's a problem.

23:15KT: Is it though? Or is it

23:15Oti: It's a problem for me though.

23:33KT: If if you're not able to separate entertainment from reality, then it's a problem. If you're just enjoying a film for what it is, I I wouldn't say so. It's the same as like violent video games. It doesn't necessarily translate to violence in real life.

23:42Oti: It doesn't. But then again, you know, wrestling has one of the poorest writings out there, but you can sit there and start rooting for someone just because. Because the emotion's there. Yeah. Yeah. Why is the emotion in this? I felt like it was just, I have this script, bam, bam, bam. Good lines, this photograph, you know, it's all on point. Yeah. You can see everything's working together.

24:09Oti: There's the cohesiveness and the cogs running, but the guy pushing the machine doesn't give a fuck. So why should I give a fuck? Yeah. But I guess it's maybe people don't care for that, but personally, and I obviously,

24:23KT: you're saying as well, Oti and his Drake feelings right now, we care about it. We wanna care about the characters. And a lot of the times where we where we really have to like Bruce Willis, other Die Hard reference, like crawl through the broken glass is when we don't fucking care. Yeah.

24:44Oti: Like, at the scene where where it was revealed that Mr. Orange was, you know, undercover and the body the body he's he's a good guy, but the body in the group, it's it I was like, yes. I knew it. Yeah. It was fucking obvious. Yeah. But but that's not even the point. The the point isn't the predictability. It's the it's the care factor. Outside of Mr. Pink, who I sort of started caring about just because he's the only one that had reason.

25:11Oti: Yeah. Outside, but I still didn't care what happened to him as a character. Yeah. Whether he got out or didn't, I was like so blasé about it. Yeah. And when I want to sit down and evoke any sort of emotion with the movie, if I wanna hate someone, let me hate them really badly on this.

25:25KT: Yeah. We need to really hate, really love. Otherwise, what are we doing here? Yeah. Unless there's like but then again, the writing is quite cool because we talk about that in Succession. And then eventually we went into our camps and unfortunately

25:40Oti: But with Succession, you get to care. Yeah. For these horrible people, but you still get to care.

25:40KT: True. True. But I guess I was trying to throw a Tarantino bone, that's all.

25:40Oti: You hate Breaking Bad so bad, you still care about Skyler. Because I'm for women, motherfucker. That one time.

25:57KT: They speak feminist, then what? Does Skyler look like a bitch?

25:57Oti: She does.

25:57KT: You know what? I did it for the reference even though I knew I had opened that door for you, you motherfucker.

26:13Oti: I'll gladly enter that door, mate.

26:22KT: I guess you kind of answered that question for me. With Ben specifically, he talked about hyperaware of itself dialogue. It it is meta in a sense, I think, if that's what you're referring to, Ben. Unless he he means more that they know they're doing a thing and they're saying they're doing a thing because that happens as well. Yeah. It it happens and I think

26:46KT: But I would actually argue this question because for me, that's part of the charm.

26:46Oti: You reckon?

26:46KT: I actually enjoy that.

26:46Oti: Okay. Fair enough.

26:46KT: Because if I if I it's like it's like, again, going back to my example of being at a party and you're talking to anyone, but in this example, it's a guy.

26:46Oti: Wait. Wait. Wait. Is it a Boris Johnson party? Oh, I didn't I didn't know it was a party. Oh, it was definitely not a party.

26:46KT: Oh, we've got topical Oti. And

27:13KT: I guess that's also for you, Ben. Rule Britannia. Britannia rules the waves. Inside No. 9. Go and watch it. All Brit while we're here, all Britonian friends and lovers, please, I wanna talk about that specific episode in Inside No. 9. But again, coming back to Ben's question, I actually feel like it's a part of the charm. I actually really enjoy that part of his filmmaking or his stylistic sort of choices.

27:41Oti: I I agree with you there.

27:42KT: But back to that example, if I'm talking to a guy at a party, it's kind of like I'm having a really good time. We're talking about random shit, but you know that 90% chance his next sentence is gonna be fucking racist or it's gonna be misogynistic or it's going to be homophobic or transphobic.

28:01KT: Like, it's like, that's how I kind of feel watching Tarantino films. Like, I enjoy it, but I'm ready to turn it off at any second or just like walk away at that example party. The next theme doesn't relate to this, but for consistency from Julio, we have the stylistic choice of rewriting history. Moving on, super, super relevant. We have from Rob, California slash Hollywood slash film slash genre. He's a slave to pulp and grindhouse styles,

28:31KT: which shows in his sound effects and camera movement. I think we've kind of covered that already. We've talked about that. Yeah. I don't think we're ever really gonna get to a point where it doesn't satisfy Rob's criteria.

28:44KT: Moving on, from Julio, we have pop culture references.

28:44Oti: Yeah. He has a lot of that. We start off with Bloody Madonna, don't we? Yeah.

28:53KT: And it became, I guess, the inner conflict about phalluses. Yeah. Which I'm all for. Power to the phallus. Me too. Save that soundbite, friends and lovers.

29:05KT: There was also a mention of Pam Grier. I haven't watched Jackie Brown, so I'm very excited. Well, I don't know. I'm saying excited. Maybe when we watch it, I won't be. But I'm very excited to watch it, but I I am aware that Pam Grier does play Jackie Brown, and I don't know. Oh, we love Pam Grier. Yeah. I think we don't desecrate and we just end that particular theme on earth. Let's get into casting slash characters. Before throwing it to the patrons, I would just say, I feel like Tarantino

29:34KT: casts like guys that look like him but are more attractive than him so he can lemon party himself? I have no idea. Like, how did you find all of the the brown haired white men in Hollywood? Or is that kind of the garden variety at the time?

29:34Oti: Can I ask you this question though? Is this a safe space?

29:34KT: It's not comfortable, but it's safe. Yeah.

29:55Oti: Do you think it's it's a crutch to continually use the same people in all your movies?

30:01KT: Well, I guess the the return of that question is is would you be bothered seeing LaKeith again in another Jordan Peele joint? Well, we are getting to see Daniel Kaluuya in another Jordan Peele joint soon. But I didn't want you to come for my king.

30:17Oti: I guess not. But when you're When it feels same same y? Yeah. But you said it wasn't fan service earlier. Well, that's why I'm putting a question out to you. Like, I don't know how I feel about it particularly. I feel like sometimes-

30:30KT: Like we get it. We get it. Is that what you're saying? We get you love Tim Roth, know? Understand that. Woah. Okay.

30:30Oti: No. I'm not cutting for Tim Roth. I like Tim Roth.

30:30KT: Okay. I'm I'm all I'm all about honesty, but Oti, this is where I say Lie to Me. Reference. Tim Roth reference. Oh, you really came. You could have mentioned Christopher Walken. You could have mentioned Samuel Jackson. Like, you wow. You just went. Wow.

30:58KT: I'm kicking you out of the Tim Roth fan club.

30:58Oti: And that's why I asked if I could I should ask because I don't know how you feel about it.

30:58KT: Well, said it was a safe space. I didn't say it was comfortable. Let's get into the comfortable places of our patrons if you're nasty. And the first casting slash characters are from Julio and Brent. Feet. I wanna also put it on the record that in Brent's feet comment, he specified women feet. But just feet in general. I don't know if we satisfied

31:34KT: the fetish in this film. I don't think so, but I think it makes an appearance soon after. In Brent's comment, he also said, you know that the women's feet is coming in Quentin Tarantino is too.

31:45Oti: Yeah. Like, there's there's so much feet shot you can get, mate. Like, you have to go out of your way.

31:52KT: Okay. But, like, it's fun to make fun of it. But also at the same time,

31:58KT: we don't really say the same thing about tit shots and ass shots, do we? So just let him have his feet, I suppose. We sort of do now because we know what's going on behind the scenes. The grit to it. Yeah. Yeah. Like, if if everything was above board and someone didn't feel like they had to, they weren't, you know, like, there's a lot of stories coming out. Yeah. Read Afar from Doom Patrol because I'm keeping it light about a TV show.

32:23Oti: Well, we hear stories. Right? Like, people are made to feel uncomfortable to the point where they don't feel like they have a choice and that's alright. So Okay. But we're not kink shaming a foot fetish. No. You can have all the foot fetish you want. I'm just it's just weird. We're all partial to a vagincal, friends and all.

32:43KT: Let's move on to Rob. I don't know if I don't know if we have, but his particular theme for casting and characters is the reluctant hero. Nah. We could Would it be orange? Would it be your We just melt him a mile off and he was not reluctant at all. Would it this white?

33:01KT: So you don't think we have a reluctant hero at least in this instance?

33:01Oti: Well, the only person you could classify as a hero is Mr. Orange. And, you know, outside of Mr. White trying to get to be pen pals and best friends BFFs with Mr. Orange. Yeah.

33:17KT: Yeah. Like because I know we talk a lot about loyalty and how important it is, but that was unfounded.

33:24Oti: Mate, he's a bloody stranger you just Yeah. Met Yeah. We thought Caffrey in The Harder They Fall was too quick to get emotionally attached to people. Yeah. But, hey, we had not met Mr. White. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Stand back, mate. Like, literally to your own detriment, bro. Mate, he killed people he knew. His boss, his best friend apparently, for Mr. Orange. Yeah. Man, to spend thirty minutes in a in a car with someone can change your life.

33:59KT: The next theme that we have is from Julio, casting old favorites and reviving their careers.

34:06Oti: Harvey Keitel comes to mind for me. Yeah. I think Harvey Keitel is the one of this. But I think he was outside of his character being ridiculous, I think he performed it quite well. He yeah. He brought a lot of presence to the film. Presence and no sense.

34:22KT: But I guess there was a part until he got too ridiculous and too trusting. There was a part that wanted you to like root for him.

34:27Oti: No. I didn't get any of And that's why and that's why I said I had the biggest problem in this. There was no one I was rooting for. They might as well all just been killed in that store in that warehouse. And I'll be like Just like just like Mr. Blonde just going wild on all of them.

34:41KT: Yeah. Okay. Doesn't that just become Kill Bill? Probably. There you go. Again, we have our own universe friends and lovers. Don't worry about our fan fiction. Okay. So let's get into the tasty tasty last section of themes. I put racism. Mhmm. It's essentially the n one. So we're going to start off with Brent, and he has a specific comment in regards to Reservoir Dogs, which will also

35:15KT: feed into discussion. So every time I show one of his movies to someone that hasn't seen them, I always wait for the moment he or someone else drops the n word to see how they react. My grandmother back in the day walked out of the room when I showed her Reservoir Dogs so she wasn't fucking with it. Actually, this is a good question, Oti. Did you ever watch like Tarantino films with your family specifically parents?

35:38Oti: Yeah. Growing up, it was

35:38KT: Really?

35:38Oti: Every movie I watched, I watched it with surrounded by my family. So

35:38KT: But not blue movies? Yeah. Okay.

35:53KT: So so you watched Tarantino films Yeah. That was spouting the n word here and there. Not here and there, here and everywhere.

36:06Oti: And that's the thing, because it doesn't quite connect because it doesn't have the same effect to an African. Uh-huh. We have our own derogatory terms. So the n word isn't particular to us, but it's still, you know, people out there, when I walk out, they will won't distinguish. Hey. Hey. They'll still call me that n word or whatever. So fuck the fuck him. I don't give a damn. He uses it too too frequently

36:29Oti: with with too much ease. I feel like it's too easy. And this is why I get a sense that he's he's the bro dude sort of guy. Yeah. And I got that one black friend. Yeah. He feels very like, oh, I casted Samuel L. Jackson. So, mate, you know, like, I'd probably think he'd be like, oh, we've elected Obama, so we've solved racism, you know? Like

36:29KT: There's a there's another Get Out reference there.

36:29Oti: I feel I feel like that's his his wheelhouse. His MO. Yeah. Mate, just just just stop.

37:00Oti: At some point, does it do anything to progress the storyline, the show, the movie, whatever? It doesn't. Yeah. It doesn't do anything. And if I I got out of this movie even before he started hurling up those n words, but it's more to do mate, concentrate on your characters, you know. Stop focusing on quotable being Rick and fucking Morty and just deliver deliver on characters that we care about and that should be it for me.

37:21KT: But I think that's what we're saying. Some people would argue that he does deliver. It's just not necessarily Maybe. Because I know Brent loves, like, Reservoir Dogs as well as Tarantino. And go and check out Hustle, Motherfucking Hustle, Home Video Hustle, because they recently did a Reservoir Dogs episode and it's delicious. So it's interesting. It's just a thing that you will have none of it. No. No. No. No.

37:50Oti: Like, I feel like he takes liberties too much. He he Like too comfortable. Like, it doesn't even make sense sometimes. Like You know, when we're watching The Departed and those guys just started going off, I was like, bloody hell, mate. Where did this come from? Yeah. And that was one of my favorite movies back then. But watching that scene now, me growing up with all the baggage the world has, I'm like, bloody. Jeez. Like it had it adds zero. It adds nothing. Another reminder, friends and lovers, if you work in HR,

38:20Oti: just purchase the first eleven minutes of The Departed. Like, how are they talking about black women? Like, what the fuck? What do I do? Yeah.

38:27KT: Like McNulty. The fuck that I do. Like, leave me alone.

38:32Oti: Yeah. No. I I agree. I agree. It's And that's what, like, kids out there will see. If Tarantino can do it, might as well. It's open season, isn't it? Yeah.

38:41Oti: No. And I'm not gonna You say you set examples and whatnot. People look up to, you know, you you watch your when you're growing up, whatever it is you watch is your most fundamental thing that you learn and you take from a lot, you know? No. It's like it's like your ticket to the world and understanding the world. Yeah. If you're ticket to the world, you introduce to Tarantino, this is all you see and say, you know? Fuck sakes, you'll think saying the n one is alright, bro. And you're going to be in places that it's not alright to So do

39:08Oti: take take a step back, mate. Just because your friend Samuel L. Jackson doesn't mean shit.

39:16KT: Yeah. Like, even if your only one friend is Samuel Jackson, it's still not enough of a quota

39:22KT: in the For Your Reference household. But I don't I don't like it's But not I think I think the thing with you is you don't even like him in general.

39:22Oti: Exactly.

39:22KT: So it doesn't add like, it's not that, oh, he's and what he he must be He's already a negative bank account. Yeah. You don't even you don't even wanna invest in him to start off with. Anyway It's Oti Shark Tank. He's out.

39:43Oti: But I'm trying to to to to experience different shit. I'm open to try and enjoy this, and I'm going into these are the five movies with an open heart and trying to see them with a fresh eyes. I've watched most of them, so I think rewatching them will be interesting.

39:56KT: But like, I'm not gonna take anything away from you because how you feel is how you feel. And it's how I feel watching like even nineties, but if we're doing like eighties films, Fatal Attraction, especially Basic Instinct, like there are some films that feel so perverted, so much that the women is being taken advantage of that it makes me physically ill. It makes me uncomfortable to watch those films. Right? So there's a whole part of cinema that I don't even know if I wanna venture into

40:29KT: just because it makes me uncomfortable. And I guess that's just where you are, you know, when it comes to Tarantino films. But welcome to the rest of this month, Oti. Hello.

40:38Oti: I just think that we need take better care. Just bloody hell.

40:44KT: Well, we we do have two themes again in regards to racism slash the n word, But I think you've very loudly DMX, rest in peace, covered it. So from Paul, Are Quentin Tarantino's race related quips justified in this film, and then Julio mentions racial slurs. So they're kind of grouped together. So are they are they justified in Reservoir Dogs for you? I don't think they are. At the base level, Paul, I don't think it adds anything to the movie. Okay.

41:15Oti: No. I think even for the most recent movies I've watched that just continued using the n words or whatnot or even other sort of racial stuff, more more often than not, I think it's just a bloody shock factor of it that he he he probably is going for. That's his essentially his style. You know, you don't go into a Quentin Tarantino movie and don't think that you're gonna hear some racial stuff. Yeah. His his build his

41:38KT: kinda Actually, I kinda wanna see you know, Tarantino keeps saying he's like ending his filmography. I would love to see a film where there are obvious situations where you know where a white person's going to say the n word, and they don't. And you see the racist backlash being like, this woke culture, mate. Get in the bin. Hashtag not my Tarantino. Why

42:04Oti: does it get in the way of my racism? They'll stand in their yards with Tarantino Blu rays and ban them. Anyway,

42:17KT: just just But it's part and parcel of what he does. It's part and parcel of what he does. It's Whatever that reflects on him as a person, it's just part and parcel of his filmography.

42:26Oti: And then he could say, it's artistry. You know? You have to separate the artist from the person. What he writes isn't what he who he is. Why is artistry slapping people in the face? Like

42:38KT: anyway, let's finish off this particular segment of racism on a on a a little bit a little bit of a lighter note. This is from Ben. Why does Quentin Tarantino insist on including himself in brackets usually a racist when he can't act? Yeah. He can't act. He's everywhere.

42:57Oti: I I I don't know. Do you think his cameos add anything in this? They they add nothing

43:02KT: aside from the fact that it feeds into his brand. It's indulgent. Because this is pure indulgence. His filmography is pure indulgence. And if you're in it, you're in it. But I think even the people in it can agree that, again, his cameos add nothing. Like, it's because if we if we go back, like, Taika's cameos are very fun, unless we're talking about Jojo Rabbit. Fuck you, Hitler.

43:25KT: No. But it it's it's so much fun seeing Taika in his own films. But yeah, I but what I guess going back to Ben's question, why do you think he insists on it? I think it's just his ego. Because he can. Be the ego monster. I think it's pretty much that. Yeah. I don't know how Oti I can because I I will because I can. Yeah. That's it. I don't know how, but this feels like we're in a Rick and Morty episode.

43:50Oti: It does. It's the last day on Earth and I'm fucking my dad. I'm so glad the world is ending because I'm fucking my dad.

44:03KT: And I I guess, like, I I guess coming back to it, what I said initially about, like, now figuring out why I don't really love Tarantino as much as I love other director writer directors. You know, I love South Park. Like, I know a lot of people shit on South Park, but South Park shits back on you if you're nasty. Because of the commentary as well as like Archer and I guess on a lesser extent, you know, Family Guy,

44:29KT: but there is always some sort of heart in there. There is some sort of like intention. It's not just to be an asshole about it, which I kinda feel like this is where we traverse these worlds. But let's finish off. Do you have anything to say generally about Reservoir Dogs?

44:48Oti: It started off quite promising. I think the shortcomings we've discussed just threw me off a bit. Yeah. They make me really want to care, and that's sad because I thought at at the end of it, there was something there. Uh-huh. There was something there, and people probably use it as a template now. So good on them. Yeah. Suppose.

45:10KT: Ben shared his thoughts specifically about Reservoir Dogs. More of a personal opinion, but I'll be keen to hear your thoughts. Tarantino's best film is Reservoir Dogs. Why? Forced restraint, low budget, single location for the most part, and a reliance on dialogue. His best and finest work or finest is a strong word, Ben. Ever since then, has failed to live up to his inaugural work. Intimate, well told stories are better than showy, glitzy nothingness. But I would say Tarantino is showy, glitzy nothingness.

45:45KT: Yeah. That's just like the budget to be glitzy. So it's just showy nothingness. Thank you, Mr. Nobody from Doom Patrol. Welcome. I guess I I guess while we're here and we'll we'll mention it for those playing at home, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds, Patron Pick, and then Django Unchained. Where does Reservoir Dogs sit for you?

46:06Oti: Probably one of the top ones? Yeah. Without having seen quite a lot of what we're going to cover, I would say it's at the top.

46:06KT: Is it do you think it's above Pulp Fiction for you at the moment?

46:06Oti: Yeah. I think it is.

46:06KT: Alright. Well, there you go. Whoever knows, friends and lovers, before we finish off, we do have a comment about another film, and this is from our lovely Brandy. Don't hate me. Okay. So I guess I I want Oh, to Brandy.

46:33KT: Well, I don't even know what this film is about. So don't hate me, but Death Proof is a masterful show of girl power. Oh, now I know why she said don't hate me. And the unwillingness of women to be victims of men's bullshit. Oh. I don't know, Brandy. That just sounds like Undercover Brother to me.

46:53Oti: Oh, wow. Eddie Griffin. I don't think anyone's mentioned that name in ages.

47:02KT: Yeah. I'm going to Conjuring on my black Twitter Ouija board. Mhmm. Wow. You know what, friends and lovers? This is interesting because for the last two Reference Degustations, we were guaranteed to have a good time. Mhmm. And I guess we're doing this to be accessible to you motherfuckers. Do they speak accessible and what? For our patrons specifically, interestingly enough, Oti had two options for the director we would be covering. And the fact that he chose this director would, I guess, tell a lot about who we didn't go with. Usually we would end off in our segment For Your Reference

47:44KT: but the reference will be everything that we'll be covering this foot long month. If you'd like to potentially ask for but not receive Oti's feet pics on Twitter and Instagram, we're at for your ref pod. Right. That's an email at hello f for podcast dot com. We're also on please get more than one black friend and more than a token podcast. If you like to leave a rating and review. And we'll see you guys in the next episode. See you. Bye.