Quentin Tarantino's Black List of 7 Movies That Didn't Deserve His Screen Time

Some movies are the cinema’s pure gems, but not when it comes to Quentin Tarantino’s personal list of most hated films he should have never wasted his time on.

The director, who gained wide recognition back in the 1990s after releasing Reservoir Dogs, isn’t that kind of a person that keeps his negative reviews to himself. Instead, Tarantino makes them all pretty much public and doesn’t shy away from criticising his beloved colleagues’ works.

From the forever cult classic to the most recent releases, here’s a list of movies that Tarantino hates.

‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ (1989)

• On Rotten Tomatoes, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has scores of 84% and 94% from critics and audiences
• On IMDb, the movie is rated 8.2/10

Even though the movie is regarded as one of the best Indiana Jones instalments, Quentin Tarantino can’t say exactly the same.

“I like ‘Crystal Skull’ more than the Sean Connery one. I don’t like the Sean Connery one at all. … That’s such a boring one. It’s boring. And he’s not an interesting character”, the director once said during a conversation on the ReelBlend podcast.

‘A Clockwork Orange’ (1971)

• On Rotten Tomatoes, A Clockwork Orange keeps scores of 86% and 93% from critics and viewers
• On IMDb, the movie rates 8.2/10

Stanley Kubrick’s cult classic movie doesn’t have Tarantino on its fan list either as the latter couldn’t hide his feelings about Kubrick’s hypocrisy while talking about A Clockwork Orange.

“I always thought Kubrick was a hypocrite, because his party line was, I’m not making a movie about violence, I’m making a movie against violence”, Tarantino said in an interview with The New Yorker, also pointing out that he liked only the movie’s first twenty minutes that were “pretty fu**ing perfect”.

‘Vertigo’ (1958)

• On Rotten Tomatoes, Vertigo holds scores of 93% and 92% from critics and audiences
• On IMDb, the movie’s rating is 8.2/10

Alfred Hitchcock’s most acclaimed feature is widely considered one of the best movies of all time, but it gets to the bottom when it comes to Tarantino’s list.

In various interviews the director admitted he isn’t a fan of Vertigo and, in fact, isn’t a fan of Hitchcock’s entire filmography shot during the 1950s.

‘The 400 Blows’ (1959)

• On Rotten Tomatoes, The 400 Blows holds scores of 99% and 94% from critics and viewers
• On IMDb, the movie is rated 8/10

The French New Wave’s cult classic doesn’t look impressive to Tarantino either; on top of that, the director doesn’t hold special feelings for Truffaut’s movies — just like he does with Hitchcock’s.

“I’m not a Truffaut fan that much anyway. There are some exceptions, the main one being ‘The Story of Adele H.’ But for the most part, I feel about Truffaut like I feel about Ed Wood. I think he’s a very passionate, bumbling amateur”, Tarantino revealed on the Video Archives podcast.

‘1917’ (2019)

• On Rotten Tomatoes, 1917 keeps a score of 88% from both critics and audiences
• On IMDb, the movie rates 8.2/10

Sam Mendes’ one-shot war drama was one of the award season frontrunners back in 2020, though it failed to blow Tarantino away too, with the director once stating that the movie did try too hard to make those invisible cuts.

“I actually liked the movie, but my friend brought something up, and oh my god, once he brought it up I couldn’t unhear it. He was complaining about it because he felt it played too much like a video game. Now, I don’t play video games, so I don’t feel that per se. So [watching the film], I’m actually thinking it feels more innovative than maybe someone who plays video games does”, the director also added while having a talk on the Club Random with Bill Maher podcast back in 2022.

‘Atomic Blonde’ (2017)

• On Rotten Tomatoes, Atomic Blonde has scores of 79% and 64% from critics and viewers
• On IMDb, the movie rates 6.7/10

Charlize Theron’s action thriller was also slammed by Tarantino during the same talk with Bill Maher as the director called the movie’s action-packed scenes deceiving for viewers.

“When I’m watching like the long fight in ‘Atomic Blonde,’ I’m like, ‘God. This is amazing! This is fucking amazing! OK… wait a minute. ‘The shot took a shit. The shot’s not going on this long, it took a shit.’ So it’s all tainted. It’s all tainted. Because obviously, they didn’t carry it through”, Tarantino revealed.

‘The Hunger Games’ (2012)

• On Rotten Tomatoes, The Hunger Games keeps scores of 84% and 81% from critics and audiences
• On IMDb, the movie rates 7.2/10

Despite Tarantino being a huge fan of dystopian movies like his forever favorite Battle Royale, the Jennifer Lawrence-led hit film felt like a pathetic imitation to him.

“I’m a big fan of the Japanese movie ‘Battle Royale,’ which is what ‘Hunger Games’ was based on. Well, ‘Hunger Games’ just ripped it off. That would have been awesome to have directed ‘Battle Royale’”, Tarantino said during one of his appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live!