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Quentin Tarantino is not playing coy when it comes to his thoughts on the state of modern Hollywood.
Writing for Sight & Sound magazine, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and Django Unchained shared his brutally honest appraisal of post-Covid Hollywood and modern movies, stating that the filmmaking industry is a “flavourless sausage factory” rife with “miscast performers”, “audience pandering” and “just plain stupid shit”.
“Flaws, implausibilities, audience pandering, miscast performers, or just plain stupid shit usually torpedoes every new movie coming out of the flavourless sausage factory that used to call itself Hollywood,” the filmmaker said. “These days, the entire concept of what is a movie is more inclined to inspire contempt in me than generosity. Which is fair enough, because by comparison the movies of the last six years make the 80s seem like the 30s.”
Well, that’s them told.
He continued: “But nothing that really held me in its grip and swept me away to the magical land of enjoyment that I used to visit regularly and was the reason I loved movies above all other artforms.”
“These days I’d rather read a book,” he added.
Harsh. But then again, 2026 has seen audiences subjected to Wuthering Heights, Michael and The Mandalorian And Grogu, so…
Anything he has enjoyed of late, you ask?
Well, he mentioned he had enjoyed Steven Spielberg’s 2021 adaptation of West Side Story and Kevin Costner’s 2024 diptych Horizon: An American Saga. Somewhat surprisingly, considering the dialogue sounded AI-generated, Tarantino praised Netflix crime drama The Rip, starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
“A suspenseful new movie has come out that did grab me and held me for its entire duration,” Tarantino wrote about the movie. “The film is an exciting cop thriller with a novel premise that manages to deliver the goods in really clever ways. The whole package worked for me: Carnahan’s direction, the splendid cast, the look of the film (courtesy of cinematographer Juan Miguel Azpiroz) – but the real powerhouse component of this splendid collection is the sensational screenplay by Carnahan and Michael McGrale.”
Tarantino, who previously stated that he would retire after directing 10 films (don’t get us started on his flawed methodology), is currently working on a play titled “The Popinjay Cavalier”. The “swashbuckling comedy” set in 1930s Europe is set to world premiere on London’s West End next year.
His next major screen project is The Adventures Of Cliff Booth, a sequel to 2019’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. The new film will be directed by David Fincher, with a script by Tarantino.
The Adventures Of Cliff Booth is slated for a two-week theatrical run starting on 25 November before arriving on Netflix on 23 December 2026.