Birthday special: 5 films that made Quentin Tarantino a cult icon

Anyone who has seen a Quentin Tarantino film will agree that the American director never holds back in depicting action violence or profanity in his movies As the filmmaker turns 54 we list five films peppered with popculture references that garnered Quentin Tarantino a cult followingQuentin Tarantino PicAFP1 Pulp Fiction 1994Pulp Fiction is the classic Tarantino movie that includes all the aspects of filmmaking he is known for Its violence humour nonlinear storytelling and popculture references made it a hit among the critics and audience alike The film not only revived John Travoltas career but also earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor Pulp Fiction was nominated for seven Oscars in all while winning in the Best Original Screenplay category2 Kill Bill 2003 and 2004Kill Bill stars Uma Thurman as the Bride who seeks revenge on an assassination squad after they try to kill her and her unborn child This martial arts action film was originally set for a single theatrical release but its 4hour plus running time prompted Tarantino to divide it into two movies The films plot was developed by Tarantino and lead actress Uma Thurman during the making of Pulp Fiction Tarantino has said that the iconic animated action sequence in Kill Bill Vol 1 2003 was inspired by the use of 2D animated sequences in Kamal Haasans Tamil film Aalavandhan3 Reservoir Dogs 1992Quentin Tarantinos directorial debut Reservoir Dogs ticks off all his trademarks ndash humour violence profanity nonlinear storyline ndash and enjoys a cult status Tarantino wrote the script of this diamond heist gone wrong in three and a half weeks while the film was made under a low budget with stellar star cast After the success of Reservoir Dogs Tarantino was offered numerous projects including Speed and Men in Black but he chose to work on his script for Pulp Fiction4 Inglourious Basterds 2009Inglourious Basterds is Tarantinos unconventional take on a war film that involves two separate plots to assassinate Nazi Germanys political leaders including Adolf Hitler Tarantino wrote the script in 1998 but struggled to come up with a convincing ending and chose to direct Kill Bill instead Inglourious Basterds is Tarantinos secondhighest grossing film till date It received eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture Best Director and Best Original Screenplay while Christoph Waltzs portrayal of Hans Landa earned him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor5 Django Unchained 2012Tarantino tackles the issue of slavery boldly and brutally in Django Unchained The story revolves around a slave named Django Samuel L Jackson who is freed by a German bounty hunter Christoph Waltz and the two eventually team up to rescue Djangos wife from a plantation owner Leonardo DiCaprio Django Unchained went on to become a critical and commercial success and is Tarantinos highestgrossing film till date In the five Oscar nominations the film earned Tarantino won for Best Original Screenplay and Christoph Waltz received yet another Oscar for Best Supporting Actor