Quentin Tarantino slams modern movies from 'flavorless' Hollywood

Brendan Morrow, USA TODAYThu, June 4, 2026 at 12:22 PM UTC

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Quentin Tarantino doesn't have much love for modern movies.

The Oscar-winning "Pulp Fiction" director, 63, bemoaned the state of film in an essay for Sight & Sound magazine, writing that it has become rare for him to see a new movie that he fully loves.

"Flaws, implausibilities, audience pandering, miscast performers or just plain stupid s--- usually torpedoes every new movie coming out of the flavorless sausage factory that used to call itself Hollywood," he wrote, according to Variety. "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."

Tarantino has previously called the 1980s one of the worst eras for cinema.

Quentin Tarantino attends the Cannes Film Festival on May 13, 2025, in Cannes, France.

He continued in the essay, "I've seen movies I liked since then – 'West Side Story' (2021); 'Horizon: An American Saga' Chapter 1 and 2 (both 2024), a few others, but nothing that really held me in its grip and swept me away to the magical land of enjoyment that I use to visit regularly and was the reason I loved movies above all other artforms. These days I'd rather read a book."

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The filmmaker gave this caveat before he heaped praise on one new movie he did love: "The Rip," the 2026 Netflix movie 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 before naming "The Rip," calling it an "exciting cop thriller with a novel premise that manages to deliver the goods in really clever ways." He went on to write that the "whole package" worked, praising the direction, cast, cinematography and "sensational" screenplay.

Tarantino, who made his feature directorial debut with 1992's "Reservoir Dogs," has not made a new movie since 2019's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." He has announced plans to only direct one more film before retiring as a director.

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But Tarantino has also said he is in no rush to make his last film, in part because he is disillusioned with the state of the film industry and the way movies are available to watch at home not long after playing in theaters.

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"What ... is a movie now?" he said in a conversation at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. "What, something that plays in theaters for a token release for four ... weeks, and by the second week you can watch it on television? I didn't get into all this for diminishing returns."

He also described 2019 as the "last ... year of movies."

Quentin Tarantino attends Fortnite Now Playing, celebrating "The Lost Chapter" on Nov. 19, 2025, in Hollywood, California.

Tarantino, has, however, previously named a few other recent movies he liked. In an interview on the "ReelBlend" podcast in 2022, he said he "loved" "Top Gun: Maverick."

"I thought it was fantastic," he said. "I saw it at the theaters. ... That and Spielberg's 'West Side Story' both provided a true cinematic spectacle, the kind that I'd almost thought that I wasn't going to see anymore."

On the "Bret Easton Ellis Podcast" last year, the "Django Unchained" director counted down his top 20 favorite films of the 21st century so far. Other than Spielberg's "West Side Story" coming in at No. 20, no movies from the 2020s made the list.

In March, Tarantino revealed his next project will be a "swashbuckling comedy" play on the West End called "The Popinjay Cavalier." He has not announced what his 10th and final movie will be after scrapping plans to make a film called "The Movie Critic."

Tarantino did, however, pen the screenplay for a "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" followup set for release on Netflix later this year, which David Fincher directed. It stars Brad Pitt, reprising his Oscar-winning role of Hollywood stuntman Cliff Booth.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Quentin Tarantino slams Hollywood and the state of movies

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