Quentin Tarantino is not exactly handing Hollywood a participation trophy.
The 63-year-old Oscar-winning filmmaker behind ‘Pulp Fiction’ unloaded on the current state of movies in a new essay for Sight & Sound magazine. Tarantino said he has struggled to find modern films that truly pull him in, and he did not soften the complaint.
For a director who built his career on movie love, genre worship and sharp opinions, this was not casual grumbling. This was Tarantino sounding almost bored with the business that made him famous.
Quentin Tarantino Takes Aim At Modern Movies
Tarantino wrote that flaws, weak choices, audience pandering, poor casting and plain bad ideas sink too many recent films. He also called today’s Hollywood a “flavorless sausage factory,” which is about as Tarantino as an insult gets.
“These days, the entire concept of what constitutes a movie tends to inspire contempt in me rather than generosity,” he wrote.
Then came the harsher comparison.
“By comparison, the movies of the last six years make the ’80s seem like the ’30s,” Tarantino added.
That is not a throwaway line. Tarantino has previously criticized the 1980s as one of the weaker movie eras. So, comparing today’s films unfavorably to that decade says plenty.
A Few Recent Films Still Won Him Over
Tarantino did say some newer movies have worked for him. He named Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ from 2021 and Kevin Costner’s ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ Chapters 1 and 2 from 2024.
Still, he said very little has taken him back to the feeling that made him love cinema in the first place.
“I’ve seen movies I liked since then,” Tarantino wrote. “But nothing that really gripped me and transported me to that magical realm of cinematic bliss I used to frequent.”
His conclusion was blunt.
“These days, I’d rather curl up with a good book,” he wrote.
That line will sting for anyone hoping Tarantino still sees theaters as the center of the universe. Yet he did give one recent movie a serious shoutout.
Tarantino Praises One New Netflix Thriller
Tarantino praised ‘The Rip,’ a 2026 Netflix movie starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. He described it as a suspenseful film that held his attention from beginning to end.
“A suspenseful new movie has come out that truly grabbed me,” he wrote.
He also called ‘The Rip’ an “exhilarating cop thriller” with a smart premise and strong execution. Tarantino praised its direction, cast, cinematography and screenplay.
The compliment matters because Tarantino has spent years questioning what a movie even means now. During a 2025 Sundance Film Festival discussion, he criticized quick home-viewing turnarounds after short theatrical runs.
“What … is a movie now?” he asked.
Tarantino has not directed a film since 2019’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.’ He has said he plans to make one more movie before retiring from directing, though he scrapped his planned project ‘The Movie Critic.’
For now, fans can still expect more Tarantino flavor soon. David Fincher is directing a Netflix follow-up to ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,’ written by Tarantino, with Brad Pitt returning as Cliff Booth.
So, Tarantino may be fed up with modern Hollywood. But he is not entirely out of the game yet.
