Quentin Tarantino is doubling down on his film criticism, as he not only has his 10th and final feature, The Movie Critic, on the horizon but also has a follow-up to his book Cinema Speculation in the works.
As he revealed on the Pure Cinema Podcast – which frequently promotes goings-on at the QT-owned New Beverly Cinema – the Cinema Speculation sequel will be his next book. While Tarantino didn’t provide any details as far as when Cinema Speculation II: Electric Boogaloo will hit shelves, he did mention one title he would be covering: Peter Bogdanovich’s 1972 screwball comedy What’s Up, Doc? On that movie and its cast dynamics, Tarantino said, “I am a big fan of everybody in this movie, but I’m a particularly big fan of Ryan O’Neal’s job as Howard Bannister. I think it’s one of the great straight-man comedy roles. I think he’s really, really terrific. And as a matter of fact, it reminds me of something. I love Bringing Up Baby as much as anybody––especially as much as a Hawks lover would love it. I actually think Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal are better than Grant and Hepburn in there. They’re so terrific together, combined by the fact also that Ryan O’Neal is acting opposite to comic tornados, in the case of both Barbra Streisand and Madeline Kahn.”
Cinema Speculation was a major hit upon release, marking Quentin Tarantino’s first venture into film criticism and analysis published in book form. While it wasn’t an autobiography per-se, it gave fans an insight into his moviegoing habits from his earliest days. There, too, were retrospective pieces on classics like Bullitt, Dirty Harry, Taxi Driver, and many more. Each of the dozen-plus essays is well worth the read, whether you’ve seen the movie or want to discover something you missed on your own journey through cinema.
Another movie Tarantino touched on in the interview – his extensive critique of which would be a worthwhile addition to the Cinema Speculation sequel – was Robert Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), which he says he easily gets caught up in even though it has an “abysmal” sound mix in the first act. He also shared that he bought an IB Technicolor print as a gift for Richard Linklater but ended up keeping it for himself.
Which movies do you hope Quentin Tarantino covers in the second Cinema Speculation book? Give us your picks below!
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