A filmmaker, reviewing his own film, compares his technique to that of one of his own filmmaking idols. Behind the endearing braggadocio — hey Ma, I’m doing it just like Brian! — lies an observation that also happens to be completely accurate. Any film critic would give her left arm to have made that connection.

As he heads into the self-imposed end of his consistently successful directorial career, the 59-year-old is positioning himself in his planned retirement from filmmaking to occupy a role he was born for: as a critical institution of movies as a whole.

... an unprecedented collection of film criticism in that it’s written by an actual filmmaker, at a career peak no less.

Are we really going to need the audiobook version? From the very first page, the author’s unmistakable voice ricochets between the reader’s ears: giggling, provoking, digressing, seducing and dropping deadpan little hints about his own life.

There’s nothing subtle about Tarantino’s riffs and ripostes about films, directors and actors, which are often laced with profanity and italicized words to really drive home his point. If the author’s name wasn’t an immediate tip-off, it soon becomes apparent that this isn’t your standard tome of film scholarship.

... rollicking, ramshackle.

... an opinionated, compulsively readable appreciation of the grimy, generally lurid movies of his ’70s youth.

For better or worse, this is pure unfiltered Tarantinalia: a motormouthed mash-up of cinema history, conjecture and memoir that, like his screenplays, doesn’t so much flow as pepper you with a mishmash of fact and opinion.

Tarantino brings the heat and exuberance of his movie expertise, storytelling artistry, and sharp humor to a dynamic mix of eyebrow-raising personal stories, zesty film history, and kickass film criticism. With chapters devoted to 1970s films he has seen many times over...Tarantino offers sizzling behind-the-production tales and exacting, speculative critiques. In some of the most intriguing passages, he remembers the responses of movie-theater audiences when he was young, especially in Black neighborhoods, where he accompanied Floyd Ray Wilson, a thirtysomething cinephile who showed him the screenplays he was writing.

This is not objective film criticism; these are Tarantino’s personal, very passionate opinions on every aspect of the films and topics he covers. His genre and exploitation film roots are never far from view, but his holistic appreciation of cinema as an art form is front and center. Hopefully, he’ll have further volumes.

Tarantino’s collection of essays about the important movies of his formative years is packed with everything needed for a powerful review: facts about the work, context about the creative decisions, and whether or not it was successful.

... a brilliant and passionate take on the 1960s and ’70s films that shaped him.