Tarantino Tales: Episode 1 - Reservoir Dogs

As this is the first episode it sets the table for the rest of the series firstly I'd like to point out how much I enjoyed the key opening scene transitioning into the opening credits (a trend that would continue through the next 3 episodes that I've watched to date). The opening credits were put together very well making it feel like a a series and not so much of an individual standalone edit so mission accomplished right out of the gates.

Getting this down to an hour isn't as daunting as some of the other edits as this his first feature came in just over 1hr and 30mins but in many ways that may have made the selection of cuts even more important because there is less to play with.... regardless I really enjoyed the experience of watching this... I enjoyed the restructuring of some key scenes and some of the musical changes really fit into the new watching experience. Without giving too many details away the use of black and white in one key scene really made it feel even more like a Tarantino flick as that is a technique he has utilized in some of his other films - to be honest I actually paused the movie to verify that wasn't part of the original film as it felt so right that I second guessed that it wasn't part of the original movie even though I was 99% sure the original scene was in color... great transition work from B&W to Color and back again during that scene..

There was one sound point that stuck out to me and I should have noted where it occurred but besides that absolutely fantastic job FrameSniffer

Great start to what I suspect with be a great "series" to watch

There was almost nothing that was cut that I missed. I've seen the original probably a dozen times and now seeing this edit it has suddenly become clear to me that so much of the original was filler. And of course it's really fun filler, but as a tight story this edit knocks it out of the park.

I thought the music cues were fantastic, especially in the scenes while driving, and switching the film to black and white during the straight razor scene, having it go back into color when he left the warehouse, and returning to black and white when he went back in was absolutely genius. It was so good I can't believe Tarantino himself didn't do it.

This is in my Top 3 Tarantino Tales, along with Pulp Fiction and Death Proof, and well deserved!

Wow. Wow, wow, wow.

I don't know if this is the hardest edit to make or the easiest - due to the original run time - but whatever it is, it's brilliant! The storytelling is fantastic and nothing has been missed. If this is an indication of what's to come, I can't wait to get stuck into the others!

And those main credits...loved them!

An excellent edit. Really told the story well. The original film is excellent and this really honors it in letting the individual characters and dialog shine, even with a 60 min run time. The edits made were well thought out and the flow of the story never felt rushed or bogged down. Pretty interesting in that half the cast isn't really shown except for the main group who made it back to the warehouse. A great watch and I am glad I was able to experience the movie that way.

Honestly, I've never enjoyed this movie more than this cut. Reservoir Dogs has always played to me as overindulgent, which is something that I suppose can be said about a lot of Tarantino's scripts. But something about this one grates on me, like QT's love of his own dialog over-rode his storytelling sensibilities and had me saying "can we get on with it, please?" But here? I didn't have that problem; everything seemed important. And the way the editor re-ordered everything made for an extra gripping experience.
The only times the editing stuck out to me were a couple of moments with the sound. In those spots where we fade to black and the sound fades with it, I could hear the cuts. And there's a bit of ADR in the early scene where Freddy is talking with Holdaway that could have used some more finessing. It works, but it's pretty noticeable.
Changes to the look of the thing were welcome and inventive, the music replacements were fun, and the rhythm of everything was much improved. Highly recommended.