Quentin Tarantino has blasted Hollywood, describing it as a “flavourless sausage factory” filled with “audience pandering” and “miscast performers”.

The outspoken Pulp Fiction director lamented the state of the film industry in an essay for Sight and Sound magazine, revealing that since the 2020 pandemic, it’s “almost impossible” for him to find a new movie that he doesn’t pick apart.

“Since the pandemic, for me anyway, it seems almost impossible for a new movie to come out that I don’t pick to death. Flaws, implausibilities, audience pandering, miscast performers or just plain stupid s**t usually torpedoes every new movie coming out of the flavorless sausage factory that used to call itself Hollywood,” he wrote. “These days, the entire concept of what is a movie is more inclined to inspire contempt in me than generosity.”

Tarantino, who hasn’t directed a movie since 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, noted that there were some exceptions, such as Steven Spielberg’s version of West Side Story in 2021 and the first two chapters of Kevin Costner’s Horizon saga in 2024.

“I’ve seen movies I’ve liked since then… but nothing that really held me in its grip and swept me away to the magical land of enjoyment that I used to visit and was the reason why I loved movies above all artforms,” Tarantino continued. “These days I’d rather read a book.”

However, the Kill Bill director then heaped praise on Joe Carnahan’s recent crime thriller The Rip, starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, sharing that the “suspenseful” movie “held (him) for its entire duration”.

“The film is an exciting cop thriller with a novel premise that manages to deliver the goods in really clever ways,” he wrote, adding that the “whole package worked for (him)”.

The Rip was released on Netflix in January.

While Tarantino hasn’t directed a feature in seven years, he wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sequel, The Adventures of Cliff Booth, starring Brad Pitt. The movie, directed by David Fincher, will be released in December.

The Reservoir Dogs filmmaker is currently writing a swashbuckling stage comedy for London’s West End called The Popinjay Cavalier. The play will have its world premiere in 2027.

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