The idiot’s guide to Quentin Tarantino

Ever since he burst onto the scene in the early 1990s, Quentin Tarantino has become synonymous with pop-culture infused stories of hard-hitting violence laced with black humour, all jumbled up in a typically a-chronological cinematic romp that gleefully and unapologetically references some of its creator's numerous influences.

With Django Unchained - the Jamie Foxx-starring 'spaghetti western' about a freed slave in 19th century America who goes on a quest to rescue his wife - out in local cinemas this week, we take a trip down Tarantino's ever-expanding filmography, cherry picking some of our favourite lines from Tarantino's trademark dialogue.

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

The premise is so simple that it could easily have been made as a one-act play, but this blistering, violent and clever debut focusing on the prelude and aftermath of a bank heist gone terribly wrong situated Tarantino as a filmmaker to watch. Assembling an all-male cast featuring the likes of Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen and Harvey Keitel - who helped finance the film... an investment that repaid in dividends ('Dogs was a favourite at the Sundance Film Festival). You know that you're in the hands of an original when a film about macho-as-can-be gangsters opens to them dissecting the hidden meaning behind Madonna's 'Like a Virgin'.

Notable line: Mr Pink (Steve Buscemi): "Somebody's shoved a red-hot poker up our a**, and I want to know whose name is on the handle!"

Pulp Fiction (1994)

'Dogs got the ball rolling, but it was Tarantino's sophomore effort - a neo-noir anthology of intersecting stories involving two hitmen, a boxer and a robber couple -which made him into a superstar. From its unforgettable opening sequence in which two mobsters - Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vince (John Travolta) - casually chat about foot massages, the metric system and Dutch drug regulation before ruthlessly mowing down a group of petty drug pushers on their employer's black list; to Christopher Walken's disturbing 'gold watch' monologue and Bruce Willis's brutal retribution for an unprintable act of torture, the Oscar-winning feature is a gleeful and undeniably cool collage that more than deserves its enduring status as the brightest beacon of 90s 'indie cinema'.

Notable line: Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames): "What now? Let me tell you what now. I'ma call a coupla hard, pipe-hittin' n*****s, who'll go to work on the homes here with a pair of pliers and a blow torch. You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'ma get medieval on your a**."

Jackie Brown (1997)

After a patchy few years doing mainly bits and bobs, Tarantino returned with this story of the titular flight attendant (Pam Grier), who gets involved in a dangerous crime ring led by black market gun runner Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson) after she smuggles some money for him. The involvement of Pam Grier signals another one of Tarantino's obsessions - the 'blaxploitation' cinema of the 70s which made her a star, and which is yet another recurring strand of pop culture that Tarantino is keen to reference - even down to Django Unchained.

But though the film's neo-noir vibe chimes in readily with Pulp Fiction's milieu, the thematic core of the film is, really, an exploration of aging, which comes to the fore when a poignant relationship develops with Jackie Brown and bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forster). No Tarantino film, before or since, has exhibited such maturity.

Notable line: Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson): "AK-47! The very best there is! When you absolutely, positively, gotta kill every motherf***er in the room? Accept no substitute."

Kill Bill Vols. 1, 2 (2003, 2004)

Tarantino burst into the new millennium with a new approach. Gone was the lean, mean, Sundance kid - Tarantino was now painting with broad brush strokes over a huge canvas (he was forced to bisect it into two films after the story mushroomed). One ingredient from his past was carried over, however, to tell this story of an assassin (Uma Thurman's 'Bride') who goes on a vindictive, worldwide rampage culminating in the murder of her former employer and lover - the titular Bill (David Carradine). Thurman - his 'muse' since Pulp Fiction, helps Tarantino take his carnival of carnage to the exotic East, gleefully incorporating that region's penchant for showers of blood and grotesquely cruel set pieces.

Notable lines:

Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah): "That's right. I killed your master. And now I'm gonna kill you too, with your own sword, no less, which in the very immediate future, will become... my sword."

The Bride (Uma Thurman): "Bitch, you don't have a future."

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Never one to shy away from a challenge, Tarantino took on nothing less than World War II with his follow up to the Kill Bill double - erm... - bill, sending off Brad Pitt's Lt. Aldo Raine to assemble a Dirty Dozen-like band of Jewish Nazi-killers to vanquish the Fascist scrouge off the face of Europe (they get some unexpected help from a fellow Jewish woman - Melanie Laurent's Shoshanna - with a vindictive agenda of her own). Liberal with historical facts as well as its supply of prop-blood, 'Basterds' boasts a not-always-graceful mix-and-match chronology that recalls Pulp Fiction, even in its employment of an ensemble cast.

Out of which, however, one figure outshines all: Christoph Waltz, playing the conniving and nefarious 'Jew Hunter' Hans Landa, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his efforts, and scored himself a role in Django Unchained. It's safe to assume that Waltz, like Samuel L. Jackson, will become a fixture in Tarantino's select band of thespian collaborators.

Notable line: Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt): "You probably heard we ain't in the prisoner-takin' business; we in the killin' Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin'."

Read our review of Django Unchained.