With his Christmas hit Django Unchained being released this past week on DVD and Blu Ray, it seemed an appropriate time as any for me to discuss my love for writer/director Quentin Tarantino. I could probably turn this into a novel, but for simplicity’s sake I’ll limit myself to this article.

I remember that the first movie I ever saw by Tarantino was, fittingly, his first one titled Reservoir Dogs, and it’s still hard to fathom how that movie rocked my movie-loving socks. I’d never seen a movie edited in such a non-linear way, never heard dialogue so real you could smell the character’s clothes or seen characters so lively and full of personality. And still, to this day, it’s mind boggling how, even though the movie hinges on a jewelry heist, we never actually see the heist take place. Genius.

I knew there would be no turning back after that movie for my love of Tarantino. Obviously Pulp Fiction is not only my favorite movie of his, but one of my favorites in general. The writing is to a caliber unparalleled by many movies that share the same Academy Award as it. In my opinion, Kill Bill Vol. 1 is his most genius film directing wise, as he mashes up directing styles and genres to create one sleek, superb story that glorifies the complexity of its simplicity. Kill Bill Vol. 2 doesn’t have the same energy, but is still a great take on a western-style movie set in modern western culture. And his most recent, Django Unchained, is a violent, gleeful and serious piece of American history. It’s not all sugar and spice though; I am not a fan of Inglourious Basterds, despite an excellent performance by Christoph Waltz. It plods too much and is over-indulgent to a fault.

But why specifically Tarantino? Because he is unlike anyone else working in Hollywood. The originality he approaches his projects with, his dedication to his characters, his FANTASTIC scripts, all amount to a man who’s one of the greatest geniuses in Hollywood today. What shines through the most in his projects is his utter enjoyment for what he is creating. He loves film, a love that blossomed most likely while he spent time working in a video rental store, and his passion shows up in every project he makes. He walks a very fine line between originality and homage, but the end result is a movie that is all his. It never feels like he is ripping off the movies he is celebrating in his films.

The violence and language in his movies can turn some off, but these are the things that make Quentin Tarantino so unique. He’s smart, funny, and yes a bit crazy, but I wouldn’t want a filmmaker to be anything but.