I guess I just don't 'get' Tarantino. Don't get me wrong, his movies are entertaining, I liked Pulp Fiction but it didn't change my life. It was fun, irreverent, and entertaining. I'll admit to not seeing Inglorious Basterds, because it looked like his other movies, just another good action movie, so maybe I'm missing something. They're certainly not mindless but they're not mindful either, they really have nothing to say or really interesting stories to weave. To me Django just seems like Tarantino trolling the country. "Oh, you liked my story about Jews slaughtering Nazis? Well let's see how the south likes this one!" But is it a good STORY? Or is it just another fun, well-made and entertaining killing spree movie?
Those kinds of movies just don't seem worthy of the kind of widespread critical acclaim and Oscar nods that they always seem to get, it seems like people are paying for and praising the brand (Tarantino) and not the product which might have a hard time getting a Fresh rating on the tomatometer if the same movies were made by another director.