Pulp Fiction 20th anniversary

[Foggy]

See this is the interesting thing about Tarantino. Pulp Fiction is his landmark film, people like it because nothing else compares, all the rip offs and even his own follow up films struggle to top it. To me Reservoir Dogs is his freshest film and his most tense film, but Inglorious Basterds is his grittiest film, Django Unchained is his most cartoonish but also darkest film, Kill Bill is his most vibrant piece of work, Death Proof is his most stylish and Jackie Brown is his most character focused and grounded, but each on of his films are like a heightened segment of Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction brings all the pieces together to make something reasonably satisfying on all levels to everyone, it also features the most memorable bits. It's great film despite it not being a favourite of mine, and it's legacy is pretty much crippling to those who dare attempt it.

[Visco.]

Interesting post Foggy.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Foggy

See this is the interesting thing about Tarantino. Pulp Fiction is his landmark film, people like it because nothing else compares, all the rip offs and even his own follow up films struggle to top it. To me Reservoir Dogs is his freshest film and his most tense film, but Inglorious Basterds is his grittiest film, Django Unchained is his most cartoonish but also darkest film, Kill Bill is his most vibrant piece of work, Death Proof is his most stylish and Jackie Brown is his most character focused and grounded, but each on of his films are like a heightened segment of Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction brings all the pieces together to make something reasonably satisfying on all levels to everyone, it also features the most memorable bits. It's great film despite it not being a favourite of mine, and it's legacy is pretty much crippling to those who dare attempt it.

Excellent post. I absolutely agree, though I had never quite thought of it that way.

I think that "Pulp Fiction" will always hold a special place in my heart. But as you explained, each of his films is really very different in what it brings to the table. I could easily say, on any given day, that "Inglorious Basterds" is my favorite, other than "Pulp Fiction." Or that "Kill Bill" is my favorite. Or that "Reservoir Dogs" is my favorite. Probably it comes down to whichever I've seen last.

But man, there really is nothing like "Pulp Fiction" as you said. And I really wonder if people who've only recently seen it for the first time can truly appreciate what it was like for those of us who sat in a theater, not entirely sure what to expect, and saw this before it became such a massive piece of common cultural understanding.

[Kaiju]

10/10 movie

[Adam_ME]

I saw it with 3 buddies of mine when it first opened I think in October 1994 before it went wide and turned into a box office smash. We had no idea what we were in for. I hadn't even seen a full trailer. Just a few brief TV spots. I think the longest bit of footage I'd been exposed to was the tail end of the scene in the kitchen when the Wolf first arrives("pretty please, clean the f'ing car"). I hadn't seen Reservoir Dogs yet. And even though I did see True Romance before Pulp Fiction, I didn't know it was written by Tarantino and frankly I didn't think it was that great of a film(although parts of it are absolutely brilliant).

Long story, less long, we were blown away. We'd never seen anything like it. The dialogue, the violence, the soundtrack, and especially the out-of-sequence narrative. That last part had me totally confused. I'd seen that clip of Jackson and Travolta pointing their guns at the camera and firing, so I was more than a little puzzled when Vincent Vega was offed halfway through the movie. It all made sense in the end of course.

Now it's not a perfect movie by any stretch. The female characters all ranged from annoying(Uma, Bruce Willis' girlfriend) to downright b-tchy(Rosanna Arquette). The middle story(The Gold Watch) wasn't as good as the other two although it did have a great payoff line("Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead."). There are nitpicky things like how Jules and Vincent fire their guns a bunch of times in that apartment building and none of the neighbors ever bother to call the cops. And on a personal note, I hadn't eaten before seeing the movie, so I didn't appreciate all the damn food people kept scarfing down in the flick!

All that aside, it's still easily one of my favorite movies of all-time. And the fact that I still can't decide if I like it better than Reservoir Dogs or Inglorious Basterds shows how sick of a filmmaker Tarantino is.

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

I've seen the following Tarantino films.

Pulp Fiction
Natural Born Killers (Story)
From Dusk Til Dawn (Even as the writer still counts)
Sin City (Special Guest Director)
Inglorious Basterds
Death Proof (Extended Cut)
Django Unchained.

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by Michael Bay Fan

I've seen the following Tarantino films.

Pulp Fiction
Natural Born Killers (Story)
From Dusk Til Dawn (Even as the writer still counts)
Sin City (Special Guest Director)
Inglorious Basterds
Death Proof (Extended Cut)
Django Unchained.

Technically I had seen Natural Born Killers as well before Pulp Fiction, but that really doesn't count. Other than the story itself, I don't think anything from his script made it to the screen.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by Michael Bay Fan

I've seen the following Tarantino films.

Pulp Fiction
Natural Born Killers (Story)
From Dusk Til Dawn (Even as the writer still counts)
Sin City (Special Guest Director)
Inglorious Basterds
Death Proof (Extended Cut)
Django Unchained.

From Dusk Till Dawn is f'in ace...discounting the really awkward Selma Hayek foot fetish scene with Tarantino...in fact count out anything with Tarantino on screen and you've got an ace flick.

EDIT: Also fix the lack of Reservoir Dogs!

[Astro Zombie]

Originally Posted by Michael Bay Fan

I've seen the following Tarantino films.

Pulp Fiction
Natural Born Killers (Story)
From Dusk Til Dawn (Even as the writer still counts)
Sin City (Special Guest Director)
Inglorious Basterds
Death Proof (Extended Cut)
Django Unchained.

Yeah, go watch Kill Bill right now.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Foggy

From Dusk Till Dawn is f'in ace...discounting the really awkward Selma Hayek foot fetish scene with Tarantino...in fact count out anything with Tarantino on screen and you've got an ace flick.

I love that scene, but then again I ... erm ... moving on.

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by Astro Zombie

Yeah, go watch Kill Bill right now.

Kill Bill is one I've always felt conflicted about. I did enjoy both parts, but I hated how I was essentially charged double the price to watch a single film because Tarantino was unwilling to come up with a 2 1/2 or even 3 hour cut. That and despite Tarantino's fixation with her, I've never been a big fan of Uma. She's a capable, but not great, actress.

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Originally Posted by Foggy

From Dusk Till Dawn is f'in ace...discounting the really awkward Selma Hayek foot fetish scene with Tarantino...in fact count out anything with Tarantino on screen and you've got an ace flick.

I remember one time I was watching this, and my sisters boyfriend comes out and starts watching the movie aswell. This is towards the starts.

[Show spoiler]So when it turns into a straight up Vampire Flick he's like WTF?! lol.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

I love that scene, but then again I ... erm ... moving on.

Even so, if you're into that sort of thing, you've real creepy looking Tarantino at the bottom of the frame suckling up all that stuff, like a bad fan-fic coming to life on screen, I don't get home anyone can find that titillating.

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Originally Posted by Astro Zombie

Yeah, go watch Kill Bill right now.

I watched some of it and i just didn't care for it.

I have Jackie Brown and Reservoir Dogs, I just need to watch them yet.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

Kill Bill is one I've always felt conflicted about. I did enjoy both parts, but I hated how I was essentially charged double the price to watch a single film because Tarantino was unwilling to come up with a 2 1/2 or even 3 hour cut. That and despite Tarantino's fixation with her, I've never been a big fan of Uma. She's a capable, but not great, actress.

I have mixed feelings concerning Uma. Sometimes I just don't get her performances. But she's amazing, IMO, in "Kill Bill." She gave a very good performance in "Gattaca." And I hear she's excellent in "Nymphomaniac" but I haven't seen that yet, so can't really comment.

But in "Kill Bill" her performance is very stylized, as are the films themselves. So I can see how they could rub someone the wrong way.

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by Michael Bay Fan

I watched some of it and i just didn't care for it.

I have Jackie Brown and Reservoir Dogs, I just need to watch them yet.

Definitely watch Reservoir Dogs. I've seen that more times than any other Tarantino flick. Incredible acting by everyone, aside from Tim Roth's weak American accent.

I've actually only seen Jackie Brown once. When it originally played in theaters in late 1997. I didn't care for it to be honest. Great soundtrack and some solid performances(especially Robert Forster who I'm glad wasn't forgotten by the Academy that year). But Pam Grier wasn't a great lead and the story overall was just ok.

Then again, maybe I should give it another shot. I remember not liking Out of Sight much when I saw that in theaters the following summer and now I absolutely love it.

[Kaiju]

Originally Posted by Michael Bay Fan

I watched some of it and i just didn't care for it.

I have Jackie Brown and Reservoir Dogs, I just need to watch them yet.

I'd go with Reservoir Dogs.

[Astro Zombie]

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

Kill Bill is one I've always felt conflicted about. I did enjoy both parts, but I hated how I was essentially charged double the price to watch a single film because Tarantino was unwilling to come up with a 2 1/2 or even 3 hour cut. That and despite Tarantino's fixation with her, I've never been a big fan of Uma. She's a capable, but not great, actress.

I love both parts, with a slight edge to Vol. 1. I get what you're saying about being charged double, but I'm glad we got a 4-hour 2-part movie instead of one 3-hour movie.

[Adam_ME]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

I have mixed feelings concerning Uma. Sometimes I just don't get her performances. But she's amazing, IMO, in "Kill Bill." She gave a very good performance in "Gattaca." And I hear she's excellent in "Nymphomaniac" but I haven't seen that yet, so can't really comment.

But in "Kill Bill" her performance is very stylized, as are the films themselves. So I can see how they could rub someone the wrong way.

I do need to give Gattaca a look. I've owned it for years, and I've heard nothing but great things about it. I'd never been a big Ethan Hawke fan either(ironic that he was once married to Uma who I've also been iffy on), although he has won me over in the past decade with the Before sequels and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.(Hey, maybe he should just do movies with Before in the title and he'll be fine.)

As for Uma, I didn't really have a problem with her performance in Kill Bill. She was good in it, but that movie is all over the place in terms of tone and content that it wasn't gonna be easy for any actress to pull that off. I will say that she absolutely nailed it with her emotional reaction in that moment when she goes to Bill's house and sees a certain individual for the first time(I won't spoil it for those in this thread who still haven't seen it).

[Astro Zombie]

Originally Posted by Foggy

Even so, if you're into that sort of thing, you've real creepy looking Tarantino at the bottom of the frame suckling up all that stuff, like a bad fan-fic coming to life on screen, I don't get home anyone can find that titillating.

I agree, the scene was good until the weird feet thing. Still love the movie though