Reviews of Pulp Fiction

The coolest and best written film ever made!

Posted : 11 months, 2 weeks ago on 29 November 2008 08:05 (A review of Pulp Fiction)

There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you. I been sayin' that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a motherfucker before you popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some shit this mornin' made me think twice. Now I'm thinkin': it could mean you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could be you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that. But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd.


Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Bruce Willis

Genre:Crime/Drama

Running time: 154 minutes



My review:

Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield are two hitmen on the hunt for a briefcase whose contents were stolen from their boss, Marsellus Wallace. They run into a few unexpected detours along the road. Marsellus is out of town, and he's gotten Vincent to take care of his wife, Mia. That is, take her out for a night on the town. Things go smoothly until one of them makes a huge error. Butch Coolidge is a boxer who's been approached by Marsellus and been told to throw his latest fight. When Butch ends up killing the other boxer, he must escape Marsellus. Pumpkin and Honey Bunny (not their real names) are two lovebirds/thieves who have decided to rob the restaurant they're currently eating at. But the restaurant doesn't turn out to be as easy as the other places they've robbed.


I dont know how to explain how this film made me feel. Well, I have to say that this film made me feel really good because of the absolutely outstanding written script and also the characters were just too cool. I loved the scenes with the burger and the bible. That is typical Tarantino. I just loved every single thing about this film. This film sort of made me feel a bit off about it at first but after a second viewing it has become one of my all time favourite films. I think at first I didnt understand it and didnt quite get the humour within it. I was 14 when I first saw it but second time when I was 16, I loved it even more. This film really thrilled me because I had never seen those types of characters before who are deadly and humourus at the same time. Also, when there was the gay rape scene, I felt really awkward about that because I have never seen anything like that before on TV (only until I watched The Shawshank Redemption before Pulp Fiction. That was mostly the reason why I felt so thrilled.

John Travolta delivers an outstanding performance as Vincent Vega. John Travolta was really cool as Vincent because he was a humourous foul mouthed swearing man and also his hair with his earrings and his size aswell made him look cool. He deserved his Oscar nomination as Vincent but wasnt quite on the same level as Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. I loved Johns cool attitude with Jules on the way into the flats to pay Brett and his friends a visit. Samuel L. Jackson delivers another outstanding performance as Jules Winnfield. Why didnt he win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor instead of Martin Landau in (Ed Wood)? Jules is obviously a really bad languaged bastard but Sam Jackson improves on the character and makes it more powerful too. I love Jules original character not because of the Bible and the burger lines but mostly the nature of the character of how and when he is going to kill his victims. It is truly an outstanding character. Jacksons performance as Jules is my all time favourite performance by an actor in a supporting role. John Travolta and Uma Thurmans performances are on my list of my favourite Best Leading Actor performances and Best Supporting Actress performances. I really liked Bruce Willis aswell in this film. He made Butch a nice man but quite a really deadly one to as he did that in Die Hard.

Quentin Tarantino directed this film really well. He directed the camera angles and made all of the actions absolutely perfect. Despite of how good Tarantinos direction was, Zemeckis direction was better in Forrest Gump. The writing was absolutely outstanding too. The film deserved his Oscar for Best Original Screenplay because of its original style and typical gangster scenes.

I found this film very different compared to Tarantinos other films like Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill because I find that it isnt action packed at all, it was just too cool. For some reason, I found Reservoir Dogs really action packed even though I didnt like it at all. But was very similar because of the very cool creative Tarantino writing and typical characters that I find very similar to. There is one thing that all Tarantino characters have in common and that is that they kill.

The chemistry between Jules and Vincent is really cool because they both want to to their jobs properly but are quite tense ones too because I find that they are two two slightly different characters. I really liked the chemistry between Mia Wallace and Vincent because I personally think that they were both sarcastically falling in love because they both say sarcastic comments to each other but I personally think that they both have something together and also Vincent tries to help her after she has like a fit or something.

There werent that many twists really. There was when we first see Pumpkin and Honey Bunny and they are determined to rob the café and it is obvious that Jules and Vincent will stop them. Also, there is when the story changes from Vincent Vega And Marsellus Wallaces Wife to The Gold Watch and then to The Bonnie Situation. When there is Jules and Vincent, then Vincent and Mia, then Butch and Marsellus and then Jules and Vincent again.

For some reason, I find Vincent Vegas character quite similar to Tommy DeVito in GoodFellas because of the attitude twards each other.

This film was very violent. It was really bloody but wasnt just violent with blood but was also sexually violent too. There was one love scene between Butch and his girlfriend and that is about it. The language is typically Quentin Tarantino because there are lots of bad words and foul mouthed language that is used in this film.

This film had awesome sound and awesome music. I found the costumes obviously general costumes but were very new with a new style if you understand what I am trying to say.

This film was a winner of only one Academy Awards. It won Best Original Screenplay (beating Bullets Over Broadway, Four Weddings And A Funeral, Heavenly Creatures and Three Colours: Red). But lost Best Picture (lost to Forrest Gump), Best Leading Actor (John Travolta - lost to Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump), Best Supporting Actor (Samuel L. Jackson -lost to Martin Landau in Ed Wood), Best Supporting Actress (Uma Thurman -lost to Dianne Wiest in Bullets Over Broadway), Best Director (Quentin Tarantino - lost to Robert Zemeckis in Forrest Gump) and Best Film Editing (lost to Forrest Gump). The 1994 Academy Awards were a tear to me but in a good way because it was a great year for films and it was a tight one to call between Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption. All three were nominated for Best Picture. I personally think that 1994 Best Picture was the tighest one to call Best Picture Of The Year after all three are just classic masterpieces that everybody loves. If I had to choose the winner it would be Forrest Gump because I found that it was more powerful because it is a truly great inspiration to me. Pulp Fiction is still a truly outstanding phenomenon. It was like for the Academy Awards: Forrest Gump vs. Pulp Fiction. Both films are classics, I love one more than the other in different ways. Forrest Gump because it was more emotional and inspiring but Pulp Fiction because it was cooler and was better written. I love The Shawshank Redemption too.

This film is the best Tarantino film of all time and will probably always be his best film. It was the best John Travolta performance after Grease, Samuel L. Jacksons best performance too, Uma Thurmans performance is outstanding too but I prefer her in Kill Bill particularly first one. This film didn?t disappoint me at all because it was just so original and too cool but it is a little overrated but not as overrated as Reservoir Dogs. One of my favourite films and one of the best films of all time too.

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A Powerful Pulp of Persuasion...

Posted : 1 year, 2 months ago on 17 August 2008 05:50 (A review of Pulp Fiction)

''Say what again. Say what again, motherfucker, say what one more Goddamn time!''

The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.

John Travolta: Vincent Vega

Samuel L. Jackson: Jules Winnfield

Pulp Fiction becomes a bit easier to understand once you realize that it's essentially a black comedy dressed up as a criminal drama. Each of the three main stories begins with a situation that could easily form the subplot of any separate drug comic movie. But something always goes wrong, some small unexpected accident that causes the whole situation to come crashing down, leading the increasingly desperate characters to hilarious conclusions. Tarantino's originality floods from his ability to focus on small details and follow them where they lead, even if they move the story away from conventional plot developments.

''You see, this profession is filled to the brim with unrealistic motherfuckers. Motherfuckers who thought their ass would age like wine. If you mean it turns to vinegar, it does. If you mean it gets better with age, it don't.''

Pulp Fiction received its share of acclaim and awards, and deservedly so. But that being said, while seen by most as a good film, Pulp Fiction is not regarded as another old vintage classic, or Pulp Fiction is not ensconced in the pantheon of the greatest of the great Hollywood films of all time. Those are for a reason. As good a cinematic achievement as Pulp Fiction is, the fact is that as a film it plows turf that's just way too coarse for comfort. Over-the-top blood, guts, and brains-blown-out violence. Gritty gutter language. Subject matter dwelling in the underbelly of life that goes way beyond seedy or unseemly. And it's all presented in a very graphic way. Some people really like it that way. Hey, I understand. That's what Tarantino wanted too, right? But the simple fact is that such fare isn't for everyone but I loved. In this way its own intentional and unrelenting coarse nature is what self-selects it out of the greatness category. To achieve greatest of the greats greatness it has to be seen that way across the board, amongst every audience. Pulp Fiction by Tarantino's design isn't intended to appeal to everyone. Cleverly he wants to offend and he wants to shock and good old Tarantino pulls it off, just take a look at that basement scene for one of the best shocks in film I've seen. Also a worry for anyone traveling to the US.

In addition to these layers, Pulp Fiction also has a lot of humour in it, much of it at times when you know you shouldn't laugh but you do, and also out of situations that you wouldn't laugh at usually. I'm sure some of the parts I laughed at were just because I wasn't expecting something to happen, or maybe I just have a morbid mind, but a lot of the humour came out of the violence.

''What now? Let me tell you what now. I'ma call a coupla hard, pipe-hittin' niggers, 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 ass.''

What is the movie's purpose exactly? It's a complex question,one side of it also is its theme of power. Marsellus is the sort of character who looms over the entire film while being invisible most of the time. The whole point of the big date sequence, which happens to be one of my favourite segments within the film, is the power that Marsellus has over his men without even being there. This power extends to Vincent, compelling him to act in ways you would not ordinarily expect from a dumb, stoned gangster, faced with an attractive woman whose husband has gone away. The power theme also helps explain one of the more controversial aspects of the film, its liberal use of the N-word. In this, the word isn't just used as a adjective to describe blacks: Jules, for instance, at one point applies the term to Vincent. It has more to do with power, rather than with race or colour. The powerful characters utter the word to express their dominance over weaker characters. Most of these gangsters are not racist in practice at all. Indeed, they are intermingled racially, and have achieved a level of equality that surpasses the habits of many law-abiding citizens in our society. They resort to racial epithets because it's a patter that establishes their separateness from the non-criminal world.

There's a nice moral progression to the stories. We presume that Vincent hesitates to sleep with Mia out of fear rather than loyalty. Later, Butch's act of heroism could be motivated by honor, but we're never sure. The film ends, however, with Jules making a clear moral choice. Thus, the movie seems to be exploring whether violent outlaws can act other than for self-preservation.

Everyone in the cast had amazing chemistry and bonding with each other, which added believability to a somewhat unbelievable story. The only reason that Pulp Fiction did not get a perfect score is that one scene with Butch and a cab driver went on for a tad too long. Knowing me, though, I'll soon change my mind, but it can still be said that Pulp Fiction is one of the most influential, most adult graphic novel-like movies of the 90's.

''That was pretty fucking trippy...''

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Overrated? I think not.

Posted : 2 years, 2 months ago on 11 September 2007 07:27 (A review of Pulp Fiction)

There is a god. His name is Quentin Tarantino. This film is genius and deserves to be watched by all!

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Pulp Fiction review

Posted : 2 years, 3 months ago on 10 August 2007 03:34 (A review of Pulp Fiction)

I think Pulp Fiction is one of Tarantino's most overrated films. That's not to say it isn't a thoroughly enjoyable affair. The film is well cast and I was particularly thrilled to see Bruce Willis back in action, his character is by far my favourite.

The film is literally 'pulp fiction', a series of lurid scenes which eventually evolve into an overall sensationalist plot line. The scenes are roughly glued together in the incorrect order - a Tarrantino trademark of course. The film is extremely memorable and leaves a lasting effect when you watch it. That is to say, it's unforgettable. However, when I watched it I got bored in places. I didn't really care what happened as you don't really feel any lasting attachment to the characters, unlike Reservoir Dogs for example. I am not trying to put a downer on it by any means, but I am utterly shocked at how high this ranks in the IMDb top 250 list. I don't even think it's QT's best film.

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