Pulp Fiction

[WillsBabe]

I spent this afternoon watching Pulp Fiction again. It's something I see every few years or so. This time I watched it with my niece. I always enjoy watching favourite things with people who haven't seen them before, but who I reckon will enjoy them.

I'm still jazzed seeing John Travolta dance again, as I was the first time I saw the movie. The inappropriate humour of Jules and Vincent killing the guy in the car leading to the Bonnie Siutation never fails to make me smile in a guility, self-concious way. I'm always struck by how Tarantino delivers his own lines. And I noticed this time, as I haven't noticed before, how some of the lines from various actors seem to have semi-stumbles in them from time to time. Somehow though, $5 for a shake no longer seems extortionate!

It's still a good film. Anyone else see the film again recently?

 

[the G-man]

Not recently but, like Goodfellas, its a movie that I will start watching if I find it on TV no matter how far into it the airing it is or what time of day I find it.

My favorite analysis of PF was someone who pointed out that Vincent and Jules are pretty much Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza as hit men. They sit in a diner, they argue over minutia they have an unfortunate tendency to screw things up at just the wrong moment, etc.

 

[FPAlpha]

I have it here at home and occasionally stumble upon it.. it truly is a masterpiece of his.

I saw it way back in the 90s when i did a little movie evening with some friends and a girl brought it with her. I always wanted it to watch at the cinema because i heard it was good but somehow never got around to see it.

At first i was confused by the non-linear storytelling (my first movie of that kind) but quickly got into it when this girl suddenly burst out laughing and clapping "The Marvin scene! The Marvin scene" and i went at her.
Then the Marvin scene happened and i was shocked but then keeled over laughing at the ridiculousness of it.

Pulp Fiction is awesome from beginning to the end and after a few times you start to notice the little things you miss at first.

Coincidentally i found the dance scene the lowest point.. ýes, Travolta got famous with dance movies and he could move back then when he was younger but at this time he was just a middle aged man, slightly overweight and not that sexy anymore.. to me it was just embarrassing.
That aside i love Tarantino's writing and directing style and this movie put him on the map for me.

I've since watched most of his movies and amongst my favorites are Jackie Brown and Inglorious Basterds.

 

[the G-man]

Coincidentally i found the dance scene the lowest point.. ýes, Travolta got famous with dance movies and he could move back then when he was younger but at this time he was just a middle aged man, slightly overweight and not that sexy anymore.. to me it was just embarrassing.

But that was some of the point. Travolta was actually making fun of himself with that scene. And people tend to forget that Vincent was supposed to be a bit of a dullard, especially compared to the more self aware and competent Jules.

 

[FPAlpha]

Reading the wiki on the movie it says that the dance scene was written before Travolta was cast and it was inspired by another movie but even then i found it misplaced and with that actor i found it distracting.

 

[Captain Shaw]

I can't believe that the film is 16 years old.

 

[Starkers]

Good lord, I guess it is at that. Pulp Fiction is a film that I always think can't be as good as I remember it. Then I watch it and realise it is every bit as good as I remember it. For me it's Tarantino's best film and, going on his output since, it'll likely always be his best film.

 

[Too Much Fun]

I'm always struck by how Tarantino delivers his own lines.

Is this meant to be a criticism, or is it something you liked? I watch this movie about once a year, and I remember that last time I watched it, this was one of the few things in it that I reacted negatively to. I think Tarantino just sounded so wooden, forced, and awkward reciting the dialog, and it shows you what a horrible actor he is, since he's the one who wrote it. As the writer of the words, in theory it should be easier for him to make them sound more natural than anyone else. Instead, everyone else in the scene makes the words sound so much more natural than he does. It doesn't matter, though. He's a writer/director, not an actor, so who cares about his acting? At least he doesn't stick himself in showy roles. He seems to just do cameos for fun, which is what I think a director should do if he's going to show up in the movie at all.

I believe this movie proves how beneficial it can be for Tarantino to have a co-writer. In all of his other movies (which I like, by the way), I often get annoyed with how excessive he is with the dialog. There are a lot of times when he goes overboard with it and I start off enjoying the characters' rants and monologues before eventually getting fed up and wishing they would shut the hell up. I think Roger Avery is very underrated. I'm sure having a co-writer reigned in Tarantino somewhat so that his writing was a little more subtle and restrained.

This movie and "Kill Bill, Vol. 2" are the only ones he's made where I don't think he overdoes it with the dialog and I'm pretty much hanging on the characters' every word from start to finish. And despite how preposterous they are at times, these are two of his most grounded, down-to-earth, and realistic movies in many places.

The best example is that incredible Bruce Willis motel scene, which I was reminded of when I saw "A Bout De Souffle" recently. It had such an organic, intimate, and authentic feeling with its depiction of the kind of conversation and foreplay a couple might engage in during their most simultaneously weary and amorous moments. I wouldn't usually pick such adjectives to describe Tarantino's work. I wish he would do more scenes like that one instead of all the hyper-charged spectacle and plodding chatter he's veered more towards in recent years.

 

[WillsBabe]

I'm always struck by how Tarantino delivers his own lines.

Is this meant to be a criticism, or is it something you liked?

Neither, really. Since he's the writer I just found it interesting to see the words coming out of the writer's mouth. I imagine the writer saying all the dialogue at some point, picking it out at his word processor, so I enjoyed seeing the script come to life out of his mouth. I can't describe it very well, I'm afraid.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I know this is going to sound strange, but I've never actually seen it. It's one of those movies I never got around to seeing and haven't really had a desire to even though it's referenced a lot in pop culture. Never really liked Tarantino movies.