Sunday, December 6, 2009

Capsule Review: Pulp Fiction (1994)

Quentin Tarantino's breakthrough mash-up of exploitation films and pulp crime novels established him as a directorial force to be reckoned with, and created a crop of equally quirky ensemble films which somehow never managed to capture the spark of the original. A series of stories told out of chronological order, though often featuring the same characters, Tarantino gave all of his lead actors – including John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Harvey Keitel and Bruce Willis – chances to show off their abilities. A film by a movie geek for movie geeks that somehow still sparked the public's attention, Pulp Fiction remains impossibly entertaining and introduced a new cinematic language to young filmmakers.

1 comment:

J.T. said...

God Bless, Ving Rhames. I dunno if I'd have ever taken the role of Marcellus Wallice knowing what happens to him at the "end" of the movie.

I'm not as crazy about the popular Tarrantino movies, probably because everyone else gushes over them so much.

I prefer the gritty feel of Reservoir Dogs to Pulp Fiction or the Kill Bill epics, even though I concede that Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bills are far superior than Reservoir Dogs when it comes to pure storytelling.