Movie Moments--Part 10
In keeping with my choice of Braveheart last week, this time around I have yet another early-ninties favourite of mine. That would be the Oscar nominee and Palme d'Or winner, Pulp Fiction (1994). I know not everyone on my FList is a Quentin Tarantino fan, but that's just too bad because I love the man. I love his movies. I love the people he casts in his movies.
For the longest time Reservoir Dogs was my favourite Tarantino film. However, the more I watched Pulp Fiction the more I loved it. I finally "got it." This film remains Tarantino's masterpiece (although Kill Bill comes very close). The main reason I love Tarantino's work? Because he's a genuine movie buff. He pays tribute to the great directors who came before him, all the while managing to make his own films feel fresh and original. Pulp Fiction is the ultimate homage to the gangster films of the past.
Tarantino uses his talent to create an arthouse/independent feel to his films, making Pulp Fiction both a black comedy and campy fun, with tons of pop culture references. You laugh even when you know that what you are watching is shocking in its brutality.
Pulp Fiction, like all of Tarantino's films, is character-driven. There are multiple storylines that intermingle during the span of two days, as the viewer watches the stories unfold backward, foreward and sideways. The film opens with Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) then quickly introduces us to hitmen Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (the perfectly cast Samuel L. Jackson). Before we are comfortable with Vincent and Jules, Tarantino produces tough-guy boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) and his connection to mob boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rahmes) and his drug-addicted wife, Mia (Uma Thurman). The result is a clever, witty and dark gangster comedy, brought to life by a great script, an excellent cast and the unique direction of Tarantino.
There are so many scenes that I love from this film that it was almost impossible to choose just one. Ultimately, I chose the scene were Jules first utters his Ezekiel 25:17 speech upon his unsuspecting victims. Jules and Vincent are sent to kill off three young men who owe Marsellus Wallace a lot of money. They pay a visit to their apartment. When the men stutter their way through explanations, Jules tires of the lies they are telling and decides to kill them off. But not before instilling fear within them with his Bible speech, which he only recites to those he is about to kill in the name of his boss.
"Oh, you were finished? Well, allow me to RETORT!"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=czb4jn5y94g
For the longest time Reservoir Dogs was my favourite Tarantino film. However, the more I watched Pulp Fiction the more I loved it. I finally "got it." This film remains Tarantino's masterpiece (although Kill Bill comes very close). The main reason I love Tarantino's work? Because he's a genuine movie buff. He pays tribute to the great directors who came before him, all the while managing to make his own films feel fresh and original. Pulp Fiction is the ultimate homage to the gangster films of the past.
Tarantino uses his talent to create an arthouse/independent feel to his films, making Pulp Fiction both a black comedy and campy fun, with tons of pop culture references. You laugh even when you know that what you are watching is shocking in its brutality.
Pulp Fiction, like all of Tarantino's films, is character-driven. There are multiple storylines that intermingle during the span of two days, as the viewer watches the stories unfold backward, foreward and sideways. The film opens with Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) then quickly introduces us to hitmen Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (the perfectly cast Samuel L. Jackson). Before we are comfortable with Vincent and Jules, Tarantino produces tough-guy boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) and his connection to mob boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rahmes) and his drug-addicted wife, Mia (Uma Thurman). The result is a clever, witty and dark gangster comedy, brought to life by a great script, an excellent cast and the unique direction of Tarantino.
There are so many scenes that I love from this film that it was almost impossible to choose just one. Ultimately, I chose the scene were Jules first utters his Ezekiel 25:17 speech upon his unsuspecting victims. Jules and Vincent are sent to kill off three young men who owe Marsellus Wallace a lot of money. They pay a visit to their apartment. When the men stutter their way through explanations, Jules tires of the lies they are telling and decides to kill them off. But not before instilling fear within them with his Bible speech, which he only recites to those he is about to kill in the name of his boss.
"Oh, you were finished? Well, allow me to RETORT!"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=czb4jn5y94g