I’ve got a bad cold, so I called in sick today to get some rest. As most of you know, hanging around the house all day gets old fast, so I hauled my sick ass down to Blockbuster’s to rent a movie. I’ve never seen Pulp Fiction, but everyone at work swears that this is an oustanding movie and a modern-day classic. So I rent it, go home, and pop it into the DVD player.
GOOD LORD, WHAT A BORING MOVIE! I’d say that the plot moved at a snail’s pace, except that I’m not sure that there was a plot. And everything was way too fragmented; you had the first “episode” where they get the briefcase, then two other “episodes” that don’t seem to be connected to the first one, and then they go back to the briefcase business.
Why does everyone think this movie is so great? If you ask me, it’s a chick flick with occasional bursts of violence.
So, what about you guys? What popular movies do you find boring, inane, repulsive, or otherwise really bad?
In defense of Pulp Fiction, let me say that I hated it the first time I saw it. It took a couple of times seeing it again before I got into the flow.
The film being shown out-of-sequence can be a little off-putting, true. But once I watched it again, I started getting into the flow of the language. Part of what makes the movie work is highly intelligent dialogue taking place in a semi-ridiculous setting. Two hit men discussing oral sex and television pilots before going to do their job? It’s certainly original.
Tarantino has a knack for writing highly enjoyable dialogue. To me, his films are dialogue-driven, with occasional flashes of action.
Well, the person who recommended it to me was a woman…
I like it, though. It helps if one identifies a bit with Sam Jackson & John Travolta. Obviously, you don’t. For you, I recommend <I>The Rundown</I> with Samoan <i>Ubermensch</i> The Rock when it comes out in the next few weeks (is it this week? I forget). If you call that a boring chick flick, we’ll know you’re just high.
Pulp Fiction had it’s effect when it first came out. It had a lot of shockers that just hadn’t been done up to that point. After that a lot of other movies tried to replicate it so if you saw these movies first Pulp Fiction didn’t have as much impact.
It’s kind of like The Godfather. Anyone that watches it for the first time nowdays may feel it’s very cliche’ and has been done to death. But they don’t realize that it was the one that started it all.
My post will involve SPOILERS in case anyone reading hasn’t seen the movie.
The episodic nature of the flick, the changing POV and the jumping forward and back - telling incidents out of sequence - was supposed to be one of the major points of the movie. It was Tarantino’s “homage” to crime thrillers like The Killing that also used that storytelling method.
It didn’t tell you a straight forward linear story with minor subplots, the whole film was made up of subplots that gave you a branching story of interconnected lives.
Vincent nearly wound up in major trouble he could have never expected because of the accidental OD of Mia. And all he was worried about before that was Marselles thinking he would try to mess around with his wife on their “date”.
Butch’s story (the boxer) is a tangent from Vincent’s story, look at all the hell he goes through to get the watch back (including a lucky break killing Vincent coming out of the toliet), it means that much to him. The reason why the watch was so important was established by the fantastic Christopher Walken monologue earlier. As well as the fact that he and the man who sent Vince to kill him (Marsellus Wallace) wind up in that redneck sodomy torture chamber all because of a chance crossing of paths at a traffic light.
The briefcase is just a McGuffin device to give Jules and Vincent an item to return, which leads to their lucky shootout and the moment that causes them to reflect on it during their conversation in the coffee shop where they encounter the two robbers providing the bookend segments at the beginning and end of the movie.
Their attempt to return the briefcase also led their bad luck splattering the brains of the one kid left from the shootout, and their interlude with the fixer Winston Wolf who pulls their asses out of yet another potential disaster.
I’ve cooled in my enthusiasm for the film over the years, but being majorly sick with a cold is not the best state of mind to watch Pulp Fiction. My favorite movie for when I’m sick is Murphy’s War starring Peter O’Toole, a simple straightforward revenge tale.
I’ll have to get back to you about your last question.
Pulp Fiction didn’t do much for me, though I have to say that I still find Reservoir Dogs to be a masterpiece, even watching it today. I was in college when PF came out, and I watched many of my friends fall over themselves with how much they loved the film. I didn’t get it then, and I still don’t. It’s got some great moments in it, but overall it was just all right for me, nothing spectacular.
Other films I didn’t get much out of, that many others praised to the heavens: Forrest Gump (does anyone like it anymore?) Chicago Eyes Wide Shut
heh
A chick flick with occasional bursts of violence. I never would have thought that, but you might have something there. I’m female, I liked Pulp Fiction, and my husband was not crazy about it…but he is not an enthusiastic movie-goer in the first place. I loved the soundtrack to PF, and the soundtrack to Kill Bill looks promising as well.
I never understood what the big hoo-hah was about Forrest Gump, Chicago or Greek Wedding, though I have to admit I chuckled a bit during that last movie.
I also liked Pulp Fiction quite a bit. I’d say it’s my favorite movie. It is such a dense movie: there is so much symbolism and tribute in the mundane details of the film that it’s great to watch over and over. I would also agree that you have to see it twice. Everyone dislikes it the first time, the sequencing frustrates a lot of people. I love how even when two characters are making small talk, it’s compelling and interesting. I don’t think it’s boring, but I do think that you have to make an effort to understand the film. Once you do, you’ll like it.
Most Americans shouldn’t watch movies that make them think, they feel they were cheated. For them any run-of-the-mill Schwarzenegger film will do. Lots of action and cars blowing up and idolizing the big hunk stud kinda guy.
Few films are timeless. Most reflect the values - and are in the context of - the era in which they were made. Viewed when fresh, they seem meaningful or significant or even just entertaining. As time passes, they become less so, particularly to those too young to know what significance they had, or the relevance of the humor.
As already stated, Pulp Fiction was innovative and somewhat daring when it came out. Now it’s been done to death. Likewise almost every other movie of significance mentioned above.
Oh, and both Casablanca and Wonderful Life were panned when they first opened.