Pulp Fiction (1994)-"R"

Run Time:154 minutes

4 stars out of 4

First off, I must admit that this was the first time I ever saw Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994), which definitely remains one of the most quoted, parodied, and hyped-up movies of the 1990's. Roughly based-on the popular American pulp magazines of the 1930's and 40's, Tarantino delivers four interesting and inter-twining stories. The main plots are: A restaurant-robbing British couple (Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer), A boxer's (Bruce Willis)escape from a fixed fight gone bad, the day's work of two hitmen (John Travolta and Smauel L. Jackson), and one hitman going out with the boss's (Ving Rhames) sexy wife (Uma Thurman). The movie is confusing or will leave you hanging at parts, because some situations lack any background or ending, but later the film explains these mystery spots with a new story. The movie not only scores an outstanding cast and an interesting plot, it has the talented direction (and writing) of Quentin Tarantino (also did Reservoir Dogs, 1992). The camera shots are long and unbroken, which gives the film a realistic tone, like your actually watching the scene before your eyes. It seems like a lot of directors these days feel the audience has no attention span and makes rapid cuts, one after another, lest the viewers get bored. All that rapid cutting, from one shot to another, does for me is make me kind of anxious and can be dizzying (i.e. Armageddon, 1998). This movie makes you laugh, cringe, and on the edge of your seat, yet without losing character depth. This is, obviously not a movie for young kids or sensitive people, but I think its a great all-around movie, even if it is violent.