[Lucky]

I wasn't really trying to compare Sin City and Pulp Fiction. I like Sin City more but I don't take away from Pulp Fiction. I think they're probably at worst equals, and yes, obviously Sin City owes a lot of it existing to Fiction. I was just comparing the segmented nature of the storytelling. Sin City is 3 seperate stories that KINDA work together and fit loosely but which can stand alone just fine. In case you happen to hate one of them. But I don't think any of Pulp Fiction's stories are terribly strong as independant stories. And if you don't get into 1 or 2 characters it kills you for a bunch of others. So my point wasn't that Sin City is better. It was that Sin City is much more of an anthology and thus doesn't have to try as hard to help each segment.

For all of Tarrantino's (and later Rodriguez') clear love of this weird non linear storytelling Pulp Fiction is the case where Tarrantino appeared to just go crazy with it. In every other film I can think of they fit either as flashbacks or in the case of Kill Bill they essentially form 2 seperate stories that aren't chronologically correct but work extremely well in that order. I don't know, its been many years since I've really sat down and watched Pulp Fiction but I never sensed that the order Tarrantino chose for the scenes makes a lot of sense in any storytelling capacity besides the first and final scenes completing each other.

Going back to the boring thing, the characters are the rub. I flip the channel when Uma and Travolta go to the restaurant because I just don't give a fuck. And honestly? I don't love Butch. Which is kinda weird because he's basically Bruce Willis and I love Willis. But that story has never captured me. I mean, I kinda like the guy. I get him. And he's the only truly decent person in the film. He can't bring himself to toss the fight, he cherishes the watch, and he can't leave Marcellus to that fate. But he never really gets me. And for that reason the whole thing moves really slow for me between Walken's bizarre monologue and the Bruce meeting up with Mr. Blonde's brother whose name I can never remember.

But really, the point is Pulp Fiction is not really an action flick. Its a character and dialogue driven movie through and through. The action scenes are just high impact pulp that cap long character pieces. So if you don't like those characters? Or if you can't sit through 100 minutes or so of talking? Or maybe you just don't like character driven movies? There's no real plot to keep you involved and the action scenes fail to carry the film (not that they were intended to). That seems like a recipe for boredom for some. Not me. But I could grab a few friends who I bet didn't dig that film based on what I know of their pacing tastes.

I'm not sure I see the parallel stories of Butch and whatever Jackson's character's name was that you do. But like I said, I haven't sat down and watched it. Sam doesn't really seem to be wanted to do what's "right." Just what's right for him. He's finished and he wants to find a new path. Despite his pseudo religious talk he doesn't seem to be condemning that life or suddenly shifting his morals. He just decides its not for him anymore. Bruce is basically morally driven, even if he has something of a disregard for human life as he ends up killing 3 or 4 folks and showing no remorse. All acts of self defense, accidental, or direct revenge for horrible deeds, but he doesn't mind any of them (an idea set forth with his conversation with the cabbie).

But maybe I'll sit down with the film sometime soon and look out for that. Look out for the storytelling too to see if I missed something in the full package. Guess that means I sit through Uma and Travolta dancing again. Yay.

[salmonjunkie]

gatorbait said:

sergeial said:

Are you serious? Pulp Fiction is worthy of going over 90% of the movies in this tourney based on the moment Butch decides to go back and save Marcellus from the hillbillies alone.

I'll be flat honest, i could only sit through it once. Bored the shit out of me. Reservoir Dogs was a far better Tarantino offering.

I saw it four times in the theater, and have watched it about once every two years since. Witch means I've seen it about 10 times.

Reservoir Dogs I've seen three times. It's great, too, but Pulp Fiction just really does it for me.

[Batman]

I never said that I would consider it an action movie, just that I didn't think it was at all boring. But you're right, that is exactly to the extent that you buy into the characters.

As far as the parallel between Butch and Jules: I wasn't trying to say that Jules turns into a boy scout in any way. But he is trying hard in the end to do what's right from his point of view. To him, that means honoring the commitments that he's already made (he still has to get the glowing briefcase to Marcellus,) not blowing off the heads of whomever Marcellus Wallace tells him to anymore, and trying to show some mercy and "shepherd the weak" and really live up to that Bible quote he'd been saying all those years.

Now from my point of view, if you have the drop on an armed robber who is pointing a gun at you and threatening your life, you are not only well within your rights to blow him away, but you are also doing a public service to everybody that guy would otherwise have hurt in the future. But, obviously, Jules had a different perspective on it, and to him, showing mercy and finding a way out of that situation that allowed everyone to live was his way of trying to do a better job of doing what seemed right to him than he would have before he had his "epiphany."

[Brother X]

I think the essential to remember is two-fold. If you look at his entire CV, Tarantino has really only ever told two actual full-length stories. Jackie Brown, which I begrudgingly admit didn't totally suck, is a cohesive linear story, essentially. And RD, which -while cohesive- isn't really linear at all.

But those are really the only two that are feature length stories. And in EVERY.EFFING.THING!!! he does, he tells instead of showing. I love dialogue pieces. Some of the best movies ever are examples of it. Cane. Philly Story. Annie Hall. But in none of those other stories do I ever want to reach through the screen, grab the character by the collar and tell him to shut the living fuck up. QT's pedantic, smug and self-referential prattle frustrates me. He has potential, as his movies show, he's just too in love with his own brain.

[Batman]

True Romance is one story. It doesn't even have any flashbacks.

[Brother X]

sergeial said:

True Romance is one story. It doesn't even have any flashbacks.

Yep. Got me on that one. Had forgotten it. And that one is pretty cool, too. With an AWESOME fight scene when that Arquette girl, the one whose face doesn't look like an abstract painting, stabs Tony Soprano in the foot.