Pulp Fiction

"Pulp Fiction", #95/94, 1994
When I pulled this movie out of the Netflix envelope, there was a guy with shoulder-length hair, and after a moment of starring at it, my thought was, "Is that John Travolta?" Well, turns out it was. "Pulp Fiction" also stars Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, and Bruce Willis as the main characters, and a whole slew of actors like Christopher Walkins, Steve Buscemi, & Kathy Griffin, who play these really minor roles like waiter or pedestrian. I think the main reason why I was so surprised by the actors is because I'm so used to these old movies from the 40's or so.
Okay, so the movie... The movie doesn't really follow any one storyline. It shows Samuel L, John Travolta, Uma, and Bruce in this kind of overlapping, connected storyline. The coolest part of the movie is that the audience doesn't see things in chronological order. And you also see the same event from different points of view. I just attempted to explain the order that it takes place... Like 3a, 2a, 4a, 5, 4b, 1, 2b... but, I got confused, so, I gave up on that. And, what I think was kind of sweet is that the movie does not tell you what order it is, the audience just has to figure it out. The only thing the movie tells the audience is the title of 'section' like "The Gold Watch" or "The Bonnie Situation", so you know it's kind of this contained storyline that fits into the whole picture.

I don't know... maybe that does make any sense. But, it was very cool, and that's probably the reason why this movie is on the Top 100 movie list, because the content is not really original. My favorite parts of this movie are the hair styles that Samuel L & Travolta had and the soundtrack. There is this scene where one of the characters is driving along, jamming out to "Flowers on the Wall". It just funny and rather realistic. I mean, if you heard "Flowers on the Wall" on the radio, wouldn't you just be jamming out as well? I know I would. There are other soundtrack moments that are just awesome. It's almost as if they just picked fun songs, and not necessarily ones that were specifically chosen to match the situation.
Oh, and the title of the movie... I don't know why it's called "Pulp Fiction". Pulp fiction points to a time in comic books when they printed on this old, recycled paper called pulp.
And other thing I forgot, there are a couple times in the movie where Samuel L quotes Ezekiel 25:17 as a passage from the Bible that he has memorized. He says: "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon you." Now, go look that up on biblegateway. ((Hint: Don't get your theology from pop culture))
So if you can look past the fact that is has bad theology, a lot of violence, drugs, sex, and the fact that it holds the record for most use of the "F" word in any movie (Netflix says 271, imdb.com says 265, I don't care to count) along with a huge slew of other swear words and derogatory terms, I think it is good movie, and you should consider watching it. Just make sure there are no kids around.