"Do the Right Thing" New/#96, 1989
Interesting tidbit... this is the first movie from the 1980's that I've watched on the list so far. There are others on the list, but it's the first one I've watched so far.
I actually really liked this movie. It takes place during one ubber-hot-summer day in Brooklyn. And it follows Mookie, a pizza delivery guy and all the characters along the street and those at Sal's pizza place. One of the best things about this was all the character names: Da Mayor, Mother Sister, Buggin Out, Mookie, Radio Raheem, Pino, Coconut Sid, Sweet Dick Willie, Smiley, Mister Senor Love Daddy.
And the other notable thing about it, is it has a ton of black actors in it (and a couple noteworthy non-black actors): Martin Lawrence, Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Bill Nunn (the cop in "Sister Act"), John Turturro (the Sector 7 Special Agent in "Transformers" and a bunch of Adam Sandler movies, like "Mr. Deeds"). It just seemed like every new character that was introduced was an actor I recognized.
Anyways, the movie has a ton of swearing, specifically using the f-word about once every two minutes. And it's about racism and violence, specifically one big violent mob at the movie's climax.
But, I like that the movie showcased one day of this neighborhood. And it really showed how violence was not a way to fight racism. So, I did like it, and I would recommend it in certain contexts. But it's not exactly a family- or kid-friendly movie.
At the very end of the movie, two great quotes, one from Martin Luther King, Jr., and one from Malcom X that finish out the film. They are:
"Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. It is immoral brecause it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys communinities and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers." -Martin Luther King, Jr.
I think there are plenty of good people in America, but there are also plenty of bad people in America and the bad ones are the ones who seem to have all the power and be in these positions to block things that you and I need. Because this is the situation, you and I have to preserve the right to do what is necessary to bring an end to that situation, and it doesn't mean that I advocate violoence, but at the same time I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don't even call it violence when it's self defense, I call it intelligence." - Malcom X
"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.
