Pulp Fiction

Inspiration

Pulp Fiction has been cited as an inspiration for plenty of other movies. In most cases, the other movie is considered to pale in comparison. I noted in my comments for Go that every other reviewer compared it unfavorably to Pulp. I'm sorry, but I still enjoy Go more. I don't mean to outright knock Quentin Tarantino, whose Jackie Brown was very enjoyable, but somehow I didn't find myself getting into the characters here. I could argue that Go is more tightly intertwined, or has easier-to-digest pop culture references, but I think it's something more fundamental than that. Maybe it's the strange out- of-era looks of Jules and Vincent that made me have to think back and forth about when this was supposed to be happening. Of course, the cell phones helped greatly in this regard. Out of Sight may have borrowed the circular timeline, but it had characters with far more charisma, and was a damn sight sexier. In any case, Pulp Fiction is certainly a good movie, but I don't expect to be singing the praises any time soon.

Connections

That's funny, I just watched Frank Whaley in a starring role last week: Swimming with Sharks, which was released less than half a year later. I'm floored to not have recognized Steve Buscemi in his Buddy Holly getup. Buscemi has a very distinctive face and voice that make him stick in your mind after almost anything else he's been in. He's certainly one of the three best actors in Fargo, no small feat in a movie known for fantastic acting. I recognize Phil LaMarr from "Mad TV", but I'm surprised to find out he's the voice of "Futurama"'s Hermes.