Review

I feel weird reviewing Pulp Fiction because it's just one of those movies that everyone knows. So instead, I won't. instead, I will simply ramble about Quentin Tarantino. In general, I like Tarantino's films. He's not one of my favorite directors or anything but of his movies that I've seen, I thought they were good. Reservoir Dogs is my personal fave. I like the subversion of the plot starting only once the heist is already over. Also, as has been stated on previous occasions, I like movies with small settings/bottle episodes. Kill Bill is the definite second.

Generally, I think the thing that draws me to Tarantino is his dialogue. People feel like people and talk like people. I don't like his whole thing with the n word though. I just imagine him gleefully smiling while writing the script. He tee-hees, kicks his feet about, and says "Whoops, looks like another slipped in...oh no..."

Something that does keep me at arm's length from Tarantino's films though is I feel like his movies sometimes are pointlessly violent. To be clear, I'm no prude. I am 100% fine with dark and violent. But I think it's important that if you're gonna go in that direction, it has to be meaningful. Otherwise, why are we going there? An example that springs to mind. The Hateful Eight. I like the setting, a tense standoff in a small area. But the sheer vitriol that gets directed at the woman character is a bit much. And then the movie just says "Yep, it was all deserved, she's a complete piece of shit." It just comes across as a bit mean-hearted. I think that's something that I find missing from Tarantino's stuff. Heart. Like, the characters are fun, they're cool, but really go through Tarantino's catalogue and think. What tender moments are there?

I struggle to come up with any examples. And I think if you wanna go for cool, dark, edgy, you need to have moments of good for the audience to stay on board. I don't mean moments of levity, there is plenty of that present. You get plenty of joking. But when do you ever feel genuine connection to the characters on screen? His characters feel like they're made to appear on posters. And they do that totally well. But I never really care all that much about any of them, because everyone's so jaded in his movies. No heart-warming moments. I would appreciate a tinge of Wes Anderson, where you have all the melancholy and glibness, but you back it up with some nostalgia and heart.