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Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction on DVD

By Johnny Bray

When Pulp Fiction came out in 1994, the movie and its director, Quentin Tarantino, were the biggest news in Hollywood. Everybody loved the movie, and Tarantino was the industry’s hot new ticket. In fact, Pulp Fiction has even made the list of AFI’s 100 Top Movies of All-Time.

But is it as good as everyone says it is?

I say no. But in all fairness, it was years before I saw the film; probably five or six years after it was released, and by that time, nearly everyone had seen it. And everyone had ranted and raved about how utterly brilliant it was. So I think the problem is that I was expecting something different or, worse, something more. I enjoyed the movie quite a bit more on the second viewing, however, probably because I knew exactly what I was getting instead of merely anticipating based on hype.

Pulp Fiction, with its colorful characters and interlocking storylines, inspired many movies. It also features one of the now-most-famous conversations in cinematic history: the global variations of McDonald’s hamburgers. That’s really where Tarantino shines: in his dialogue. Without the words, his movies would be about eight minutes long, so he uses his expertise with conversation to fill the time.

By now most of us know what the movie is about. It features a talented ensemble cast (and revived John Travolta’s career), has some great, memorable lines, and has many instances of unnecessary gratuitous violence.

Hmm…sounds kinda like Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown…

Many call Pulp Fiction a love-it-or-hate-it film, but I must disagree. I neither love it nor hate it, and honestly can’t even figure it whether or not I like it. It’s unique, and brilliant in its own way, but in many ways is no different or more exciting than a Seinfeld episode.

But, needless to say, if you are a fan of the movie, you don’t need to listen to my rant. If you’ve never seen it, I would highly recommend a rental before a purchase. Just to be on the safe side.

The DVD, similar in many ways to the Jackie Brown Special Edition, is not as good as it in terms of picture and sound, but it has more and better extras.

The anamorphic widescreen picture seems to have played second fiddle to the extras, unfortunately. It almost seems as if the print was taken straight from the old DVD release without any new remastering: it’s soft, grainy, unclear, and features some of the worst halo effects I’ve seen. Since the film is only eight years old, they should be able to do a lot better with it than this.

The sound quality is only slightly better, despite being done in both 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS. There is some decent surround use, but sound effects suffer in that they sound as if they were recorded at the same time as the dialogue, instead of being done later. However, the dialogue is the pride of the film, and it’s the most well done of all the audio elements.

The extras almost make up for the mediocre transfers. Disc one features only an Enhanced Trivia Track, similar to Pop-Up Video on VH1. Disc two begins with a very nicely done documentary called “Pulp Fiction: The Facts.” How clever. It features the typical interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, but overall is much, much better than the typical PR piece. Next are 25 minutes of deleted scenes and an hour long Tarantino interview conducted by Charlie Rose. Tarantino seems a lot more human than you’d expect him to be based on his movies.

There are also two behind-the-scenes montages and a production design featurette, a “Siskel and Ebert at the Movies” piece, interviews from the Independent Spirit Awards, Tarantino’s Palme D’or acceptance speech, reviews and articles analyzing the film, still galleries, TV spots and trailers.

Pulp Fiction, from Alliance Atlantis Home Entertainment
154 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) 16X9 enhanced, 5.1 Dolby Digital, DTS
Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Ving Rhames, Maria de Medeiros, Eric Stoltz and Bruce Willis
Produced by Lawrence Bender
Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino

 

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Updated May 13, 2006