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 industrys hot new ticket. In fact, Pulp
Fiction has even made the list of AFIs 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 McDonalds
hamburgers. Thats 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 Travoltas 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 cant even figure it
whether or not I like it. Its 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
dont need to listen to my rant. If youve 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: its soft,
grainy, unclear, and features some of the worst halo effects Ive 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 its 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
youd 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, Tarantinos Palme Dor
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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