Review of Pulp Fiction (1994) by Kenl. — 11 Sep 2006

[***SPOILERs***] I'm not a prude. I liked "the godfather." and john carpenter's "the thing," which registers pretty darn high on the gore scale, is one of my all-time favorite movies.

but "pulp fiction" is cinematic masturbation at its most juvenile. it's one long series of self-indulgent gangland fantasies as seen through the eyes of someone who us under the impression that combining irony with violence equals brilliance.

it's uncannily similar to when a young person figures out how to be sarcastic. he/she will revel in his/her newfound powers of irony at every opportunity, until it becomes a matter of sheer self-indulgence.

see such film triumphs as these: a righteous african american quoting the bible as he riddles the bodies of young men with enough lead to shield superman's gonads from the motherlode of kryptonite.

(oh my god, best movie of all time!!!) a sadistic inbred freak getting a taste of his own sodomy...from a righteous black man who moments before was on the receiving end of the same prescription. (never before in the history of culture have we seen such brilliance!!!!) a girl who o.

D'ed getting stabbed in the heart with a giant needle filled with adrenalin, jumping up and, when asked to say something, says "something" in a rather nonplussed fashion--followed by a "whoa.

..that's trippy" from one of the other participants. (that rawks, man! even more than when i'm watching the real beavis and butthead!!!) killers on their way to assassinate someone speaking of such banalities as a quarter pounder with cheese being called a royale du fromage in france.

(did you see how the boy king managed to make his killers a thousand times more awesomely hitmenlike by juxtaposing their murderous activities with mcdonalds' cheeseburgers--brilliantly referencing an american cultural icon along the way?!!) tarantino cannot for one moment resist the compulsion to punch you in the face with his brass knuckles of irony.

the violence in "pulp fiction" and "natural born killers" clearly resides in the realm of self-indulgence. he makes his characters commit outrageously violent acts with not only ironic indifference, but with shocking detachment, which of course is meant to show not just how badass they are, but to shock the viewer into a kind of slack-jawed awe.

when he won an academy award for "pulp fiction," he and his friend abruptly wrapped up their thoroughly inelegant acceptance comments--as it could hardly have been called a speech--with the decidedly juvenile comment, "if you'll excuse me now, I have to go pee.

" oh well. with these guys, it's either cinematic urination or cinematic masturbation.