Film 49 - Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction (20 Year Anniversary) - 20/05/2014

pulp/ polp/ n. 1. A soft, moist, shapeless mass of matter

2. A magazine or book containing lurid subject matter and being characteristically printed on rough, unfinished paper

American Heritage Dictionary

New College Edition

20 years ago, I was a big cinema and film buff (surprise, surprise) and frequently went to Walkden Cinema with my cousin Gill.  Walkden Cinema was our favourite, not due to the fact that we had to take cushions with us as the seats were so hard and old, but as we always sneaked into several different screens after we had finished our initial film of choice as nobody monitored them.  Another reason for Walkden being our choice was the disregard for film classifications.  In 1994 I was 15 and ready to watch an 18 certificated film at the cinema, that film was "Pulp Fiction".

From the opening scene with Honeybunny and Pumpkin discussing their imminent diner robbery, Vincent Vega and Jules Winfield's Royale with Cheese and Big Kahuna Burger conversations, Mia Wallace's night out with Vince, The Gold Watch, to Marvin's backseat brain mess and the Wolfe, Pulp Fiction is a genuinely brilliant film and one that defines the 90's era.

With massive amounts of dialogue perfectly delivered, John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson absolutely steal the show.  Their nonsensical conversations at the start of the film about Vince's trip to Amsterdam, foot massages and Vince's night ahead are perfectly funny and haunting at the same time, knowing the events that will follow.  All these scenes are embedded in my memory and until recently I didn't realise how many times they are cited by myself,  "Check out the big brains on...", "That is a tasty burger".

Cineworld decided to do a special evening showing Pulp Fiction on the big screen to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of this masterpiece and I pre-booked my tickets early expecting a few people to turn up.  What I didn't expect was a full cinema, even the poor disused seats at the very front of the screen were taken by people turning up last minute preparing for serious neck injuries.  Within the first 10 minutes of the film it had far exceeded the 6 laugh test with the full audience really laughing out loud, as Miserlou kicked in the audience cheered and, for the first time in my cinema experience, when the film finished a small applause started in recognition of the film.

I would love Cineworld to do more of these screenings as they are obviously a success, given the right film.

Jaws, Alien, Marx Brothers, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Holy Trilogy, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, Jurassic Park, The Blair Witch Project, 12 Angry Men, just to name a few.  Seriously Cineworld, with some of the drivel coming out at the moment, there are some great nostalgic films that will fill your cinema's.  

Just to put it out there, I never saw "The Goonies" at the cinema......