Not aging well at all


Every time I rewatch it, it becomes less interesting and more cliched.
I loved it when it came out and was fresh and amazing.
Now it just sound like Tarantino speaking his pop obsessed overworked dialogue with every single character, cramming in way too many little accidents and "original" bits to feel pertinent or confidently crafted.
It feels now overly manufactured and trying way too hard, I guess after losing its sugar gloss all that's left has too little nutrition value to hold my interest over decades, like a good joke that has now become stale and outdated.

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Films like this mainly generated another boost towards cynicism and ego instead of depth of feelings, mind over the heart, thanks to films like this it took me a long time to appreciate again more pure and innocent type of human expression and interaction, within myself and other people, and not just art like paintings, music and films, don't underestimate the power of mind control in any media, no matter how unintentional it is, it always is bound to have a huge impact especially when it comes to pop-cultural movements... this is a film that perfectly reflected music scene like grunge and the rise of alternative music in general as well, which relied on style or fashion as one extreme response to the style and fashion of the mainstream pop. 90's in general one could largely define as one driven by the cynical mind that cared more about being cool and hip instead of honest and real no matter how we look or act, now in 2020's we're on the opposide end of it where cool and hip is no more what matters as much, now it's about who we really are under our human masks.

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"Every time I rewatch it, it becomes less interesting and more cliched."

I feel that way also, but to a more limited extent. Mainly, the scenes where Tarantino inserts himself into the film don't work at all for me. Wince inducing. Beyond that it's fine, though some of Mia's lines are a bit cheesy, but mostly not objectionable.

I still love how the film is structured. I probably watch it once a year and enjoy it for the most part. Easily my favorite Tarantino film.

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In terms of the woke cancel culture it has aged tremendously.

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Yes but that doesn't mean much in the real world.

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The only thing that doesn't hold up is Travolta's acting. His weird urban "trying to sound cool" accent is cringe AF. Everything else is elite level cinema, continuity errors and all.

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Nah man, Travolta was the bees knees, the cats PJ's. Couldn't picture anyone else in the role.

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Yeah nah, he stunk out loud. He talked like he thought he was playing a black.

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I'm flabbergasted.

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I still remember when this movie was a trendsetter. Now it does seem clichéd and hard to sit thru without skipping scenes.

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Wrong. It’s a fantastic movie.

On the top level you’ve got the crackling dialogue and perfect delivery from the actors which is a pleasure to watch. Foot massage never gets old, draws me in every time, you’re enjoying the chatter AND amused by the absurdity of these characters saying this stuff in this situation.

On the second level is the dramatic tension, we’re expecting something rough is about to happen so our brain is preoccupied with anticipation while the dialogue rattles along. This grows as we realise Tarantino will suddenly blow a character’s head off mid scene if he feels like it, you never know what’s around the corner, and even if you’ve seen the film a hundred times it still feels fresh because movies just don’t do that. The trolling of expectations is exciting.

Thirdly, the deeper themes. Imitators think it’s all about the ‘cool dialogue’ but they always miss the structural stuff I just mentioned and the deeper themes. Notice how in each story the protagonist - a dirtbag - ends up saving someone and finds a degree of redemption. These aren’t just random stories, Tarantino has something to say, and especially through Jules’ awakening.

He’s a proper filmmaker, not just an irreverent troll, and people are only dumping on Pulp Fiction now to be edge-lords.



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Agreed. Hard to take anyone seriously who thinks Pulp Fiction hasn't aged well. It changed cinema drastically, to an extent that no other film has ever come close to doing, so for someone seeing it for the first time now it may be impossible to grasp it's power and significance, but it's still an impossibly outstanding work of art that holds its own against nearly any other film ever created. It's been among my favorite films I've ever seen since I first saw it, and I can't imagine it ever dropping out of the top five in my lifetime.

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You can't expect movies to be like fine art, where you can read/listen/view over and over again and gain new or deeper insights into the work's meaning. It's just Hollywood pablum, a 2-hr entertainment produced by skilled technicians, not geniuses. If you were able to enjoy PF twice, that's still pretty good for a movie, I'd say.

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I hold cinema to a higher consideration than that.

Lots of great movies are viewable countless times, like fine music, literature etc, lots of which are produced in Hollywood.

Cinema is fine art in every way. Of course there are masterpieces and disposable works, intellectual and/or commercial, etc.

PF is a great movie, but after all these years, after all these other media by Tarantino, it lost some of its freshness and it is more transparent for some of its intentions and shortcomings.

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I rewatched some of it recently and thought it was as brilliant as ever.

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