Viewings So Far This Wk-Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Ghost In The Shell

[Mr_Vindictive]

After watching Kill Bill last weekend I decided to go back and watch Tarantino's films.  I had never watched Pulp Fiction, it just always slipped by me.  So this week I ran to blockbuster and picked up Pulp Fiction and one of his earlier partially directed films, Four Rooms.

Pulp Fiction is fantastic.  Pulp Fiction is amazing.  I'm 10 years behind everyone else.  I had heard all the references to Pulp Fiction and I had seen all of the spoofs on SNL and the like.  Nothing prepared me for it though.  It is an amazing look at the lives of a number of different people all intertwined together.  You have Vincent Vega (brother to Vic Vega in Resiviour Dogs?), Jules, Butch, Marsellues, Mia (Marsellues's wife), a herion dealer named Lance and a couple planning to rob a coffee shop.

Jules and Vincent are hitmen who work for the big guy, Marsellues.  They are hired to kill a group of guys that has a briefcase that Marsellues wants.  Butch is a boxer whom Marsellues pays off to throw a fight.  Marsellues is the main gangster in town.  His wife is a coke head whom Vincent takes out for a night on the town.  

I know that is confusing, but there is no way to actually explain this movie.  There is a plethora of strange characters other than the ones that I named, but I of course don't have a lot of time to get into detail about it.  Just go rent it!


Four Rooms was a strange film, but not bad.  The story revolves around Ted The Bellboy (Tim Roth-Dogs/Pulp Fiction) on New Year's Eve night.  The film follows him as he travels to four different rooms in a massive hollywood hotel. Each story was written and directed by a different person, which makes for quite a bit of diversity.  

The first story is about a coven of witches hoping to bring a goddess back from the dead.  In order to do so, they need different ingredients for a brew....which is what witches do right?  They all have their ingredient except for one witch who accidentally...well...umm..."injested" her sperm ingredient.  She looks to Ted for some help with the ingredient.  This is by far the worst story in the film, although it did have a few funny moments.

The second story is about a husband who believes that his wife is cheating on him.  He thinks that Ted is the man at fault and takes him hostage.  This is where the film really picks up and seems to get it's juices going.  Not all that funny but more entertaining than the first.

The third story is directed by the amazing Robert Rodriguez (Desperado/Dusk til Dawn) and of course stars Antonio Banderas.  The story revolves around two childern whom Banderas pays Ted to watch.  These kids are horrible.  Everything from drinking champagne to watching porn and throwing hypodermic needles.  Definently a great story.

The fourth and final story is directed by the man himself, Quienten Tarantino.  In it he plays a cocky drunken actor who is staying in the penthouse of the hotel.  He and his friends, inlcuding Bruce Willis in an uncredited role, are having a bet over wether or not one of them could light a lighter ten times in a row.  The bet is, if the guy loses, he also loses his pinky ala a hatchet.  The end of this one is fantastic!  The best story overall and worth the rental price!  Great movie, one of my new favorite comedies.




Don't really have a lot to say about Ghost In The Shell.  I have seen it numerous times before but rented it this time so I could finally watch it with subtitles.  The difference in what is being said is amazing, especially with this film.  It follows a team tracking down "The Puppet Master" who "ghosts" into people's bodies and gives them fake memories.  He is eventually trapped inside a robot and the film works from there.  Pretty action packed beautifually animated anime.   Check it out if you're bored one night.

[Fearless Freep]

Pretty action packed beautifually animated anime

"Ghost In The Shell" has some of the most beautiful artwork I've ever seen in an anime

[tralalog]

ghost in the shell is one of my fav movies of all time

[Conrad]

It's also pretty confusingly profound; after about 6 watchings I *think* I have a handle on the story.  Sterling animation and music, however.  An animation that makes you think afterwards about what is human, what humanity is, how we define ourselves - all the Philip K Dick themes - has to be something special.

[Neon Noodle]

Now you'll have to rent AKIRA to round out your old-school anime!

[Mofo Rising]

GHOST IN THE SHELL is fantastic.

FOUR ROOMS is usually maligned, but I always get a kick out of it.  The Tarantino bit is a great shaggy dog joke.

[Mr_Vindictive]

What you already own?  :o)

[dean]

i love ghost in the shell, i liked akira, but not so much.  have you seen the anime Perfect Blue? its a bit of a hitchockian psychological thriller, and i also love that film, though its miles behind ghost in the shell in some areas [its made by the same people though]

i haven't seen the subtitled version of ghost, how is it different to the english version? better or worse?

[G-man]

    But the real trick with Four Rooms....is to watch The Bell Boy starring Jerry Lewis directly afterwards.
Then, and only then, will you truly understand what Tarantino was trying to say...

Yes....Can you tell that I liked that movie?!?
It also helps to be stoned......but I'm not trying give you any other ideas.....
They both have an absolutely perfect sense of comedic timing in these movies...
As far as Four Rooms goes.....Tim Roth did a wonderful job..... I mean, how could you not empathize ( not just sympathize) with his character?!? I actually felt sorry for him....

"The trick is not to bend the spoon...That's impossible.... The spoon isn't real... The trick is to bend yourself instead..."

[Fearless Freep]

"Perfect Blue" had a more mundane story than "Ghost In The Shell" so it's hard to be as fantastical, but I still enjoyed it a lot and was immersed in the story

[HK streetfighter Pod]

if you liked ghost in the shell i really recomend you watch katsuhiro otomos other movies akira , roujin Z  and jin-roh : wolf bregade. Bloody brillent  movies.

also angel cop , AD police and Cyber city are some other cyberpunks that are like ghost in the shell.

[Evan3]

Neon Noodle wrote:

> Now you'll have to rent AKIRA to round out your old-school
> anime!
>

Not that I have watched Akira, (its on my list, as is Ghost in the Shell), but what qualifies as new age anime? Is it Vampire Hunter D or Princess Mononoke??

As for Pulp Fiction, that movie sucked (not as badly as Resevoir Dogs). Yes it had intertwining characters, but akll of them were dull, and all of them stagnant. No matter what their experience throughout the movie, it did not change the actions or thoughts of the character at all (Bruce Willis is my big example of this). Also, Quentin Tarrantino has shown a lick of creativity in his directing, I will admit his ideas are intriguing, but other people (the director of Go) have employed his devices with much better effect. I hated Pulp Fiction, yuk.