Pulp Fiction (1994)

At a glance:
Where do I begin, to tell the story of how great a movie can be? Oh well, so much for hidin my admiration for this flick. Tarantino's critically and commercially celebrated Pulp Fiction is one of the most iconic movies of all time. If you had to pick just one movie from the 90s to mail off to aliens in outer space to let them know about us, this unhealthy and highly addictive movie would be it. Centred around some unrealistically cool dodgy characters and a mysterious suitcase (lots of fanboy theories on the Net about what it actually contains), this is an embarrassin wealth of pop culture references, punctuated stylishly with plenty of movie moments that you can simply gobble up like a Big Kahuna Burger.
Bad news on the doorstep:
That it doesn't have a sequel or somethin to that effect? Any one of the characters in here couldda spawned a spinoff movie. Hell, that Big Kahuna Burger on the table couldda spawned a spinoff movie.
Perennial wonderment:
If Tarantino can ever make a better film. Doubt it. Well, actually I think Reservoir Dogs is a better film. It's just that Pulp Fiction is just so darn engrossin.
Reminds me of:
Melchiorre Conti, the Sicilian who couldn't stop sayin "Well, I'm a mushroom-cloud-layin' motherfucker, motherfucker!" Wotta man.
Watch out for:
Bruce Willis & Ving Rhames in a butt-rape and revenge scene, backed by The Revel's Comanche. I really enjoyed the weapon selection sequence.
Most memorable line:

Jules: "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengence and furious anger, those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is The Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
Top actors, top soundtrack, top screenplay. You can't ask for more. You give it and you hope that you can get a tasty beverage to wash it down with.

The Ride (1994) @ Jízda

At a glance:
Watered-down, psychosexual cat-and-mouse chase filled with cod philosophy and annoyingly regular breaks for music video montages of Czech pop songs written by one of the leads as well, it seems. Alternatively, it's an idyllic summer's drive past the country for two bored thirtysomethings who innocently pick up a mysterious redhead on the road, without her knickers on. Either way, if you're familiar with director Jan Sverák's award-winnin Kolja (1996), you'd know he won't exactly bore the paint off cinema walls. For a road movie, the characters are necessarily well-developed - two good friends who talk about everythin from the old Eastern bloc to the price of sex in proportion to a bottle of Jim Beam. They already make decent entertainment even before the beautiful Anna Geislerová (pic) enters as the runaway broad. The trio's dynamics are interestin because the two men are constantly threatened by her possible disappearance.

Bad news on the doorstep:

The beautiful and talented Anna Geislerová

When I realise that's not really the story. By its choice of soundtrack, one suspects we're taken on this titular ride for no more than a half-arsed reflection on the mediocrity of urban livin and the fleetingness of life in general, compounded by some very interestin shots on anthills and seventysomethin farmhands. For this, at least there is one resoundin advantage - it's no culture-sensitive story that'd be lost to a non-Czech, and the three people in that car could well be drivin from Bangsar to Bukit Kayu Hitam, wonderin who will have sex with whom first.
Reminds me of:
Drivin in the summer from Sheffield to Scarborough on the M18.
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
Perhaps best watched on that school holiday in between college and high school, The Ride seems short enough if you didn't pay for it, and long enough if you did. ★★★

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

At a glance:
Who hasn't seen Shawshank, so often misguidedly acclaimed by the cod philosophers as the greatest movie of all time? You can read that it does have some claim to bein the most rented movie in the world, although I'm not sure how anyone can account for that, just like, say, most downloaded pornstar on the web (whom by the way is often said to be Jenna Jameson). Well, many do rate it as their favourite movie and it's easy to see why - fluid, easy-to-understand and soaringly inspirin, Stephen King's short story gets Frank Darabont's best known direction in a nearly two-and-a-half-hour prison break drama that is simply so attractive and rewardin whatever section of the cinemagoin market you represent. It even makes bein a con look cool.
Perennial wonderment:
How three great Hollywood movies were all released in 1994 - Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump and this.
Reminds me of:
In perhaps my fifth viewin yesterday, the other Darabont projects like The Green Mile or The Mist. All so soaked in their settings.
Watch out for:
Raquel Welch's secret, of course.
Most memorable line:
"That tall drink of water with the silver spoon up his ass" - this was my favourite expression from the film, although "what is your malfunction, you fat barrel of monkey spunk" has been more useful in my line of work.
Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
Four stars. I'd have liked more memorable music and perhaps a more elaborate escape but I guess that would've made it another movie. Still, I remember bein so awed by this when I first watched it. Taught me the term institutionalised and also what shitty pipe dreams can mean, if you pardon the pun.