Best Movies Of The Nineties : Pulp Fiction

Quentin Tarantino's sophmore 1994 outing has become an iconic, much quoted reference point of an ironic, self-aware decade. Much like Nirvana did in the world of music, it's indie excellence spawned a host of inferior imitators for many years after (Lucky Number Slevin, anyone?), and proved that a great movie could be made outside of major studio patronage.

While the former video store geek turned film maker rejuvenated the film career of John Travolta (a middle aged white man rarely looked so cool) and, to a lesser extent, Bruce Willis, Pulp Fiction also made household names of Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson with their excellent performances, allowing us to forgive a brief execrable turn from the writer-director himself. Oh, and Christopher Walken delivers a hilarious cameo as a former Vietnam vet who goes to far beyond the call of duty to deliver a very special watch.

Key to Tarantino's unique directorial voice was his purposeful use of non-linear narrative, sparkling, witty dialogue and obsessional attention to detail, particularly with reference to the canon of both great movies like the work of Hitchcock, and the pulp, genre movies that formed his filmic education and give the movie its' title. While we are introduced to a world of small-time hired thugs, drug dealers, thieves and other stock low-life, they behave in unexpected ways, from verbosely discussing the meaning of a foot massage, to quoting the bible when executing a foe.

And whether it's Jackson chomping on a Big Cahuna Burger, or Travolta ordering a pack of Red Apple cigs in a bar (both fictional brands appear in other movies by the director), there is evidence throughout of a revelling in attention to detail in every aspect of Pulp Fiction that shows it to be a labour of love by Tarantino, and since the film routinely charts highly in best movie of all time lists, it seems to prove that the geek shall indeed inherit the earth.

Best Movies Of The Nineties: 'Fight Club' Review (1999)

The final year of the nineties spawned several movies which consciously or otherwise, attempted to capture the zeitgeist, and Fight Club, alongside The Matrix, is perhaps the most pre-eminent in this respect. David Fincher's study of masculinity and alienation from consumer culture set new boundaries for aesthetics and effects in cinema, bringing the visual stylistics familiar to MTV audiences to a bear on the major spiritual and philosophical questions of the day. "We have no Great War, no Great Depression," insists Brad Pitt's infamous, violent but verbose character Tyler Durden. "Our great war is a spiritual war, our great depression is our lives” in a clarion call that spoke authentically to a generation who would go on to question the impact of modern capitalism on the environment and the developing world in the decade followed.

Described by the director and cast as a black satire, the action begins with Edward Norton as a
bored, insomniac insurance loss-adjuster, who gets bonuses the less his companies pays out to the injured, going about his job, as he begins to question his meaningless existence. A chance meeting with soap salesman Tyler Durden (Pitt) leads to a close friendship which shakes him out of his alienation, while Helena Bonham Carters' crazed goth chick strikes up a relationship with his newfound friend, leading to a confounding love triangle that isn't what it seems.

The release of the film was distracted by concern and controversy over copycat “Fight Clubs” being started across the US, in much a similar fashion to the media debacle that accompanied the release of Stanley Kubricks' A Clockwork Orange two decades earlier. An underwhelming box office performance and mixed reviews on the film's release were however later reappraised in light of the film's second life on DVD as the story found a cult audience, going onto become of the most loved films in recent years. Some of the most quotable lines in movie history helped, as did a highly unique visual style developed by Fincher, which went on to influence countless directors in its' aftermath. Oh, and you'll never look at a bar of soap the same way again.....