1. PULP FICTION (1994)
It's a low-down dirty tale of L.A. hitmen, palookas, and femmes fatales — and also a time-warping, mind-bending work of movie-mad genius. It's a feast of ultraviolent thrills — and also a heady pop-literate consideration of surf rock, foot massages, diner culture, and honor among scoundrels. You'd be hard-pressed, by now, to name a moment from Quentin Tarantino's film that isn't iconic. Its revolutionary structure (John Travolta dies...then lives!) opened a new universe of mainstream storytelling, but the eternal joy of Pulp Fiction is that it recast the future of movies by living, so thrillingly, in the moment.
The New Classics: Movies by Clark Collis, Owen Gleiberman, Gregory Kirschling, Jeff Labrecque, and Adam Markovitz
