Eddie the Eagle (5 Stars)

The 2026 Winter Olympic Games are currently being held in Italy. I've glanced at some of the events when they were broadcast live. There are lots of weird sports that I'd never even heard of. What's this thing called curling? I'm sure skill is involved, but I can't get into it. Ice skating, now that's something different. Elegance on the ice. That's the only event that held my interest for more than half an hour.

In honour of the Olympic Games, I just watched "Eddie the Eagle", which shows a young athlete's path to the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Canada. Those were simpler days. It's a great film that I've already watched a few times. It's a crowd-pleasing underdog story that knows exactly what it is and rarely pretends to be anything more. Directed with buoyant energy, it turns the improbable true story of British ski jumper Eddie Edwards into a glossy, feel-good sports fantasy.

Taron Egerton plays Eddie with wide-eyed sincerity, leaning into the character's awkward optimism without tipping into parody. He makes Eddie's stubbornness oddly moving; this is a man who confuses delusion with destiny and somehow makes it work. Hugh Jackman, as the hard-drinking coach Bronson Peary, supplies gruff charm and a familiar redemption arc. His performance is charismatic, if comfortably within his star persona.

The film takes generous liberties with fact, smoothing rough edges and inventing rivalries to heighten drama. Yet its unabashed sentimentality is part of its appeal. Bathed in 1980s nostalgia and propelled by a rousing score, it celebrates perseverance over podium finishes.

Success Rate:  + 0.0

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Poolhall Junkies (3 Stars)

I bought this film on the recommendation of Tom Welling. In the podcast "Precipice" he said it was one of his favourite movies, so I had to see what it's about.

Johnny is a 15-year-old boy who's been abandoned by his parents. He's taken in by a poolhall owner called Joe, who recognises that Johnny has a natural talent for playing pool. Joe sets Johnny up as a pool hustler, playing games for high stakes against local drug dealers. It's not just about pool, as Joe tells Johnny. Anyone can win at pool, but Johnny can insult the players to their face, take their money and they still like him. That's charisma.

Johnny's dream is to become a professional pool player. Talent scouts spot him and send him invitations to tournaments, but Joe intercepts and destroys the letters. Johnny is his cash cow, and he doesn't want him to leave.

Fast forward 15 years. His girlfriend Tara, who works in a legal company, puts him under pressure to give up pool hustling and find a real job. He gets a job on a construction site, but he fails miserably. The only thing he's good at is playing pool. He no longer plays for Joe, but he spends time playing pool behind her back.

At a party in Tara's company, Johnny meets a millionaire businessman called Mike, played by Christopher Walken. Johnny immediately recognises that he's a pool player from the crease in his trousers. Interesting. Is it that obvious? And does Johnny look at the trousers of every man he meets at parties? Mike introduces Johnny to Tara's boss, who's playing pool upstairs in the executive suite. After seeing him play a game, Mike is convinced in Johnny's skills and bankrolls him in a high stakes game. Johnny plays against Tara's boss. If the boss wins, he gets Mike's Mercedes. If Johnny wins, Tara will be given a 12-month contract as a full lawyer. Johnny wins, of course. Tara doesn't know the reason for her promotion, but she's angry when she finds out that Johnny's been playing pool with her boss.

I shan't give any more spoilers, except to say that "Poolhall Junkies" follows the typical rules of sports films:

      1. Someone is an expert player.

      2. He suffers setbacks.

      3. He finally wins a big game.

So the plot is predictable? Yes, but who cares?

The film was mentioned in "Precipice" as the film in which Michael Rosenbaum and Anson Mount met one another. They've been friends ever since. Michael plays Johnny's younger brother Danny who wants to follow in his footsteps as a pool hustler, but doesn't have the talent.

He should stick to singing. If you like that sort of thing. Danny's band is playing in an almost empty room. Not that the number of listeners means anything. I've been at excellent performances of Mike Burney, when he was playing in pubs with hardly anyone paying attention to the music. I clapped the loudest every time, and I bought him a beer afterwards. I miss him.

Anson Mount plays Chris, one of Johnny's closest friends. I didn't recognise him at first. He looks different with glasses.

One thing I have to praise about the film is that there's remarkably little smoking, considering the environment. In an early scene Johnny pulls a cigarette out of Danny's mouth and tells him to stop smoking. That's the only cigarette we see in the whole movie. Maybe critics will complain that the lack of smoking in poolhalls is unrealistic, but it doesn't spoil the film at all.

I feel guilty for giving the film a low rating. I'm not saying it's a bad film, but it doesn't speak to me. I don't like sports films, so I'll give it a Heater. I wonder what rose'n'bomb rating it would get from  Michael Rosenbaum and Tom Welling.

Success Rate:  - 7.1

Catch me if you can (4½ Stars)

True Stories #19

Name: Frank Abagnale

Lived: 27 April 1948 – still alive

Film dates: 1963 to 1974

Film made in 2002

From one con man to another. Steve Russell was a master con man, but Frank Abagnale was possibly the greatest con man who ever lived. His expertise was forgery, which he mastered at a young age. By the time he was 17 he'd gained $1.3 million by fraud, and by the time he was 19 it was $4 million. That was the 1960's. Allowing for inflation, you need to multiply those figures by nine.

Maybe he was too greedy. If he'd stopped stealing after his first million he would have had enough money to last the rest of his life, and he probably wouldn't have been caught. That's the trouble with money. If you love money, you can never have enough.

Frank Abagnale left home when he was 16, because he was traumatised by his parents' divorce. He paid for his rent by writing cheques, but he could never stay in one place long, because the cheques bounced and he was evicted. He had the idea to forge cheques issued by banks the other side of the country. In the pre-Internet days this meant that it took weeks for the cheques to be recognised as fakes. In order to cash cheques he needed credibility. He did this by wearing a pilot's uniform. Everyone trusts an airline pilot.

He forged university certificates to become a doctor, and then a lawyer. All the time he was writing cheques. The FBI detected him. Agent Carl Hanratty pursued Frank from one side of the country to the other. A bizarre relationship developed between the two. They had respect for one another, as if they were boxers duelling in the ring. Frank rang Carl every year on 24th December to wish him a Merry Christmas. Wasn't he afraid of having his call traced?

Eventually Frank was arrested in France and imprisoned in very unsanitary conditions. The film doesn't tell the whole story. According to Wikipedia, "At Perpignan he was held nude in a tiny, filthy, lightless cell that he was never allowed to leave. The cell lacked toilet facilities, a mattress, or a blanket, and food and water were strictly limited". Carl had Frank extradited to America so he would be treated better. While in prison in America Carl frequently consulted Frank for help catching other cheque forgers. Frank's assistance was so invaluable that after four years he was released and hired by the FBI. He became the FBI's top expert on cheque forgery.

This is an excellent film directed by Steven Spielberg. As I've said before, Steven Spielberg never makes a bad film. Tom Hanks is a phenomenal actor, and Leonardo DiCaprio also has great talent. They bounce off one another by their contrast between a humourless, uptight FBI agent and a flamboyant young man.

Success Rate:  + 4.8

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Eddie the Eagle (5 Stars)

True Stories #16

Name: Michael Edwards

Lived: 5 December 1963 – still alive

Film dates: 1973 to 1988, mostly 1987 to 1988

Film made in 2016

Anything is possible if you don't give up.

Michael Edwards, usually called Eddie Edwards, had a dream from his childhood on. He wanted to be in the Olympic Games. For a young boy with no sporting abilities, this was a crazy dream. As he grew older he still didn't show any talent. He tried out sport after sport and failed at everything he did. There were always people much better at him. Finally, in 1987, he had an inspiration. He decided to learn ski jumping, because it was a sport that nobody in Britain practised. If he became a ski jumper nobody would be better than him, so he'd have to be picked for the British Olympics team.

Eddie travelled to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany to learn how to jump. He was mocked by the experienced jumpers who were in Garmisch-Partenkirchen to prepare for the Olympics. Only the retired jumper Bronson Peary took him seriously and agreed to train him.

At his first contest Eddie set a new British record of 34 meters for a jump from a 70 meter slope. That might sound good, but it was only possible because of the lack of competition in Britain. The contest's winner jumped 110 meters. Eddie visited the Olympic Committee and demanded to be entered into the Olympic Games as the British champion. They told him that in order to qualify for the Olympic Games he would have to jump 61 meters. After hard training he managed this distance a few months later.

At the Olympic Games in Calgary Eddie finished last, but his eccentric victory celebration won him the nickname Eddie the Eagle. He spontaneously decided to enter the event for the 90 meter jump, which he had never attempted before. Bronson doubted Eddie would survive the jump, but he knew he couldn't talk him out of it. Eddie set a new British record of 71.5 meters from the 90 meter slope, but he finished last again.

Eddie returned home to a hero's welcome. The rules for qualifying for the Olympic Games were subsequently changed to stop anyone like Eddie ever taking part again.

This is a magnificently uplifting film with excellent performances by Taron Egerton as Eddie and Hugh Jackman as Bronson Peary. The actress Iris Berben also appears as the barkeeper Petra in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Success Rate:  + 0.0

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Pulp Fiction (5 Stars)

Dancer's Top Films #50

This is Quentin Tarantino's second film, made in 1994, two years after "Reservoir Dogs". Many of the scenes look like a reunion of the Reservoir Dogs actors. Of the six dogs, four of the actors appear in "Pulp Fiction": Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi and Tim Roth. Their characters were all killed in "Reservoir Dogs", so some people have come to the conclusion that "Pulp Fiction" is a prequel that takes place in the same universe as "Reservoir Dogs". This is reinforced by the fact that a fifth Reservoir Dog (Vic Vega) has the same family name as one of the gangsters in "Pulp Fiction" (Vincent Vega). This is impossible, because the Reservoir Dogs were men who didn't know one another's names. It's not a shared universe, it's just Quentin Tarantino using good actors that he's worked with before.

I'm aware that it's not just these two films. There have been attempts to tie all of Quentin Tarantino's films together, including "From Dusk Till Dawn". That's just ridiculous. Is Mia Wallace the same person as Beatrix Kiddo in "Kill Bill"? Impossible! I've read the arguments in favour of a single universe, the Tarantinoverse, but I shan't quote them here because I don't believe they hold up. The only thing I like about the theories is that the word Tarantinoverse sounds so cool.

Most films tell a story with a single consistent narrative, unless they're true stories. A typical film goes from A to B with only minor deviations. "Pulp Fiction" is full of random incidents which have an influence on the main narrative. This gives "Pulp Fiction" the feeling of a true story, without it actually being true. Important characters are introduced late in the film. If someone who had never seen the film read a summary of the plot he'd say it's bad screenwriting. It breaks all the rules. And yet the end result is a work of pure brilliance.

The gangsters Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent (John Travolta) are professional killers. They're friends who work together for their boss, Marcellus Wallace, but there's one big difference between them: Jules believes in miracles, Vincent doesn't. Only Jules survives to the end of the film. Is it his faith that saves him? I'll let you decide for yourself.

This is a trademark Quentin Tarantino scene of people looking into a car trunk, although Vincent is distracted. Maybe a girl dressed in a mini-skirt is walking by.

Here's another Quentin Tarantino trademark, a foot close up. Do you recognise the actress? I'll give the answer at the bottom of this post, so don't read on until you know.

I shan't keep you in suspense with the second actress with naked feet. It's Angela Jones, playing a barefoot taxi driver called Esmarelda. I don't get it. Isn't it too difficult to drive a car without shoes?

Never mind the feet, I'm more interested in Angela's beautiful face. There's an aura of evil about her. Is it just the way she looks in the film? I'll never know.

The film is well known for its non-linear narrative. Today I watched it while asking myself if it would be better if the scenes had been re-ordered to make the film chronological (with slight rewriting, of course). For the first half of the film I wasn't sure, but by the end of the film I was convinced that the non-linear narrative is advantageous to the plot. The first half tells Vincent's story, and the second half tells Jules' story, even though they appear together in some of the scenes.

Did you recognise the feet in my little test? They belong to Uma Thurman. We'll see a lot more of them in "Kill Bill".

Success Rate:  + 24.7

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Despite the recently added daisy-chaining of my top 100 posts, here's a summary of my films so far as an assistance to my new readers.

51. Evita (1996)
52. Assaunt on Precinct 13 (1976)
53. Death Proof (2007)
54. Falling Down (1993)
55. Adaptation (2002)
56. The Raid 2 (2014)
57. Summer in Orange (2011)
58. Flowers of War (2011)
59. Scream (1996)
60. Scream 2 (1997)
61. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
62. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
63. The Gift (2000)
64. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
65. Ip Man (2008)
66. Ip Man 2 (2010)
67. Snatch (2000)
68. Lock, stock and two smoking barrels (1998)
69. Tragedy Girls (2017)
70. Gladiator (2000)
71. Enter the Dragon (1973)
72. Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982)
73. The Legend of 1900 (1998)
74. Young Frankenstein (1974)
75. The Virgin Psychics (2015)
76. The Man who would be King (1975)
77. John Rabe (2009)
78. The Paperboy (1994)
79. The Walk (2015)
80. Perfume (2006)
81. The Green Mile (1999)
82. Little Nicky (2000)
83. Monster (2003)
84. Gloomy Sunday (1999)
85. We are the night (2010)
86. Dark Water (2002)
87. What to do in case of fire (2001)
88. The Shining (1980)
89. Azumi (2003/2005)
90. The Mummy (1999)
91. Wie Feuer und Flamme (2001)
92. Attack of the 50 Foot Centerfold (1995)
94. Titanic (1997)
95. Mad City (1997)
96. Leon (1994)
97. Iron Rose (1973)
98. Kick-Ass (2010)
99. Rush Hour (1998)
100. Bella Martha (2001)

Heaven's Gate (4 Stars)

This is an epic western, made in 1980, about the Johnson County War of 1890, in which hundreds of settlers from Eastern Europe were slaughtered by land owners. It follows the life of Jim Averill, a wealthy Harvard graduate who's been sent to Casper, Wyoming to supervise the hanging of a criminal. He becomes sympathetic with the plight of poor settlers from Eastern Europe after seeing a woman being beat up in the street.

The problem is that wealthy cattle owners let their animals graze on empty land between the mountains. When settlers arrived and staked claims, there was less land available. In addition, some settlers were accused of stealing cattle for food. The penalty for stealing a cow was execution without trial. That was within the law, because both the mayor and the sheriff of Casper approved of strict measures to combat anarchy. The most important organisation in the county was the Stock Growers Association, to which the mayor and the sheriff both belonged.

Averill finds out that 50 gunmen have been hired from Texas to carry out a final solution. A list has been made of 125 people who are to be killed. Averill's girlfriend Ella is also on the list. He organises a resistance, putting weapons in the hands of the settlers, but even though they outnumber the gunmen four to one their lack of skill puts them at a disadvantage.

"Heaven's Gate" is infamous for having been the biggest financial flop in film history at the time it was made, losing $40 million. It's blamed for having killed off the western as a film genre. The critics also hated it, some calling it one of the worst films ever made.

Maybe the problem for the critics was the film cuts. The original version was five and a half hours long, but it was cut to three and a half hours for the theatrical release. After only a week in the cinemas the film was withdrawn, and a year later it was re-released as a two and a half hour version. The version I watched today is dubbed the Director's Cut and was released on disc in 2012. It's three and a half hours long, but supposedly differs significantly from the original theatrical release.

How can you expect a film to retain its quality after such savage cuts? Certain things in the film weren't clear to me, and I'm convinced that my questions would be answered if I saw the additional two hours of footage. When Averill arrives in Casper and visits the Stock Growers Association, the sheriff tells him he's been barred from their meetings. When? Why? Averill seems to have a history in Casper. Everyone knows him.

Averill is also friends with Nate Champion, an enforcer for the Stock Growers Association. In an early scene Champion carries Averill back to his hotel when he's drunk. Friendships across enemy lines don't just happen. The two men have a history, and it looks like this history has been edited out.

Many critics today have reevaluated the film, based on the Director's Cut. I don't see anything particularly bad about it.

Before watching the film I knew nothing about the Johnson County War. Wikipedia's page is informative as a brief summary. The main characters of the film were real life people, but the film has changed the background of the main characters, Averill and his girlfriend. That's remarkable. In real life Ella Watson was a seamstress and a landowner, but the film portrays her as the owner of a brothel. She died childless, otherwise her descendants would be suing the film for slander.

Success Rate:  - 12.6

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Eddie the Eagle (5 Stars)

Is there a good reason I only gave this film a four star rating last time I watched it? If there is I don't know what it is. This is the best sports film I've ever seen. It's the story of an underdog, like "Rocky", but the difference is that while "Rocky" ended with Rocky Balboa becoming a champion, "Eddie the Eagle" ends with Eddie Edwards finishing last in two events in the Olympic Games.

Nevertheless, it's a true story, and Eddie was praised as a hero throughout the world, not only in his home country of Great Britain. The story is so absurd that it's difficult to believe it, unless, like me, you're old enough to remember it happening in 1988. In fact, if you asked me to name athletes who took part in the 1988 Winter Olympics I could only tell you one name: Eddie Edwards.

Eddie gave inspiration to millions of people by living up to a statement by Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the Olympic Games, in 1896:

"The important thing in the Olympic Games is not the winning but the taking part".

It was Eddie's dream to be an Olympic athlete from his early childhood. It didn't matter what sport it was, as long as he could go to the Olympics. He tried sport after sport without success. Finally he picked ski jumping, because he thought it would easy to qualify. He was right. The Olympic rules allowed each country to send at least one athlete for each sport, and there were no other competitive ski jumpers in Britain. Eddie qualified for the Olympic Games with a jump of 34 meters, even though the current world record was 191 meters.

The British Olympic Association expected Eddie to be an embarrassment and tried to block his participation by changing the rules, but it was too late to stop him. Eddie was going to the Olympics. He finished last in his two events, the 70 meter jump and the 90 meter jump, but he won the hearts of the audience. The press gave him the nickname Eddie the Eagle. When Frank King, the president of the Olympic organising committee, addressed the athletes in the closing speech, he only singled out one athlete:

"You have broken world records and you have established personal bests. Some of you have even soared like an eagle".

Taron Egerton puts on a spotless performance as Eddie, awkward but immediately likeable. Hugh Jackman is also excellent as Eddie's coach, Bronson Peary. Petra, the owner of a bar at the ski jumping training facility in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, is played by Iris Berben, one of Germany's most famous actresses.

Iris might have been 65 years old when she appeared in the film, but doesn't she still look heavenly? How could Eddie have resisted her physical advances. On the other hand, I doubt that the real life Petra was as attractive as Iris.

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The Jungle Book [2016 version] (4 Stars)

In 1967 Walt Disney made an animated film based on Rudyard Kipling's collection of short stories that were collected into a single volume called "The Jungle Book". Considerable rewriting was needed to thread the events of these stories into a single story. The Walt Disney film is considered to be one of the best children's films ever.

Now a new version has been made. It's called a live action film, but I use the word live very loosely. The boy in the story, Mowgli, is played by a real person, the first-time child actor Neel Sethi, but all the animals and most of the backgrounds are computer generated. The emphasis is on realism. As such, it's a masterpiece. The state of the art computer animation makes the animals look real. Even more astounding is Neel Sethi's acting, considering he was effectively performing to empty scenes, imagining the creatures that would be added later.

The new film is based on the 1967 film, rather than on Rudyard Kipling's original book. Apart from minor details the story follows the same plot as the 1967 film, with the exception of the end. You'll have to watch the film yourself to see what I mean.

The differences between the two films are more in the mood than in the story itself. The 1967 film was very child-friendly. The new version is still aimed at children, but it's aimed at today's children who are less sheltered than the children of previous generations. It's harsher. There's more violence between the animals. It's scarier.

Was the film worth remaking? That's a difficult question to answer. As a remake it's a success, and it's an enjoyable film, but was it necessary? I somehow don't think that 20 years from now it'll be considered a classic. 20 years from now children will still be watching and loving the 1967 film, while this version will be forgotten.

Eddie the Eagle (4 Stars)

This is the true story of the British athlete Eddie Edwards and his participation in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary.

Ever since he was a child Eddie wanted to take part in the Olympic Games, despite showing hardly any athletic abilities. After attempting other sports he finally picked ski jumping, because it had very low requirements to qualify for the British team. While training in Garmisch, Germany he met the failed ski jumper Bronson Peary, who became his coach. When he took part in the Olympics he earned the doubtful honour of setting a new British record while finishing last in the competition by a large margin. He became a favourite with the public and the press, partly because of his extravagant antics after his jumps, partly because they recognised him as an underdog who wouldn't give up.

This is a hilarious film, just as funny as Eddie's real life. Despite being mocked by his peers who considered his performance sub-standard -- and to be honest, it really was sub-standard -- he carried on fighting and became the most famous athlete of the 1988 Winter Olympics. However, the British Olympic Committee took a less sympathetic view, and they changed the rules to make sure that nobody with accomplishments as low as his could ever participate again.

Catch me if you can (4½ Stars)

This is the true story of Frank Abagnale, one of the most successful con men ever. His criminal career began when he ran away from home at the age of 15. He forged cheques worth more than four million dollars before he was 19. The film is supposedly accurate as far as his crimes are concerned, but fictionalises the relationship with his father.

The film is directed by Steven Spelberg and stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale. To get the fictional aspects out of the way first, it was important to present Frank's love for his father as his motivation for his crimes. This makes his character more sympathetic to the audience than if he had been shown as a selfish cold-hearted criminal. In 1963 (when Frank was 15) his father had lost money in his business and was facing bankruptcy due to IRS payment claims. I think this is something that could only happen in America. In England (and most other western countries), if a company loses money no tax is due. In America the Inland Revenue levies taxes on a company's profits, even if the profits are subsequently lost later in the year. This leads to the absurd situation that people with no money are expected to pay high tax bills. Young Frank felt that the government was robbing his father -- which is true, if it really happened the way the film portrays it -- so he swore to steal the money back from the government and give it to his father.

When his parents divorced Frank ran away from home rather than decide which parent to live with. His first attempts to cash cheques failed, until he had the idea of pretending to be a pilot. In a pilot's uniform he had no problems cashing forged cheques, because everyone trusts a pilot. Pilots have a reputation as being something special, even more than judges or doctors. It's a mixture of the responsibility and the uniform. Last year I visited a night club and met a group of American navy pilots who were stationed in Cosford, near Wolverhampton. They were in full uniform. They told me that it wasn't compulsory for them to wear their uniforms when off duty, but they did so "because English girls go crazy about the uniforms". It was true. Girls were practically fighting to get near the pilots. Maybe I should buy myself a pilot's uniform.

Of course, it wasn't just the uniform. Frank Abagnale was a skilled forger. As well as cheques he forged certificates, enabling him to work as a doctor and a lawyer. Throughout his short but highly successful criminal career Frank was pursued by the FBI agent Carl Hanratty (played by Tom Hanks), and the two developed a respect for one another.

After his arrest in 1969 he was given short prison sentences in France and Sweden. He was then extradited to America and sentenced to 12 years in prison. This sentence was cut short when he was offered a job in the bank fraud development of the FBI, where he worked for 26 years. No criminals were a match for his skills of fraud detection.

The real Frank Abagnale.

It's been a long time since I last watched this film. Maybe 10 years. I'm not sure why I waited so long. I have a great respect for Steven Spielberg as a director, but there are only a few of his films that really grip me. His films are too smooth, too perfect. "Catch me if you can" has enough of a rough edge to make it a thrilling film. I also consider it to be Leonardo DiCaprio's second best film, second only to "Titanic".

Frank's escape from police custody when being extradited to America seems so ridiculous that it couldn't possibly be true, but I've found out that it really did happen as shown. He jumped out of a moving plane while it was taxiing on the runway at JFK Airport. He managed to break through a fence and flee across country before finally being apprehended.

The prison in France was even worse than how it's shown in the film. According to Wikipedia, "At Perpignan he was held nude in a tiny, filthy, lightless cell that he was never allowed to leave. The cell lacked toilet facilities, a mattress, or a blanket, and food and water were strictly limited". That sounds disgusting. Were things really so bad in France in 1970?

Pulp Fiction (5 Stars)

30 films to watch before you die, #15

When someone quotes the Bible at you it's worth checking to see if they're right. In "Pulp Fiction" Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) says:

There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. "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 good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance 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".

So I checked my Bible, and what did I find?

"Because the Philistines acted in vengeance and took revenge with malice in their hearts, and sought to destroy Judah, this is what the Lord says: I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will wipe out the Kerethites and destroy those remaining along the coast. I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I take vengeance on them".

Even allowing for variations between different translations Jules' quote is way off. On the other hand, would you discuss theology with someone who's pointing a gun at your head?

Having said that, let me say something about the difficulty I had with picking "Pulp Fiction" for my 30 films list. I restricted myself to a maximum of one film per director. In the case of Quentin Tarantino, what should I pick? All his films are good, and I can't even decide what my favourite is. If someone asks me I usually name the film of his that I watched last. At first I put "Reservoir Dogs" in the list, because it was his first film as director. Then I replaced it with "Django Unchained", because I thought that my list doesn't have enough recent films. Finally I picked "Pulp Fiction" because most people say it's his best. It certainly is very good, but is it his best? I don't know.

One thing struck me today while watching the film is that all the characters, even those in smaller roles, were familiar to me. I'm not saying it because I've watched the film before. What I mean is that the dialogue introduces the characters, and within a minute of them appearing on screen I feel that I know them. Does any other director have such skill at character development?

When reviewing other films in my 30 films list I gave three suggestions for further viewing. I shan't limit myself today. These are the other films made by Quentin Tarantion, all brilliant and deserving to be watched if you haven't seen them already.

• Reservoir Dogs (1992)
• Jackie Brown (1997)
• Kill Bill (2003-2004)
• Death Proof (2007)
• Inglourious Basterds (2009)
• Django Unchained (2012)

Seven Psychopaths (4 Stars)

Marty is a Hollywood screenwriter suffering from writer's block. He's writing a script called "Seven Psychopaths", but apart from the film's title he has written nothing; he doesn't even have names or backgrounds for the psychopaths in his story. Marty's best friend Billy is an unemployed actor who believes in Marty's talent and does his best to encourage him. He puts a classified ad in a Los Angeles weekly magazine asking for psychopaths and serial killers to visit Marty to be interviewed.

That would be enough meat for a plot in itself, but there are further complications. Billy has a part-time job. Together with a partner he steals dogs from rich people and returns them for the reward, claiming that he "found" them. This works well until he steals a Shih Tzu from a gangster who hunts him down. Far from being scared, Billy suggests that the manhunt and the final showdown should be used as an inspiration for Marty's script. He drives Marty into the desert to witness the action.

At times the story is difficult to follow. It's difficult to tell which of the psychopaths are real and which are fictional characters in the screenplay. Even when a character seems to be fictional we later discover that he's based on a real life character. At first I tried to count the real psychopaths, but it got too complicated. In some cases one fictional character was based on more than one real life character. The film studios felt the need to name the seven and made the absolutely awful film poster that I've included below. The poster includes Marty (third from left) who isn't one of the psychopaths. Neither of the two women in the poster are psychopaths. I wouldn't classify the gangster (on the right) as a psychopath either, but that's arguable. Not that it really matters. It's still a good film, worth watching.

True Romance (4½ Stars)

I admit that my main reason for watching "True Romance" today was in remembrance of James Gandolfini, who died last month. I wanted to watch one of his films, and in my opinion this was the best film he made. His part is small, but his role as a mobster is probably one of the reasons he was picked to play Tony Soprano a few years later.

In many ways it's a curious film. It stars many top actors in small roles, actors who would normally be the stars. Brad Bitt, Val Kilmer, Christopher Walken  and Gary Oldman are just a few of them. Despite all the stars it was a box office flop. I don't understand why. The film is a masterpiece in its own right, even without the added appeal of the top actors.

As the film's title suggests, it's a love story. Clarence (Christian Slater) works in a comic book shop, Alabama (Patricia Arquette) is a call girl. They meet at a kung fu movie in Detroit and get married a few days later. Clarence sees a vision of Elvis, who tells him to kill Alabama's pimp. By accident he picks up a suitcase full of cocaine when he flees from the murder scene. He thinks he can make money easily by selling it to a film producer in Hollywood, but the mob already knows his name and is pursuing him across the country.

The film starts slowly and escalates into total chaos. The screenplay was written by Quentin Tarantino, who originally wanted to direct the film himself. I find it a shame that he didn't, but it still turned out well.

Pulp Fiction (5 Stars)

As much as I love watching new films, it's good to go back and rewatch my favourite films. This is definitely one of them. It's commonly regarded as Quentin Tarantino's best film. I'm not sure whether I agree with that. It's not that I disagree. I just can't pick a favourite. They're all classics, in their own way.

I made a lot of notes with things I wanted to write about this film, but since I'm certain I'll watch it again soon I'll save them till later. This time I'll just talk about John Travolta's character, Vincent Vega, going to the toilet. Or at least, that's what they call it in England. The Americans prefer to say "restroom", as if people went there to relax.

Vincent goes to the toilet three times during the film. I'll describe them in chronological order, not the order they're shown in the film. The first time is for a piss, the second time is for a shit -- I'm quoting him, he uses the P and S words, I don't -- and the third time he doesn't say, but it's obviously a shit. The last two times he's shown reading a Modesty Blaise novel on the toilet. This book is the pulp fiction after which the film is named. All three visits to the toilet have an impact on the story.

1. The first time he goes to the toilet Marsellus' wife Mia overdoses while he is out of the room.

2. The second time he goes to the toilet the restaurant robbery starts while he is away.

3. The third time he goes to the toilet Butch enters the house and is able to shoot him. Vincent is knocked back into the toilet by the blast and lies dead clutching the Modesty Blaise novel.

In addition, there are three other visits to the toilet by other characters, which have less impact. It's interesting that Vincent is present on all three occasions.

1. The unnamed fourth man is in the toilet when Vincent and Jules enter the apartment. He emerges with a gun in his hand, but when he shoots he misses.

2. The robber Yolanda says she wants to go to the toilet, which would have ended the Mexican standoff, but she's persuaded to hold it.

3. Mia goes to the toilet in the restaurant, which gives Vincent time to find something to say.

Is there a significance to these repeated visits to the toilet? They're too frequent to be accidental. I can't see any internal significance, but it's been suggested that Quentin Tarantino is paying homage to the 1989 film "God of Gamblers", which was also driven by repeated visits to the toilet.

Pulp Fiction (5 Stars)

Let's get back to posts for my Five Star Month after yesterday's sentimental off-topic post. And let's get back to Quentin Tarantino, who is probably my favorite director.

The film is supposedly an homage to the literature genre called pulp fiction, short novels published on cheap paper in the 20th Century. Wikipedia dates these novels from 1896 to the 1950's. This must refer to America, because I know from memory that they were published longer in other countries. My father purchased booklets referred to as "pulp fiction" until the late 1970's. In Germany similar booklets were sold until the 1990's. The most common stories in American pulp fiction novels were detective stories. The more recent stories were American old west stories (in England) and vampire stories (in Germany).

Nevertheless, I can't imagine a story like the one in Tarantino's film being contained in any pulp fiction novel. It seems too complex to be presented to the mass market of the early 20th Century. In fact, the film tells several stories which are (seemingly?) unrelated, apart from featuring the same characters. Of all of Tarantino's films, none has left such a mark. Even though it only won one Oscar (best screenplay) after being nominated in seven categories, it's now considered one of the best and most influential films of all time.

The story that begins and ends the film is the tale of a robbery in a restaurant carried out by two small-time crooks, Ringo (Tim Roth) and Yolanda (Amanda Plummer). They are overpowered by the professional gangsters Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent (John Travolta), who have stopped off for a meal.

Jules and Vincent are sent to pick up a (presumably stolen) briefcase belonging to gang leader Marsellus Wallace. After surviving a shoot out Jules experiences a spiritual enlightenment that turns his life around.

Butch (Bruce Willis) is an aging boxer hired by Marsellus to take a fall in the fifth round. Butch betrays his boss and makes a fortune by betting on himself to win. Wallace first sends Vincent to kill him, then attempts to take revenge personally.

Marsellus asks Vincent to take his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) to a restaurant. After going out Mia overdoses on cocaine and almost dies.

Click here to view the trailer. As with all of Tarantino's films it's a poor quality trailer, in this case too long and it fails to give any impression of what the film is about. All it does is show off the big stars.