Birthday Guest Blogging Part One

A new year has appeared quicker than I thought it was going to. I was disappointed in the way last year ended, so maybe this year will go better. I didn't get the challenge completed on time sadly. You would think that since I doubled the number of posts needed for the challenge, I would have gotten it done on time. As it was, I ended up being five movies short. So close, but still so far away. Even though I didn't finish it, thanks to my computer acting up again and Blogger not saving my work, I plan on getting the last five done just so I can say I completed it. In truth, I don't feel too bad about not getting it done on time. Of all the people that tried the challenge, Hammer And Beyond, the blog that started it all, reports that I came the closest to finishing it. So there is that at least.

Today marks my fifth year as a blogger! I decided to make my return today just because of this. Even though it doesn't feel like I have been writing about horror movies for four years already, it also feels like I have been doing it a lot longer than that! I have had my ups and downs each year so far, so I don't expect this year to be any different. That being said though, I have no plans for this year. No challenges to complete, no big plans to get ready for. This year I will just sit back and wing it.

So what to do for the start of a new blogging year? I have reviewed a movie with birthday in the title before, and I have just talked about how the last year went before. Being this is the start of my fifth year though, I wanted to do something different. Outside of a few selected people, my plans have been kept secret, up until now. When I first started my blog, I honestly didn't expect to still be working on it today. I figured it would be something I would do for a while, and then drop it. When I reached my 50th post, I was excited I had made it that far. I wanted to do something different, but still keep it in the vain I had created for my blog. I ended up deciding that I would pick one my many favorite movies, and just talk about it instead of reviewing it. That has become something of a tradition for my blog. Every 50 posts I pick a favorite movie. Since I don't plan on blogging for 50 years, I decided that 5 years was a nice round number instead. It has a 5 in it, so I'm happy. Instead of making you all listen to me talk, even though I have rambled on long enough as it is, I decided I would ask my favorite people and bloggers to pick a movie that they call a favorite, and tell us all about it. I let people off the hook in that it didn't have to be a horror movie. I know that eventually I will have to dip outside of the horror genre myself. After all, a person can only have so many favorite movies. Over the next month, I will be posting guest posts, but don't worry, because I will still work in some reviews as well. Everyone I asked to do a guest post was very willing to help me out, and I can't express how grateful I am for that.

I decided that I would post the guest reviews in the order that I got them. That means the first guest posts goes to Dr. Gore's Movie Reviews. I ran across Dr. Gore's blog while reading other reviews for a movie I had just finished watching. I don't recall which movie it was now, but I guess that isn't really important. After exploring his blog, I decided I would link to it. For one, how can you not like that name Dr. Gore? He reviews mostly "B" horror movies, but will sometimes venture out to a higher profile horror movie. Dr. Gore just doesn't love horror movies though. He also has a soft spot for those movies that Cinemax was well known for. If a movie has a lot of nudity, you can be sure that Dr. Gore is one happy camper! Even though I don't know him as well as some of the other bloggers that will be appearing for this, I still count his blog as one of the few that I call a favorite. Even though I took forever to get to it, here is guest post that Dr. Gore was kind enough to write up for me:

I received an email from a fellow movie review blogger who wanted to know if I wanted to do a guest post for her blog. Mermaid Heather is having a blog anniversary and is seeing what her favorite bloggers consider their favorite movies. Glad to know I fall in her favorite bloggers category. The timing is good for me because I needed a little break from bashing painful movies and was in the mood to heap some praise on a good film. So for my guest post, (and a review on my blog), I've chosen one of my favorite movies. Pulp Fiction.

Pulp Fiction is three interwoven tales of drugs, blood, crime, dates with married junkies, fixed boxing matches, dead body disposals, and movie references galore. The first story has hit man Vincent Vega, (Travolta), taking out his bosses wife, (Uma Thurman), on a drug fueled "date". The second story follows Butch (Bruce Willis), and his quest to get his beloved watch back from gangsters and survive the day in hellish L.A. The last story goes back in time to follow Vincent and Jules, (Jackson), as they go about their business and handle the stress of having to dispose of a dead body.

Pulp Fiction starts off with hit men Vincent (Travolta) and Jules (Jackson) paying a visit to some neglectful employees of Marcellus Wallace. Vincent nonchalantly informs Jules that he has been picked to babysit Mia Wallace while Marcellus is out of town. "You going to be taking Mia Wallace out on a date?" Vincent doesn't understand what the big deal is until he meets Mia. It turns out that she is even more in love with drugs than he is. The date goes well until Mia snorts up too much white powder. The rest of the story has Vincent scrambling to make sure Mia doesn't ruin the date by dying on him.

The second story has Bruce Willis obsessing over his gold watch. He has to leave town after a rigged boxing match but can't bear to part with his watch that his father left him. His decision to return into the heart of L.A. to retrieve it will cost him a heavy price as hit men and other freaks are lying in wait for him.

The last story goes back in time to show what happened between Jules and Vincent's rendezvous with the wayward employees of Marcellus and Vincent's date with Mia. Vincent accidentally blows a guy's head off in the back of the car while discussing the merits of divine intervention. They are so frazzled by having the guy's brain's splatter all over them that they need to call in an expert on body disposals. The Wolf, (Harvey Keitel), shows up to school them on the proper way to clean a blood soaked car.

Pulp Fiction is a near perfect movie. There are so many good elements to this movie it's hard to know where to start. From the writing, to the acting, to the direction, Pulp Fiction exceeds your expectations of what a crime movie is supposed to deliver. Samuel Jackson should have won an Oscar for his performance as Jules Winnfield. Why he didn't is a true injustice. John Travolta was also amazing as Vincent Vega. Pulp Fiction is Tarantino's best movie so far. It has inspired countless imitators but none have even come close to being as potent as Pulp Fiction.

But for me, Uma Thurman was the highlight of Pulp Fiction. If you don't fall in love with Uma Thurman after watching Pulp Fiction you are not human. Although I don't obsess over Uma's feet like Tarantino does, it's easy to see how men can fall under her spell. Her "date" with Travolta is a classic scene. Tarantino films her as if he is completely smitten with her and it's hard not to agree with him. Every look and gesture she portrays makes you a believer in her seductive charm.

Pulp Fiction is a must see movie. It has everything you could possibly want from a movie. It excels as entertainment and as cinema.

SCORE: 4 out of 4 Mia Wallace dates