Being born 10 years before the 21st century, few films dominated the pop-culture landscape of my childhood like Pulp Fiction (1994). This film was one of the defining cinematic achievement of Generation X, and the definitive post-modern film. Many of the defining traits of Tarentino's film-style would be codified here and possibly one of the best film roles of Samuel L. Jackson. Three simple morality tales told out-of-order and with no film score of its own, but using the film's soundtrack to layer the atmosphere of the film. The movie told a story about America that Hollywood was not quite sure it wanted to hear at the time.
For all the violence in this film, it is amazing that the majority of the movie is gangsters contemplating the world and their navels. Though at its heart it is a gangster/noir film, much of Tarentino's love for 70s film culture (e.g. blaxploitation, Japanese New Wave, 70s horror) is the body of the film. Like a certain other indie film-maker on the other side of the country, the influence of Martin Scorsese is apparent throughout. I'm not sure this film is as good as Django Unchained (2012), but it is a masterpiece. And yes, in a movie with so much murder and a rape scene, the n-word scene is the overkill, the film rises above that flaw. Also, this film lost the Best Picture Academy Award to Forrest Gump (1994)—how folks still take the Oscars seriously I'll never know.
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