Jackie Brown (1997)

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The acting in this movie is really good.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

A Tarantino that is less comic book and almost romantic. Good acting, good action and a slow burn thrill that does not abate even after the end. Why? Because we know that stealing huge wad of mob money can't be good for long.

What's amazing to me about this movie, is that it managed to fully captivate my attention, despite the fact that I generally don't like drama movies, and have ADD. Usually I need horror films with jump scares, or high action films with lots of loud fighting to keep my attention. But in some mysterious way, the director of this film made even the slowest most non eventful parts incredibly interesting to me.In all, I can't think of a single scene that didn't deserve to be in the movie. There are some rare parts that don't seem entirely essential to the story to me. But those parts are still great just on their own, and would stand on their own as short films.One thing that really makes this movie unique for me is the strength of its female lead protagonist. Strong aggressive female characters in other movies almost always feel forced to me. Like they are trying too hard to be seen as respectable leaders, but actually just come off as jerks. I don't think I am sexist, but I might be on some subconscious level. However, the actor playing Jackie Brown plays the part of an aggressive strong protagonist like a natural. The fact that she is a woman taking on an authoritative and strong role, against violent and strong men, didn't stand out to me at all during the movie. It all felt natural. Jackie still comes off as a nice likable woman, and not a jerk at all. If I were forced to come up with just one criticism, it would be that it wasn't long enough. The story is completed by the end, in a satisfying way. But I cared so much about the characters that I wanted to keep seeing more of their lives, even if it was not eventful.

Jackie Brown is almost certainly Tarantino's most polarising movie, usually appearing either at the top or bottom of people's rankings of Tarantino films. My friend is one of those who watched it after watching Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Django, etc. and wasn't too keen on it because of its slow pacing.As a huge fan of Tarantino, I have to lay my hands down on the table and say I loved this movie, even though it's generally seen as a movie for people who don't like Tarantino movies.And yet for me, it's one of my top 3 favourite Tarantino movies alongside Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill. Why? I'll tell you.I don't enjoy Tarantino's work for his OTT violence (which this film lacks). I enjoy his work because it always clearly screams a love and passion for the cinema, and because of the tremendous dialogue and characters he uses to construct this world. This movie has all of this in spades, with amazingly fleshed out characters such as the bored, middle aged and directionless two central characters who form a silent romantic bond with each other (Jackie Brown and Max Cherry), the sleazy, cowardly, cunning drug dealer Ordell, his smart-ass girl Melanie, his ex-con friend Lewis, whose laid-back characteristics conceal a fearsome dark side and troublesome detective Ray.The dialogue again works wonders throughout the movie, the acting is pitch-perfect across the board, with Pam Grier, Samuel L Jackson and Robert De Niro being as great as you'd expect them to be, and Robert Forster and Bridget Fonda delivering career best performances and the movie has some amazing sequences, my favourite being the sequence filmed from three different viewpoints, followed by the sequence that involves a promise of waffles and chicken and a car boot (no spoilers for either). And the plot also builds to an fantastic and logical conclusion.In conclusion, let me sum it up for you. If you like Tarantino movies for their OTT violence and OTT characters, you probably won't like this movie. However, if you like Tarantino movies for their wonderfully realistic dialogue and amazingly charming or detestable characters, then you'll love this movie.

It's based on "Rum Punch," a novel by Elmore Leonard and for those readers among us, that is a very familiar name. Leonard has a way with dialogue as much as he has a writing style with some of the most irritating transitions in modern pop literature.But he also has a tendency to spin unique plot webs that you never really see from any other writer.Most of the time it is the mundane tried and true "Cop and the witness against the bad guy, serial killer, mafia boss...enter cliché here" motif that you've seen in a million other movies. Elmore always takes it a step further for the sake of originality.Instead of the same old thing you have the Bail bondsman and the middle-aged Stewardess against two corrupt ATF agents and an arms dealer with delusions of grandeur.What could be better? You have the pairing of Leonard and Tarantino, two masters of dialogue, two masters of entertaining plot lines that come together to give you a little gem of a film that you will never see the like.