Well, I finally got around to watching "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"

[MerryHolidays]

20. Pulp Fiction is a masterpiece

We still watch it and find all sorts of hidden messages and symbolism after 30 or 40 times of watching it. It's funny, paid homage to so many movies, was brilliantly edited, had first-rate dialogue, etc. I can't say enough about the movie.

I always thought that the reason that each segment was out of linear sequence was that Tarantino was trying to show that a moment of redemption that can change your life can happen at any time, not just at the end of your life or at the end of a movie. And you either take that redemption or you don't. Everything can change depending on what you do or don't do when that moment presents itself. Powerful stuff.

Samuel L. Jackson's failure to be nominated as Best Actor and his not winning Best Supporting Actor was an Academy travesty. The dynamic range of his performance is incredible. Travolta, Willis, Thurman, Rhames etc. gave fantastic performances too. But, IMHO, without any doubt, Mr. Jackson was the life force behind "Pulp Fiction." The last 10 minutes of the movie, which was really just mid-way through a linear sequence, is one of the finest in all moviedom, and it's Samuel L. Jackson who carries it.

"Once upon a Time in Hollywood" was just ok for me. I guess its ending was what we wish, in hindsight, had happened with Manson and the Family. But, it was incongruous because we know it didn't happen and that the real ending was so horribly awful. Great performances by Leonardo, Brad, Margot, etc., but it cannot match the magic of "Pulp Fiction".