Shawshank is an amazing film, but at times, it comes off as too maudlin to me. Many of the characters seem somewhat one-dimensional, especially the auxiliary ones.
Pulp Fiction is/was a revival of film noir, a genre I happen to love, with a modern twist. It has some of the best dialogue I've ever seen in a movie, and almost every character is extremely interesting. Jules Winfield is one of my favorite screen characters of all time. Jackson has never been better, creating a character who seems to have kindness in him, but can be extremely brutal.
Tarantino made some great choices in his direction. His photography of the dance sequence is great, and even the Chris Walken scene (one of the more off-putting flashbacks in recent history) is shot in a convincing manner. His use of time is the best since Kubrick's "The Killing."
Like I said earlier, I'm okay with people thinking Shawshank is a better film, because they are close enough that it comes down to personal preference. But the other films considered do not even come close to the greatness of "Pulp Fiction."
But, I think we all can agree that "Forrest Gump" shouldn't have won Best Picture in 1994, which was the whole point of my original post.
