Funkhouser Fight Club: Movie Bracket Edition

The 2017 KSR Movie Bracket is drawing to a close, but one final matchup remains.  While the guys spend some time preparing to cast their final votes we decided to let the movies duke it out amongst themselves.  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Funkhouser Fight Club.  If this is your first visit to the FFC, here’s how it works: combatants square off in five categories to determine who is victorious.  The first three rounds are Box Office Success, Critical Response, and Awards.  The fourth and fifth rounds, if needed, are Most Quoteable and Who Would Win in an Actual Fight.  Stepping in the ring tonight are Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction.  Without further ado, let the battle…begin! Round 1: Box Office Success Forrest Gump: $329,694,499 Pulp Fiction: $107,928,762 Analysis: Since both of these movies came out in 1994 this breakdown is really simple.  Gump finished number one at the box office in 1994.  That is impressive in its own right, however, what makes this even more impressive is that the number two movie it beat was The Lion King.  Disney animated movies during this period were box office gold.  The Lion King, at this time, was the best performing Disney animated film at the box office.  Gump not only beat it, but beat it by nearly $20 million. Round 1 Winner: Forrest Gump Round 2: Critical Response Forrest Gump: Rotten Tomatoes 72, IMDb 8.8, Metacritic 82 Pulp Fiction: Rotten Tomatoes 94. IMDb 8.9, Metacritic 94 Analysis: Pulp Fiction was a critical masterpiece in 1994, which is why many felt Pulp was snubbed when Gump won Best Picture (more on that later).  Pulp Fiction was director Quentin Tarantino’s third feature film and came after his first big hit, Reservoir Dogs.  Critics were still trying to figure out this guy who seemed to love cuss words and random explosions of gore.  Though Tarantino today feels a bit repetitive, Pulp Fiction was the masterpiece that really introduced us to his madness. Round 2 Winner: Pulp Fiction Round 3: Awards

***Methodology alert.  Awards are measured by a scoring system I created using the LA Times’ most prestigious awards list from this article last year.  Scoring is as follows: Academy Awards: Win- 8 pts, Nomination- 5 pts; Golden Globes: Win-7 pts, Nomination- 4 pts; Screen Actors Guild: Win-6 pts, Nomination- 3 pts.

Forrest Gump: 135 points (6 Academy wins, 7 Academy noms; 3 Golden Globe wins, 4 Golden Globe noms; 1 SAG win, 3 SAG noms) Pulp Fiction: 74 points (1 Academy win, 6 Academy noms; 1 Golden Globe win, 5 Golden Globe noms; 3 SAG noms) Analysis: Many think Pulp Fiction was robbed of the Best Picture Award, which it lost to Forrest Gump.  Though not the most egregious Best Picture snub (looking at you Saving Private Ryan), there is a case to be made based on the critical evidence.  What cannot be denied, though, is Forrest Gump’s absolute domination on the awards scene which makes it the very clear winner of round 3. Round 3 Winner: Forrest Gump Round 4: Quoteability Forrest Gump:  "My momma always said, 'Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.'" "Stupid is as stupid does" "Run, Forrest! Run!" "But you ain't got no legs, Lieutenant Dan" Pulp Fiction: "The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd." "Oh man, I shot Marvin in the face." "Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you." "Say 'what' again. Say 'what' again, I dare you…" Analysis: First and foremost, due to this being a family friendly site I am not able to post the best Pulp Fiction quotes, at least not in their entirety, and for that I apologize.  However, even with all the best quotes from Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump is easily the most quoteable between the two.  From succinct life lessons to fun little quips, the ease of delivery for many of the famous line make it easy to use in casual conversation.  Anytime I want to get ice cream I simply look at my wife and say “Lieutenant Dan, ice cream”.  How many times have you said any of the four quotes listed above?  Odds are you’ve said them at some point.  I will now defer to Drew Franklin to regale us with quoting Forrest Gump in its entirety. Round 4 Winner: Forrest Gump With a score of 3-1 through only 4 rounds the winner in this Funkhouser Fight Club showdown is Forrest Gump.  Those of you rooting for Pulp Fiction, I hear you, and I was rooting for it to win too.  Facts are facts, however, and even though facts are usually optional they show a pretty clear winner here.  Now let’s celebrate with some ice cream! https://youtu.be/1sY7umyLACw?t=40