The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 85

"1 SECTION AlsoOpenin; I TTT 0 Preview Buzz 2 0 Theater 7 0 Classical Music 8 Dining 18 THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION FRIDAY, OCT. 14, 1994 I MAX Corp. "Rolling Stones at the Max," the 1991 concert film of the Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger, left, and Keith Richards) on their Steel Wheels tour, begins screening today at the IMAX theater at Fernbank's Museum of Natural History. Movies, Rage 10. arantno-s brutally" comic LooEcnere ''s f- r-.

lr I 1 I 1 I 1 i i i i I I i I Czech ceramist Jindra Vikova's mysterious clay busts (such as "Talking," above) on view at Buckhead's Connell Gallery in a show called "Poses, Postures Gestures of Reality" are all about metamorphosis. Visual Arts, Page 6. 4 I VUy VJ" Tii'-; ji mbbhhSi T'' MuaMaau "giMii gj By Eleanor Ringel FILM EDITOR op goes the pulp in "Pulp Fiction," Quentin Tarantino's stunning follow-up to his debut film, "Reservoir IP Starring John Travolta, Bruce Willis and Samuel L. 1 Jackson. Directed by Quentin Tarantino.

Rated for Jrk 4 1 violence, language, nudity and drug use. I 4 If 0 I I At metro theaters. 4 'V Wf z-aaniaaE hTth. Quentin Tarantino's sophomore effort is an off-the-charts hit. See it, think about it, then see it again.

-w Photos by Miramax Films turning obscenities into a kind of nasty-boy poetry and then tossing in a punch line. The actors know they've got a good thing and, echoing Dogs." Winner of the Golden Palm award at Cannes and already a subject of Oscar-time whispers (if the Academy can swallow Tarantino's brand of hilarious bloodletting), "Pulp Fiction" is a gleefully lurid mix of hard-boiled gangster-movie conventions and hip post-Warholian irony. It's an exceedingly violent genre flick with a twist everyone is in on the joke. Everyone, that is, except the characters onscreen. The film consists of three expertly interwoven John lravolla vignettes that manage to take place before, during and sometimes after one another.

Thus, a major player in one story can turn up as a minor nobody in another. The effect is somewhere between Tom Stoppard and Guildenstern Are and Jim Jarmusch The first tale centers on a couple of hit Bruce Willis (ahove, right) ana Tarantino's boldness and resourcefulness, they give it everything they've got. Here's Travolta as NBC NBC hasn't given its first-class cop drama "Homicide: Life on the Street" much respect. But the gritty show (featuring, from left, Richard Belzer, Yaphet Kotto, Daniel Baldwin and Ned Beatty) that makes its season debut tonight is one of Samuel L. Jack son.

men Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel Jackson) who've got a full day ahead. First, they have to finish off some minor-league yuppies who dances alone (top) and with Uma Thurman. TVs best. PA were skimming off the big boss, Marcellus (Ving you've never seen him a past-his-prime pretty boy, with a gold earring and long, lank hair. And Jackson, as a Bible-spouting assassin who experiences a spiritual epiphany.

And Willis as a survivor with a soft streak. And Keitel as a natty cleanup man who apparently throws formal dinner parties at 8 a.m. InConcert i Rhames). Then Vincent is off to score some heroin from a couple (Eric Stoltz and Rosanna Arquette) who operate a mom-and- pop drug operation. Then comes the tricky part babysitting v.

I Marcellus' babe-licious young wife, Mia (Uma Thurman). The second story finds a close- -v. 7 cropped Bruce Willis playing a boxer A Country crooner Billy Ray Cyrus, who brought you "Achy Breaky Heart," has not done what the naysayers predicted, which is 1- who's been paid by Marcellus to take a dive. The third episode brings us back to Vincent and Jules with a bloody mess on their hands, There's so much to celebrate in this film: the oddball, throwaway details, like the never-explained Band-Aid on Marcellus' bulging neck; the surreal exchanges, like the conversation between Vincent and Jules en route to their hit, in which they soberly discuss what fast-food items are called in France; the way the Willis segment suddenly veers from "Body and Soul" into "Deliverance." And, there's Tarantino's signature hide-your-eyes scene: a bit involving an overdosing Thurman, and a hilariously squabbling Travolta and Stoltz. Every bit as memorable, however, is Mia and Vincent's big date.

When our very own Mr. Saturday Night Fever starts a puffy, slo-mo swivel, it's a moment of pure pop cul-turemovies-in-our-mind madness. Let's twist again, like we did in another lifetime. which they have to clean up before the wife of their friend (Tarantino) gets home from the late shift at the hospital. Enter a mysterious Mr.

Fix-It (Harvey Keitel). Mercury Records disappear in a puff of smoke. His second album went platinum and his third, due Nov. 8, is being called a "make or break" effort. On the eve of an extended family break, Cyrus performs Saturday night at the Georgia National Fair Verry- PopMusPagel Flashy, smart, daring and full of itself, "Pulp Fiction" sometimes calls to mind "Short Cuts" with shootouts.

But the movie's violence lies more in Tarantino's dazzling dialogue than in the deeds themselves. Like David Mamet, he has a virtuoso's gift for zone 1 1 I Movies, Page 10. g' Wl til WMi.