3. Pulp Fiction (1994)
A contentious one, this; after all, writer/director Quentin Tarantino is known for using the good bits from loads of other, not so good films and re-assembling them into a pastiche of his own, never more evident in Kill Bill, and there is no doubt that if you took apart each element of Pulp Fiction youd probably find very little that hadnt been done elsewhere before. This doesnt stop the film from being original; the film exists as little more than homage, taking the good bits from the films Tarantino has seen, and assembling them into a film that is resolutely his own. The three strands of plot it deploys; boxer taking a hit, hitman going out with the bosses' wife, and a stand up in a diner, all interweave themselves magnificently, and you can watch this film dozens of times and never know where it's going. It might be almost twenty years old (already?!), but it really does remain as fresh as ever. The dialogue is alive, the situations exciting, the characters unpredictable and dangerous. It is both firmly rooted in the time it was made; the mid-90s, and yet also timeless. Its quotable, thrilling, and one of those films that is passed down from generation to generation for the next to discover for themselves. Its originality- have you ever, honestly, seen another film like this?- remains its greatest strength.