Django Unchained

[lilmac]

Honestly this was a mixed bag for me. I did not go into it expecting to love it, so maybe that colored my perception a bit, but I think I would have felt this way regardless. I am a Quentin Tarantino fan. I love Reservoir Dogs, think Kill Bill is a blast, Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction are great, Inglorious Basterds is a masterpiece IMO, and I even liked Death Proof!But with Django, I believe Tarantino has finally jumped the shark and bought into his own cult. I won't say this is a bad movie or that I even didn't like it, quite the contrary I found it to be entertaining, stylistic, FUNNY, and as usual with QT, he pulled some amazing performances from his cast. Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz were both incredible, and Leo and SLJ delivered big time in their love-to-hate roles. I think I was most surprised by Waltz, who I figured was a one trick pony, but nope, he was really fantastic in this. Leo on the other hand, based on reviews I was expecting a truly ruthless, sick fuck evil villain but I didn't really get that from him- he was more in line with other Tarantino pulpy, comedic baddies. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's not like he was a Hannibal Lector.While I give Tarantino credit for carving his own niche, practically his own genre, this just didn't do it for me the way some of his past efforts have. I think Django went overboard and couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Is it a comedy? Is it a brutal realistic look at slavery? Is it a revenge fantasy? You can't respond to the "n-word controversy" (which BTW I actually didn't find to feel gratuitous at all) by saying that it's a reality of Southern life in the 1800s while at the same time filling your movie with overbearing cartoon violence and Jonah Hill KKK jokes. I get it, that's Tarantino-style and of course you expect the snappy dialogue and humorous take on something serious but to me it felt like this one went so over the top that it became a parody of itself and actually undercut the subject matter whereas I never got that with Basterds.And let's face it, this is the exact same movie as Inglorious Basterds- just swap slaves for Jews and slave owners for Nazis and there you go. There's bound to be comparisons, and for me this doesn't even come close to IB. I know QT wanted to do a Spaghetti Western, but in the form of yet another revisionist revenge tale, right after his last one? I think Tarantino's problem is that he's so attention starved, he's just constantly, CONSTANTLY trying to shock the fuck out of you and in this case it's so transparent that it takes me out of the movie. One way he could actually shock me is to stop appearing in his own films, because he's a horrible actor and completely distracting. Right now people have an adrenaline rush from the movie but down the line it won't be remembered as one of QT's best.7/10

I get what you're saying....basically, "if you say the n-word usage was necessary because he had to portray southern life in a realistic way, then go around and insert caricatures and parodies throughout then...how can you justify the two". I see your point and while it makes sense on paper the movie works somehow..that's my opinion. Perhaps during the next viewing I'll see it a little differently.

[Cmasterclay]

I disagree with aDIM but I understand because that's how I felt about Kill Bill and Death Proof. I feel like this movie, along with IB, is him getting back on track, not off it. The more I think about it, the more impressed I am with Leo's performance. His acting in the scene with the dogs was amazing, too.

[fishstick]

I disagree with aDIM but I understand because that's how I felt about Kill Bill and Death Proof. I feel like this movie, along with IB, is him getting back on track, not off it.

The more I think about it, the more impressed I am with Leo's performance. His acting in the scene with the dogs was amazing, too.

That was definitely his Lector moment. Coldest eyes ever and huge satisfaction behind them. Sick, sick,sick.

I think that the perf will be more valued in hindsight.

I agree with Adim about Waltz. The more I think about the more I see it isn`t a one-trick. It is the same style of acting like Landa but he brought so many layers to the character, especially during the Brunhilde myth story-telling and Dumas confrontation with Leo. He brought a lot of emoitonal resonance to the movie. I don`t think it would have resonated emotionally just off Django`s quest to find Broomhilda. It`s their bromance that really warms the movie.

As for buying into his own hype, QT cameo, nuff said. Though payoff for our suffering was huge.

[baumer]

Nothing wrong with QT's cameo. I enjoy seeing director's have cameos. What's more funny to me is that QT used to look like Jay Baruchel, now he looks like pre-weight watchers Jonah Hill.

[baumer]

Skinny QT:

[baumer]

Current QT:

[rockNrollaDIM]

Nothing wrong with QT's cameo. I enjoy seeing director's have cameos. What's more funny to me is that QT used to look like Jay Baruchel, now he looks like pre-weight watchers Jonah Hill.

Yeah, Tarantino got fat, but so did Jonah Hill. Did you see the trailer for This is the End? He's not quite back to "The Sitter" levels, but that shit is embarrassing, considering he went on a big movie promo tour and everyone made a huge stink about how much weight he lost and then he was fat again in less than a year. There should be a rule about extreme weight loss, don't reveal it until you know it's gone for good.

[baumer]

Yeah, Tarantino got fat, but so did Jonah Hill. Did you see the trailer for This is the End? He's not quite back to "The Sitter" levels, but that shit is embarrassing, considering he went on a big movie promo tour and everyone made a huge stink about how much weight he lost and then he was fat again in less than a year. There should be a rule about extreme weight loss, don't reveal it until you know it's gone for good.

What are you talking about? I think that movie was filmed while he was fat. I don't think he's fat now.

[Cmasterclay]

What are you talking about? I think that movie was filmed while he was fat. I don't think he's fat now.

Nah, he's kind of getting back there- you could see it as early at the Oscars. As a former fat kid who lost about fifty pounds, it makes me pretty sad I was proud of the guy.

[baumer]

I stand corrected. You are indeed right adim. He has put it all back on. Kevin James did the same thing. WTF is wrong with these guys? I know how hard you have to work to lose that much weight. Why would he put it all back on? STUPID STUPID STUPID.

[rockNrollaDIM]

What are you talking about? I think that movie was filmed while he was fat. I don't think he's fat now.

Nah, he's definitely fat again. This is from July (and yes totally relevant to the movie... )

http://www.wwtdd.com/2012/07/jonah-hill-is-getting-fat-again/

[baumer]

July 2012:

[baumer]

Hahahaa...we both brought up the same month....lol

[rockNrollaDIM]

LOL, Jonah, stay away from those gas stations.

[baumer]

Same thing with James. He lost 60m pounds for Here Comes The Boom and he looked terrific:

And here he is filming GU2:

[rockNrollaDIM]

That was definitely his Lector moment. Coldest eyes ever and huge satisfaction behind them. Sick, sick,sick.

I think that the perf will be more valued in hindsight.

I agree with Adim about Waltz. The more I think about the more I see it isn`t a one-trick. It is the same style of acting like Landa but he brought so many layers to the character, especially during the Brunhilde myth story-telling and Dumas confrontation with Leo. He brought a lot of emoitonal resonance to the movie. I don`t think it would have resonated emotionally just off Django`s quest to find Broomhilda. It`s their bromance that really warms the movie.

As for buying into his own hype, QT cameo, nuff said. Though payoff for our suffering was huge.

Yeah, I don't know, I had reservations about Waltz playing an American (I didn't even know his character was German until he said it in the movie) but then it turned out that he could play just as good of a cowboy as a Nazi general. I thought maybe him trying to play "cool" would come off as forced but it totally didn't. He was just as calculating and cruel as Landa but with a nice-guy, dimwit guise. I didn't expect that at all.

My thing about Leo, is that yeah he was a great antagonist but I see him as more Joker than Lector. Meaning, I enjoyed watching him but he didn't really strike me as dangerous, or purely evil. Yeah, he's a bastard that organizes death matches for a living but he seems to treat his family and the house slaves and his business partners well enough. When he got pissed off at the end, it was because a couple guys were trying to pull a fast one on him in a business transaction. Totally understandable! Add to that, even after the big showy skull speech (which was mesmerizing), he was willing to let them walk- WITH Hildy. All he wanted to do was gloat over it, and Schultz was the one who escalated it into full on bloodbath- showing again that despite the nice guy demeanor he's just as twisted as any baddie.

I didn't mention this earlier but I also loved the supporting appearance of Walton Goggins from Justified. Now there's a great character actor and he looked like he had a blast chewing scenery. That's the second time he shocked me this year, after a jaw dropping cameo as a cross-dressing hooker on Sons of Anarchy a few months ago. Somebody give this guy a high profile role stat.

[baumer]

You missed a massive plot point then adim if you think that King just couldn't walk away because of being shown up. He despised Candie with every fibre of his body. And what put him over the edge was the killing of the slave, the one that got ripped apart by dogs. He hated it when it happened and he hated it standing with his back to Candie. That's why he couldn't shake his hand. He wanted to rip his head off and asking him to shake a hand, like a gentleman, was just too much.

[Cmasterclay]

I think Leo was supposed to be more of a really despicable rich guy than a dangerous, menacing obstacle. And he did that perfectly, if that's what he was going for.

[JohnnyBravo69]

Fuuuuuck I loved everything about this movie!!! A-

[riczhang]

Decent. Nothing Special, Jackson especially did nothing for me which was awkward seeing as most of the rest of the theatre loved him. DiCaprio was the highlight of the cast by far, loved seeing him doing something fun for a change. Violence was a bit too much IMO, could've been done with less violence which would've made it a better film. B-