Django Unchained – Review

4/5 – Django Unchained is Tarantino’s best movie in years!

Five minutes into Django Unchained, I said, “I already like this more than Iron Man 3.” That feeling stayed throughout the entire movie. That’s a long time to feel that way, as Django Unchained clocks in at close to 2 hours and 45 minutes.

But Quentin Tarantino pulled off an excellent take on the spaghetti western. Looking back the 10 feature films that Tarantino directed, I would call Django Unchained his third best film, behind Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs (Note: I haven’t seen Death Proof). In other words, this is Quentin Tarantino’s best movie in 18 years. That said, the gap between Reservoir Dogs and Django Unchained is much larger than the gap between Django and next movie I’d put on that list.

The cast in Django is superb. Christoph Waltz definitely deserved his Oscar for playing Dr. King Schulz. He was easily my favorite character in the movie. Dr. Schulz is like an old west Danny Ocean. He has all the angles figured out, and is both the smartest and most charming man in the room.

I want Django’s jacket.
Jamie Foxx is wonderful as Django. He plays him as a soft-spoken force of nature who won’t stop until he’s reunited with his wife, Broomhilda, played by the stunning Kerry Washington. I haven’t seen many of Foxx’s movies, and this has me excited to see his take on the villain Electro in Amazing Spider-Man 2.
The object of Django’s quest. His wife, and fellow runaway slave, Broomhilda.

In my review of The Help, I noted that southern racists and Nazis were very easy go-to Hollywood villains. It’s interesting that Quentin Tarantino’s last two movies have featured those two groups as their main antagonists. It’s also interesting how much I loved both of them. I found Django killing slave owners to be as cathartic as Lt. Aldo Raine hunting Nazis in Inglourious Basterds.  Inglourious Basterds, by the way, is my 4th favorite movie directed by Tarantino.

Definitely worth seeing.

There are funny scenes scattered throughout the bounty hunting and payback in Django Unchained. It’s the kind of humor that you would expect from a Tarantino movie. A group of white men in white hoods spend a few minutes complaining about the quality of the eye holes in their hoods before attempting to lynch Django and Dr. Schultz. Like the diner scene in Reservoir Dogs, it focuses on the day-to-day minutiae of these men. It’s not a scene you’d expect, and plays like a very good deleted scene. It was very funny, but you would understand if the director dropped it on account of time.

I thought Django Unchained was great from beginning to end. I only wish I had taken the opportunity to see it on the big screen when it was in theaters this past winter. I highly recommend watching it. One caution though, like me, you might find yourself humming the main theme for a few days.

Oscars 2013 Predictions

The Oscars are only about an hour away. Need some help winning your party’s pool? Here are my predictions.If you win, feel free to treat me to a movie! 

Best Picture – Argo. I’m going with my head this year instead of my heart for my picks, but I’m glad they match up here. I think the Academy feels like they made a mistake for not bothering to nominate Ben Affleck for Best Director and will give Argo the best picture as retribution.
Leading Actor – Daniel Day Lewis. If you pick anyone else, don’t even both reading the rest of this post. You’re losing your pool.
Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz. Waltz and Tommy Lee Jones are in a dead heat according to the Vegas odds. I’d like to think Waltz’s performance in Django can beat out Tommy Lee Jones playing Tommy Lee Jones in a wig.
Leading Actress – Jennifer Lawrence. But Jessica Chastain deserves it.
Supporting Actress – Anne Hathaway
Animated Feature – Wreck-It-Ralph
Cinematography – Life of Pi
Costume Design – Anna Karenina
Directing – Stephen Speilberg – Lincoln
Documentary Feature – Searching for Sugarman
Documentary Short – Open Heart
Film Editing – Zero Dark Thirty
Foreign Language Film – Amour
Makeup and Hairstyling – Les Miserables
Original Score – Life of Pi (Toss up between this and Lincoln)
Original Song – Skyfall
Production Design – Les Miserables
Animated Short Film – Paperman
Liver Action Short Film – Curfew
Sound Editing – Life of Pi
Sound Mixing – Skyfall
Visual Effects – Life of Pi
Adapted Screenplay – Argo
Original Screenplay – Argo
Good luck!