Django Unchained

There is a point early on in "Django Unchained" when the German dentist turned bounty hunter known as Dr. King Schultz, played by Christoph Waltz introduces himself and his horse to a group of slave traders, both he and his horse bow their heads as only proper gentlemen would, its a pure Tarantino moment and it sold me completely on this Spaghetti Western meet Blaxploitation epic.

Quentin Tarantino is a master filmmaker, as a true artists he makes films which interest him and doesn't really have a regard for what others think. This has caused a split between most filmgoers, you either despise this trait or you go along for the ride, either way it cannot be debated that he is one of the most original voices in Hollywood today and "Django Unchained" does nothing to deter this fact. The film tells the story of a slave named Django played by Jamie Foxx (in a role that Will Smith now surely wishes he didn't turn down) who is freed by Dr. Schultz and in turn for his freedom joins the Dr.  in the bounty hunting business. The movie is filled with Tarantino mainstays such as juicy scenes of dialogue to gratuitous violence all along the way while Django is in search of his long lost wife, Broomhilda Von Shaft played by Kerry Washington. joining in on this fun ride is Leonardo DiCaprio as the villainous plantation owner Calvin Candie and Samuel L. Jackson as Candie's loyal house slave known as Stephen-these two seem destined to duke it out for a best supporting actor statue come Oscar night.

The mix of genres is a skill that Tarantino has mastered and with it comes a slew of controversy in this film which I feel is mostly without warrant. In particular the use of the N-word which is used approximately over 100 times during the almost 3 hour running time. The time period is two years before the Civil War, a very dark time in America's history to not use this word would be like turning a blind eye to historical accuracy and to this point I did not feel it was used blatantly to stir up controversy. The violence, as is the case with other Tarantino movies such as "Inglorious Basterds" or the Kill Bill movies is graphic and cartoonish in some parts but this isn't a movie for kids, only towards the overlong conclusion of the film did I think it was overdone.

The cast is most exceptional, Foxx as the lead doesn't have a whole lot of dialogue but his character doesn't need to say much but when he does you listen. The scene chewing players in this are DiCaprio, in probably his best performance since "The Aviator", Christoph Waltz, who seems was placed on this earth to act of Tarantino's scripts and Samuel L. Jackson, whose role here is a true Benedict Arnold in film lore that should be discussed and dissected for years to come. Going back to DiCaprio, when his character is first introduced I wasn't impressed, whether it was how he decided to interpret the script or he just felt out of place but as soon as the group arrive to the plantation known as "Candie Land" DiCaprio turns what could have been an overacted piece of southern trash into a pure being of evil and menace. Other highlights are Don Johnson as another plantation owner known as "Big Daddy" and a scene involving the early beginnings of the KKK played out almost like an Abbott and Costello routine, its so ridiculous and wrong that it might be the funniest scene in film this year.

Music is another aspect that Tarantino has control over in all his films, again he mixes genres, such as in "Basterds" when he used a David Bowie song in a movie set in World War II France, here he uses everything from rap to a Jim Croce song, it shouldn't work but it does. What doesn't work in the film is the last 30 minutes, it almost seems like the filmmaker had too many ideas and he tries to fit everything in and with that makes the final act feel both rushed and deliriously long.

"Django" is one of the best films of the year in my mind, The screenplay-should be another Oscar lock along with Supporting actor, they should really just change the name from "Best Original Screenplay" to the "Tarantino". Films from the recent past such as "Precious" and "The Help" in my eyes do worse to exploit African American stereotypes than anything does in Django Unchained. If this would be your first time experiencing a Tarantino film I'd say start with his third feature, "Jackie Brown" his most accessible and most underrated film. Django isn't for everyone but I can promise you that you will at least have something to talk about when the credits roll.

Forget the Latest "Bourne" or "Bond" entries, go for "Jack Reacher"

The "One Man, One Mission" genre of film has been around for awhile, its form can even be traced in early literature such as "The Odyssey". Stars such as Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen made their careers with this genre in the 70's and it almost became a lost genre in the 80's with almost superhero action stars such as Stallone, Van Damme and Schwarzenegger. As previously discussed in other entries on this site with the introduction of Jason Bourne the genre of "OMOM" came back with immense popularity, Liam Neeson and his "Taken" franchise helped solidify this further.

Tom Cruise has been the go to PG-13 action star for going on his third decade now, with films such as the "Mission Impossible" franchise and "War of the Worlds" Cruise is the supreme leader of action films that you want to see as well as your grandma. Cruise has smartly traded in his leather pants and monkey from the (almost) so bad its good musical flop "Rock of Ages" for "Jack Reacher" a film based on the first book from author Lee Child's popular literary franchise. The character of Jack is described in the book as among other things-tall, something that Cruise is indeed not, I think that scenes of Cruise with his shirt off and in bed with scantily clad women is to try and make up for Cruise's lack of being a forceful presence as the character is described in the book. Luckily Cruise brings his charisma to full blast and it makes the film work beyond expectations.

The movie begins with a basically dialogue free first few minutes, something that actually works given that the first scene is of a sniper taking out random people in a Pittsburgh park, given the real life events of recent weeks this is a disturbing scene and it surprised me that they left it in the final film. Actually, the film is quite topical in this regard as gun control is brought up in minor form towards the end of the movie. The man who is arrested for this crime only has one request "Get me Jack Reacher" it is explained that Jack Reacher is someone who is not "gotten" and if he wants to find you, he will find you. Reacher is ex military and through the course of the film we find out why it is that he is here, the plot is very procedural which is  refreshing in these days of Nolan-esque plot twists.

Simplicity is what makes this film work. Cruise is a good enough actor to know this isn't "Macbeth" he delivers his lines with enough gusto to take him seriously and writer/director Christopher Mcquarrie knows how to shoot a fight scene- a must in a film such as this. Other than Cruise the best performance in "Jack Reacher" is by acclaimed independent film/documentary maker Werner Herzog as the main villain known only as "The Zec" Herzog delivers his lines with such creepiness that he made me wish he was the bad guy in "Skyfall". British actress Rosamund Pike plays the love interest and while a beauty to look at I'd hope if there are future installments they go for someone who isn't just "boobs in a business suit" and can deliver a believable American accent.

So overall "Jack Reacher" is not groundbreaking, in fact its the opposite, its a cry back to simple movies that are just entertaining as they stand, one leading man and no alien invasion or "it was all a dream" moments. Cruise, like most big movie stars is much better at being an actor then he is as a celebrity. If other installments of "Jack Reacher" are made I would definitely see them, even if they resort to Cruise wearing lifts in his shoes...

"Killing Them Softly" in fact kills

Brad Pitt is probably the closest thing we have to a movie star nowadays, you put his smiling mug on a movie poster and at the very least a 20 million dollar opening at the box-office is guaranteed. While Pitt's status as a leading man is invaluable, to me he has always been more interesting as a supporting player in an ensemble such as "Snatch" or "Inglorious Basterds". In the new movie "Killing Them Softly", a mash up of noir meets gangster meets Tarantino meets Mamet, Pitt hidden under sunglasses, facial hair and sleazy gangster attire continues to show that even as head of the world's most glamorous family he can still pick out a good script.

"Killing Them Softly" takes place during the height of the recession in 2008, being as all the characters in the movie are criminals and or thugs its an interesting perspective to see that even illegal goings on can be affected during hard economic times. The movie is based off a novel from the 70's entitled "Cogan's Trade" having not read the source material I can't say how closely the film is adapted from it but the plot surrounds a underground card game that is robbed by two low level (dumb) criminals played by Ben Mendelsohn and Scoot McNairy and the consequences that arise from said heist. Pitt plays mob enforcer Jackie Cogan who is sent to make things right, as only a mob enforcer can. The cast features an almost Mount Rushmore of actors from mob related movie and TV projects, there is Ray Liotta (Goodfellas) as the head of the card game and most impressively James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) as a hit man recruited by Pitt's character to "take care" of one of the assailants from the card game. For better or worse Gandolfini will forever be Tony Soprano, even in this role he uses the familiar New Jersey accent from the show however the character  he plays, a down on his luck hit man from Miami is so effective in his two main scenes that I would consider him seriously for a best supporting actor Oscar nomination.

The overall plot of "Killing Them Softly" is not what makes the movie a success, director Andrew Dominik has made a small, gritty human crime drama with hints of early Quentin Tarantino, mostly filled with great scenes of dialogue splattered with chunks of violence. During a lot of scenes in the background there are TV's on with speeches from George Bush and Barack Obama regarding the recession at first they are almost a distraction but when filtered in with the plot by the end it makes total sense and is almost genius in its execution. Pitt has a few scenes with character actor Richard Jenkins who plays the mobs paper pusher consigliere that truly make this point across, everything is a negotiation, the mob needs a bailout just as much as the auto industry does.

This movie was released in the weeks after the big Thanksgiving holiday and right before the gargantuan Christmas holiday, the word of mouth has not been good. I believe this to be people expecting it to be a "Brad Pitt" movie, its not. A few people even walked out during the show I was in this last Friday. Pitt has the same problem Gandolfini has, for better or worse he is a movie star and that's what the majority of the public want to see him in, "movie star" movies. Killing Them Softly is no "Benjamin Button" or "Moneyball" if you go in with that attitude I can promise you that you will not enjoy. Killing Them Softly joins the ranks of "Reservoir Dogs" and "Suicide Kings" as a movie that doesn't get the theatrical and or awards recognition it deserves but will justifiably find a cult audience on DVD.

Hitchcock, a textbook movie about making movies...almost

"Hitchcock" is the story of the trials and tribulations it took the legendary "Master of Suspense" Alfred Hitchcock to get what many to consider his signature film "Psycho" to the big screen. While most of the film is done very well "Hitchcock" struggles in some places as it tries to separate itself from other biopics.


Anthony Hopkins under a slew of makeup plays "Hitch" as he is lovingly referred to by most in his inner circle including his wife and collaborator "Alma" played by hot old broad of the moment Helen Mirren. Much has been said about if Hopkins actually resembles the real Hitchcock in this movie, now granted the makeup job here is nowhere near to the levels that was shown in "Lincoln" as you are always aware that's Hopkins under the fake nose, prosthetic belly and bald cap but it doesn't take away from the performance that he gives-one of his better in the last ten years. Both Hopkins and Mirren can do this stuff in their sleep, there is nothing really challenging here but if put in other hands it could of gotten very messy. The supporting players including Toni Collette as Hitch's assistant Peggy and the ever increasingly beautiful Scarlett Johansson as early "scream queen" Janet Leigh (its nice to see Johansson take a break from green screens and get back to her indie roots), also look for a blink and you miss it cameo from Karate Kid himself Ralph Macchio. Jessica Biel shows up as actress Vera Miles and does what Jessica Biel does best: look good but bring absolutely nothing to the table.

The movie starts after the success of "North By Northwest" Hitchcock, now 60 is worried that he has reached his peak as a filmmaker and desperately wants to keep the title of "Master of Suspense". He discovers a script for "Psycho" based in part on real life serial killer Ed Gein and decides that this will be his next movie. "Psycho" was revolutionary for the time for many reasons, most importantly it was the first "horror" movie to be directed by a respected, mainstream director as well as star established actors and was going to show such horrifying images such as a man dressed in his mother's clothing and a toilet being flushed on film-needless to say the movie studio wanted no part of it and only agrees to distribute it once it is agreed that Hitchcock himself will finance the movie with his own money. These early scenes as well as the scenes involving filming the movie itself are what makes "Hitchcock" most effective. The other plot involving Hitchcock and Alma's relationship with themselves and Alma's "will she or won't she" relationship with a screenwriter played by Danny Huston and Hitch's notorious obsession with his leading ladies mostly falls flat and for a moment you almost forget that there is something much more important going on elsewhere. Another interesting thing that director Sacha Gervasi does is place Hitchcock in dream sequences with Ed Gein during the filming of Psycho, something that no one other than Hitch would know if actually happened but puts you in the mind of one of the great directors of all time.


No spoiler alert here but it is known that ultimately Psycho was released and was extremely successful and broke new ground for the movie industry as a whole as well as how movies are promoted and distributed today. It also shows that "horror" and "scary movies" can be for more than teenage kids looking for cheap thrills and a good excuse to sit n the back row of the theater, I'd like to see studios today actually put money into scary movies with actually decent scripts and actors and actresses not just on summer break from their CW TV series.


Movies about making movies are almost a genre in of itself and along with "Argo" this is the first time I can remember two films about the subject are being released so closely together and receiving mainstream publicity. I think Hitchcock shies from too many "industry" jokes and lingo to make it more accessible to mainstream audiences, which works for it in terms of financial gain from the box office but may also harm its credibility for those looking for a true, true to life story.