Django Unchained

I sacrificed by doing two things I hate today in order to do one thing I love. I went to Birmingham and I entered a non-indie cinema. And I did these two egregious things in order to see the most anticipated film of the year: Tarantino's Django Unchained.

Miraculously, the scant crowd actually shut the fuck up for the three hours we were there. We had to sit through the most inane trailers before the film, trailers clearly meant to rip out your very soul, but once the lights dimmed and the tension faded...no body ruined the movie. The scum don't show up at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Thank fuck.

I think Tarantino and Wong Kar-Wai are probably the two greatest contemporary Directors. That's no secret. Danny Boyle is rubbing shoulders with them, too. Anyway, I was stoked to see Django. And it was pretty fucking good. Albeit, different than what I expected. But so what.

This is far and away Tarantino's most comedic film to date. It's honestly like a comedy set to a dramatic story, rather than a drama with comedic dialogue as one may expect. Definite nods to Blazing Saddles at times.

Best thing about it? The cinematography. The lighting was outstanding. The DP ruled. Great costuming, too.

The entire cast gave a tremendous performance. Christopher Waltz is as charismatic and enthralling as ever. Jamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson both played their roles perfectly, too. DiCaprio (one of my favorite actors) was probably out-classed for once. Waltz was THAT good. Of course, Tarantino peppered the film with many actors from the 60's and 70's that I've seen in the biker flicks I've been watching: Don Stroud, Russ Tamblyn, Bruce Dern...

Soundtrack was what you expect from Tarantino...and then some. The overt use of rap was an interesting juxtaposition, but a fitting one no-less. You just had to get used to the fact that this wasn't exactly what you expect from Quentin. He's clearly loosened the fuck up and just doesn't give a fuck. He's made his Pulp Fiction. He's made his Reservoir Dogs. If he wants to do something like Django...fuck the rules.

I believe this was the best film that was officially released in 2012.


The best Tarantino feature films in order, according to me:
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Death Proof
Ingrlorious Basterds
Django Unchained
Jackie Brown
Kill Bill 1 & 2