Django Unchained

A few months ago, when I wrote about Wes Anderson's wonderful Moonrise Kingdom, I said the best thing about Anderson as a filmmaker was the fact that you immediately knew when you were watching one of his films. That can't be said about many directors. However, it does hold true for Quentin Tarantino, at least to a certain extent. Tarantino probably has more copy cats than any other filmmaker. He has influenced a generation of filmmaker's who want to copy his style. Just a month or so ago, I saw a movie called Killing Them Softly, which I loved, which I called Tarantino-esque. I raved coming out of the theater, calling it one of the best of the year. Then I decided I should wait to see Django until I made the bold statement that Andrew Dominik managed to make a better Tarantino movie than Tarantino. And I'm glad I waited, because Django Unchained is, to put it bluntly, awesome.

The story follows Dr. King Shultz (Christoph Waltz, so damn good) in the 1850s, a dentist turned bounty hunter. He needs to find the Brittle Brothers, three dangerous slave overseers who have a bounty on their head. The problem? He has no idea what they look like. That's how he gets to know slave Django (Jamie Foxx, never better). Dr. Shultz and Django strike up an agreement - Django will point out the Brittle Brothers to Dr. Shultz, he will kill them and then give Django some of the bounty money and set him free. Well, Django takes sort of naturally to killing white folks for money, so they eventually decide to form a partnership which eventually evolves into Dr. Schultz helping Django free his slave wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) from dangerous plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio, who blows the roof off this damn movie). And since this is a Tarantino movie, there is as much talking as there is blood shed, and I wouldn't have it any way. When you write dialogue as well as Tarantino (and, really, I don't think anyone alive writes better dialogue), words and monologues can become so exciting, nearly as exciting as shoot outs and mandingo fighting. I'm the rare Tarantino fan who thinks Kill Bill Volume 2 is better than Kill Bill Volume 1. Sure, the first volume has all the crazy fight scenes, but the second volume has that verbal showdown between the Bride and Bill that is just as, if not more, exciting to me.

Tarantino is one of the very few people in all of movie making that has event movies. It feels like if you know there is a Tarantino movie playing at a movie theater, you are going to go and see it, no matter what. He is so stylized, so fresh, so damn good, that each of his movies seems better than the last. I am not going to sit here and say, "Django is the best Tarantino movie ever," because we both know that's not true. But you know you are a good filmmaker when every movie you release is immediately thought of as your best one. Tarantino has created a body of work enviable by most directors.

That's not to see Django is flawless, because it isn't. For starters, after three or four movies in a row (the Kill Bills, Death Proof, Inglourious Basterds) with kick ass, well written, bad ass women, it's sort of disappointing to see Broomhilda. I'm not sure if Kerry Washington just isn't right for the movie, or if the role is just under written. The other major problem is the length of the movie. While the movie didn't feel overly long to me, there were places where they could have edited it down to make it feel faster. My final problem with the film is this - While Tarantino is one of the greatest directors of his generation, his flaw as a filmmaker is not realizing what a terrible actor he is. He keeps casting himself in his movies and, as much as I love him, he's not a good actor! I know he's probably living out some boyhood fantasy, but can't he be satisfied with being a brilliant, influential director?? Those were my three biggest problems with the movie, and other than that, I sort of loved it.

The movie was perfect Tarantino - talky and bloody and funny and dark. The performances were great all around - with DiCaprio, for me, taking top honors. I'm surprised he isn't winning more award season traffic because his performance is so good here, it's worthy. You can tell he's having the time of his life playing this terrible, terrible man. But the performances by the other three main actors - Foxx, Waltz, and Samuel L. Jackson as the most awful character in the history of black cinema, are all equally as impressive. This is two Tarantino movies in a row where Waltz just kills it. He should probably just work exclusively with Tarantino for the rest of his career. I've never been the biggest Jamie Foxx fan, but this role seems tailor made for him. I've read that he wasn't Tarantino's first choice, but I'm sure glad he ultimately got the role. It fit him like a glove.

Ultimately, while this isn't Tarantino's best film, it definitely is one of the best films of the year. As a friend of mine told me, "Run, don't walk, to the nearest theater!"

Grade: B+

This is 40

There are three things every Judd Apatow movie has in common. The first is that they are all very, very funny in a raunchy, balls to the wall sort of way. The second is that they have a surprising amount of honesty and heart. The final thing is that each movie is approximately twenty to thirty minutes too long. Now, my boyfriend says Apatow is like a rock star - they wrote 15 songs for a new album and it doesn't matter if three of them aren't as good and drag the rest of the album down, they are going to include all of them. And while Apatow is definitely the comic voice of a generation and sort of the father of the current comedy scene, he isn't Scorsese or Spielberg so there is really no excuse for how bloated all of his movies feel. He needs an editor to tell him no. He has the ability to create the modern American comedy but, instead, his movies are just good instead of being great.

This is 40 is a sort of sequel to Knocked Up. Five or six years later, we meet back up with Deb and Pete, played by Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd. It is their shared birthday week and both are turning 40. Pete is handling it better, or at least, not lying about his age the way Deb is. There isn't so much a plot as just a bunch of stuff that happens, which is actually more realistic. Its called life. Pete has a failing record company and he thinks signing an old failing Graham Parker will help revive things. He also has to deal with his mooch dad (Albert Brooks) who has high blood pressure, a new wife and toddler triplets. Deb struggles with re-establishing a relationship with her deadbeat dad (John Lithgow) and the possibility of hottie employee Megan Fox who may or may not be seealing from her chic clothing store. Then there are their precocious children, played by Apatow and Mann's real life daughters Maude and Iris. Maude plays teen Sadie, obsessed with Lost and her changing body and crazy mood swings. Iris is 8 year old left out Charlotte, responsible for some of the best one liners. There is also an appearance by Jason Segel as his Knocked Up character.

There is a lot going on in this movie and, at over two hours, its east to see where they could have trimmed a minute here and a minute there. The super funny script and the great performances sort of make up for it though. Albert Brooks is so great as Pete's mooch dad, but Mann steals the show. She is funny and sweet and brings a levity to the raunchy comedy. Deb and Pete were easily the best thing about Knocked Up, so I'm really glad Apatow decided to give us another look into their lives. They deserve to be the stars of their own movie. Apatow most certainly has a gift for making characters feel real and lived in and for portraying even ridiculous scenes honestly. I just really wish he would learn to edit his movies down just a tad. But, I guess when you are ruling the box office, you can do whatever you want.

Also, LOVE the Ryan Adams cameo at the end.

Grade: B

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Up front notice - I am not a Lord of the Rings fan. In fact, I only saw about half of the first movie. I attempted to watch it, but I work a lot of hours so I fell asleep and only saw about half of it. My level of interest in those movies was almost entirely because sexiest man alive Viggo Mortensen was in them. So, you can gauge my excitement for watching The Hobbit accordingly.

It seems to me, and again, I know little to nothing about these movies, that all of these films are more or less the same. A bunch of dwarves or elves or hobbits or whatever walk and talk for a while. Then they fight some equally strange creature. Then they walk and talk for a while. Then they fight some other strange creature. Then they walk and talk a little more. I think if you've seen one then you have seen them all. Maybe I'm being a bit blaise about the whole thing, but I just don't understand the appeal.

That being said, I didn't entirely hate The Hobbit. The story is more or less what I described above with the added plot of Gandalf (Ian McKellan) recruiting Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) to accompany him and a bunch of dwarves on a journey to a mountain. Years before, a dragon came and took over the dwarf kingdom and now they must slay the dragon and reclaim their kingdom. Along the way, they fight orks and goblins, chill with Cate Blanchett (THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ENTIRE MOVIE!!!!!!) for a hot minute and have a game of riddles with Gollum (Andy Serkis) which, I'll even admit, was great.

The first 45 minutes or so consists entirely of a group of dwarves and hobbits eating dinner and singing and being generally annoying. After that, I was ready to put this movie on my Worst of the Year list. However, it gets better. Despite the repetitive nature of the plot, there were some generally enjoyable moments. For instance, there was a very well choreographed fight scene with a lot of goblins that is pretty awesome. Also, the scene with Gollum was hands down my favorite part of the entire movie. Gollum is endlessly fascinating and I wish the movie had more of him.

Overall, however, The Hobbit just isn't for me. I understand it's appeal and to each his own and all of that, but I am not one for fantastical voyagaes. All I kept thinking about during the movie was what a bad wizard Gandalf must be. If he was a good wizard, I feel like he could just cast a spell to generally avoid trouble. Then they could move effortlessly to the mountain, slay the dragon and reclaim the kingdom. Bam, there is your 90 minute Hobbit movie, Hollywood. But I guess it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. And, that's fine, but it's also not my cup of tea.

Also, more Cate Blanchett, please!

Grade: C-

Golden Globes Nominees & Thoughts

Subtitled: It Seems Like the Only Person Who Wants to Give Jason Clarke Any Loving is ME!

Best Picture - Drama
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty
Thoughts - Glad to see SOMEONE finally liking Django Unchained. I'm psyched to finally see it next week!

Best Actor - Drama
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Richard Gere - Arbitrage
John Hawkes - Sessions
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
Denzel Washington - Flight
Thoughts - Richard Gere??? THAT changes everything!

Best Actress - Drama
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard - Rust and Bone
Helen Mirren - Hitchcock
Naomi Watts - The Impossible
Rachel Weisz - The Deep Blue Sea
Thoughts - I guess I'll have to suffer through The Deep Blue Sea. I attempted to watch it a few months ago but only made it through 20 minutes. I can't imagine how anyone sat through it long enough to figure out whether or not Weisz was good or not.

Best Picture - Comedy or Musical
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Moonrise Kingdom
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Silving Linings Playbook
Thoughts - Despite my love for Ewan McGregor, I really have NO interest in seeing this Yemen fishing movie.

Best Actress - Comedy or Musical
Emily Blunt - Salmon Fishing in Yemen
Judi Dench - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Maggie Smith - Quartet
Meryl Streep - Hope Springs
Thoughts - Guilt Trip must be REAL bad if even the Globes didn't nominate Streisand in this category.

Best Actor - Comedy or Musical
Jack Black - Bernie
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
Bill Murray - Hyde Park on Hudson
Ewan McGregor - Salmon Fishing in Yemen
Thoughts - I really thought Bernie was insufferable. And I've heard that Hyde Park on Hudson was terrible. This category is a bit cray.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams - The Master
Sally Field - Lincoln
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Nicole Kidman - The Paperboy
Thoughts - Kidman again! Perhaps this is the list that will transfer over to the Oscars?

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin - Argo
Leonardo DiCaprio - Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Thoughts - Finally, Leo!

Best Director
Ben Affleck - Argo
Kathryn Bigelow - Zero Dark Thirty
Ang Lee - Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained

Screen Actors Guild Awards - Nominees and Thoughts

Critics groups have been announcing their nominees and winners for weeks now, but today marks the real start of award season as the Screen Actors Guild Awards announced their nominations. I'm told that Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained did not get their screeners out in time so that may be why there isn't a lot of love for them (disappointingly). Anyway, here are the movie nominees along with my thoughts on the whole things.

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
John Hawkes - The Sessions
Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
Denzel Washington - Flight
Thoughts - Right off the bat, the big omission is no Joaquin Phoenix for The Master, a performance that some thought early off would be an Oscar winning sure thing. While I liked his performance a whole lot, I prefered the other performances from that film so maybe his weirdo ticky warts and all performance was more divisive than people first thought.

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard - Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Mirren - Hitchcock
Naomi Watts - The Impossible
Thoughts - I've seen NONE of these movies. I would like to see at least 4 of them (well, really, all of them) but unfortunately I live in the sticks so it's going to take a while. Based on my eagerness for Zero Dark Thirty, however, I'm rooting for Jessica!

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin - Argo
Javier Bardem - Skyfall
Robert DeNiro - Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Thoughts - Kinda shocked and surprised to see Bardem for Skyfall. I thought he was great in the movie but not award worthy great. Sort of like Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises. The two male performances I'm most eager about this year failed to make the cut too - Jason Clarke in Zero Dark Thirty and Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained. Hopefully, it was just because a lot of people didn't get their screeners and these two can still gain some Oscar traction.

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Sally Field - Lincoln
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Nicole Kidman - The Paperboy
Maggie Smith - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Thoughts - Shocked by the inclusion of Kidman. I guess all these awards nominations and critics groups are really trying to make me sit through The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, huh? Fine, I'll do it!

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Argo
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Thoughts - Les Mis and Silver Linings have the star studded casts, Marigold has the respected older actors, but literally every working character actor in Hollywood was either in Argo or Lincoln, so I'm pulling for one of those two.

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Bourne Legacy
The Dark Knight Rises
Les Miserables
Skyfall
Thoughts - Anyone this awards season who includes The Dark Knight Rises in anything at all is okay in my book.

DVD Mini Reviews

Time again to get caught up on some of the 2012 movies I've missed in theaters.

Girl in Progress
Starring: Eva Mendes, Matthew Modine, Cierra Ramirez, Patricia Arquette
Plot: A young girl with a flighty mom decides to become a woman and experience certain cliched coming of age actions in order to grow up.
Thoughts: I guess this was the movie that was supposed to make me a believer in Mendes and her acting talents but it didn't quite work that way. The only parts of the movie that are at all interesting, are the ones featuring Ramirez, who is sort of a find and needs a better movie than this.
Grade: C-

Lola Versus
Starring: Greta Gerwig, Joel Kinnaman, Bill Pullman
Plot: Lola has a pretty great life, engaged to a hottie and just about to finish graduate school, but then her life is turned upside down when her fiancee unceremoniously dumps her and she has to try to figure out things while her life becomes more and more of a mess.
Thoughts: I sort of loved this movie. I know that it wasn't necessarily a good movie but it was quirky and cute and Gerwig is totally loveable, even as Lola is making all kinds of bad decisions. Maybe it was just a good movie for me at a certain time in my life, but I liked it.
Grade: B

Take This Waltz
Starring: Michelle Williams, Luke Kirby, Seth Rogen
Plot: A seemingly happily married woman meets a stranger on a business trip and falls hard for him. This is further complicates her life when she realizes that he is her neighbor.
Thoughts: I mean, if you can get over Michelle Williams talking like a baby and being a generally bad person, then the movie isn't so bad. Luke Kirby, who I've never seen before, is sort of the saving grace of the film. He is so fun to watch and Kirby and Williams have great chemistry. Still, this movie is more annoying than good.
Grade: C-

The Raven
Starring: John Cusack, Alice Eve
Plot: In the last days of Edgar Allan Poe, he becomes involved in solving a series of murders that are based upon his stories.
Thoughts: Why, John Cusack, why??? This movie is a huge, terrible mess. I kept telling myself, "It can't be that bad, right?" Well, yes, yes, it can. Also, the acting M.O. of just about everyone in the movie seems to be: Let's all yell as loud as we can and assume that this shows emotion.
Grade: D

Ruby Sparks
Starring: Zoe Kazan, Paul Dano, Chris Messina
Plot: A young man struggling with writing and relationships finds a way out of it by writing the perfect woman... who comes to life and starts living with him.
Thoughts: I loved this movie so much. It was super cute although it did have its flaws. Kazan, who also wrote the film, is beyond adorable and she and Dano have a great, natural chemistry.
Grade: B (B+ if I'm feeling nice on any given day)

Life of Pi

I have never read the book on which this film is based, but I have read numerous articles which kept calling this the "unfilmable" movie. Apparently, its been in some sort of pre-production for years, with numerous famous directors dropping out of the project because they couldn't figure out how to make the damn thing. Enter Ang Lee. If this was indeed the unfilmable movie, Lee made the difficulties seem effortless.

Life of Pi is the story of a young boy growing up on a zoo at a botanical garden in India. He has an interesting childhood, being named after a French swimming pool and finding all sorts of religious much to the chagrin of his father who thinks he'd rather have a son who believes in nothing rather than believing in everything. When Pi is a teenager, his family announces they are moving to Canada for better opportunities. They will take the zoo animals with them and sell them in North America. A few days on the ship and suddenly it capsizes. Pi's family dies and he is stuck on a lifeboat for months at sea trying to survive. His only company is (for a short time) a zebra, an orangatan, a hyena, and (for the long haul) a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

I've read a lot of criticism about the framing of the movie. People seem to not like the fact that the movie starts with the adult Pi (Irrfan Khan) telling a writer (Rafe Spall) all about his story. I didn't mind the framework, although it's far from the most exciting aspect of the story. The movie, for me, really begins when teenager Pi (Suraj Sharma) finds himself on the lifeboat with Richard Parker. This part of the story is reminiscent of a fairytale, so filled with magic and wonder, that you barely care that it's all so far fetched and silly. The movie is beautifully filmed, and like I said, Ang Lee makes it all look easy. There are several images in the film that I am still thinking about on a regular basis days after watching the film. The most notable being a long shot of Pi floating underneath the water while he watches the ship with his family inside sinking. It's a beautiful, haunting image.

I've railed against 3D in the past but when used properly it can definitely help a film. This is one of those cases. The 3D aspect of the movie adds another dimension, which, I guess, is what 3D can do when used by directors who know what they are doing. I hate 3D used as a gimmick, when things are just jumping out at you. It's silly and cliche. But Lee, like Martin Scorsese in last year's best film of the year, Hugo, is a master at using 3D to enhance the story.

The acting is another big plus of the film. For roughly two thirds of the movie, newcomer Sharma is alone on a boat with a CGI tiger. He's a revelation. This movie wouldn't work without the perfect actor to portray Pi and they definitely found him in Sharma.

There were parts of the film I didn't care for. There is a scene at a carnivorous island near the end that just seemed pointless to me. It was a waste of time and also so ridiculous. Plus, I really hated the ending at first. Pi tells a different version of the story, where there were no animals, just human cruelty and I felt cheated for a moment. But, the more I thought about the ending, I agreed with Pi. The version of the story with Pi on a boat with a tiger is definitely the better version.

Grade: B+

Killing Them Softly

Killing Them Softly is sort of like if Quentin Tarantino had directed last year's cult-ish masterpiece Drive. It's a whole lot of talking (which Drive lacked) puncuated by extreme violence, and I'm more than okay with that. Directly after leaving the theater, I took to Twitter and made a pretty bold statement, calling Killing Them Softly "the best movie I'd seen so far this year." I may have jumped the gun just a tad because the more I think about the movie, the less it lives up to some of the earlier movies I've seen this year. Plus, if I'm thinking about it in terms of Tarantino, well, he's got his own movie coming out in the very near future that may or may not make Killing Them Softly look like a sunny day with a picnic and a walk in the park. Still, this is a damn good movie, make no mistake about that.

Directed by Andrew Dominik, the visionary behind one of my favorite movies of 2007, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Killing Them Softly starts with two bumbling petty crooks (Animal Kingdom's Ben Mendelsohn and Scoot McNairy) who find themselves tangled up in a plan to rob a high stakes private card game run by Markie (Ray Liotta). Markie robbed his own game a few years prior and got away with a ton of money but then started bragging about getting away with it. The thought behind robbing it again is that everyone will think Markie went and did it again. After the heist, a mob lawyer (Richard Jenkins) hires hitman Jackie (Brad Pitt) to come investigate and take out the guys behind the heist.

The set up is quite simple and everyone involved nails every aspect of the movie, although it's not without its flaws. Yes, I do get and love the very long dialogue scenes but some of them ran for just a bit too long (especially the scene of Mendelsohn tripping). Plus, they mention James Gandolfini's Mickey getting into a violent fight with a hooker but never show it. But maybe the movie already had enough violence, including, but not limited to a greusome, intense scene in which two guys beat the hell out of Markie. Then there is a scene with bullets flying through the windows of a car that is damn near poetic. Dominik, who directs the hell out of this movie, walks a thin line between the gritty violence and some stark, beautiful images. The fast paced city violence is a change of pace from Jesse James with it's sweeping panoramic nature shots, but this film is just as beautiful to watch as the other.

Acting wise, Killing Them Softly delivers. Pitt, of course, is fantastic as a cold hearted hitman. His performance is so understated and subtle that, at times, you forget you are watching a portrayal of a wicked sociopath. The other highlight for me was McNairy, who looks and talks just like Casey Affleck to the point where I thought it was him for a minute. It wouldn't surprise me, Affleck worked with Dominik and Pitt on Jesse James. But, McNairy has one scene that is so powerful, it excites me for what he has coming out in the future. Jenkins reserved lawyer, Liotta's desperate card shark, Gandolfini's pathetic drunken hitman and Mendelsohn's idiot junkie round out a great cast that is just absolutely stellar.

While the movie can get a bit repetitive, the great dialogue and extreme violence, not to mention the performances and Dominik's masterful direction more than make up for any flaws, and it has them, this movie possesses.

Grade: B+