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+

The Green Hornet (DVD)

Well, the good news is that The Green Hornet is not the worst movie of the year. That's not to say it's good, or even average, but it is not terrible. The thing about it is there is a lot of talent involved and it's almost sort of a shame that it is as bad, or really, as grating as it is. Director Michel Gondry is responsible for directing one of the best movies of the 2000s (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and his direction here is fine. It's just a shame he couldn't craft a better film.

The Green Hornet stars Seth Rogen (who also co-wrote with his Superbad/Pineapple Express writing partner Evan Goldberg) as spoiled, cocky rich brat Britt Reid. And there's your first problem. Or actually, first two problems. First of all, I'm sorry but Seth Rogen will never be a charismatic leading man action hero. He's lost a lot of weight and he looks great, but he will always be the slightly chubby, adorable teddy bear of a dude that you meet at a bar and want to get a drink with and maybe eat some burgers and get high and talk about comic books. Second of all, his character is so highly unlikeable that it is nearly impossible to cheer for him in any way. He's a jerk. A rich, spoiled dick who treats his bestie Kato (Jay Chou) like shit and nearly sexually harasses his brand new secretary, Lenore (Cameron Diaz). Anyway, after the sudden death of his billionaire publishing mogul dad (Tom Wilkinson), he takes over the responsibilities of running a newspaper and decides to become a superhero with the help of Kato, who is kind of bad ass and a martial arts expert. Needless to say, Kato does all the work but Reid takes all the credit. They beat up a lot of gang members and drug dealers but the ultimate showdown comes when they get mixed up with the man who practically runs the L.A. crime scene, Chudnofksy (Christoph Waltz).

And there's where it gets mildly interesting. Not the story line. No, that is watered down and so boggled down with mythology and back story and silliness that it doesn't even really matter. I mean, really, the entire third act is a fucking joke, so ridiculous and over the top, that it's not even entertaining. No, the interesting part is Christoph Waltz, who is magnetic on screen. He is evil incarnate, if he wants to be, but also funny as hell. This is why he won an Oscar for his brilliant portrayal in Inglourious Basterds. It's a shame there isn't really much for him to work with here. The terrible script (and Seth and Evan wrote a BRILLIANT script for Superbad!) almost turns him into a caricature, but Waltz manages to craft a bit of a believable comic book villain out of the crap he has to work with. He's simply fascinating to watch. The only other mildly enjoyable parts of the movie were the cameos by James Franco (!!) and Edward Furlong (!!!). Other than that, and I'm sorry to say it, this movie is a mess.

Grade: D+