The Jewnited States
Superstar
Went to the preview screening tonight for Quentin Tarantino's new DJANGO UNCHAINED, which opens on Christmas day. Don't worry, I'm not gonna do any spoilers here for everyone who hasn't seen it. Not gonna divulge any plot points or anything important whatsoever about the film.
I will say that it is one of my three fave films of 2012, and that it also ranks pretty high in the career of Tarantino's filmography for me. I think I only like INGLORIOUS BASTERDS and JACKIE BROWN better, as a matter of fact.
Tarantino does something really interesting with the movie, a very similar tact that he took with INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, actually, in that he allows the movie to work as a form of wish fulfilment or violent fantasy of retribution for a faction of society that was put upon. In the former film, it was allowing the Jews to get revenge on Hitler, in this one, it is a violent personal revolution against racists for a lone black slave. It is not a history lesson, nor should it be expected to fall in line with actual events.
Like all of Tarantino's best work, it lacks the scenes where the characters sit around and talk about the movies he likes. Like all of Tarantino's best work, it is littered with incredibly talented actors, allowed to do what they do best. Like all of Tarantino's best work, it uses well-timed explosions of violence to amazing effect. Placing them, not in a monotonous or predictable fashion like in a movie like HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, but as exclamation points on the end (or in the middle) of a paragraph. They are like brutal slaps upside your stupid head. Very welcome brutal slaps.
Finally, the soundtrack, as with even the lesser Tarantino efforts, is fukkING FLAWLESS. Just brilliant as usual, in that dept. Nothing more to add about that.
I would also like to mention, as an aside, that the Weinstiens cancelled the premiere party for this totally unrelated film out of a confused form of respect of the shootings in Connecticut (the third studio to do so), and I find that to be an absolute joke. In fact, I think it really trivializes that tragedy when unrelated things are cancelled in an attempt to curry public favor. I mean, if Django Unchained had a scene where a gunman shot a whole bunch of little kids or shot up a school or something, yeah, I can see that maybe the general public might not like to be reminded of real life in that way when they're in the middle of escapist entertainment, but there is NO such scene, and even then... I really dislike this silly connection that people try to make between movie violence and real life violence. I don't subscribe to it for a second.
Anyway, go see this movie. Seeing it in a theater of appreciative viewers was really nice, and I hope it does well.
- Robin Bougie
it's not meant to be historically accurate, it's a revenge flick. and the bad people in these movies need to be racist fukks in order to make you cheer for the guy killing them
just my opinion
I will say that it is one of my three fave films of 2012, and that it also ranks pretty high in the career of Tarantino's filmography for me. I think I only like INGLORIOUS BASTERDS and JACKIE BROWN better, as a matter of fact.
Tarantino does something really interesting with the movie, a very similar tact that he took with INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, actually, in that he allows the movie to work as a form of wish fulfilment or violent fantasy of retribution for a faction of society that was put upon. In the former film, it was allowing the Jews to get revenge on Hitler, in this one, it is a violent personal revolution against racists for a lone black slave. It is not a history lesson, nor should it be expected to fall in line with actual events.
Like all of Tarantino's best work, it lacks the scenes where the characters sit around and talk about the movies he likes. Like all of Tarantino's best work, it is littered with incredibly talented actors, allowed to do what they do best. Like all of Tarantino's best work, it uses well-timed explosions of violence to amazing effect. Placing them, not in a monotonous or predictable fashion like in a movie like HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, but as exclamation points on the end (or in the middle) of a paragraph. They are like brutal slaps upside your stupid head. Very welcome brutal slaps.
Finally, the soundtrack, as with even the lesser Tarantino efforts, is fukkING FLAWLESS. Just brilliant as usual, in that dept. Nothing more to add about that.
I would also like to mention, as an aside, that the Weinstiens cancelled the premiere party for this totally unrelated film out of a confused form of respect of the shootings in Connecticut (the third studio to do so), and I find that to be an absolute joke. In fact, I think it really trivializes that tragedy when unrelated things are cancelled in an attempt to curry public favor. I mean, if Django Unchained had a scene where a gunman shot a whole bunch of little kids or shot up a school or something, yeah, I can see that maybe the general public might not like to be reminded of real life in that way when they're in the middle of escapist entertainment, but there is NO such scene, and even then... I really dislike this silly connection that people try to make between movie violence and real life violence. I don't subscribe to it for a second.
Anyway, go see this movie. Seeing it in a theater of appreciative viewers was really nice, and I hope it does well.
- Robin Bougie
it's not meant to be historically accurate, it's a revenge flick. and the bad people in these movies need to be racist fukks in order to make you cheer for the guy killing them
just my opinion
