DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012)

Just saw Django Unchained, the newest film from Quentin Tarantino. And for the most part it is a pretty good film, damn near his best. I didn't want to write just another review as most everyone who has seen it has written some very well thought out reviews. I just wanted to point out the things I liked and the things I didn't. First the rating I give Django is a solid.....
  B+

King and Django..two men on a mission

Things I liked:

1.) The cast: top notch. One of the strongest casts in a Tarantino film since Pulp Fiction. From Jamie Foxx as the titular hero Django, who is soft spoken but one bad ass character. He wields guns like Uma Thurman wielded swords in the Kill Bill films. Christoph Waltz is excellent as Dr. King Schultz, a German dentist cum bounty hunter who frees Django, and enlists his help to track down some wanted men. Leonardo DiCaprio is perfectly villainous as Calvin Candie, the plantation owner who holds Django's wife as one his slaves. Samuel L. Jackson is unbelievably evil as Stephen, Calvin's house slave who really is more than meets the eye. Kerry Washington as Django's wife, Broomhilda, is ravishing and low-keyed hut effective in the quieter moments. Don Johnson as Big Daddy, another plantation owner who seeks payback on Django and Schultz who have crossed his path.  

2.) The music score: the songs were pretty cool but I actually enjoyed the music score itself even more. At times sweeping, at times epic, at times humorous...it all comes together for a perfect music score.

Django meets Calvin Candie

3.) The opening sequence: which sets the tone of the film as King tries to parlay Django's freedom from the Speck brothers which begins quite humorous but then turns very violent.

4.) The scene at Big Daddy's plantation and then the subsequent posse scene which is hilarious.

5.) The arrival of Django and Schultz as Calvin's place, Candyland. It's here where we get to meet Samuel L. Jackson's character, who takes an immediate dislike to Django.

Calvin gives a lesson to his guests

6.) The dinner conversation scene with the leads all charming and nice until....they are not.

7.) The explosive shoot-out where Django's just goes ballistic at Candyland.

8.) The finale

Stephen questions Broomhilda

Things I didn't like:

1.) Kinda long...at 2 hours and 45 minutes. Could have been trimmed by 20 minutes but that's a minor quibble.

2.) The ruse by Schultz and Django kind of leads to a big kind of head scratching moment when Calvin wants one more thing from Schultz before the deal is done..but I can kind of understand Schultz's reasons. You have to see the film to understand the moment I am talking about. Once again a minor quibble.

3.) Some scenes are really, really graphic. Like a man getting torn limb from limb by dogs. Definitely not for the faint of heart. Does it go overboard? Depends on your taste.  But at least is buffered by Tarantino's witty dialogue and usual banter. Be warned the language is very harsh as well. But it does fit the time period for the most part.

That's about it as far as dislikes...so as you can see more likes than dislikes. Hence my rating of B+.

COWBOYS & ALIENS: A fun summertime movie....

When it was first announced that Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford would be teaming up for a sci-fi/western bybrid film, I was in geek heaven. I mean James Bond and Indiana Jones in the same movie. Hell Yeah! My expectations were high for this movie, and I was not disappointed. The movie opens in Arizona circa 1873 with Daniel Craig as a man named Jake Lonergan, who wakes up in the middle of the desert with no boots, hat, or horse. And no clue as to who he is. After being stumbled upon by three nefarious men, Jake quickly dispatches the trio and heads to the nearest town, which is called Absolution. Once there he meets a mysterious woman named Ella (played by Olivia Wilde) who may have a clue to his loss of memory. Jake also runs afoul of a drunk young man named Percy (played by Paul Dano) who happens to be the son of Colonel Dolarhyde (played by Harrison Ford). Jake slaps Percy around and both men are arrested by the sheriff (Keith Carradine). The Colonel gets wind of this and rides into town to get his boy and also get his revenge on Jake, who evidently stole money from him a while back.

Once in town, some commotion occurs and lights fill up the skies. The lights turn out to be alien spaceships which attack the town and start snatching up the local townsfolk. Jake happens to have some type of alien weapon on his wrist and learns how to use it. This leads to a spectacular 15 minute sequence of cool and frenetic action. The town bands together to track down the ships that took their fellow townspeople. Lonergan and Dolarhyde put aside their differences to work together.

This movie worked on several levels and the sci fi meets western angle worked pretty good. It got kind of too much sci-fi mumbo jumbo toward the end but things turn back to the western side and everything ends nicely. The cast is top notch. Daniel Craig once again shows he is a strong actor and even a stronger action star as he has several key scenes where he gets to flex his muscle. Harrison Ford is good too as Dolarhyde and gets a few emotional scenes that let us know why he is such a hardened man. And Olivia Wilde is more than just eye candy to look at. She is very pivotal in this movie and does not disappoint in her scenes where she to explain a lot to everyone else.

So all in all Cowboys and Aliens is a cool movie. Perfect for summertime viewing. From the director of Iron Man, Jon Favreau.
B