the Dalaverse

One of my goals for 2013 is to become more engaged in LJ -- that's you fine people -- and in the media I consume. Practically every time I finish a movie or a book I start to write a mini-review in my head, which then never makes it into an actual post. I'm not setting up a formal filter or anything, and I can't promise I'll always have a lot to say, but it feels good to stretch my brain a little bit. Everything spoilery will be under a cut, of course.

So! The first movie I saw in theaters this year: Django Unchained. Quentin Tarantino is a pretty polarizing director; plenty of people are meh, but those who love him really love him and those who hate him really hate him. Me, I'm a fan, although I acknowledge he's not without his flaws (primary one right now being casually dropping the n-word in that one interview, which was not fucking okay). His ego is considerable and he clearly loves the sound of his own words (also Uma Thurman's feet). But he does know his shit and his love of movie-making comes through in his projects. And yeah, I love all the goddamned talking -- I could watch the last forty minutes of "Kill Bill" over and over.

Overall, I thought "Django" was great (and apparently I have a thing for modern westerns, given that "True Grit" was my Oscar favorite that year). It's a big, bloody, beautiful movie with sharp performances and an outstanding soundtrack as always (nobody can deny Tarantino's ear for music. I am buying the soundtrack from iTunes right this minute). Parts of it made me incredibly uncomfortable, namely the scene with D'Artagnan and the dogs, and when King flashes back to it later, I about jumped out of my seat.. That is the intended effect, of course, and the fact that the movie doesn't sanitize or cut away from the brutality of slavery makes it that much stronger. I also didn't find the language to be overdone, but again, I understand that Tarantino has a history with the n-word, so that shouldn't mean he gets a free pass all the time.

Jamie Foxx makes for a perfect gun-slinging hero (guessing the reason Will Smith turned it down is because he thought it was too edgy). I always forget what a good actor he is until I actually see him onscreen. And he looks really hot too, even in that ridiculous blue get-up. Christoph Waltz steals a lot of his scenes, but that's basically what Christoph Waltz was born to do; he's one of the most mesmerizing actors out there. Leonardo DiCaprio is first appropriately slimy as Candie and then pretty terrifying when he loses his shit. The big buzz is about Samuel L. Jackson playing his house slave, and it's deserved -- honestly, if I hadn't know about that, it might have taken me a few minutes to recognize him.

It's not easy weaving the humor, violence, and deadly serious history into a coherent movie, but then we already knew Tarantino could do that from "Inglourious Basterds" (which, I'm ashamed to admit, I watched on a really crappy screen and fell asleep during; I'm rewatching it posthaste). I almost got pissed at the big climax at Candieland because I thought that was the end: the white heroic character killls the white villain, and wtf was that? I should've saved my ire; obviously that was merely the mentor-must-die part of our hero's journey because the movie goes on for another half-hour, during which Django proceeds to fucking kill everybody. And in that context, I like the fact that King had a mini-arc from disliking slavery but not really doing jack about it to sacrificing himself just so a monster like Candie wouldn't walk the earth. Waltz and Foxx have terrific Jedi/padawan chemistry, and Foxx also plays well off of DiCaprio -- the scene with the dogs, where they're staring each other down? Damn.


Almost forgot: I loved all the horsey stuff. King's horse dipping his head whenever he was introduced, Django leaping bareback and bridle-less on that gorgeous palomino, then getting his chestnut back to do some fancy trick-dance-riding at the end. Awesome.

I haven't mentioned Kerry Washington because that's my only real gripe. Not Washington herself; I love her on "Scandal." But Broomhilda spends the whole movie looking terrified. Not that she doesn't have a reason to be terrified, but presenting her only as a victim and a prize to be rescued/won is a. lazy storytelling (especially for Tarantino) and b. not interesting to watch. She was cute at the end,sticking her fingers in her ears and slinging a shotgun over her shoulder; I just wish we'd seen more of that, and for that matter that she interacted with Django more.

Damn, that got long. The other movie (Les Mis) and a handful of books later. Let me know what you thought of "Django" if you've seen it!

ETA: Just watched "Inglourious Basterds" and first off, that is a brilliant fucking movie. I don't know how something that's 80% dialogue manages to maintain suspense through every scene. And second, I think I figured out why "Django," while very good, doesn't hang together quite as well -- Tarantino's long-time editor Sally Menke died in 2010. Some stuff must've gotten cut (this opinion further supported by the soundtrack clips which have lines that I swear didn't make it into the film). It's still awesome, though. Maybe the DVD will have some good deleted scenes.

Oh, and IMDB has informed me of this: "Jamie Foxx used his own horse, Cheetah, in the movie." I did think his seat looked unusually good! My love for him suddenly grew three sizes.