# Django Unchained



## arnisador (Dec 31, 2012)

Django Unchained was excellent! Not for the  faint-hearted but one of the best movies of the year. Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, and especailly Samuel L. Jackson all gave strongly  Oscar-worthy performances, and Jamie Foxx was great too. Highly recommended--but if you've never seen a Quentin Tarrantino film before, ask a friend if it's right for you.


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## Omar B (Dec 31, 2012)

Two reasons I'm not seeing this movie.  Tarantino, who's directing and writing style I find tedious and always seems to sink into some 60's-70's era schlock.  DiCaprio, because I cannot stand that guy.  Ask me if I've seen Titanic?  I haven't  Cameron is a favorite of mine but my hate for Leo overrode it.


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## Big Don (Dec 31, 2012)

Omar, I share your hatred of Dicaprio.


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## arnisador (Dec 31, 2012)

I'm no fan of his either--but he was very good here, playing a reprehensible but flamboyant figure.


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## Omar B (Dec 31, 2012)

As I'm sure Titanic was a great movie.  Cameron is like one of the genuine gods of directing.  Too bad I'll never see it, or Shutter Island, etc.  Leo = No go.


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## Steve (Dec 31, 2012)

Okay.  So, my opinions, for what they're worth:

Cameron:  Overrated.  His opus called Avatar was a rehashed, effects driven formula movie only a little better than Phantom Menace.  Substitute native Americans and the movie is essentially Dances with Wolves.  I also saw and hated Titanic.  The Director's Cut of the Abyss was good.

Tarantino:  Good and bad.  I like that he will let a scene play out.  I tend to like the way the dialogue is written for his scripts.  It's different.  I hate that he's dipping more and more into what I consider to be violence porn.  I don't enjoy movies that are unnecessarily sadistic.  Movies like Saw or Hostel, for example.  Quentin Tarantino movies are always violent, but it's becoming self indulgent and predictable.

Leo Di Caprio:  Overall, an underrated actor who is, at worst, a neutral influence on a movie.  He takes risks in his rolls, and in some of his movies, he put in some great performances.  Catch me if you can, Inception, The Departed, Gangs of New York.  All great performances.


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## Xue Sheng (Dec 31, 2012)

I saw Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill Volume 1 and that was enough Quentin Tarantino, fake blood and sadism for me


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## Omar B (Dec 31, 2012)

It's not the fake blood or the sadism that bothers me.  It's that his entire movie experience is always so stilted.  The dialogue reads like fan fiction of what he wishes the characters would say as filtered through 60's and 70's exploitation movies.  Nobody talks, they have speeches that sorta relate to the scene with some swears and racial slurs thrown in.  

Oh, and I saw those Kill Bill movies.  If I didn't hate his work before, his speech (through Carradine) about Superman/Clark shows he's pretty much a damn fool.

Plus, remember all those years ago when he was all up in arms about EON doing Casino Royale.  He stated that he came up with the idea to do the movie.  As if Ian Fleming, the Fleming estate, EON Productions and Gildrose Publishing has not for years been trying to make it happen with all the legal stuff between Fleming, Broccoli , Gildrose and EON.  Moron comes out and publicly talks about how he came up with the idea to film a more than 50 year old book and he feel cheated because they didn't pick him to direct.  Jerk doesn't realize EON has never and will never have an American director on the Bond series, if they said no to the mighty Spielberg then Tarantino hasn't a shot.

As for Cameron.  I can see where people think he's over rated.  But most greats are considered over rated in at least some circles so I see it as a good thing.  From a technical standpoint though, he can direct anything,  he integrates cutting edge sfx more naturally than most directors use old school tried and true techniques.  He's better with cutting edge stuff than most directors will ever be with another 20 years to practice and seeing the same techniques used millions of times over.  Don't even get me started on his editing and cinematography, amazing.  His writing is pretty good too, he uses the Joe Campbell "Hero's Journey" tropes to great effect, some call if familiar, I say gimmie something familiar in a new way (Avatar).  Plus he wrote Rambo 2, one of the perfect action movies.


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## arnisador (Dec 31, 2012)

Omar B said:


> The dialogue reads like fan fiction of what he wishes the characters would say as filtered through 60's and 70's exploitation movies.


See, I always looked at that as intentional--a tribute to those older movies--and appreciated it as such. I like his dialogue a lot--that doesn't mean I find it realistic. Just refreshingly different.

There's little of that in Django.


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## punisher73 (Jan 7, 2013)

Omar B said:


> It's not the fake blood or the sadism that bothers me.  It's that his entire movie experience is always so stilted.  The dialogue reads like fan fiction of what he wishes the characters would say as filtered through 60's and 70's exploitation movies.  Nobody talks, they have speeches that sorta relate to the scene with some swears and racial slurs thrown in.



I would say that would be a good summary of the movie.  Spaghetti western meets "Blaxploitation" movie


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