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Django Unchained - 2012 "Gentlemen, you had my curiosity, now you have my attention."
Well Tarantino finally makes an appearance. I am sort of hot and cold on Tarantino's flicks but there is no denying his talent. He has a refreshingly original voice in a sea of unoriginal ideas and movies today. Anyone who writes and directs their own material get an automatic bump up in my respect for their talent and man can he write dialogue. Guy just has an ear for it. He can make the most mundane conversations entertaining as all hell. No different in this movie. He improves character and actors with his dialogue alone.
The whole cast is great per usual in a Tarantino film. Jamie Foxx is just fine as Django. Christoph Waltz is great as the bounty hunting dentist
. I see why Tarantino loves him he is just suited for his writing. However, to me the two standouts in this film are Leo as Clavin Candie and Samuel L Jackson as Steven. Waltz was great but I think Leo and Sam were unforgettable in their roles, especially Leo. Waltz won the Oscar for best supporting actor but I think Sam and Leo should have been nominated over him. Leo's turn was charismatically evil and memorable as hell. Waltz was basically just playing a heighten version of himself, but what do I know.
The movie has all of Tarantino's trademarks: great dialogue, lots of blood, pushing the envelope and tons of entertainment. It might be higher but, even with Tarantino's entertaining writing, it's still a hard watch. There is only so long you can watch a movie about slavery and just not feel good about it after. The rewatchability is just not as high because of that, at least to me. Still its pushing top 50 on this countdown so it is a great flick.
Director - Quentin Tarantino
Best Performance - Leonardo DiCaprio as Clavin Candie
Rotten Tomatoes Score - 87%
Factoid - When Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) smashes his hand on the dinner table, DiCaprio accidentally crushed a small stemmed glass with his palm and really began to bleed. He ignored it, stayed in character, and continued with the scene. Quentin Tarantino was so impressed that he used this take in the final print, and when he called cut, the room erupted in a standing ovation. DiCaprio's hand was bandaged, and he suggested the idea of smearing blood onto the face of Kerry Washington. Tarantino and Washington both liked this, so Tarantino got some fake blood together.
Stock In Countdown - Neutral