First off let me make it clear that this is a superb masterpiece that should have wiped the floor at the Oscars. There is more power, tension and drama in a couple of minutes of DiCaprio and a skull than in the whole of Argo. So whats so good about this film. Firstly its just a great story - a retelling of the Siegfried legend set against a backdrop of slavery and bounty hunting in the deep south of the US, just before the civil war. It is also a love story, a pupil / surrogate father figure story and perhaps most importantly a brutal account of the horrors of slavery. The second thing that is outstanding is the screenplay. It is littered with quotable lines, from the funny: "That house we just left from, is The Big House. Big Daddy call it that cause it's big." to the plain scary: "If you examine this piece of skull here, you will notice three distinct dimples". In fact the screenplay is so good almost the whole thing is quotable. The final ingredient of this unforgettable film is the casting/acting which produces some wonderful characters: Dr King Schultz, a civilised, cultured bounty hunter, who although he has told Django that he must stay in character just cant do it himself when confronted with Candy's cruelty. Stephen, a brilliant personification of evil by Samuel l Jackson, the moment when Stephen sees Django approaching on a horse is an astonishing bit of acting, essentially with only the eyes. The eponymous Django who through a kind of right of passage changes from a scared slave to a vengeful hero. And perhaps I leave the best to last, the francophile Calvin Candy: DiCaprio captures deep evil and menace.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Bridesmaids
(I) (2011)
Not very funny
17 July 2011
For this film to work it has to be funny - and it isn't. I'll pretty much laugh at anything - I even thought Tropic Thunder was hilarious, Satan's Alley, now thats funny. But I sat through this and didn't laugh, smirk or smile once. Its not that i don't get Kristen Wiig, in fact I think she steals her scenes in Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, where she is fantastic ("Its not a competition, but you're best"). She's also probably the best thing in Paul as a god bothering hillbilly.
But why doesn't this film work for me? Well it just isn't funny - there's no genuine humour in someone being drugged up and doing bad things on a plane, or people getting food poisoning and needing to defecate on the street. You would expect a lot from the people who put together this movie but they don't deliver.
But why doesn't this film work for me? Well it just isn't funny - there's no genuine humour in someone being drugged up and doing bad things on a plane, or people getting food poisoning and needing to defecate on the street. You would expect a lot from the people who put together this movie but they don't deliver.
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