Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2012)

[knives]

I actually find the Kill Bill films some of his poorest though before this I had Pulp Fiction just ever so slightly behind Jackie Brown so clearly we are coming at things from three radically different perspectives.

[domino harvey]

I'm of the school of the Kill Bill films and Pulp Fiction being neck and neck, with the latter more pressing for its influence but the former more my "go-to" Tarantino experience for entertainment value. The rest of his films rate much, much lower in all arenas (Roughly, in descending order: Reservoir Dogs > Inglourious Basterds > Four Rooms > Jackie Brown > Being hit repeatedly in the head with a shovel > Death Proof). So it's more promising to hear praise for this from those whose QT meter aligns closer to my own!

[The Narrator Returns]

And I'm the guy with Jackie Brown at the top. Nice to meet you all!

[cdnchris]

Interesting. I've always considered Jackie Brown his best with Basterds close behind.

[jindianajonz]

I think it is very tough to compare this film to Pulp Fiction. The latter has a context behind it that would be extremely difficult to match with a present day movie. I've always imagined that seeing Pulp Fiction in the 90s would have been very similar to seeing Breathless in theatres- the fact that it was something so new and different and exciting will be forever associated with its popularity, even though that is only tangentially related to how good the film stands on its own. While Pulp Fiction was something very fresh, Django Unchained is something that is very refined.

That said, it is an excellent movie. Probably the fastest 2 3/4 hour film I've ever seen. I've only been "into" films for the last year and a half or so, so this may have happened a lot in previous Tarantino films, but I found this movie to be extremely referencial to his earlier films. The three scenes that stuck out the most were:

Spoiler

Django getting threatened with castration was very reminiscent to me of Mr White torturing the cop, the explosion at the end was very much like Inglourious Basterds, and although I forget the exact context, there was a backhanded history lesson that parallelled Dennis Hopper's Sicilian speach in True Romance.

I could see people dismissing this Tarantino being smug and conceited, but I think it worked very well- he didn't really rub your nose in the references, so I felt they were fun little easter eggs.

The scene where Tarantino made an appearance, as with most of his films, was definitely the low point (although I heard he had a second appearance in the film as

Spoiler

one of the masked klansmen who had a tough time lining up his eye holes

I really wish he would leave acting to the actors; outside of From Dusk Till Dawn all of his appearances really just distract from the movie more than anything else. I was also left wondering how realistic it was to have Australians in the US during that time period- wasn't it still a penal colony?

My friends that I was watching this with also commented that the editing was a bit sloppy at parts, notably

Spoiler

the flashback where we see Brunhilda for the first time, and the scene were the KKK members attack Django and the Doctor's (awesome) tooth cart.

But I was busy cutting cake at this time so I didn't notice the exact cuts. My friends attributed this to Tarantino having a new editor on this film.

All in all, I thought it was a great film and would echo all the positive things here, though I was a bit underwhelmed by DiCaprio, mostly because I had heard so much hype about how amazing he was. Don't get me wrong, he definitely did a great job, but he didn't steal the show like I expected him to. If anybody did, it would be Samuel L Jackson- I felt like I was watching an odd mix of the Grandfather and Uncle Ruckus from the Boondocks TV series. While I honestly can't say whether this or Pulp Fiction is a better movie for the reasons stated above, I have no reservations saying this is definitely his best since Pulp Fiction.

EDIT: And since everybody else decided to rank Tarantino films while I was typing, I'll go ahead and put my preference as Pulp Fiction/Django, True Romance*, Kill Bill 1, Inglourious Basterds, From Dusk Till Dawn*, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill 2, Four Rooms**, Jackie Brown (which I can't remember but may be ranked higher when I get around to rewatching it), Death Proof***

*Not Actually Tarantino directed films
**Not fully a Tarantino directed film
***Not fully a film

[mfunk9786]

Tarantino didn't make From Dusk Till Dawn or True Romance (though he wrote the script), just FYI

[jindianajonz]

Tarantino didn't make From Dusk Till Dawn or True Romance (though he wrote the script), just FYI

Oh yeah, I know, but I love me some True Romance so had to include it, and didn't want FDTD to feel left out...

[Brian C]

My favorite Tarantino is Natural Born Killers.

Oh shit, wait, that might actually be true...

[mfunk9786]

My favorite Jean-Luc Godard films are: Breathless, The Parent Trap*, Pierrot le Fou, A Woman is a Woman, Histoire(s) du cinéma**, Band Of Outsiders, ham sandwich***, and Week End.

*Not a Jean-Luc Godard film
**Really long
***Not a film

[knives]

My favorite Tarantino is Natural Born Killers.

Oh shit, wait, that might actually be true...

I'm afraid I may be with you. Does this make me a bad person.

[mfunk9786]

I never understood the appeal of that film, for the life of me. It hammers the viewer over the head with... some sort of hammer. Always struck me as trying to have it both ways, with exhausting quantities of violence/excess, and then a big wagging finger in that excess' direction.

So long as we're doing this thing:

01. Django Unchained
02. Kill Bill Volume 2
03. Kill Bill Volume 1
04. Pulp Fiction
05. Inglourious Basterds
06. Death Proof
a bit of a drop-off here
07. Reservoir Dogs
08. Jackie Brown

Death Proof is a bizarre delight, it's sad that so many folks aren't under its spell.

[swo17]

My favorite Jean-Luc Godard films are: Breathless, The Parent Trap*, Pierrot le Fou, A Woman is a Woman, Histoire(s) du cinéma**, Band Of Outsiders, ham sandwich***, and Week End.

*Not a Jean-Luc Godard film
**Really long
***Not a film

I thought we already established that turkey sandwiches are where it's at.

[mfunk9786]

If we're really having this discussion, Seltzer's sweet Lebanon Bologna and swiss cheese is the winner by miles

[jindianajonz]

I think my problem with Death Proof (and to a much lesser extent, Inglourious Basterds) is that I didn't really know what to expect going in. Following on the heels of Kill Bill 2, and seeing it after Planet Terror, I expected an awesome, high adrenaline, over the top ride, but instead found a movie that was pretty much just people talking to eachother. I never saw it a second time, but having just picked up the Tarantino box, I'll probably get around to it soon. Knowing what's in store, I expect my appreciation of it to go up.

[knives]

If we're really having this discussion, Seltzer's sweet Lebanon Bologna and swiss cheese is the winner by miles

Yes, but unfortunately not all of us are on the east coast to stockpile.

[matrixschmatrix]

The talky section of Death Proof was shockingly dull, and the whole first half of the movie's set of characters were people in whom I had no investment- it's the only place I've seen in QT's own work where the parodic version of his writing, where people just bounce awkward innuendo and pop culture references at on another and stare at feet, seems at all apt. I suspect that his goal there is to set up characters whom we the audience want to see killed, but that little piece of trickery hardly seems worth 45 minutes of my time. If you started with the second group of girls- or cut the first half down to ten minutes- it'd be a small masterpiece. I feel more or less the opposite about From Dusk Till Dawn, though- the talky half is far the better part, there.

I'm surprised by the lack of admiration for both Jackie Brown and Reservoir Dogs, though. I think Death Proof and Inglourious Basterds are the only movies of his that I don't hold in roughly the same mental category of 'endlessly watchable' (and Basterds is out only because it makes me kind of sick to watch it) but if I had a gun to my head I'd pick either Jackie Brown or Kill Bill as my favorites, overall.

[stroszeck]

I'm of the camp that any film made by Tarantino which doesn't feature Eli Roth in a role is pretty awesome. That being said, I think its very difficult to top Pulp Fiction. For those of you who are putting more recent efforts at the top of their lists, it would be wise to have a Tarantino-thon and just watch the films in order. I did that last year with some friends and there was a unanimous agreement that Pulp Fiction was the masterpiece and Jackie Brown the most grounded, mature film he did. Now if he would just go back and continue on the path that JB started him on then we would have had some incredible pieces, but I think the fact that it didn't do very particularly well FINANCIALLY is what made him do a complete turn around and kick everything into super high gear/over the top. That to me, is a pity. I prefer characters he wrote grounded in some measure of reality than caricatures.

[hearthesilence]

OTM. After Jackie Brown came out, I remember the film buffs at my school putting it down because it was too "slow" and all this other bullshit - they basically wanted a Pulp Fiction knock-off. Since then, you'd think Tarantino had been listening to those idiots.

[warren oates]

OTM. After Jackie Brown came out, I remember the film buffs at my school putting it down because it was too "slow" and all this other bullshit - they basically wanted a Pulp Fiction knock-off. Since then, you'd think Tarantino had been listening to those idiots.

I used to be one of those. But I saw the film again a few years after it came out and my opinion of it had changed completely. I'm now in recovery from my former fanboyism and Jackie Brown is one of my favorites. It's probably the film of his that I've seen the most times, the one that strikes me as most consistently rewatchable. And also the film of his that best fits his own definition of a "hangout movie, " where a large part of the appeal of repeat viewings is just entering the world and spending time with the characters.

[cdnchris]

A buddy and I saw Jackie Brown first year of college in an empty theater (had the same experience with The Big Lebowski a few months later) and we both liked it a lot more than Pulp Fiction (which we were both very fond of.) We thought the characters were well written, probably better than Pulp Fiction, loved a lot of the scenes between them, and we were especially thrilled with the whole heist sequence told from multiple angles. We did nothing but talk about it on the walk home, and it was a lengthy walk.

We recommended it to everybody in our class and back home. Other than my dad, who also considers it Tarantino's best, nobody else liked it. The complaints were it was too slow and boring. I'm still shocked by that reaction and I never understood it. I'm glad others have grown to appreciate it, but it bugs me he'll probably never do another one like it because of its poor reception.

[mfunk9786]

The story just doesn't grab me. Perhaps the method of telling that story is part of the problem, but the movie has a cool, smooth rhythm that I can't exactly find fault with - it's just that about an hour in, I start looking at my watch and wondering why I'm supposed to care. It comes off as one notch above a run-of-the-mill mediocre indie crime film to me, sort of like Reservoir Dogs, but with less to like. But I want to like it! All the elements of something I'd really enjoy are there, they just don't gel. I'm not exactly a Tarantino fanboy, either - I like a lot of his films as major entertainment spectacles and often displays of raw, unembarassed talent, but I don't kiss the ground the man walks on, nor would I judge the man for making another quieter film like Jackie Brown. I'm just not sure that was the most interesting source material from jump street.

[Brian C]

I'm the opposite of most here, in that I liked Jackie Brown more when it was first released than I do now.

It's not just that film, though, Tarantino's work in general has less appeal to me as I get older. I simply don't find anything more to appreciate in his films than I did as a mind-blown 16-year-old when Pulp Fiction was released, and I feel like his preoccupations haven't really changed much or matured or gotten more complex. His films seem designed to blow away teenagers with their brilliance, and I find myself looking forward to each one less than the one before.

I expect to find that Django Unchained plays out a lot like Inglourious Basterds, where the content is pretty much reprehensible, but there's enough of a jokey vibe for him and his fans to be able to use his complete lack of sincerity as a defense. Because after all, Inglourious Basterds wasn't really a propaganda film in the Nazi mold, but just a self-aware use of propaganda techniques to somethingsomethingsomething, so it's OK!

Whatever.

[knives]

I actually agree with you deeply particularly on that last bit, but that is the genius of Django Unchained which removes the vengeance element by the first act and becomes a more classical romance with Tarantino making obtuse comparisons to one of the oldest. Django Unchained manages to right every insidious wrong that Inglourious Basterds produced.

[warren oates]

I'm the opposite of most here, in that I liked Jackie Brown more when it was first released than I do now..

Really? That's surprising to me because one of the most mature and interesting things about the film to me is its thematic interest in its characters' advancing age and how that shapes all of their choices/options. Something that Tarantino brought to the adaptation -- especially by casting Pam Grier and Robert Forster -- that was present but less important in the book. I would think you'd be even better able to appreciate that now.

[Drucker]

Since the topic has become reviewing Tarantino's oeuvre, I have to agree with Brian C in a variety of respects. When I was 16, I thought Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs were insanely cool films that were really unique (thanks to the DVD bonus features for helping me learn!) But even then, there were parts of the film I found bland. While Pulp Fiction certainly picks back up after the middle passages I'm not too fond of, I don't like the film as much as I used to.

Both Kill Bills, while I liked on first view, I found nothing too much to enjoy on subsequent viewings. Jackie Brown I saw for the first time a few years ago and enjoyed mostly, finding it the most even and normally structured. I never cared for Inglorious Bastards though, and really feel that all of his films have some enjoyable to great moments, but I find when many of them slow-down, they just get super un-interesting.