Big Eyes: unlike other Tim Burton films

This past December, renowned filmmaker Tim Burton released "Big Eyes", a biopic drama about painter Margaret Keane and the challenges she faced with her greedy husband, Walter who takes credit for her paintings. For the duration of 106 minutes, I was completely immersed in the film for a myriad of reasons.

First off, I thought the acting was excellent. It was a nice change of pace seeing Amy Adams play the role of Margaret Keane. She's had many roles over the years, ranging from a happy-go-lucky princess in Enchanted to the seductive Sydney Prosser in American Hustle to the feisty reporter Lois Lane in Man of Steel. Adam's performance as Margaret required her to be more softspoken and less bubbly, which was a big contrast to her other roles. And Christoph Waltz perfectly captured the essence of Walter Keane's persona (a manipulative jerk).

The art direction was fabulous. The costumes, location, and set were all very accurate to the 50's/60's period, and I never felt like any of it was super outrageous, like other Burton films sometimes are. They used color to convey emotions and conflicts at various points, which made the story that much more intense.

The contrasting colors between DeeAnn (center) and Margaret/Walter really heighten the conflict in the scene, where Walter is trying to convince DeeAnn that he is the real painter.

In this scene, the use of red lighting, and the green in the painting emphasize the anger/intensity of the moment between the two (red) and the impending doom of the moment where he begins to take credit for the paintings.







In addition to these specific scenes, Margaret wears a lot of blue tones, conveying her sadness/frustration for keeping her skills a secret.

Since the premise of the film is biographical it definitely feels more real, but the tone of this film was unlike the others. Burton is known for producing/directing films that lean more toward fantasy, horror, and general quirky-ness; Big Eyes does not fit this theme. What I felt made this film unique was how real everything felt, unlike other Burton films such as Edward Scissorhands, Alice in Wonderland, and Corpse Bride. Granted, those are all fantasy, so it's hard to compare them in that sense. The quirkiness of Burton's films isn't my favorite thing in the world, so this was very refreshing.

Overall, I really loved the film. The art direction was fantastic, and the acting was very good. I felt the real-ness of the story, as opposed to past Burton films which are more fantasy/horror. I think this film is a turning point in Burton's career--this was definitely his most mature film yet.

I would highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys great art, and a story about a triumphant woman who finally gets her dream.

(here is the trailer, for those of you interested)

Django!

Quentin Tarantino is truly a bold filmmaker. If you couldn’t tell he really, loves spaghetti westerns. But for his version of a spaghetti western, he doesn’t just explode the conventions of the genre; he uniquely and creatively molds all aspects of the genre into a sincerely fun experience. 

Django Unchained stars Jamie Foxx as a slave who is purchased by a roving dentist/bounty hunter named Dr. King Schulz (Christoph Waltz), who agrees to free him and help him find his wife (Kerry Washington) if in return he will help track down a trio of killers called The Brittle Brothers. What proceeds is the growth of an unusual friendship and a whole lot of violence and excitement. 

This film is beautifully constructed in which, Django goes from being a slave to being not only a free man, but also a professional bounty hunter, trained by Schulz and becomes his partner. There are encounters with an amusing predecessor of the KKK (played by Don Johnson), a small town sheriff who is not what he seems and, the very proper southern plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), along with his right hand man, house slave Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), who is absolutely hilarious in every one of his scenes. 

Frequently, Tarantino gets us to laugh at the most outrageous situations and then we stop for a second feeling uncomfortable, just before going ahead and laughing at the next shocking situation. But there is not that is exactly the reaction he wants. 

He also wants the audience on the edge of their seats in tense moments and very emotionally touched in others, and it’s his use of completely inappropriate humor in such a deliberate manner, and to such a brilliant effect, that makes his films what they are. His ability to do this is just one of the things that separates him from his imitators. 

Another one of his great qualities is his ability to fold quotes from other films (and even his previous work) into his movies. In this film there’s one particularly moment that comes directly from Kill Bill. The moment takes barely a second, but it’s a moment of great violence and beauty.Tarantino also uses music from his favorite other films and recreates them in clever ways to enhance his unique way of directing even more. The soundtrack for Django Unchained makes use of music from a number of westerns in a mix with a few original songs and splendid mash-ups but everything seems to flow together genuinely. 

Django Unchained is kind of a typical Tarantino film in that it’s a lot of violent, bloody fun, BUT also in that it deals with a very serious topic in a mocking manner. Nevertheless I advise everyone to go see this film whether you like Tarantino or not!

The Muppets.. AGAIN?!

Yeah, you heard it! The rumor is true. Kermit, Miss Piggy, Beaker, and the rest of the Muppets gang will be returning to the big screen in 2014 for The Muppets… Again. This film will include Kermit and Frog and the rest of the team travelling across Europe attempting to solve a case of a stolen identity. 

With the success of The Muppets, the 2011 movie, director James Bobin has decided to create another rendition of this film for its avid followers.  This new film has an assortment of great additions that promise another exciting presentation of our favorite lineup. While it is sad to see Jason Segel and Amy Adams not return for the sequel, the new cast, including Tina Fey, Christoph Waltz, and Ricky Gervais, is sure to make you laugh. In addition, the movie will be tugging on the heartstrings by setting big milestones for some of our favorite members of the Muppet crew. For instance, Miss Piggy will finally fulfill her love life goals by getting married. It has not been disclosed that she will be marrying her long time co-star Kermit the Frog, so it will remain a secret until 2014.

After seeing the 2011 comedy, I can say I believe this movie will be as great a success, if not better than the original. The cast has grown, adding more humor than just Jason Segel, and with Tina Fey as one of the main characters, I believe it could be very entertaining. In addition, the Muppets team never gets old because we have grown up with these characters. We enjoy their humor, no matter how many times we have seen it, so I think it will be a fun film for all viewers.  

Django Unchained and Christoph Waltz

Over the holidays, I managed to make it to the movies three times. Two of those three times were to see the new Quentin Tarantino spaghetti western flick “Django Unchained”. Django was an absolutely brilliant film, combining all the qualities you expect from a Tarantino flick and then some. You were given the proverbial Tarantino gore, witty banter, and slew of absolute brilliantly written characters, but also saw the intertwining of an unforeseen amount of humor (the KKK scene? BRILLIANT) with a compelling love story that drove the film’s protagonist throughout this entire elaborate and entertaining plot. All while taking place in the cruel and slavery infested era that is the 1850’s south.

What made “Django Unchained” even more incredible, and what I personally loved about it, was the absolute exceptional casting and performance by the actors. While they were all brilliant, Christoph Waltz (Dr. King Shultz) was on another level as far as I’m concerned. What astounded me about Waltz’s performance was that he was not only able to portray this very intellectual character so fluidly with his unconditional charm and enunciated vocabulary, but also capture the roughness and danger that is the bounty hunter. As you know, he won the Golden Globe for best supporting actor for this performance and still awaiting to see if he can go for two for two with his Oscar nomination in the same category. Waltz won the Oscar two years ago for his role as “Hans Landa” in Inglorious Basterds. I think it’s safe to say that if Waltz should work exclusively on Tarantino films for the rest of his career, well he’d be just fine.

Django Unchained

I had posted earlier this semester about how I’m a huge fan of western movies, but I couldn’t help but express my excitement for Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming western, Django Unchained! As Quentin Tarantino has an incredible appreciation for the classic spaghetti westerns, I am eager to see what references and homages Django Unchained has in store.

The film stars Jamie Foxx as the Django, a slave living in the South who has been separated from his wife and sold in an auction. After being rescued by the German bounty hunter King Schultz, the two team up to take the bounty on the criminal Brittle Brothers and save his wife from the plantation owner Calvin Candie. 

Django Unchained has an incredible cast, including Foxx as Django, Christoph Waltz as Schultz, Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie. The film even features a cameo by Franco Nero, who starred in the legendary spaghetti western Django as the titular character. What I found particularly interesting in this casting is that DiCaprio, who normally plays protagonists such as Romeo in Romeo + Juliet and Dom Cobb in Inception, is playing the villain in the film. I was also slightly surprised that Christoph Waltz was not cast as the villain after his incredible performance as Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds; as a huge fan of Waltz I am very excited to see his performance!

Django Unchained opens on Christmas Day; the trailer can be viewed here, and even features the Ennio Morricone song "L'estasi dell'oro" from the soundtrack of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:

Tarantino's Camera 'Angel'

Geraldine Brezca is a clapper loader who has worked with Quentin Tarantino on many of his films including 'Jackie Brown,' 'Kill Bill,' and 'Inglourious Basterds.'
She is known as his 'angel' because of her unique style in which she operates the clapperboard. Usually on set, the second assistant camera uses the Military, or International Radio Operator, alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc.) when announcing the scene. However, Geraldine employs a fun foul-mouth approach, which often catches a lot of the actors off guard. In a movie about an alternate history of Nazi-occupied France in World War II, she uses words that correspond to the action of the scene. For example, she'll use words and phrases such as Nazis, Fucking Explosives, Humiliation, Adolf, Hitler, and Au revoir Fuckers, which generates lots of laughs from the crew and the talent alike.

Having been a second assistant camera on a couple of features, I too have jokingly deferred from the military phonetic alphabet a couple of times, especially martini shots, for kicks. However, Geraldine does this for almost every single take.

Although humorous, this would sometimes take the actors briefly out of character before a scene begins. Tarantino made a bold director's choice by employing someone who distracts the actors in such a way. He must use this technique of distraction to provoke his actors to 'act' in the certain way that he wants by setting this clapper operator loose upon them to provide either a funny remark or loud sticks to startle the talent before a take.

Does this technique help or hurt the actors? Well, if you watch the video, you will notice that Mr. Waltz, who plays Col. Hans Landa, seems the most annoyed, or unamused, and has been taken the most out of character. Despite this 'annoyance' he won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival as well as a BAFTA,  Golden Globe, and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor due to his performance in this film. I'd say Tarantino's technique certainly helped him with that. What a fantastic movie.