Quentin Tarantino

Recently I have become quite obsessed with Quentin Tarantino films. Although I have seen some of them in my past, it was not until quite recently that I became in fascinated with the infamous Tarantino. All of his films are amazing because each of them are unique in their own way. It is hard to pick just one as a favorite, but if I had to pick my favorite, which is very hard, it would most likely be Django Unchained mainly because of the character Dr. King Schultz. 

Recently I re-watched Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, and Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2. All three of these Quentin wrote. He also directed these three as well. After re-watching these movies there were connections that I never originally noticed. For anyone that has never seen the Kill Bill series, which you should, the group of people in the movie include, a kungfu master, a blonde leader, a demolition expert, a french fox, and as well as the deadliest woman in the world with a knife. After re watching Pulp Fiction, there was a scene that I had never really put much thought into. In the dinner scene between Mia and Vincent, Vincent asks her about the pilot episode she starred in. As she goes on to explain it, she is explaining the group of people in Kill Bill. This blew my mind because Pulp Fiction came out in 1994, where as Kill Bill did not premiere until 2003. I loved how Quentin added this little part into Pulp Fiction, describing basically the draft of Kill Bill. Maybe he did not even know he was going to write that as a movie, or maybe he did but either way I found the connection interesting. Another connection he had was in Pulp Fiction, the character Captain Koon, has the same name that is on the Wanted sign in Django Unchained. The wanted sign displays the name Crazy Craig Koons. 

Yet another one is the character of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction, is brothers with Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs. Tarantino mentioned wanting to make a separate movie with the two brothers, however Vincent Vega dies at the end of Pulp Fiction, so it would of had to of been a prequel. 

 

Obviously this is nothing new, Tarantino is known for having these small connections put in his films. All of these connections are small and subtle and Tarantino adds small little witty lines that hint at all of these connections. Many people have found other small hints in his film and have theories of which character is related to who, and what not. 

One theory I found interesting is in Django Unchained. While searching the web for these connections I found a theory on the Miramax website that speculated about Dr. King Schultz and why he was in the bounty hunting business at all. In the beginning of the movie, Django asks him how long he has been a dentist

and he answers with he had given up dentistry almost five years ago to become a bounty hunter. Dr. King Schultz never talks about family much, but it is speculated that his wife, PAULA, left him and that is why he took up the business. Later his wife realizes the terrible deed

she has done and goes out seeking him, only to find he has been killed by Calvin Candie. After hearing this she is so devastated she never gets married again, and keeps Dr. King Schultz’s last name. Finally she dies in 1893, buried with the tombstone that says PAULA SCHULTZ 1823-1893. Sound familiar? That’s the same grave that Beatrix Kiddo is buried alive in almost one hundred years later. This I found really interesting. Although there is no evidence to prove that Paula Schultz was intact Dr. King’s wife, the name is the same, and the date matches the time she could have possibly died.

Quentin Tarantino is possibly one of my favorite film makers. Not only are the stories he writes creative, hilarious, and captivating, they keep the audience wanting more. And because he knows how to insert descriptions of random people, he can build of that and create other films that connect to each film he has made. 

Watch the video below, many of Tarantino's best movie scenes are put together 

Here are some links on the interesting connections, theories, and comments of Tarantino films!

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/17/the-intricate-expansive-universe-of-quentin-tarantino

http://geektyrant.com/news/2013/6/15/quentin-tarantinos-pulp-fiction-and-kill-bill-connection.html

http://www.miramax.com/subscript/how-django-unchained-is-linked-to-pulp-fiction/

Alex Buono and SNL's Djesus Uncrossed

Like many of you, Saturday Night Live has always been one of my favorite shows on television. I've always been amazed at how the cast, crew, and writers can assemble a full live show in only a week. However, in recent years, filmed segments have become more and more prevalent on the show, with the rise of The Lonely Island's digital shorts and other pre-taped skits. These segments also interest me for a couple of reasons: they almost always perfectly capture the tone of what they're trying to parody; they excellently utilize the hosts and other special celebrity guests; and they have amazing production value for the short amount of time they're assembled in. As a fan of these skits, I was thrilled earlier in the year to discover the personal blog of Alex Buono, the DP for SNL's film unit. My favorite post of his details the production of Season 38's Djesus Uncrossed sketch, a parody of Tarantino's Django Unchained, starring that film's Christoph Waltz.

The blog post details the full production of the sketch, from Buono receiving the script at 9am on Thursday morning to the finished sketch airing around midnight on Saturday night. Some highlights include insight into a location scouting process where shooting was to begin the next day, the insane shooting timeline required by SNL's tight production schedule (the crew never shot with Christoph Waltz during the day), and the specifics of aping Tarantino's distinctive visual style from a cinematographer's standpoint. This specific sketch required the use of a crane to capture the cinematography of Bob Richardson, Tarantino's go-to DP, which is a rarity for SNL. Buono's entire blog offers insight into the kind of work that goes into a high-stakes, high-pressure production job. The technical advice throughout the blog is invaluable, and it also gives you a real sense of how crazy a real-world shooting schedule actually is. Below you'll find links to the Djesus blog post, the main link to the blog, and the finished sketch!

http://www.alex-buono.com/

http://www.alex-buono.com/how-we-did-it-snl-djesus-uncrossed/

WARNING: The violence in this is pretty cartoonish, but you may not want to watch it if you're squeamish.

DJesus Uncrossed (Saturday Night Live) from razorgrind on Vimeo.

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!

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: