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:

Skyfall: Homage to the Bond classics

This weekend I saw the latest addition to the Bond legacy, Skyfall.  This film was able to appeal to the current generation's "action movie go-er" while still paying homage to the classic Bond spy movies.  Regardless of the movies attempt to have a more realistic plot/take than some of the old Bond movies the director took special care to not over step his bounds and preserving many aspects of the older films.

First off James Bond/ Agent 007 kept his name as did "Mom" and eventually Agent Moneypenny, along with several other characters. The preservation of names, regardless of how silly they seem now, directly points out the commitment to maintaining the tradition of "Bond."

Throughout the movie old plot points from previous Bond films were brought up such as exploding pens and ejector seats.  These moments of brief dialogue were directly for those who knew the old movies and allows the audience into the mind of the writer/director of the film saying, "No this is not a remake of the old Bond movies but instead another chapter in the legacy." Such comments pass right over the heads of people who don't know the movies, but add another dimension to those who have been following Bond from the beginning.

The film even went as far as to reintroduce the spy car the original James Bond used in the past films.
Recognition of the creators of Skyfall to address the fact that the film industry has changed and that the plots of action films today differ from those in the past allow them to change the story/character accordingly to still preserve Bond as an admirable, suave, and all around "cool"character.  The idea of an exploding pen would be better suited for a comedy than a serious action film is the perfect example of this.  However the fact that Skyfall incorporated and worked so hard to bring back elements of the old movies in the best way they could added an entirely new dimension to the film.  In my opinion the new Skyfall movie did the Bond series justice and through its homages to the classics of the past appeased many fans who may have been apprehensive about re-igniting the Bond legacy and tradition.

Wreck-It Ralph

Recently I saw Wreck-It Ralph, the new Disney movie that's an homage to gamers everywhere. Because I absolutely love video games, this movie was on my must see list pretty much the instant I heard of its existence and I'm here to say that it didn't disappoint.

The movie is about Ralph, a bad guy from the video game Fix-It Felix, which is basically Donkey Kong with different characters. He's tired of being a bad guy and he's tired of being treated with no respect by everyone around him, so one day he decides to leave his game so he can be a hero in another one. The movie is about what happens because of his actions.

The movie is a whole lot of fun, it's even more fun if you're a gamer because there are so many references to video games throughout the movie (obviously) but it's still enjoyable even if you aren't. John C. Reilly does a fantastic job as Ralph. He's funny, sympathetic and it really sounds like he's having a lot of fun in his part. I should also give recognition to Sarah Silverman who does an equally amazing job as Vanellope, who is a rambunctious kid from another video game that Ralph stumbles in to. These two together make for some great and funny moments throughout the movie.

Frankenweenie

Recently I saw the new Tim Burton movie Frankenweenie and before I even start to say anything I want to say this; I did enjoy the movie. I thought that it was a delightful homage to the old monster movies of the 30's and 40's and I loved the feel of the movie. However, I couldn't help but feel a little let down when I left the theatre.

Now I'm a huge Tim Burton fan. Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow are among my favorite movies of all time and it was nice seeing him return to form for Frankenweenie, especially after Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows. It was nice seeing a more gothic movie more in the vain of Corpse Bride which is also a movie that I really enjoyed.

The movie is about Victor Frankenstein. A young kid who spends all of his time in his attic making various inventions and gadgets all in the name of science. His only real friend is his dog Sparky. One day however Sparky gets hit by a car and he dies. Victor becomes absolutely devastated and decides that there must be some sort of way to bring his dog back. So after a very Frankenstein like experiment sequence, Sparky is back from the dead and from here the movie really begins.

Now like I said before, I did enjoy this movie but I did have some problems with it. The first being that I really don't feel like I connected to any of the characters. With the exception of Victor none of the other characters really stood out for me. It seemed like their only purpose in the movie was to do something dumb that progressed the story further, that was about it. Another problem I had was that I felt like it was a little too preachy in certain parts. The movie is about science and how people view it. The town is represented as a very sheltered town that is absolutely terrified of science and all of the questions science raises. Typically I wouldn't mind something like this but there is one scene involving the town at a PTA meeting and they demand that the new science teacher explain his teaching methods. The following speech seemed a little too preachy for me and I felt that Burton was definitely hinting at a lot of other things with it. My final issue with the movie was that I honestly felt like it wasn't Tim Burton enough. Burton is the kind of guy who really understands character. He loves to do movies that involve a crazy or eccentric type of character because he understands them and portrays them so well. In this movie however I felt like he didn't do that enough. I think that with the character of Victor he did a pretty good job but like I mentioned before, the other characters just seemed too boring for my taste and because I know it's a Burton movie, I know that he could have done a better job with it.

Ok, so I'm sure that seemed like a decent amount of criticism but I would still highly recommend this movie. The atmosphere is great, the black and white adds so much to the movie and I mean, it's very enjoyable. There are funny moments, quirky ones and touching ones. Even though I think that all the other characters were forgettable, Victor isn't. This is the one character that Burton really put a lot of heart into and it shows. When it comes down to it, this movie is really about a boy and his dog. It brings you back to a time when that's really all you needed in your life to be completely happy and the movie leaves you feeling like that again.

So when everything is all said and done, I would say go see the movie. It's a wonderful homage to all of the old monster movies of the 30's and 40's, it's enjoyable and it's a lot of fun. Also just in case anyone hasn't seen anything for this movie, here's the trailer. Enjoy.

Films about films

Since many of you are now actively watching movies, I suggest that if you have not seen it try to see Rango. It is simply an amazing piece of work. Directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) the film pays direct homage to a number of films both in terms of storytelling structure, some memorable characters themselves and even music and lighting.

Needless to say, if you are to fully enjoy this film's homage structure you should try, if you have not done so, to see some of the principal films referenced in Rango.

Films referenced are of course the extraordinary "Chinatown" (by Roman Polanski) which shares the core story of the film, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", "For a Few Dollars More" (Sergio Leone), John Ford westerns, "There Will be Blood" (Paul Thomas Anderson) in terms of lighting, and great characters based on such icons as John Huston (in Chinatown), Lee Van Cleef's in For a Few Dollars More, which in Rango is the very bad Rattlesnake Jake. and, yes, Clint Eastwood as "the Spirit of the Desert", poncho and all. Clint Eastwood rose to fame thanks to the Sergio Leone's "spaghetti westerns" known as the Dollars Trilogy.

A couple of more references I saw were to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Terry Gilliam, (And oh, a wink to Star Wars, of course) I am sure there are other direct references I missed, see if you can find them!

In short it is a film fest, definitely watch it! Needless to say the character modeling, animation, environments, shaders and particularly the acting, etc are simply outstanding. Talking about acting, some of the characters are actually played by their actors, (like Johnny Depp) who are not only doing voice over. But the subtlety of their emotions down to the smallest twitches is a pleasure to watch.

Photographs copyright © 2011 by Paramount Pictures

Lee Van Cleef in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", one of the great  so-called "spaghetti westerns"