Tarantino reviews

As I said before, there were indeed articles I wrote for other issues of 'The Demon'. I was asked to review Django Unchained and also do an article on Tarantinos' career in movies. Below are the two articles as they appear in the newspaper:

Tarantino

Tarantino started his movie career only 20 years ago with the release of ‘Reservoir Dogs’ which
showed the world that he was here. The film was a huge hit amongst audiences far and wide -
myself included-all of whom were stunned at what he produced. What made this movie, as well
as most of his other movies since stand out is the use of non-linear story telling. Although the
story for ‘Reservoir Dogs’ is quite dull when stripped down, it has been told in such a way that the
audience was hooked from start to finish and second guessing a lot of what had already been shown
which only helped keep people engaged.
Only two years later, Tarantino released ‘Pulp Fiction’, again using non-linear story telling but also
multiple stories within the same movie. The film tells four intertwining stories in such a fashion that
the film is known far and wide as one of the best films modern cinema has seen and has become a
benchmark for many when viewing other films.
Since then, Tarantino went on to release ‘Jackie Brown’, ‘Kill Bill: vol. 1 & 2’, ‘Deathproof’, ‘Inglorious Basterds’ and has recently released a new film, ‘Django Unchained’. All of the aforementioned movies are just as good, if not better than the last, with the exception of ‘Deathproof’, in my opinion. This did little to sway me from his work as the works of the five previous movies, it shows that even Quentin Tarantino isn’t perfect and is capable of slipping up every now and then. If anything, ‘Deathproof’ helped make the other films that much better as it shows the effort gone into writing and directing each movie.
With each new film, Tarantino’s fame grew greater and greater to the point where he was able to
use the acting capabilities of other ‘Hollywood greats’ such as Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio,
which only helped make the films appeal to more audiences and increase his [Tarantino] fame.
Having only 8 feature length films under his belt, it is highly unlikely that Tarantino’s work is done,
which means we can only hope to see more of the same high quality film making in the future, with
rumours already spreading of a third instalment to the “Kill Bill” franchise. I think it’s safe to say that
Quentin Tarantino is just getting warmed up.

Django Unchained

I have recently seen ‘Man with the Iron Fists’ and must admit, after seeing that, I was anxious about
where cinema was going with the approach to films set in the wild west. However, being a lifelong
Tarantino fan, when ‘Django Unchained’ was released, I maintained the idea he could do no wrong
with his directing capabilities and I was thankfully rewarded for this faith.
The film starts with bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) releasing a slave, Django (Jamie Foxx) from slavery, in case any of you were wondering where the title of the film came from. The two unlikely allies become a bounty hunter duo not to be messed with whilst the two of them seek out Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) who has been sold off as a slave to Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) from whom the duo get much more than they bargain for.
When approaching this film, not only was I dubious as to the portrayal of the era, but also the
casting of DiCaprio as the antagonist, having never been his biggest fan. Upon seeing the film, I can
say that I was highly mistaken and have had to rethink my attitude towards him. The role of Calvin
Candie, as with all of the other characters was superb. Christoph Waltz maintains a high calibre in
his work after his performance as Hans Landa in ‘Inglorious Basterds’, whilst Jamie Foxx (Ray, Law
Abiding Citizen) plays the role of slave-turned bounty hunter brilliantly and you, as a viewer, truly
believe he is going through all the pain and suffering of having his family torn from him.
There were, of course, people who slated this movie for its use of violence and gore. As well as a
large number of people who were put off by the frequent use of derogatory language. In my eyes,
although I can see where these people are coming from, as there is a lot of violence and harsh
language, these help to solidify it as a Tarantino film set in the times of slavery. Tarantino has been
known throughout his films (especially since ‘Kill Bill: vol. 1’) for his use of excessive violence and
audiences know to expect this from his movies. As for the harsh language, I feel that without it, the
film would have been hard to believe in many respects, as there would be no feeling that the slaves
were in fact slaves and considered lower down than their masters.
Overall, the film was thoroughly enjoyable to watch and engaging from start to finish with twists,
turns and, as usual, a cameo to look out for from Tarantino. It would be difficult to argue that this
isn’t his best film since the release of Pulp Fiction. This is a definite must see for all who are action
lovers.