Tag Archives: Leonardo DiCaprio

Movie Trailers

“Django Unchained” is Already Blowing Our Minds, And This 2nd Trailer Really Doesn’t Help

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Are you ready for another Quentin Tarantino film to blow your mind and possibly make you question your sanity?  We are.  Definitely.

The second trailer for Django Unchained was released today, and now we’re wishing that time travel really was a thing so December would be here already.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

The film is set in the pre-Civil War era and tells the story of Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave living in the Deep South who is sold to Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz).  Schultz is actually a bounty hunter, and offers to help free Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), from a ruthless plantation owner (Leonardo Dicaprio) as long as Django agrees to help him kill off a gang of killers known as the Brittle Brothers.

For me, seeing Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson, Jonah Hill, Christoph Waltz, and Leonardo DiCaprio side-by-side immediately made me think, “WTH?”  But from what we can see in the trailer, it appears that they all have great chemistry, especially between Foxx, DiCaprio, and Waltz.  Hill of course has one of his snippets of funny inserted into a rather bleak and upcoming KKK-type raid, and Jackson always seems to be a BAMF no matter what role he plays.  DiCaprio’s performance will probably disgust me because he’s such a good actor (and he’s the bad guy, so there’s that).

The trailer reveals an odd-yet-expected-because-it’s-Tarantino mixture of spaghetti western mixed with slightly modern dialogue and lots of gun shooting and explosions.  The costumes and sets appear to be period, though, so as not to make it too funky.  And Django wants everyone to know his name is spelled D-J-A-N-G-O, where “the ‘D’ is silent.”

Django opens on Christmas Day.

MOVIES

An Evening of Intoxication: Titanic

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So it hit me one day, a lot of people like to drink to get through shitty movies. There are tons of films, practically made for drinking games. Your Evil Deads, your Dead Alives, your Kazaams, and the like. It’s very popular to get drunk, and watch these kinds of movies, and while I do enjoy that as a fond past time, I thought it more interesting, to try a different type of film. The idea was to watch a movie, very far removed from anything you’d normally play a drinking game to, or enjoy while drunk with friends. Movies like Titanic, Tuck Everlasting, Bridge To Terabithia, or Up. The point isn’t that these movies are bad, and alcohol is needed to get though them, (it helps), but that it’s a movie you haven’t seen before, or in a very long time.

In my case, I hadn’t seen Titanic since it came out, making it 15 years since my last viewing. I then proceeded to drink 13 shots of whiskey during it’s 3+ hour run time, and provided the review below. After sobering up a few hours later, I edited it down to something kinda-sorta watchable.

Behold, my drunken review of Titanic:

http://youtu.be/3R1R-kP3WjI

Movie News & Opinions

Django Unchained: New Spot shows Sam Jackson

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Did you think it was possible to get so many great films in one year; The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit, Skyfall and several others – well Tarantino looks to be bringing this great year in cinema to an end with a December release of Django Unchained. This latest TV spot is going to make you wet yourself with excitement, like all good trailers should.

Continue reading Django Unchained: New Spot shows Sam Jackson →

Movie Trailers

New ‘Django Unchained’ International Trailer

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The international trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained has been released. It’s mostly the same as the US trailer, with a few extra shots of difference, most notably, the inclusion of Samuel L. Jackson as a billed star in the film.

While the movie does look like it’s definitely going to be well crafted, I still can’t help but hold reservations on it. The James Brown soundtrack doesn’t work for me, but I understand it’s attempting a melding of the Spaghetti Western/Blaxploitation genres. What does work for me, is seeing Quentin Tarantino actually having a TRUE homage, with the final shot of the trailer, showing Jamie Foxx sitting with Franco Nero, who some may recognize as the original star of Sergio Corbucci’s Django. Even though that shot is included in the US trailer, I imagine it’ll play quite well with international crowds, where Sergio Corbucci’s name is more well-known. It would seem QT is continuing the long tradition of having a western revolving around a character named Django, even if he isn’t THE Django, from the original film. There are over 30 unofficial sequels to the original Django, as Italy has a long history of its filmmakers “borrowing” character and movie names to help a knockoff films chances at the box office. Tarantino seems to be falling right in line with this idea, only he is celebrating that character and tradition, rather than looking to make a quick buck off a name brand.

That’s Franco Nero on the right, the OG Django. He doesn’t look happy.

I always hold fast to the rule that you should never truly judge how good or bad a movie is until you see it, (see: Battleship), so I’m trying to stay positive with my feelings about Django Unchained. Maybe I’m just being overly negative, but Death Proof was really bad, and Inglorious Basterds was such a self-aggrandizing mess, it’s taken away the immediate optimism I used to have for Quentin Tarantino’s films. Regardless, like all of his films, I’ll end up seeing them no matter what, because for better or worse, nobody really makes movies like Tarantino. He has an undeniably unique voice, and is accomplished at doing what he sets out to do.  [Ed. Note – Death Proof and Inglorious Basterds are both awesome.]

Christmas 2012, we’ll probably all get Django’d.

Movie Trailers

First Official “Django Unchained” Trailer Looks to Be A Christmas Miracle

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It’s that time again! It’s time for a new Quentin Tarantino flick (cue the applause)! After the 2009 masterpiece that we know as Inglourious Basterds, QT brings us Django Unchained, the story of a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) who is freed by notorious bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). With hopes of making Django his deputy, Schultz begins training the man, preparing him for the biggest fight of his life; to kill Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a ruthless plantation owner who is in possession of Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington).

Well, leave your skepticism and cynicism at the door, people, because Django Unchained is really the only thing I want for Christmas (well, maybe The Great Gatsby, too). This immensely entertaining, hilarious, action-packed, and, most of all, fun trailer has me wanting more….a lot more. Quentin Tarantino seems to be in full force here after the critically acclaimed Inglourious Basterds, which was nominated for eight Oscars (winning one for Best Supporting Actor to Christoph Waltz). It seems as if the Academy has finally recognized Tarantino not only as a filmmaker, but as a genre.

I also love the anti-type casting that Tarantino has done here. It’s been a while since DiCaprio has played an out-and-out villain, while this film marks the first time that Christoph Waltz plays the good guy (a compromised protagonist at best, but I’ll take what I can get). Jamie Foxx plays the title role, and after a couple names were picked up and dropped, I feel like Tarantino has made the right choice putting Foxx in the role.

All the Tarantino-esque factors are definitely in place. The odd plot, the beautifully staged brutality, the generational gap bridging (putting a funky groove in a Civil War-era spaghetti western? I think yes), the witty dialogue, and everything in between. There’s just no way around it, Django Unchained is going to be the real deal.

Check out the official trailer right here:

Quentin Tarantino, Djano, Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz

Movie News & Opinions

Louis CK and the Diceman to Star in Woody Allen Film

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Woody Allen has always been known for his somewhat offbeat casting, as well as working with pretty much every actor in Hollywood, but today’s casting news regarding Allen’s next film is both long overdue, and completely surprising. Comedians Louis CK and Andrew Dice Clay are both set to star in Woody Allen’s next film. With no title or any plot details released, the only thing we know is that the cast will also include Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, and Peter Sarsgaard.

According to Film Drunk, Louis CK hired story editor, Susan E. Morse, a woman who used to work for Woody Allen. In an interview regarding the film, she had this to say:

“I think it would be absolutely great for those two guys to work together and to collaborate on some level. I think they would appreciate each other. They have different and similar personalities; it would be interesting to see them together. I think one of the things Woody would love about Louis would be the fact that there’s no way in hell Louis would be trying to “do Woody,” if he were to take on the “Woody Allen role” in a film. That was always an exasperating thing that would happen when people were trying to carry that lead role, they would often try to mimic Woody’s delivery, whereas he encouraged them to be themselves. He was always happier if they took whatever he wrote and put it in a vocabulary that was natural to them, rather than to say things literally, the way he had written them. Nothing was to be taken as though it was etched in stone.”

The casting of notoriously foul-mouthed Dice Clay is still a surprising turn of events, but considering Allen has worked with everyone from Owen Wilson to Alan Alda to Will Ferrell to even Leonardo DiCaprio, I’m sure he can make it work. Fresh off of winning an Oscar for his 2011 film Midnight In Paris, Allen’s next film, To Rome With Love, is set to be released on June 22nd of this year, but that hasn’t stopped Allen from getting right back to work on his 2013 film.

As for Louis CK, well, there’s no doubt that it’s going to spark comedic gold. Although 2009’s Whatever Works wasn’t Allen’s best film, there’s no question that Larry David’s committed performance wasn’t a near-perfect meeting of the minds. With that being said, I wish Allen would use CK for a more dramatic role, something I know he’s capable of. The 2000s gave fans of Allen two great dramas, Match Point and Cassandra’s Dream. I think it’d be pretty cool if Allen went against expectations and, instead of bringing a bunch of funny people together to do a comedy, he did a drama instead. Still, this probably won’t be the case and I’m excited for any collaboration between Allen and CK.