1.13.2013

Django Unchained


Mrs. LL and I went to the 7th Street Movie Tavern on Saturday on the first leg of a month long trifecta where we are going to try and see three Best Picture nominees. You obviously know the first one. The others are Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln.

First things first. I don't think I'll ever go to a theater again that doesn't have food service. In fact, I don't think I've been to anything else in the last three years. Secondly, 7th Street has reserved theater seating over the Internet. Man, I'm all over that concept.

I'm also a big fan of Quentin Tarantino movies. Pulp Fiction is at the top of my list with Reservoir Dogs being a distant second. Death Proof might fight for the second spot as well as a quasi Tarantino flick called True Romance. I liked the Kill Bill flicks and InInglorious Bastards but, overall, slightly disappointed.

This movie? Fantastic. The basic premise is that of a bounty hunter (a great German character played by Christoph Waltz) who searches for and "finds" a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx who is beyond great in this role) to assist him in identifying three former evil plantation hands who have become wanted by the U. S. Government. The next plot is a search across the South to find Foxx's character's wife -- a slave who has been sold to an unknown but eventually discovered plantation owner played by Leonardo Dicaprio.

As to be expected, it is bloody -- very bloody -- and shocking. But it also has some incredibly funny and tender moments. If you like Tarantino, you'll loved this. If not, stay away.

And, finally, the "n word" is launched about a hundred times in this movie -- appropriate if you want to capture America back then (and now?). But that dialog can be uncomfortable. Especially for me once I noticed the inter-racial couple at the end of the row.