Posts tagged Civil War
“Django Unchained” Is Typical Tarantino Overindulgence
Jan 6th
“Typical Tarantino Overindulgence”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Django Unchained was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, and it is a terrific movie for the first two hours.
Unfortunately, the movie is three hours long, and the last hour is full of Tarantino’s self-indulgence at its worst.
Some people would say that all of Tarantino’s movies are self-indulgent.
Jamie Foxx plays Django, he is a slave, and the time is 1858, or two years before the start of the Civil War, as a title so conveniently informs the audience, along with the fact that we are in Texas.
Django is in a group with four other slaves who are being marched on foot by two white men on horses when they are encountered by Dr. King Schultz, played by Christoph Waltz.
Dr. Schultz has been looking for the group, and he asks if any of the slaves is named Django.
When Django speaks up, Dr. Schultz says, “Then you’re exactly the one I am looking for.”
Dr. Schultz buys Django for $125, but the transaction is much more complicated than that.
You see, Dr. Schultz is German, he used to be a dentist, but now he is a bounty hunter, and he is looking for three men known as the Brittle brothers, but he doesn’t know what they look like, and somehow he knows that Django can identify them.
Logic in his storytelling is not one of Tarantino’s strong points, not that he cares.
So, Dr. Schultz tells Django that he will make him a free man if Django will help Dr. Schultz find the Brittle brothers and capture them dead or alive.
After a couple of encounters with the law that have surprise endings that are also humorous, Dr. Schultz and Django are in Tennessee on a plantation owned by Big Daddy, played by Don Johnson, which has another surprise ending.
In return for Django’s help as his partner, Dr. Schultz agrees to help Django find his wife, Broomhilda, whose name intrigues the German dentist.
So their travels now take them to Mississippi and a plantation owned by Calvin Candie, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, whose head slave is played by Samuel L. Jackson.
Here is where the movie falls apart with blood, gore, and excessive length and self-indulgence.
Django Unchained is typical Tarantino overindulgence, and as I said, you can walk out after two hours.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Django Unchained – Movie Trailer
Dec 30th
Set in the South two years before the Civil War, Django Unchained stars Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him face-to-face with German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). Schultz is on the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers, and only Django can lead him to his bounty. Honing vital hunting skills, Django remains focused on one goal: finding and rescuing Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), the wife he lost to the slave trade long ago. Django and Schultz’s search ultimately leads them to Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), the proprietor of “Candyland,” an infamous plantation. Exploring the compound under false pretenses, Django and Schultz arouse the suspicion of Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), Candie’s trusted house slave.
“Lincoln” about Our Greatest President
Nov 25th
“Our Greatest President”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Lincoln is an excellent film about the last few months of the life of our 16th president when he was faced with an almost impossible task: Get the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed by a lame-duck congress before the Civil War ends.
The 13th Amendment states simply, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitute, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
The time was January 1865, Lincoln had just been reelected to his second term, the resolution had been passed the previous year by the Senate, but defeated by the House, and Lincoln was trying to get it passed by the House so that it would become law before the Civil War ended and the Southern representatives rejoined Congress, in which case it would never be passed.
So, the film is about the wheeling and dealing in Washington in order to get something achieved, which makes it as timely as today’s Washington.
Daniel Day-Lewis plays Lincoln, and at one point he tells his cabinet of officers, “As the preacher said, I could write shorter sermons, but once I start, I get too lazy to stop.”
We are told that it is not illegal to bribe Congressmen, because they starve otherwise, which may or may not be true, and we see many of the influences being peddled by the men who are working to get the amendment passed, which becomes complex and confusing, but don’t try to follow and understand everything. Just let the story and its details wash over you and admire them.
Especially admire the work of Day-Lewis as Lincoln, as well as the outstanding work of Sally Field, James Spader, and Tommy Lee Jones, among many others.
Also admire the directing of Steven Spielberg, although you might be distracted by the opening scene and think that it is too much of a reminder of the opening of the 1998 Saving Private Ryan.
In fact, there are many parallels in this film that are intended to make a point and a reference to our modern times, and that is perfectly acceptable.
Lincoln is a great film about whom many claim to be our greatest president.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
