Django Unchained (2012)

From Quentin Tarantino. Supposed to be released this Christmas (unless those pesky Mayans are right.)

Haven't heard of it yet.

Tony Marino wrote:Haven't heard of it yet.

Me either.

What's it about?

It's QT. Definitely going to see it.

I read Spike Lee is all pissed off about this movie.

Alan Smithee wrote:I read Spike Lee is all pissed off about this movie.

I hadn't heard that but just checked online:

By JESSICA DERSCHOWITZ / CBS NEWS/ December 24, 2012

Spike Lee: “Django Unchained” is “disrespectful”

Spike Lee won't be among the movie-goers seeing "Django Unchained" when it arrives in theaters on Christmas Day.

The "Red Hook Summer" director has spoken out against Quentin Tarantino's ultra-violent spaghetti Western-style film about slavery, and says he will not see it.

"I cant speak on it 'cause I'm not gonna see it," he told Vibe magazine. "All I'm going to say is that it's disrespectful to my ancestors. That's just me...I'm not speaking on behalf of anybody else."

Lee reiterated his opinion Saturday in a message posted on Twitter:

American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western.It Was A Holocaust.My Ancestors Are Slaves.Stolen From Africa.I Will Honor Them.
Spike Lee (@SpikeLee) December 22, 2012

As The Hollywood Reporter notes, this is not the first time Lee has been critical of Tarantino. In 1997, following the release of Tarantino's film "Jackie Brown," he reportedly said: "I have a definite problem with Quentin Tarantino's excessive use of the n-word. And let the record state that I never said that he cannot use that word -- I've used that word in many of my films -- but I think something is wrong with him."

"Django Unchained" stars Jamie Foxx as a former slave-turned-bounty hunter who sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner. The film also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz and Kerry Washington. It recently received five Golden Globe nominations, including one for best dramatic picture.
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I did not see the movie Jackie Brown but I did see Django Unchained and can assure Spike Lee that not once did Quentin Tarantino use “N-word” in Django.

However, Jamie Foxx and Samuel Jackson, as well as all other actors did say nigger quite often. It was a period piece and saying anything other than that would have been a lie.

He may not have seen it, but the film director Spike Lee already has an opinion about “Django Unchained.” In a recent interview with Vibe, he said he would not watch Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, set in the antebellum South, which opened in theaters on Tuesday. “I can’t speak on it ’cause I’m not gonna see it,” he said. “The only thing I can say is it’s disrespectful to my ancestors, to see that film.”

Over the weekend, Mr. Lee, whose most recent film, “Red Hook Summer,” deals with race and class in that Brooklyn neighborhood, took to Twitter to express some more opinions. “American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them.”

His statement inspired a lively debate, which Mr. Lee engaged in, weighing in and retweeting commenters on Saturday evening. He has taken issue with Mr. Tarantino’s work before, particularly his use of a racial epithet. “Django” includes at least 100 instances of the slur.

In another interview with Vibe, Jamie Foxx, who plays Django, said Mr. Lee told him at the BET Awards in September that he would not speak out about the film. “You know Spike, he’ll let you have it whether it’s good, bad or ugly,” Mr. Foxx told the magazine. “And he said, ‘I’m not going to say anything bad about this film. It looks like y’all are getting it.’ ”

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/spike-lee-goes-after-django-unchained/

I think before someone criticizes a movie it's better if they actually see it first. But I have noticed people seem to love it or thoroughly despise it. Not seeing much middle ground. I'll probably wait til DVD but still plan to see it.

I've read comments from caucasians who lost their minds of Jamie Foxx's comments on SNL. Can't please everybody. In fact (and I may be mistaken), but I think I read that Quentin Tarantino doesn't try to make movies that everyone wants to see. I tries to make movies that he wants to see.

CeCe wrote:... I'll probably wait til DVD but still plan to see it.

Ah, but if you like seeing big gushing blood spatters, the big screen is the way to go.

There's even a disclaimer at the end credits that NO HORSES WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS MOVIE. (Yeah, horses make more blood spatter than humans)

Shale wrote:
Ah, but if you like seeing big gushing blood spatters, the big screen is the way to go.

There's even a disclaimer at the end credits that NO HORSES WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS MOVIE. (Yeah, horses make more blood spatter than humans)

I think Peter Jackson is getting shit about that.

Alan Smithee wrote:I've read comments from caucasians who lost their minds of Jamie Foxx's comments on SNL. Can't please everybody. In fact (and I may be mistaken), but I think I read that Quentin Tarantino doesn't try to make movies that everyone wants to see. I tries to make movies that he wants to see.

Well........than maybe he will be the only one to see them

Shale wrote:Django Unchained
Movie Blurb by Shale
December 25, 2012

This movie is rated R for ... well, everything, including language. This blurb, like the movie is rated R. You been warned.

This movie is by Quentin Tarantino as proclaimed in big red letters in the credits; as if you needed that with the ubiquitous red blood spatters thruout the movie. Also this movie, is set in the slave states of the west and south in 1858 so you hear the common dialogue of that place & time. Unlike the timid writers of today who use non-words (N-word) to describe this dialogue, niggers are quite abundantly heard in this movie. Get used to it or stay home.

That said, we open with a bunch of slaves in chains being cruelly walked thru the woods of Texas barely protected from the cold and with whip lash scars on their bodies. They are approached by an erudite gentleman in a wagon who introduces himself as Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). They give him some good-ol-boy grief and he outshoots them and acquires Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave who can identify some wanted killers that Dr. Schultz is hunting for the bounty.

Dr. Schultz, a German, is appalled at the system of slavery in America but needs Django to help him, even if coerced. He promises to free Django after he kills the killers and collects the bounty, plus he gets a horse and some pocket cash. While spending time on the trail together, Dr. Schultz and Django become friends and after the first bounty, they continue as partners and Dr. Schultz promises to help Django find his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) who was sold separately by their owner.

I enjoyed this movie - it sort of gives a catharsis to see fictional white slavers get their brutal comeuppance on screen even tho you know it didn't really happen.

See More Here:
http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?p=7495347#post7495347

Thanks Shale.

I dunno. I like Spike and I support him....but sometimes, I think he just likes to pick fights with people. He's had it out for QT since Pulp Fiction. I just got back from seeing Django. Yeah they said nigger a lot, but personally, I didn't find it as gratuitous as people make it seem. The word fit in with the storyline. Certain parts of the movie DID accurately depict slavery as it happened in those times. But in the grand scheme of things, QT wasn't making a historic film. It wasn't mean to educate. It was meant to entertain. And I don't think he disrespected the memory of slavery at all. If anything, things that were done to white people in that movie prob. didn't or rarely occurred. Django came out a hero. Django wasn't some run of the mill slave who couldn't read or write or was dumb. He was intelligent, quick witted, sharp guy who had an undying love for his wife. As far the movie is concerned:







































It was BADASS!!! QT hasn't disappointed me yet. Christoph Waltz was great too, just like he was in Inglorious Bastards. Jamie Foxx just moved to my top ten favorite actors. His talent is ridiculous. Basically....the two team up to become bounty hunters and recapture Django's wife in the pre Civil War south. Django proves to be far more intelligent than the average slave and he has a knack for bounty hunting. The film also offers a bit of crass humor (QT style) as well. I was cracking the fuck up at the scene with the KKK and their problems with the hoods. Samuel L. Jackson....I must say....this was the first movie I've seen him in where I wanted to slap the shit out of him with a hammer, but he delivered.....as always. He offered up most of the humor. All in all....if you like blood and gore and old fashioned gun slinging with a slick and stylistic twist, this is your movie. A typical QT flick. The only thing I did have a slight problem with.....I think it could've been scored better. I know QT uses The RZA for scoring a lot of his movies, but I don't think Rick Ross was a right fit for the type of setting they were trying to portray. The modern day rap music could've been left out for something more "old fashioned." But I ain't complaining.....

Tony Marino wrote:

Well........than maybe he will be the only one to see them

Not hardly!

I went to see this movie again today. Just got some more info on something I mentioned in the first paragraph of my review:

Shale wrote:...
This movie is rated R for ... well, everything, including language. This blurb, like the movie is rated R. You been warned.

This movie is by Quentin Tarantino as proclaimed in big red letters in the credits; as if you needed that with the ubiquitous red blood spatters thruout the movie. Also this movie, is set in the slave states of the west and south in 1858 so you hear the common dialogue of that place & time. Unlike the timid writers of today who use non-words (N-word) to describe this dialogue, niggers are quite abundantly heard in this movie. Get used to it or stay home. ...

As you may have read or heard, Spike Lee claimed to be boycotting this movie then proceded to criticise it, sight unseen. Actually, he may have it in for Tarantino on a personal level, but it seems the Academy disagreed with him on that trashing and so does a local writer in Miami New Times.

Screw Spike Lee
By Luther Campbell
Thursday, Jan 17 2013

Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained is a brilliant flick. Describing a slave's search for his wife in the South and Old West, it more accurately depicts the African-American experience than any of the 15 movies about black culture that African-American director Spike Lee has directed in his lifetime. Last week, it garnered four Academy Award nominations, including best picture.

But ever since it hit theaters on Christmas, Lee has been publicly trashing Tarantino. In announcing his personal boycott of the movie, the Do the Right Thing filmmaker tweeted, "American slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western," and "It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them."

Lee needs to get over himself. He's upset because Tarantino makes better movies. The man who put Malcolm X on the big screen is Hollywood's resident house Negro, a bourgie activist who tells white auteurs how they can and can't depict African-Americans. He complains that Tarantino uses nigger too much (100 times) in Django Unchained, but show me a white man in the 1800s who wasn't dropping n-bombs left and right.

Tarantino is one of Tinseltown's cleverest directors. Some of the most brutal scenes in Django Unchained are metaphors for the unfair racial inequality African-Americans still experience today. (Spoiler alert!) For instance, Leonardo DiCaprio's plantation owner character, Calvin Candie, trains some of his male slaves to fight to the death in a sport called "Mandingo Fighting." When one of the slaves refuses to participate, Candie threatens to feed him to his wild dogs. That scene is analogous to professional boxing, in which the Bob Arums of the world control black fighters through fear and intimidation.

In another scene, slaves are shocked to see Django riding a horse. That's like the people who stare at the dude who returns to the neighborhood driving a Bentley. Django warns the slaves he'll treat them worse than any white man. That's the truth about blacks in positions of authority in today's corporate America. They treat blacks worse than any white boss does.

Lee could never pull off a movie like this. When he's not being an ass from his courtside seats during New York Knicks games, he's making films to which most African-Americans cannot relate.

Yeah, Spike seems to be getting some backlash. I've read other negative reactions to his negative reaction.

i really liked it until the typical QT shootout scene. Some of the dialogue was hysterical... sorta reminded me of blazing saddles in a way. I was engrossed, both with the horrible treatment of the slaves, and the great dialogue/delivery of the german dr. however, when the shootout on the plantation started, i started losing interest. Then it reminded me of dust til dawn... that i liked until the bar scene.

Like NY... I too had a problem with the music... but i think that was supposed to make it seem less of a historical piece and more of a campy western.