Sunday, January 27, 2013

The Curious Curse of "Django Unchained"


I couldn't help but notice a newly forged body of criticism towards Django Unchained, the antebellum southwestern spaghetti by Quentin Tarantino, another masterpiece if I may. I've heard it in many voices, I've read it in many heartburnt texts, and they seem to suggest that Quentin became suddenly cursed by his darling filmography. Whereas until now the myriad of references, the loudspeaking influences, the flamboyant homages and the twisted pastiche aesthetics, all contributed to the ecstasy of his unique approach to film, Django Unchained made a strange room for sad people complaining about the same things they've been praising all these years.

Now, it is too much referencing. Wearied pastiche. Stop trying to homage stuff. Quit mixing Morricone with RZA. Tarantino knows nothing about western spaghetti or Sergio Corbucci.

What I guess is wrong with these Ambassadors of Paradox is the fact that they can't keep up with Quentin Tarantino. He steals from every movie ever made. By doing that, he breaks the fourth wall and yet is capable to draw you particularly close to his universe. It's a different kind of nearness from that of the classics. It's taking the notion of participating in the story by following character dramatic hypothesis and put it into another dimension. It might not be Lubitsch's 2+2 but some slightly more complicated mathematical operation. Tarantino and the movie merge into an identity and that identity has been watching the very same stuff you have.  You watch the scenes from Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction or Kill Bill and shout "Oh, I know that!", "Oh I got that!", "Oh, I've seen it before!".


The trouble is: it must make some people think they are close not to this identity, but to Quentin, the Director, in a species of symbiotic relationship responsible for moviemaking.

Only this time he exceeded himself. Not in quantity; in quality. He injected whole genre conventions once again, he twisted them, he brought contemporaneity and made historical revisionism, he was so subtle and intelligent, so intense and dynamic, these people couldn't ever bear it. For the first time ever, they couldn't keep up with the benchmarks. They realized Quentin is actually a genius - meaning far, far away from them in terms of making movies. And now they feel abandoned. Forsaken by a man they thought they had gripped in the early nineties but who fortunately races at an unexpected but delightful pace that will leave them waving on the side of the road.


Friday, January 25, 2013

Monday, January 14, 2013

Tarantino's complimentary message to his favorite currently working writer/director

And because I'm a fan of both,


Golden Globes'13: a playful ceremony


  • Five-star momentum by hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler who deserved a Golden Globe themselves.
  • European art-house film director Michele Haneke was handled the Globe for Best Foreign Feature by the hands of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
  • Lincoln didn't win this war at all, except for Daniel Day-Lewis. Instead major categories went to Les Miserábles and Argo (thumbs up to Ben Affleck) although they both missed the writing trophy.
  • Ben Affleck evoked the absent Paul Thomas Anderson: "(...) I want to thank the many talented people that weren't nominated. Paul Thomas Anderson who's like, I think, Orson Welles. There are so many others."
  • One of the best moments of the night, the only person more surprised than you and me to hear "And the Golden Globe [for Best Screenplay] goes to... Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained." was Quentin Tarantino himself. Christoph Waltz mirrored his 2010 win with Inglorious Basterds.


  • Lena Dunham and Girls took Best Actress, Comedy and Best Series, Comedy home the night season two premiered. Homeland swept off Best Series, Drama and Lewis and Danes went along. The actress confessed during the second season "Carrie was actually carrying [a baby]".
  • Jodie Foster gave a passionate speech, where she kind of came out for the first time in public and spoke about how she values privacy after 47 years in the movie business that turned her life into a reality show. Led everybody to tears when she addressed her sons, her mother and Cydney Bernard, "my heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love but righteous soul sister in life".





 My picks and the results:

BEST PICTURE (DRAMA)
Argo
Alternative: Lincoln
BEST PICTURE (COMEDY)
Silver Linings Playbook
Alternative: Les Miserábles
BEST SCREENPLAY
Chris Terrio ("Argo")
Alternative: David O. Russel ("Silver Linings Playbook")
Quentin Tarantino ("Django Unchained")

BEST DIRECTOR
Ben Affleck ("Argo")
Alternative: Steven Spielberg ("Lincoln")

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA
Daniel Day-Lewis ("Lincoln)
Alternative: Denzel Washington ("Flight")

BEST ACTOR, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Hugh Jackman ("Les Miserables")
Alternative: Bradley Cooper ("Silver Linings Playboy")

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Naomi Watts ("The Impossible")
Alternative: Jessica Chastain ("Zero Dark Thirty")

BEST ACTRESS, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Jennifer Lawrence ("Silver Linings PLaybook")
Alternative: Judi Dench ("The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio ("Django Unchained")
Alternative: Tommy Lee Jones ("Lincoln")
Christoph Waltz ("Django Unchained")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway ("Les Miserables)
Alternative: Amy Adams ("The Master")

BEST FOREIGN FILME 
Rust and Bone
Alternative: Amour

ANIMATED FILM
Brave
Alternative: Wreck-It-Ralph

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
John Williams, "Lincoln."
Alternative: Mychael Danna, "Life of Pi"
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Skyfall" ("Skyfall")
"Suddenly" ("Les Miserábles")

BEST SERIES, DRAMA
Homeland
Alternative: Breaking Bad

BEST SERIES, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
"Girls"
Alternative: "Modern Family"

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA
Damian Lewis ("Homeland")
Alternative: Steve Buscemi ("Boardwalk Empire")

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Michelle Dockery ("Downtown Abbey")
Alternative: Claire Danes ("Homeland")

BEST ACTOR, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Louis C. K. ("Louie")
Alternative: Don Cheadle ("House of Lies")

BEST ACTRESS, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep)
Alternative: Lena Dunham (Girls)

BEST MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Game Change
Alternative: The Hour

BEST ACTTOR, MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Woody Harrelson (Game Change)
Alternative: Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock)
Kevin Costner (Hatfields & McCoys)

BEST ACTRESS, MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Julianne Moore (Game Change)
Alternative: Jessica Lange (American Horror Story: Asylum)  
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Max Greenfield (New Girl)
Alternative: Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)
Ed Harris (Game Change)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey) 
                                      Alternative: Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife)

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Golden Globes'13 later tonight: my picks


BEST PICTURE (DRAMA)
Argo
Alternative: Lincoln

BEST PICTURE (COMEDY)
Silver Linings Playbook
Alternative: Les Miserábles

BEST SCREENPLAY
Chris Terrio ("Argo")
Alternative: David O. Russel ("Silver Linings Playbook")

BEST DIRECTOR
Ben Affleck ("Argo")
Alternative: Steven Spielberg ("Lincoln")

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA
Daniel Day-Lewis ("Lincoln)
Alternative: Denzel Washington ("Flight")

BEST ACTOR, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Hugh Jackman ("Les Miserables")
Alternative: Bradley Cooper ("Silver Linings Playboy")

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Naomi Watts ("The Impossible")
Alternative: Jessica Chastain ("Zero Dark Thirty")

BEST ACTRESS, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Jennifer Lawrence ("Silver Linings PLaybook")
Alternative: Judi Dench ("The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio ("Django Unchained")
Alternative: Tommy Lee Jones ("Lincoln")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway ("Les Miserables)
Alternative: Amy Adams ("The Master")

BEST FOREIGN FILME 
Rust and Bone
Alternative: Amour

ANIMATED FILM
Brave
Alternative: Wreck-It-Ralph

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
John Williams, "Lincoln."
Alternative: Mychael Danna, "Life of Pi"
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Skyfall" ("Skyfall")
"Suddenly" ("Les Miserábles")


BEST SERIES, DRAMA
Homeland
Alternative: Breaking Bad

BEST SERIES, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
"Girls"
Alternative: "Modern Family"

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA
Damian Lewis ("Homeland")
Alternative: Steve Buscemi ("Boardwalk Empire")

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Michelle Dockery ("Downtown Abbey")
Alternative: Claire Danes ("Homeland")

BEST ACTOR, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Louis C. K. ("Louie")
Alternative: Don Cheadle ("House of Lies")

BEST ACTRESS, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep)
Alternative: Lena Dunham (Girls)

BEST MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Game Change
Alternative: The Hour

BEST ACTTOR, MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Woody Harrelson (Game Change)
Alternative: Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock)

BEST ACTRESS, MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Julianne Moore (Game Change)
Alternative: Jessica Lange (American Horror Story: Asylum)  

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Max Greenfield (New Girl)
Alternative: Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, MINISERIES OR MOVIE FOR TV
Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey) 
                                      Alternative: Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife)

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Oscar'13 nominees with lots of surprises

What the hell happened in there? Lots of surprises, chiefly the very unpredictable Best Director category.


Check out the whole nominees.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

My Oscar'13 Picks; nominations are due tomorrow


BEST FILM
Argo 
Zero Dark Thirty
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook 
Django Unchained 
6. Les Miserábles 
7. Life of Pi 
8. The Master 
9. Moonrise Kingdom 
10. Skyfall 
FYC (For Your Consideraion - probably won't be nominated but would deserve it nonetheless): Flight 

BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) 
Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) 
Ben Affleck (Argo) 
Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) 
Ang Lee (Life of Pi) 
Alternative 1: Tom Hooper (Les Miserábles) 
Alternative 2: Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master) 
FYC: Juan Antonio Bayona (The Impossible) 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Zero Dark Thirty 
Django Unchained 
The Master 
Moonrise Kingdom 
Flight 
Alternative 1: Amour 
Alternative 2: Looper 
FYC: Detachment 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Argo 
Life of Pi 
Lincoln 
Silver Linings Playbook 
The Perks of Being a Wallflower 
Alternative 1: Beasts of the Southern Wild 
Alternative 2: Les Miserábles 
FYC: Skyfall 

BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln) 
Joaquin Phoenix (The Master) 
John Hawks (The Sessions) 
Hugh Jackman (Les Miserábles) 
Denzel Washington (Flight) 
Alternative 1: Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook) 
Alternative 2: Joseph Gordon-Lewitt (Looper) 
FYC: Mathew McCounaghey (Killer Joe) 

BEST ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) 
Naomi Watts (The Impossible) 
Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) 
Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone) 
Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) 
Alternative 1: Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) 
Alternative 2: Keira Knightley (Anna Karenina) 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway (Les Miserábles) 
Amy Adams (The Master) 
Helen Hunt (The Sessions) 
Sally Field (Lincoln) 
Nicole Kidman (The Paperboy) 
Alternative 1: Maggie Smith (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) 
Alternative 2: Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) 
FYC: Kelly Reilly (Flight) 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTORS
Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master) 
Leonardo Di Caprio (Django Unchained) 
Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained) 
Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)
Alan Arkin (Argo) 
Alternative 1: Javier Bardem (Skyfall) 
Alternative 2: Mathew McCounaghey (Magic Mike) 
FYC: Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) 

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Amour (Áustria)
The Intouchables (França) 
The Deep (Islândia) 
Kon-Tiki (Noruega) 
A Royal Affair (Dinamarca) 
Alternative 1: No (Chile) 
Alternative 2:Beyond the Hills (Roménia) 

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Brave 
Wreck-it-Ralph 
The Rise of the Guardians 
Frankenweenie 
Hotel Transylvania 
Alternative 1:The Painting 
Alternative 2:Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted 

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Imposter 
Bully 
The Gatekeepers 
The Invisible War 
This is Not a Film 
Alternative 1: Searching for Sugar Man 
Alternative 2: Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Master (Mihai Malaimare Jr. ) 
Django Unchained (Robert Richardson) 
Zero Dark Thirty (Greig Fraser) 
Lincoln (Janusz Kaminski) Skyfall (Roger Deakins) 
Life of Pi (Claudio Miranda) 
Alternative 1: Les Miserábles (Danny Cohen) 
Alternative 2: Argo (Rodrigo Pietro) 

BEST ART DIRECTION
Django Unchained 
Lincoln 
Anna Karenina 
Life of Pi 
Les Miserábles 
Alternative 1: The Master 
Alternative 2: Moonrise Kingdom
FYC: Cloud Atlas 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Django Unchained 
Lincoln 
Les Miserábles 
Anna Karenina 
Cloud Atlas 
Alternative 1: Moonrise Kingdom 
Alternative 2: Mirror Mirror 
FYC: The Master 

BEST HAIR AND MAKE-UP
Lincoln 
Les Miserábles 
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 
Alternative 1: Hitchcock 
Alternative 2: Looper 
FYC: Cloud Atlas 

BEST EDITING
Zero Dark Thirty 
Flight 
Lincoln 
Les Miserábles 
Argo 
Alternative 1: Skyfall 
Alternative 2: The Master 
FYC: The Impossible 

BEST SOUND EDITING
The Avengers 
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 
Skyfall 
Zero Dark Thirty 
The Dark Knight Rises 
Alternative 1: Les Miserábles 
Alternative 2: Life of Pi 
FYC: Killing Them Softly 

BEST SOUND MIXING
The Avengers 
Les Miserábles 
Skyfall 
Zero Dark Thirty 
The Dark Knight Rises 
Alternative 1: Life of Pi 
Alternative 2: Lincoln 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Avengers 
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 
Life of Pi 
The Dark Knight Rises 
Battleship: LA 
Alternative 1: Cloud Atlas 
Alternative 2: Prometheus 
FYC: The Amazing Spiderman 

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Master 
Beasts of the Southern Wild 
Lincoln 
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 
Alternative 1: Life of Pi 
Alternative 2: Anna Karenina 
FYC: The Dark Knight Rises 

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Suddenly" (Les Miserábles) 
"Skyfall" (Skyfall) 
"Song of the Lonely Mountain" (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) 
"Learn Me Right" (Brave) 
"Who Did That to You?" (Django Unchained) 
Alternative 1: "Touch the Sky" (Brave) 
Alternative 2: "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" (Ted) 


Sunday, January 6, 2013

Flight (2012): Zemeckis and Washington high above sea level


I ought to be looking for the black box of this screening. Nothing went wrong and I'm still one piece but I'd like to find the frame of my face realizing Gatins and Zemeckis had stored in a much different approach to the premise than I had in mind: an action-packaged ride of a wrong man running from a massive Government conspiracy. Instead, I saw a dedicated character-study of one man clinging to a wrecked personal life.

A one-minute opening scene with very little dialog and a lot of good visual first strokes of the main character. Katrina (Nadine Velazquez), a beautiful naked stewardess finds her panties while Whip Whitaker (thumbs up to Denzel Washington) collects the last two drops of vodka out of a bouquet of empty bottles, lights a cigarette for breakfast, and answers the cellphone to his divorced wife asking for money. The rough night has come to an end because he now has a plane to fly. Or hasn't it? He snuffs a line of coke to pump him up and get him ready for the clouds. Joe Cocker's Feelin Alright rocks in - this was going to be good storytelling.

The plane departs, turbulence hits and things go murky: a sleepy, alcoholized, drugged pilot must regain control of the engine, diving nose-down, and stop it from crashing. It's a frenetic rhythm caught through editing; an intensity of stakes given by Washington's voice, maneuvering and rapid-thinking; a subtlety of emotions plastered on the pilot's face when a stewardess dies after saving a child and when he asks Margaret (Tamara Tunie) to declare her love for her son to the black box. The coin of unexpectedness flips when Whitaker flips the plane upside down, arresting the descent and starting to glide, before bringing it back to normal position and landing in a field. He looses consciousness and you can finally breathe. Extraordinary sequence.


Ensued is the most simple of stories. Whip wakes up in a hospital bed, six people have died (including Katrina), more than half were injured. Who is to blame? No Cold-War syndrome, no post-9/11 trauma, no cabal of any kind. But this newly congratulated hero, the hand of the latest miracle of God, had a toxicological exam made. Who is to blame? Is he the wrong man, the right man, the righteous man? Is he a savior or a killer? The airplane was probably defective, as grants Charlie (Bruce Greenwood), his friend and representative of the pilots union; but he was drunk and high too. Yet, "Nobody could have landed that plane like I did.", Whip retorts. Hugh Lang (Don Cheaddle), a lawyer specialized in going against NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) investigations, is the only one capable of getting Whitaker through the agency's hearing  - he can annul the toxicological analysis and focus the defense on mechanical deficiency.

Whip takes refuge on his father's farm to stay away from the media, sweeps off any trace of booze and weed and tries to reconnect. He can't reach his ex-wife nor his son, but he has met Nicole (great surprise by Kelly Relly) at the hospital. She deserves her own POV not only for a wise foreshadowing (why is cocaine like a panic-button sometimes) but also to prove we are in for well-rounded characters beyond a sole, typical, action movie plot function. She represents the hopeful fringe to cure, compassion and affection, while his friend Harling Mays (John Goodman in his typical 7-minute-overall show-stealing) is a bohemian drug-dealer capable of cheering up Rose DeWitt Bukater when she's back on the lifeboat.


The drama progresses on Zemeckis' calm, observant, introspective camera. Quiet places, soft light. What could have usually been a third-act resurrection (e.g., flushing down marijuana; trying an AA meeting) are tests, failed tests, on the middle of the story. Turbulence that instead sends Whitaker on his own personal emotive steep downfall. The legal drama angle keeps a large pace but every new scene comes underlined by the protagonist's moral struggle - he is awfully tired of lies. Two surprising turns at the end - what he needs to go to the hearing of the NTSB (headed by Melissa Leo) and what happens there (delicious metaphors and character arc). Then you ask, what kind of man his he?