Opinion on the Oscars

It's been a week since the Academy Awards, and I'm sure, if you did follow them, you've already heard a great number of opinions on them. However, since I haven't had time to watch any films (except for two in class, but I don't think they should count), and since I did go out of my way to watch all the films nominated for Best Picture, it would seem odd if I didn't at least write a little bit on what I thought of them and who won. So here I am at two in the morning taking time away from sleeping in order to write here. You can thank me later!

Well, the Oscars were incredibly predictable this year. All the big categories gave awards to those who were predicted to win. Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role went to Jennifer Lawrence, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role went to Daniel Day-Lewis, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role went to Anne Hathaway, and Best Picture went to Argo. I was super excited to see Christoph Waltz win his second Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, though I would have been equally happy to see Philip Seymour Hoffman get it. I'm glad Life of Pi grabbed some Oscars - the most, actually, for one film this year, including Ang Lee winning for Best Director! Best Achievement in Cinematography was rightfully awarded to Claudio Miranda for his contribution to Life of Pi, and Mychael Danna wrote an awesome score for the film, so he deserved an Oscar for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score. The theme to Skyfall won, and rightfully so. Searching for Sugar Man won for Best Documentary, and I thought Malik Bendjelloul was wonderful for claiming Rodriguez as the greatest musician in the world, hehe. Although I didn't see it, the creators of the winning Documentary Short Inocente were really inspiring and made me want to watch it... Really, I could go on, but sadly, I don't really have the time, and since we're all subject to our own opinions, me just gloating over everyone I was happy to see win really seems like a waste.

I was disappointed that everything was so straight-cut for the Oscars. I mean, while there were some films that deserved the position - like Amour for Best Foreign Film - I really would have liked to see Quvenzhané Wallis win for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. It's also more interesting when a film that was almost guaranteed an Oscar according to the public loses to the underdog. Sadly, this year, nothing of the sort occured. The award ceremony itself, well, while it wasn't the worst, was not all that interesting. I thought some of the performances seemed super rushed, and the guests that came out to speak were not all that engaging. But anyway, I'm not here to judge that - I just watch the films.

Overall, I can't say I'm mad with who won, but I don't see any of the films that won really being extremely memorable. Hopefully 2013 brings out some creative genius that will be recognised for years to come.

Review XXXV - Django Unchained

Review XXXV
Django Unchained (2012)

Happy new year to everyone! I decided to start out 2013 by watching a Quentin Tarantino film, and it was his latest theatrical release, Django Unchained. The film stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson, among others.

The film begins with a scene of a group of black slaves being forced to walk in chains across the country. While being transported by their owners, the Speck brothers (James Remar and James Russo), they are stopped by a man who appears to be a dentist, the German Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). He asks the slaves which one worked for the Brittle brothers previously. Django (Jamie Foxx) is that man, and after quite a persuasive argument with the Speck brothers (cough), Dr. Schultz buys Django. Dr. Schultz reveals himself to be a bounty hunter (he hadn't practised dentristry in five years) and explains there is a bounty on the Brittle brothers, but as he does not know what they look like, he is in need of Django's help. Django agrees, and a partnership is formed. However, Djanhgo's main goal is to find the man who bought his wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). This turns out to be Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a plantation owner and Mandingo enthusiast, and Django will stop at nothing to retrieve his wife back.

The first thing I want to talk about, no, need to talk about, is the soundtrack. If there's one thing Quentin Tarantino can do right in his movies (and, in my opinion, he does many "right" things, but anyway), it would be the music he chooses. The film is a Western, and music from several Spaghetti Westerns are taken, but there also some R&B and hip pop, which may sound inappropriate, but it worked well in this film. The film was enjoyable even just for the music. It worked well with each scene, and while it was jarring to just cut off the wonderful music after a scene was done (slight exaggeration) which seemed to happen often, it was superb.

Now for the film itself. I thought the story was interesting. It takes on a different light on the slave trade that occurred in the United States, similar to that of how Inglourious Basterds took World War II in a different light in relation to the Jews. Obviously there still exists some more realistic elements to the film (e.g. the language used and violence the blacks endured), but this is Quentin Tarantino's depiction of it, in a sense. It's definitely original, but what more can we expect from this director? If you've seen any Quentin Tarantino movie, you know he takes the B-movie element of originality and brought it into the mainstream media with near perfect success. I'm over-praising, sorry. The story is a love story, but the main theme is slave exploitation. It's always present, it's always there, but with a twist. How many times have I said "twist" and "light" in this paragraph? Too many. It's a Western, so it has violence in it, obviously, and let's just add the fact that it is a Quentin Tarantino movie, so while there is gore, it's overdone to make it comical. The film also had its taste of black (ahhh, pun intended!) and dark humour, which makes you laugh, despite the seriousness of the situation. I love dark humour, and this film had just the right amount.

The acting. Well, I don't really think I need to go in detail. Look for yourself - Jamie Foxx (won an Oscar), Christoph Waltz (won an Oscar, and he's Austrian - yes, I am totally of Austrian/German/Lithuanian descent partly), Leonardo DiCaprio (nominated for an Oscar three times), and Samuel L. Jackson (nominated for an Oscar). Hell, throw away the Oscar and other awards bit, and I'm sure you can name them in multiple films you enjoyed. These people can act, thus it's only expected that they would do wonderfully in their roles. They did. Jamie Foxx is a strong character who is haunted by the memory of his wife and forced to succumb to the segregated and racist Southern peoples and laws. Christoph Waltz plays a sympathetic and apathetic man who doesn't care about the colour of your skin, but, rather, cares about the justice he sees fit. Leonardo DiCaprio comes off, to me, as slightly caring towards the black population, but that slight care only goes to the exceptional - the one in 10 000. Truly a passionate play. Samuel L. Jackson is, well, a jerk, but he plays him well. He's in a good place in his life and will never give it up. He reminded me a bit of Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks. Not to the extreme of hating the blacks and praying to be white, but still speaking down to them. The other actors who took on the roles of being racist Southerns (like Don Johnson, for example) did a great job as well. Kerry Washington, well, it's hard to praise considering she wasn't a protagonist in the film - more of an objective, and please, I did not mean that offensively. Still, she nonetheless proved a good actress in the intense scenes she was in. She also spoke German wonderfully!

I wrote a lot more than I normally do. Sorry about that... I'd give the film eight point two stars on ten. The plot was great, though the film did feel like it was dragging near the end. It could have been wrapped up earlier on, but the ending itself was still good - typical Quentin Tarantino, but I suppose that alone could tell you whether or not this film is for you.