Movie-Jay

Ironically, MAGA movies are the sentimental snowflakes of cinema.

My favorite quality of a Tarantino movie is that somehow he gets me to care about the characters while the narrative is filled with irony treading upon satire, but never crossing the line.

Another reason why I think he's so great is that he has a way with violence. A lot of people were shocked and appalled by "Pulp Fiction" because we really felt those kills. It meant something when they happened.

Same with Bridget Fonda's kill in "Jackie Brown". Absolutely stunning moment.

My problem with "Django Unchained" is that the violence becomes generic. I can't believe I just wrote that. I couldn't believe I thought that about three-quarters of the way in.

The joy of this movie is in that first hour with Christoph Waltz using his quick wits to get out of two huge jams. His charms are so effective that we let it go that it would be totally implausible for him and Django to have gotten out of those two pickles alive.

And then the movie appears to be building us up to some kind of payoff that just isn't satisfying. It just sort of goes the way of most spaghetti westerns, with tons of people getting shot up real good, instead of being turned on its head in usual QT fashion.

Perhaps one of the reasons for the generic, cartoonish violence towards the end is that we're not fully invested in Django as a character. Schultz is the character we gravitate towards and the only face we're watching up there no matter what shot he's in. Django never breaks free from being just a mythical creature of sorts.

I thought Kerry Washington was wasted.

I'm sorry, but this movie just doesn't have the gathering power from scene to scene the way "Pulp Fiction", "Jackie Brown" or the two Kill Bills did.

This is OK QT, not great QT.