cult film freak: leonardo dicaprio

Showing posts with label leonardo dicaprio. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 7/19/2023 / No comments / 2019 , al pacino , brad pitt , bruce dern , counter-culture , dark comedy , exploitation , hangout , hollywood satire , leonardo dicaprio , madisen beaty , margot robie , new , quentin tarantino , thriller

REVIEW CRUISING THROUGH 'ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEierViQkA7CjN-ie-R-rUPHjZaU9AYiDXojRL_rxStIspYAGyzZoAtP309hQ0GIiAIZz4qn1g0NtdZIhfTn5FDxxnJNhyPr9doMjUDondR5hmsIF2tdlliDDekfLv_KdRq6krqMynuUzShQ2qIMbciZSoxncwwR2QTzw_ruDy_iBGBqkguUx-m9fMsccqz9/s2048/brighter.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1033" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEierViQkA7CjN-ie-R-rUPHjZaU9AYiDXojRL_rxStIspYAGyzZoAtP309hQ0GIiAIZz4qn1g0NtdZIhfTn5FDxxnJNhyPr9doMjUDondR5hmsIF2tdlliDDekfLv_KdRq6krqMynuUzShQ2qIMbciZSoxncwwR2QTzw_ruDy_iBGBqkguUx-m9fMsccqz9/s16000/brighter.jpg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Make an important note while <i>experiencing</i> Quentin Tarantino's entirely different kind of revisionist-history revenge picture: It not only centers around real life counter-culture figures Sharon Tate; Charles Manson and Family (including main slayer Tex Watson and skanky moll Squeaky Fromme); a love-lorn Steve McQueen; a rich, contented Roman Polanski; and pixie hairstylist Jay Sebring... <br>
<br>
There's also the last of the victims, Donald "Shorty" Shea, a would-be stuntman who thought the hippie horde was taking advantage of his friend/employer George Spahn at the formerly-active Spahn Movie Ranch: the infamous location where Manson and his followers made their very own drug-fueled, Beatles-blaring, conspiracy-plotting, paranoiac playground, ultimately setting stage for the "Helter Skelter Murders" that infamously included an eight-month pregnant Tate...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

2019, al pacino, brad pitt, bruce dern, counter-culture, dark comedy, exploitation, hangout, hollywood satire, leonardo dicaprio, madisen beaty, margot robie, new, quentin tarantino, thriller

REVIEW CRUISING THROUGH 'ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD'

Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD Rating: **** Make an important note while experiencing Quentin Tarantino...

LEONARDO DICAPRIO & JENNFER LAWRENCE IN 'DON'T LOOK UP'

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKBUqVcHUrtxZIJSoXj2eo3JIA2FVB1tytNFO6wvbh9nZ4c6YZP6y37W1Po3T6lwFHBcx00jUWIM3AcsiDO2cZrQe4Do2Ms0oatx4BY2qJNRy5LxGW8X8mVVWHYyDW_UJSqA31x3a8Pj8oPIuvZf9btX0h9XBVXTDbHqOUaKzQ7d42fxiWKePC-IKwSA=s1692" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="1692" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKBUqVcHUrtxZIJSoXj2eo3JIA2FVB1tytNFO6wvbh9nZ4c6YZP6y37W1Po3T6lwFHBcx00jUWIM3AcsiDO2cZrQe4Do2Ms0oatx4BY2qJNRy5LxGW8X8mVVWHYyDW_UJSqA31x3a8Pj8oPIuvZf9btX0h9XBVXTDbHqOUaKzQ7d42fxiWKePC-IKwSA=s16000"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: DON'T LOOK UP Year: 2021 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Adam McKay's DON'T LOOK UP is as much a satire of <span aria-level="1" class="yKMVIe" role="heading">the gigantic-falling-space-rock-about-to-destroy-Earth DEEP IMPACT and ARMAGEDDON as MARS ATTACKS was to INDEPENDENCE DAY, and the anticipated political bias by the unapologetic liberal director isn't completely one-sided since capitalistic big-tech Mark Rylance channels mousy Covid guru Dr. Anthony Fauci </span><span aria-level="1" class="yKMVIe" role="heading">— while Meryl Streep's intentionally-vapid female American President suffers a nude-text scandal liken to New York's once-beloved Democrat Anthony Weiner... </span></p><p></p><p></p><p><span aria-level="1" class="yKMVIe" role="heading">But the two genuine main-characters are both intensely camera-shy, awkwardly idealistic, science-minded astronomers, one a student the other academically-legit in Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio respectively (the latter falling into what aging sex symbols rely on when the movie itself has to continuously mention how handsome they are)...</span></p><p><span aria-level="1" class="yKMVIe" role="heading"><span></span></span></p>

2021, ada mckay, disaster, jennifer lawrence, leonardo dicaprio, mark rylance, meryl streep, netflix, new, political, satire

LEONARDO DICAPRIO & JENNFER LAWRENCE IN 'DON'T LOOK UP'

Title: DON'T LOOK UP Year: 2021 Rating: **1/2 Adam McKay's DON'T LOOK UP is as much a satire of the gigantic-falling-space-rock-...

REVIEWS OF REVENANT & MAN IN THE WILDERNESS

john huston, leonardo dicaprio, remake, richard harris, tom hardy, western

REVIEWS OF REVENANT & MAN IN THE WILDERNESS

year: 2016 In MAN IN THE WILDERNESS, a 1971 Western, or, for that gritty, no-nonsense, ultra-realistic period, more of an anti-Western.....

LEO HANGS AT THE BEACH

danny boyle, leonardo dicaprio, nineties, robert carlyle, tilda swinton

LEO HANGS AT THE BEACH

After the big famous tragic ship sank into the icy depths, Leo was paid off by wandering Danny Boyle's THE BEACH It was one of his f...

MARTIN DIRECTS LEO IN THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyNUtT5cIrc1UaIA1bG3AxxWIfKXqspbwGY0hXuZWgKoGSSL9SR6utfIxnmmQPmSDivRQ3Z5tDfrxqo-B6ROIRKODj1bA4AAtsflxZ5yvMXBHovjYDIPuQWlvpK_AION510ZQkS49RzGM/s1600/wolf_of_wall_street_fan_poster_by_crqsf-d6p5x0s.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyNUtT5cIrc1UaIA1bG3AxxWIfKXqspbwGY0hXuZWgKoGSSL9SR6utfIxnmmQPmSDivRQ3Z5tDfrxqo-B6ROIRKODj1bA4AAtsflxZ5yvMXBHovjYDIPuQWlvpK_AION510ZQkS49RzGM/s400/wolf_of_wall_street_fan_poster_by_crqsf-d6p5x0s.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 rating: *1/2</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Motivational Speakers have gotten a bad reputation throughout the years, and perhaps rightly so. They can talk up a storm yet there’s not much behind the curtain...<br />
<br />
The same can be said of Leonardo DiCaprio’s energetic performance in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, providing intense pep-rally speeches without any real games to follow: In fact the narration by DiCaprio’s con artist stockbroker Jordan Belfort gives just about everything away. Imagine if, during the first minute of GOODFELLAS, Ray Liotta described the mafia as a bunch of worthless, lowlife, backstabbing killers: What's left to learn and experience?   <br />
<br />
Based on a true story centering on unapologetic greed and making gross amounts of money, director Martin Scorsese provides so much flash there’s very little substance, despite several attempts for a worthwhile baseline...<br />
<br />
When Belfort starts his career as a low-end stockbroker, he almost suffers the necessary hunger before getting a quick bellyful of other people's money. Instead, right off the bat, his boss (Matthew McConaughey) unveils the nefarious sleight-of-hand before it’s even played out. And later on, as Belfort’s team of shady brokers join his own Wall Street corporation, with the exception of sidekick Donnie Azoff, played by A-list sidekick Jonah Hill, no one… not even Belfort’s gorgeous trophy wife… amounts to anything beyond wallpaper.  <br />
<br />
One scene works the best: when a straight-laced FBI agent meets with Belfort on his yacht, there’s a beginning, middle and end to a somewhat intriguing conversation. Here we finally learn what our antihero's up against. Perhaps an example of an <i>honest stockbroker</i> would make us learn more about what makes Belfort particularly crooked. Besides an immense rockstar appetite for women and drugs, we never get past the man’s perpetual debauchery. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcZBsIBIquZ4SZkxA4OjLIFtYOvmbPAILhYkRk80sg42qn-zqdBUKarfIulZOgn-NbkV1V9_aLzStQI1OeGhKFo-3zxqFms1z5tsOlzVbtcBXOoY2ibaUZtcQ2XPta3eExyeUToKUsiWQ/s1600/Leonardo-Dicaprio-Wolf-Of-Wall-Street-11062012-05-e1371532246946.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcZBsIBIquZ4SZkxA4OjLIFtYOvmbPAILhYkRk80sg42qn-zqdBUKarfIulZOgn-NbkV1V9_aLzStQI1OeGhKFo-3zxqFms1z5tsOlzVbtcBXOoY2ibaUZtcQ2XPta3eExyeUToKUsiWQ/s200/Leonardo-Dicaprio-Wolf-Of-Wall-Street-11062012-05-e1371532246946.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leo and his Trophy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This bloated and overlong howler of a WOLF could very well contend with SHOWGIRLS if an otherwise talented movie star, along with his iconic director/collaborator, weren’t on board...<br />
<br />
When Belfort and Donnie take too many drugs there’s a surreal twenty minutes that seemed like part of another movie… perhaps LESS THAN ZERO if written by Judd Apatow… Which is nothing compared to a storm-riding yacht sequence that should have ended like Leo’s other ship movie, sparing us an extra half-hour... <br />
<br />
Bringing us back to the Motivational Speaker concept: If DiCaprio’s best moments involve convincing a group of born cheaters they’d be better off rich and dishonest, he’s merely preaching to the choir. The rest of us might need a reason to trust this jovially narcissistic, intentionally likable shyster before buying three long hours of his crap.

2013, biopic, jonah hill, leonardo dicaprio, martin scorsese

MARTIN DIRECTS LEO IN THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

year: 2013 rating: *1/2 Motivational Speakers have gotten a bad reputation throughout the years, and perhaps rightly so. They can talk u...

Written by James M. Tate / 5/10/2013 / No comments / 2013 , based on literature , carey mulligan , drama , joel edgerton , leonardo dicaprio , romance , tobey maguire

LEO DiCAPRIO IN THE 2013 ADAPTATION OF THE GREAT GATSBY

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9PHH0IwKcepjdZX3WwLIZCk6QPnaPIYnLDdGWdJkVUQv1_4ddgeO7CEbaldDnBZjU4Yqr_aOo8UDR8O9_WkykDG47kKFRyUw3lHA7QUwL9SDnfpK8nsrIGKfMt8H_szkjO7s6L8p4dU/s1600/great-gatsby-leo-w724.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9PHH0IwKcepjdZX3WwLIZCk6QPnaPIYnLDdGWdJkVUQv1_4ddgeO7CEbaldDnBZjU4Yqr_aOo8UDR8O9_WkykDG47kKFRyUw3lHA7QUwL9SDnfpK8nsrIGKfMt8H_szkjO7s6L8p4dU/s1600/great-gatsby-leo-w724.jpg" width="268" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 rating: *</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There’s a humorously subtle moment towards the end of THE GREAT GATSBY when, after the title character erupts in a jealousy-driven tantrum, our humble narrator, Nick Carraway, played by a fitfully cast Tobey Maguire, forgets it’s his thirtieth birthday. Too bad because Carraway makes for a worthy pawn/middleman in a complicated love triangle, and eventually the audience forgets about him as well...<br />
<br />
No surprise as the story’s really about Jay Gatsby, who has tons of money, a giant mansion and parties to end all parties. The closer we get… or rather, the closer Nick Carraway gets … the more can be distinguished of a man who once seemed infallible. Turns out Jay’s got an immense crush on Daisy Buchanan, played by an underwhelming Carey Mulligan – she’s an apple of his eye and not without a worm.<br />
<br />
That’s a cue for one of the more interesting characters and our sole antagonist: Joel Edgerton’s Tom, Daisy’s polo playing playboy husband, is liken to old school villains created solely to be hissed at (think Billy Zane in TITANIC). To manipulate a modern audience he’s given racist views, and at one point even disagrees that the sun is getting hotter. Either way, we know he’s not the right man for Daisy because, well, Gatsby loved her first.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisPGC85iimcNMFJ_9MlExIkul66MDYxTgY_wrQa39KM9xO0fthAuCsSQ6njrnJTBrEjl4cwEKw73M79_gz6w17SP155fmWdGOS7kny5UB38iR7kxyVc7WT67KkhAEn7Ss7xETzDA-Om1w/s1600/ann-ueno-great-gatsby-book-cover-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisPGC85iimcNMFJ_9MlExIkul66MDYxTgY_wrQa39KM9xO0fthAuCsSQ6njrnJTBrEjl4cwEKw73M79_gz6w17SP155fmWdGOS7kny5UB38iR7kxyVc7WT67KkhAEn7Ss7xETzDA-Om1w/s1600/ann-ueno-great-gatsby-book-cover-2.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
ROMEO AND JULIET director Baz Luhrmann, no stranger to MTV style excess, brings the vibrant pulse of the roaring twenties to life – yet there’s not a genuine feeling we’re really in that era. Could it be the abundance of hip-hop and/or rave music playing while bodies flail and booze pours from endless champagne bottles? Or perhaps it’s the impressive but overall distracting 3D that gives F. Scott Fitzergerald’s human novel somewhat of a corny superhero vibe: Then again, Gatsby<i> is </i>a brooding millionaire whose power lies in his secrets, and vice versa. <br />
<br />
Beneath all the glitz, within the bombastically colorful playground of high society, is a familiar tale – not much different than a high school romance – about a guy who loves a girl he can’t get. It’s that simple. And perhaps the novel’s brilliant writing made up for the fact there’s more theme than plot running through those timeless pages. Yet on the big screen, once the party’s over and we’re left with two otherwise classy men competing like Neanderthals for the love of a vulnerable woman, it’s a downhill climb.<br />
<br />
Leonardo DiCaprio takes a little getting used to in the title role. He’s not really large enough a presence to fill the shoes of such a famous literary icon. But his melancholy expressions of a loveless soul make up for the initial letdown of seeing him for the first time after the grandiose build-up of his character. Beneath the layers, either shown in flashbacks or described incessantly by an awestruck Carraway, DiCaprio, always attempting to challenge himself with eclectic roles, gives Gatsby a genuine aura that unfortunately this big budget, special effects driven extravaganza takes away from.

2013, based on literature, carey mulligan, drama, joel edgerton, leonardo dicaprio, romance, tobey maguire

LEO DiCAPRIO IN THE 2013 ADAPTATION OF THE GREAT GATSBY

year: 2013 rating: * There’s a humorously subtle moment towards the end of THE GREAT GATSBY when, after the title character erupts in a ...

Written by James M. Tate / 2/27/2013 / 2 Comments / 2012 , blaxploitation , christoph waltz , dennis christopher , exploitation , james remar , jamie foxx , leonardo dicaprio , quentin tarantino , samuel l. jackson

QUENTIN TARANTINO DIRECTS DJANGO UNCHAINED

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCEgp2cmIxG9cm5-haft342r_goJRfTanDpxsO8wrZO313lpMauAcwCsG-eqrKjyukUGM5gex0Azu6k5EtPDPuHRaLuTT2RWKJWKMpWEulkgfYh-fw8nwypRCATZr96SGJsbuJUjvn3to/s1600/unchained+django.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCEgp2cmIxG9cm5-haft342r_goJRfTanDpxsO8wrZO313lpMauAcwCsG-eqrKjyukUGM5gex0Azu6k5EtPDPuHRaLuTT2RWKJWKMpWEulkgfYh-fw8nwypRCATZr96SGJsbuJUjvn3to/s16000/unchained+django.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>year: 2012 cast: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Don Johnson rating: **1/2</u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Modern exploitation guru Quentin Tarantino serves up historical revenge once again. His last film, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, had the German Nazis getting theirs, and now, with a good German on board (the villain from the last film) we’re out to set things right in the American Deep South, two years shy of the Civil War…<br />
<br />
Although the first half takes place on the road from Texas to Mississippi as bounty hunting dentist Dr. King Schultz recruits a slave named Django to help him find three outlaw brothers (Django alone knows their appearance)... These are the more spirited and deliciously cutthroat segments as our heroes partner up and, as Django puts it, “Kill white people for money.” <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlTft1Tx88yDRp_OK2C14q2oev5_kPgxZFJAUvBhPiyi1t7FsE4vqo181grrNiuAiCXKREUfazlxzYr8uqwkR__tfHJ5JAhkWoTcNMi2J2ltUU1YhfmXkmjSHNWbhXzdIv18fayVPOOmE/s1600/ddd1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlTft1Tx88yDRp_OK2C14q2oev5_kPgxZFJAUvBhPiyi1t7FsE4vqo181grrNiuAiCXKREUfazlxzYr8uqwkR__tfHJ5JAhkWoTcNMi2J2ltUU1YhfmXkmjSHNWbhXzdIv18fayVPOOmE/s320/ddd1.jpg" width="178" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christoph Waltz</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Christoph Waltz (Schultz) and Jamie Foxx (Django) are a good team, and while making mince meat out of their targets, the bloodshed is something to marvel. But Tarantino throws in awkward bouts of humor, derailing the intensity of the moment. One particular scene where a group of rednecks complain about not seeing through masked eyeholes (including a very distracting cameo by Jonah Hill) feels like Mel Brooks clumsily intruding Sergio Leone. <br />
<br />
After Django helps Schultz with his job, it’s time for the doctor to aid his more-than-capable partner rescue Django's wife Broomhilda, who resides at “Candyland,” an infamous Antebellum plantation run by the sinister though much too youthful Calvin Candie. <br />
<br />
While Leonardo DiCaprio has more than capable acting skills, and savors the gloriously tyrannical racist dialog, there could have/should have been a backstory on why the owner of a plantation looks fresh out of finishing school. For a man who’s supposed to have a lifetime of seething venom oozing from his veins, those desperately piercing blue eyes seem more confused and frustrated than cold and calculating, making Tarantino’s purposely overboard racism more of a crutch than weapon for the DiCaprio character (perhaps Don Johnson, who played a wily brothel owner in a previous scene, could have taken this role… he had the age going for him and with that, soulless eyes that look like he’s seen – and been through – pretty much everything).<br />
<br />
But Leo’s not alone. He’s helped along by the most wicked of Uncle Tom’s played by Samuel Jackson, whose spitefully cantankerous Stephen figures things out before his boss. This is a nice role for the QT stock actor, who has sleepwalked through many roles post PULP FICTION and JACKIE BROWN. Although his feeble mannerisms often slow down the performance, and at times he seems to be performing. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJekmyVBtl3Hf5LV5-j2toEneWVeMxGfOV2Jgmj4B14pZ982j0jwDfq1iNfe4-ev78F3dSrJdwGi-yTvMaZsL1LArGHNCMomVcPnR9F1d3HTTtPeJRmldB-Ni9YziCpvqbgg_On65B6E/s1600/1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJekmyVBtl3Hf5LV5-j2toEneWVeMxGfOV2Jgmj4B14pZ982j0jwDfq1iNfe4-ev78F3dSrJdwGi-yTvMaZsL1LArGHNCMomVcPnR9F1d3HTTtPeJRmldB-Ni9YziCpvqbgg_On65B6E/s320/1.jpg" width="174" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamie Foxx</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The main problem with UNCHAINED is how long Tarantino stretches scenes with dialog. While the actors, especially Waltz and DiCaprio, have a blast with colorful monologues, you’ll often forget there are other characters on board – and most of the speeches fail to serve the plot: the duo pretending to buy Mandingo slave fighters when they really want to free Django's girl, a slave. And unlike the movies QT grew up on, especially the Leone Westerns, there's never a genuine feeling of being outdoors. Even the exterior shots, especially the opening chain gang sequence, feels contrived and constrained.<br />
<br />
With all the deals and discussions going on, the much-anticipated reunion of Django and Broomhilda is lost in the mix. Not even Django’s surreptitious trigger finger (whenever she's treated badly) adds worthy suspense, which, during this overlong stint at Candyland, is very much needed. But there’s not all downtime at the mansion: a particular Candie lecture involving a slave’s skull does successfully perk things up, providing DiCaprio a good five minutes of sheer unapologetic villainy. Then, after a shocking twist, it’s Django alone who must save his girl.<br />
<br />
Jamie Foxx, having played a quietly brooding second fiddle to Waltz so far, makes up for lost time with heated gusto. This third and final act involving a group of Australians being duped by Django, who’s learned the art of waxing poetic, is replete with the bare-knuckle action we’ve anticipated (although large chunks of bloody guts flying off each gunshot victim seems like Tarantino doing an overboard imitation of himself). There are some decent montage sequences, but some of the music, especially that of the rap nature, seems too modern for the time portrayed. And the editing feels somewhat limp without QT’s longtime collaborator Sally Menke, who died a few years back: Particular flashbacks and hallucinations are often confusing and awkward.  <br />
<br />An okay ride, much better than Quentin’s last two films (BASTERDS and DEATH PROOF), yet there needed a much tighter/sharper vehicle for our hero to truly deserve the fanfare of the literally explosive finale. Instead of being the title character he mostly seems a sidekick. <br />

2012, blaxploitation, christoph waltz, dennis christopher, exploitation, james remar, jamie foxx, leonardo dicaprio, quentin tarantino, samuel l. jackson

QUENTIN TARANTINO DIRECTS DJANGO UNCHAINED

year: 2012 cast: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Don Johnson rating: **1/2 Modern exploitation guru Quentin Tarantino se...

Written by James M. Tate / 11/16/2011 / No comments / biopic , clint eastwood , leonardo dicaprio , tens

J. EDGAR

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuwlhKXS2gJi6YnZ6dciu3jr1q9aBcN_kEXxYk7ZH7ocCKZeEKpboiP4a4Wa1E2DqdSWDJIAV_d54h0gK04OvYyv_15obowQ6m00SVQEDdbvZykShuWogq5vWy2qxG3ALAbkU-20VmodID/s1600/tumblr_ln5yf5y8ez1qfo293.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5673960247126234498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuwlhKXS2gJi6YnZ6dciu3jr1q9aBcN_kEXxYk7ZH7ocCKZeEKpboiP4a4Wa1E2DqdSWDJIAV_d54h0gK04OvYyv_15obowQ6m00SVQEDdbvZykShuWogq5vWy2qxG3ALAbkU-20VmodID/s200/tumblr_ln5yf5y8ez1qfo293.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 138px; height: 200px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title:</span> J. EDGAR<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">year:</span> 2011<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">cast:</span> Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Armie Hammer, Ken Howard<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">rating:</span> *<br /><br />Never  has a movie trailer been so deceiving, teasing an epic biographical  drama about the rise and fall of a powerful man with secrets that ruined  him. But there’s no rise to merit a fall… or much of anything else for  that matter. Leonardo DiCaprio, playing J. Edgar Hoover, bounces from  one boring scene (and/or time period) to the next… displaying no  qualities of a person who, although flawed and now considered a joke,  did make an impact. His innovations in fingerprinting, and the climb  from a snoopy young agent to the head of the F.B.I., are treated as  importantly as a midnight snack. And the only revelations are that he  loved his mother and was a closeted homosexual, but even these stories  play out like bad soaps. Segments following taut historical situations,  like the Lindbergh kidnapping, build no suspense – leading only to  Hoover screwing things up: time and time again. And most of the  side-characters, from biographers to politicians to fellow agents to his  closest friends, are used merely as counterpoint-mouthpieces:  questioning everything Hoover says just in case the audience can’t  figure out each lie on their own. DiCaprio is far better here than THE  AVIATOR, where he was completely miscast playing a grownup. With  desperate, narrowed eyes fervently seeking purpose, he does <span style="font-style: italic;">try</span>  hard... even in the fake looking old man makeup… but with a script so  lacking of any personal or historical significance, it feels like he’s  treading water. But the worst crime, exceeding the fact most of the  dialog occurs between two people who'd never reveal these conversations,  is the dull direction by Clint Eastwood, who should either retire or go  back to making action movies, because this clunker has no pulse  whatsoever.

biopic, clint eastwood, leonardo dicaprio, tens

J. EDGAR

title: J. EDGAR year: 2011 cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Armie Hammer, Ken Howard rating: * Never has a movie trailer been so d...

Written by James M. Tate / 1/01/2011 / No comments / action , blockbuster , christopher nolan , leonardo dicaprio , science-fiction , tens

INCEPTION

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH_IPIIOV5tuGJoT6ppEaiioLiCDt7bbOt3SjU2vtsLxDZCoqfwiDnPAgfU_IV7TqXwYlgb_DQs-fzWbZRZdjtURg1GD7jnMLFFWO-otA1jjB9LcR25iENASCHDMmhtyTi7bKMX_xRttQ/s1600/leonardo-dicaprio-greensburg.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5557447816822127970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH_IPIIOV5tuGJoT6ppEaiioLiCDt7bbOt3SjU2vtsLxDZCoqfwiDnPAgfU_IV7TqXwYlgb_DQs-fzWbZRZdjtURg1GD7jnMLFFWO-otA1jjB9LcR25iENASCHDMmhtyTi7bKMX_xRttQ/s200/leonardo-dicaprio-greensburg.jpg" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 140px;" /></a><div><b>title:</b> INCEPTION</div><div><b>year: </b>2010</div><div><b>cast:</b> Leonardo DiCaprio</div><div><b>rating</b>: **</div><div><br /></div>The premise of entering another person's dreams is intriguing enough, as are scenes where Leonardo DiCaprio explains, often visually with applied mind-trip tours, how the whole thing works. But a confusing plot (or plots) and overlong action scenes distract from the essential element of dreams and inception, as do detours about Leo's dead wife which, after a while, becomes the entire film: leaving the other characters... fellow dream-teamers, clients and villains... in the dust. Director Christopher Nolan loves his dialog, but (like always) uses way too much of it. Perhaps a YOU ARE HERE red dot would help what becomes<i> information overload</i> after a while.

action, blockbuster, christopher nolan, leonardo dicaprio, science-fiction, tens