Django Unchained was the first movie I watched and I was very excited to see it. I had heard great things about this movie and it received pretty good reviews. This film is about a former slave named Django, who joins a white Doctor named Dr. King Schultz, and the two become hit-men, hunting brutal slave owners and wanted criminals. This movie takes place in the 1800's before the Civil War, in the South. Being an African-American in the South during this time period, Django did not receive much respect from others. Django and Dr. Schultz visit several plantations and hunt down wanted criminals, killing dozens. They later visit a man named Calvin Candle, and they stay on his plantation for a good part of the film. My favorite scene from the movie took place in Candle's "big house" towards the end of the film after Dr. Schultz is killed and Django proceeds to kill about twenty to thirty men who are attempting to kill him. The action, violence, and just overall excitement of this scene was unlike any other I had ever seen. Tarantino is not scared to show a lot of blood, and there was a ton in this scene. This movie was also full of harsh language, which is typical for Tarantino films and makes the movies seem more realistic. The casting in this movie I think was also very good and Jamie Foxx, Cristoph Waltz, and Leonardo DiCaprio all did a great job in creating riveting and unique characters. The camerawork and cinematography in this film was also incredible. There were a lot of quick camera movements in the action scenes, point of view camera angles, and long dialogue scenes. The music in Tarantino films is also very unique because the songs playing in the background usually do not correspond to the time period, for example there was a Tupac song in Django Unchained.
The second film I watched was Kill Bill I. This is saying a lot because of how violent the other two films were, but I think Kill Bill was the most violent of the three. This film is about "The Bride," a former assassin, who is shot at her wedding by her former boss Bill. The Bride was also pregnant at the time and she falls into a coma for five years. After waking up from her coma, without her baby, she is hungry for revenge. She sets out to find and ultimately "Kill Bill." She collects several deadly weapons along the way and fights a number of Bill's accomplices. At the end of the film, she finally tracks down Bill. This film was probably my least favorite of the three, but I still really enjoyed it. I found the story lines of the other two to be more interesting and I thought this one was just too much senseless violence, however it was still very entertaining and full of great action and fighting. A unique thing about the cinematography in this film is the use of black and white for parts of the movie. I have researched this online and many people said that black and white was used as a "homage to past films," but others have said that because the movie was so violent, black and white need to be used in order for it to earn an "R" rating and be able to be shown in theaters. The characteristics that were evident in Django Unchained continued in this film, intense action and violence, harsh language, unique plot, and incredible casting.
The third film and final film that I watched was Pulp Fiction. I keep going back and forth between this and Django about which one is my favorite, but I thought both were fantastic. Like Django Unchained, this movie is about two hit-men, however these are modern day hit-men. This film was yet again, very unique. The movie was broken down into three separate tales. The Bonnie situation is about Jules and Vincent attempting to get rid of a dead body that they accidentally shot in their own car, and they go to their friend Jimmie's house to get help with the situation. Another tale involves the two hit-mens boss' wife, who overdoses on Heroin and Vince has to perform a miraculous recovery to save her life. The third tale is about the Gold Watch. This is all about timing, and how different things would be if you waited another few seconds. This is on display here because Butch is obsessed with this "Gold Watch" and time. He enters his apartment in which he finds Vince in the bathroom. Had Butch entered the apartment a few seconds later he may have been killed, but because of his good timing, he was able to save his own life and kill Vince, due to the fact that he was in the bathroom. My favorite scene was the "Pumpkin and Honey Bunny scene" in which two pretty crazy criminals are attempting to murder a diner, but Jules and Vince decide to intervene. The hilarious and also intense dialogue that takes place in this film make it really entertaining. Jules and Vince are these violent hit-men, however they have some of the funniest and most ridiculous conversations. I really liked this film and the incredible action and violence was on display once again. I also thought John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson were really cool and perfect characters to the play the roles of Jules and Vince. The camerawork and cinematography was also very cool with fast camera cuts, long dialogue scenes, and also some comedy mixed in there as well.
These three films were all very different from each other, but also similar in a few ways. The violence, language, and action was consistent throughout the films. Each film was also somewhat dark and depressing at times with Mia overdosing on Heroin, The Bride waking up from her coma only to find out that she had been getting raped by her nurse, and the horrible whipping and violence of the slaves in Django Unchained. Each movie also had a few comical scenes however, more so in Django and Pulp Fiction than Kill Bill, but there were at least a few scenes in each movie that made you laugh or smile. The plots of each film were also like no movie I have ever seen, and Tarantino definitely does an incredible job creating a story that will keep you captivated and not knowing what is going to happen next. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YujYTVQ4_S0
Nice job here. I'm glad that you found a lot present in each of these films. Nice job exploring Tarantino's signature styles. I wonder what you think is the bigger, broader message is in these films. Good work.
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