Django Unchained

Set in 1858, two years before the US Civil War, the story deals with the brutal treatment of slaves in the American Deep South, much the same way that Inglourious Basterds (2009), dealt with the treatment of Jews in Nazi occupied France. In this alternate Tarantino universe every white person working or living on cotton plantations is tainted by the legacy of slavery and can therefore justifiably be disposed of as part of the evil oppression gripping this part of the nation. 

Be prepared for another bloody splatter fest from Quentin Tarantino. In his love for violent revenge fantasies, Tarantino unleashes more than his usual amount of blood and dynamite with over-the-top explosions and buckets of blood every time someone gets shot. The movie is mesmerizing with its detailed account of two fictional characters struggling through a not so fictional ugly period in American history.

Using the Spaghetti Western style, we follow a recently purchased slave, Django, as he encounters and becomes the protégé of a fast talking German bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz.  Similar to the way that Tarantino starts his movies with his signature shoot first and ask questions later graphic killing scene followed by a long explanation or flashback of what had occurred before to justify this violent action, bounty hunter Schultz also shoots first and explains his actions in detail after the dust settles. 

Posing as a dentist, Dr. Schultz requires the help of a slave to identify a gang of brothers he is hunting for the bounty on their heads. Django, who comes from the plantation they work on, agrees to help Dr. Schultz, who abhors slavery and offers to give him his freedom if he cooperates. Django naturally becomes a little over zealous with his new position as a defender and avenger of slaves as he hones his skill with a gun and is quick to dispatch the cruel white men who we learn have tortured him and his wife on the plantation. 

It’s a long movie but you hardly notice the time go by as the epic story unfolds with plenty of suspense, humor and action. Like most of Tarantino’s films there are long tense sequences of people talking with punchy and sometimes hilarious dialogue detailing the fascinating but horrific aspects of life in the American Deep South and always making sure that the characters are behaving logically, given their situation, punctuated by sudden explosive scenes of graphic bloodletting. 

Learning that Django has a wife that he was separated from at a slave auction, Dr. Schultz offers to help him find her if he assists in collecting the rest of his bounties. Django agrees since it would be almost impossible for him to find and rescue his wife alone.  When our avenging duo finally discovers the whereabouts of Django’s wife, they put their daring plan into action. But when they get there, they realize that rescuing Django’s house slave wife from the clutches of a ruthless plantation owner with a sadistic bent, is not going to be easy. 

Audiences either love or loath Tarantino’s films but whatever your feelings about this exceptional film maker, he does have a special talent for writing suspenseful movie scripts with gripping storylines and extremely motivated characters. He has an undeniable knowledge and passion for films and film lore, having worked as a video store clerk for much of his youth. And his visual style and talent for finding the perfect actors to play the demanding roles in his stories has made him a legend among cinephiles who appreciate the many film references in his movies. 

It’s not surprising that one of Tarantino’s favorite films last year was Rise of the Planet of theApes (2011), which was also a revenge fantasy about caged zoo apes turning on their human oppressors. It will be interesting to see which downtrodden, maltreated, discriminated group will get their payback in Tarantino’s next film. 

JP

Magic & Myth: Fairy Tales on Film

2013 is shaping up to be the year of the Fairy Tale. A number of film adaptations of popular children’s tales are coming soon to theaters as the fairy tale genre is making a comeback with highly anticipated releases of such wondrous fantasies as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Now playing), Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters (Jan. 25), The Sorcerer and the White Snake (Feb. 8), Jack the Giant Slayer (March 1), Oz: The Great and Powerful (March 8), Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (Aug. 16), Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage (2013), and computer animated films like Epic (May 24), and Dorothy of Oz (2013). 

Hollywood is breathing new life into these timeless traditional fables that may draw some children and adults back to the original canon of stories by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, the authors of the ancient Arabian Nights tales, and Greek, Roman and Norse myths. The enchanting worlds and characters in folklore, populated with mythical supernatural beings like Giants, Dragons, Wizards, Witches, Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Ogres, Trolls, Titans,  Cyclopes’, flying horses and all manner of creatures never seen before, have always fascinated audiences young and old alike, as they sat around a crackling fire. 

Making these stories come alive, using special visual effects techniques unique to the new medium of film, was a natural irresistible impulse from the beginning, but proved to be a daunting task, and notoriously difficult and expensive to do realistically. The brave films that attempted these types of stories using puppets, men in suits or stop-motion models, often looked antiquated at best. But that didn’t stop people from trying any way they could, no matter how strange the outcome, so willing are we to suspend our disbelief in order that we may relive that feeling of wonder and excitement we remember as children. 

Made by a special breed of dedicated artists and craftsmen, most of whom were relegated to obscurity except for a handful, who eventually became as legendary as the mythical beasts they made come to life, these films gained a loyal fan following. People like Georges Méliès, Willis O’Brien, Ray Harryhausen, Jim Henson, Dennis Muren and Phil Tippet were just some of the unsung heroes of  magic and myth come vividly to life, in such classic cult fantasy adventure films as King Kong (1933), 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957), The 7^th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), One Million Years B.C. (1966), Clash of the Titans (1981), Dragonslayer (1981), The Dark Crystal (1982), The NeverEnding Story (1984), Legend (1985), Labyrinth (1986), Willow (1988), and The Adventure of Baron Munchausen (1989). 

Folk & fairy tales have traditionally been the domain of animation because it was easier and cheaper to create fantastic stories by simply drawing them on paper. But the results were two dimensional and not nearly as exciting as live-action. That all changed with the phenomenal success of Star Wars (1977), which enabled George Lucas to hire a small group of computer geeks in the early 80s to develop new ways to use the up and coming science of computers in the production and editing of visual effects in movies. It was the beginning of a new digital revolution that would change the way movies were made and set the entire film industry on a course toward a digital future. The fledgling group of computer geeks eventually became known as PIXAR and their pioneering technology gave rise to landmark films like Jurassic Park (1993) and Toy Story (1995), featuring the first realistic digital characters. 

Both live action and animated films have greatly benefited from digital advances in film making and we are now able to make anything we can imagine look amazingly real. The traditional methods of creating movie magic became almost obsolete and changed forever between the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Since then, fantasy films have enjoyed the benefits of much more realistic digital creations with movies like Jumanji (1995), DragonHeart (1996), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Arabian Nights (2000), The Lord of the Rings (2001 – 2003), and the Harry Potter series (2001 – 2011). 

The art and science of the digital medium continues to evolve and improve, showcasing their eye-popping visual creations in new fantasy tales and classic fables like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), The Chronicles of Narnia (2005), King Kong (2005), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), The Golden Compass (2007), The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008), Inkheart (2009), Avatar (2009), Alice in Wonderland (2010), Clash of the Titans (2010), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), John Carter (2012), Wrath of the Titans (2012), Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012). 

The future of the fantasy adventure is looking brighter every year as the technology gets cheaper and easier to use with awesome results. We can now look forward to all our favorite fairy tales, no matter how fantastic, being as real as you imagined them when your mother read the book to you as a child. Thus we can expect to see remakes and re-imaginings coming to theaters near you. 

Did you ever wonder what happened to Hansel and Gretel after their famous escape from the witch’s oven? Get ready for the story of Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters (Jan. 25, 2013). All grown up now, they work as a pair of bounty hunting witch hunters starring Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton. 

Did you ever ask yourself how the great Wizard, from The Wizard of Oz (1939), ended up in the world of Oz? Well, with next year’s Oz: The Great and Powerful (March 8, 2013), we will finally know. 

You know of The 7^th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), but what about the other voyages? Now there is a new Sinbad adventure from the Arabian Night tales, Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage (2013).  

Also look for a spectacular new live action retelling of the classic Jack and the Beanstalk tale, Jack the Giant Slayer (March 1, 2013), by X-Men (2000), Superman Returns (2006) and Valkyrie (2008) director, Bryan Singer. 

There will also be a new Percy Jackson & the Olympians adventure coming to the big screen in August as the demigod teenager Percy Jackson battles Titans and Cyclopes’ in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, that will continue the popular book series created by Rick Riordan. 

Also look for The Sorcerer and the White Snake, a Chinese fantasy adventure film coming this February based on a Chinese legend about a thousand year old snake disguised as a woman who seduces a man when a sorcerer discovers her true identity.  

JP

Wreck-It Ralph

Disney animation is back in excellent form with Wreck-It Ralph, thanks to Pixar alumnus John Lasseter acting as Executive producer and the Pixar brain trust who were clearly involved in the heart felt story of a video game villain who decides he has had enough of being unappreciated.  

Ralph is lonely and bored, and the apartment dwellers in his video game world treat him like he’s the enemy, which he is, but he doesn’t feel like a bad person and he wants some appreciation and recognition from his tenants who run screaming for the super, Fix-It Felix, when they see him coming. So he goes out in search of a more rewarding career where people will actually value his talents and award him with a nice shiny medal. That’ll show them that he can also be a hero. But where or when has the bad guy ever won a medal? 

Like the Toy Story (1995) concept of toys living a secret life when people are not around, in Wreck-It Ralph, when the video arcade lights go out, and the doors close after everyone has left, the game characters come to life and live in a secret world of their own where characters can freely travel from their own game into other arcade games via the electrical wires and the surge protected power bar that connects everything together. The power bar acts as a sort of central station through which everyone must travel to get to the video game world you want to visit. 

There are three visually distinct and uniquely fun gaming worlds that we get to travel around in. Ralph’s home game world, called ‘Fix-It Felix’ is an older wholesome game but is considered to be cool and still popular with many younger kids. Representing the newer, darker, edgier high definition, violent first person shooter games, is ‘Hero’ s Duty’, which has an infestation of creepy flying bugs to shoot at and a cold dark blue neon Tron style visual look, not to mention a curvaceous armor wearing, laser gun toting heroine. 

Without their villain, the people of the Fix-It Felix game now have nothing to do and their game quickly becomes in danger of being shut down.  Meanwhile Ralph decides to check out ‘Hero’s Duty’ where he learns of the glorious medal he’s been dreaming of that will gain him respect back at home, if he can get his gamer to the top level in the extremely difficult game which he has no experience in. 

Then there’s the candy land racing game of ‘Sugar Rush’ that looks like the inside of Charlie’s Chocolate factory, and is run by a King who looks like a munchkin from The Wizard of Oz.  This is where Ralph meets the spunky glitch girl Vanellope, played by Sara Silverman. When Vanellope started glitching, she was banished and now lives in the code of her electronic game where no one can find her as she tries to figure out a way to regain her rightful standing in the game. 

Don’t underestimate the power of Wreck-It Ralph. There are many things in the film that will resonate with those who are unsatisfied with their current job and desire a new career or have had to reinvent themselves to stay relevant in today’s challenging economy.  It’s also a visual treat to watch for children and adults. 

Following in the tradition started by Pixar of playing an original short animated film before each of its feature films, Wreck-It Ralph has adopted that tradition by playing a short film called Paperman before it starts. It’s a sweet boy meets girl fateful romantic encounter, boy loses girl and then finds her again after many comic and anxious mishaps. 

JP

The Lord of the Rings trilogy

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and it's sequels, The Lord of the Rings trilogy were legendary epic fantasies known all over the world long before Peter Jackson came along and had not only the courage but also finally the means to make them into monumental films that would live up to their reputation as beloved stories with a huge international following.

Created by an English Oxford scholar of dead and forgotten languages and inspired by fabled Norse sagas and the events of World War I, Tolkien wanted to write an ode to the quiet English countryside and simpler times when people lived in harmony with nature before the industrial revolution polluted the environment and mankind’s innocence.

The story follows Frodo Baggins of the Shire and three of his close happy-go-lucky Hobbit friends, who are entrusted with an extremely dangerous mission that literally holds the fate of the world in their hands. These unlikeliest of characters accidentally find themselves in possession of a powerful weapon that can destroy the evil that has gripped the land. 

Drawing on a wealth of knowledge, steeped as he was in ancient Norse mythologies and legends, Tolkien conjured up his own magical world of dark caves, enchanted forests, misty mountains, deep mines and great winding rivers, and populated it with ancient supernatural beings; Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, Wizards, Trolls, Orcs, Dragons, Ents, and called it Middle-earth. So much detail and history went into this world that readers became entranced by it all and wanted to know more about the history behind it. Soon fan clubs sprang up and an international following took on a life of its own.

In the form of a magical golden ring, the terrible weapon must be taken into a distant volcanic mountain, Mount Doom, which is the only place on Middle-Earth it can be destroyed. It sounds simple enough except that this evil talisman can only be controlled by the Dark Lord Sauron, who wants to use it to enslave the peaceful people of the world, plus the ring has powers of its own. It’s constantly trying to find its master, manipulating the wearer of the ring to do wicked things that he has no control over.

Readers who were curious about all the references in the books were inspired to study the history of Europe and its many mythological tales. In a way it has become a sort of Epic heroic poem of Dark Age Europe, which was once called Middle-earth by ancient European inhabitants.

Throughout their epic journey, the Hobbits come across all manner of friend and foe, gathering, as they go, a number of characters who are committed to helping them achieve this most important task on which all their fates depend. Known as the Fellowship of the Ring, the group consists of a Dwarf, an Elf, a couple of human warriors, and a wise Wizard known as Gandalf, who is a longtime friend of the Hobbits.

Many have tried to make this tome into films over the years but the sheer scope and breadth of Tolkien’s world was much too daunting to make into a single movie. The budget of such an undertaking would be way too prohibitive and so it remained an un-filmable project for many years.  It wasn’t until digital technology revolutionized the film industry that this type of story could finally be tackled, but even with these new digital tools there were still many obstacles and it would still be a monumental undertaking to bring the great number of Rings characters to life. 

Eventually the Fellowship is split up into separate groups as they do battle with Sauron’s evil forces. Meanwhile Frodo and his faithful friend, Samwise Gamgee, continue on their journey toward Mount Doom alone, still in possession of the powerful ring but now they find themselves battling each other as the ring exerts its evil will.

Only one man had the will, the passion and the ability, not to mention an array of untapped resources in his home country of New Zealand at his disposal to do these beloved epic books justice. Now, if he could only convince Hollywood of this, it would be nothing short of a major miracle. He came in the form of the most unlikeliest of people, the relatively soft spoken and shy but determined Peter Jackson, who had only a couple of low budget horror films to his name. Circumstances eventually came together in such a way that we now have a fantasy film trilogy masterpiece that lives up to the legendary books of Tolkien in every way.

The coming together of Peter Jackson and The Lord of the Rings with a studio that believed in him and his abilities was a miracle that produced a lasting and timeless adventure series on film that will be enjoyed be generations to come. It’s unlikely that there will be anyone in the foreseeable future that could improve on these films based on the literary legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien.

JP

Snow White & the Huntsman

Be warned, this is not your familiar cute and cuddly, sugar coated Disney version of the well-known fairy tale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). If you have ever read an original classic fairy tale, you know they are not so heartwarming and loveable. Fairy tales were intended as serious morality fables meant to warn and instruct us, especially children, about the darker side of human nature. This dire and more sinister action adventure version of Snow White reminds us of the power that the original Brothers Grimm tales still have over us.

When the queen of a kingdom dies shortly after giving birth to a beautiful daughter who has 'skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as a raven’s wings', the King is grief-stricken and must raise his daughter alone. Years later he finds and marries another woman who turns out to be a wicked, deceitful witch, killing the King soon after their wedding, and plunging the kingdom into darkness.

Like most folk tales, this story was meant as a cautionary tale for children and adults, warning against overprotecting children, making them unprepared for the real world and easily deceived by others when they have to fend for themselves and cope with danger. It can also be seen as a coming of age tale as daughter competes and comes in conflict with her mother for the affections of a father and husband. 

The vain witch Queen, Ravenna, has the power to prolong her life and stay beautiful by eating the hearts of birds and consuming the youth of women. She consults a magical mirror and perceives the slain King’s daughter as a threat to her power when the mirror tells her that Snow White is the fairest in the land. She decides to lock her up in a tower in order to one day consume her heart.

This movie accurately depicts the brutal primitive time period of legendary Dark Age Europe with creepy dark forests, medieval castles, Tree Trolls, enchanted forests full of fairies and woodland creatures, and the seven dwarves as wild woodmen. Visually, the movie is a mix of Ridley Scott’s Legend (1986) and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings (2001), filmed in scenic locations around Scotland, Wales and England, that give it a natural and believable look. Even some of the more fantastic elements of the story are grounded in reality, making the experience very immersive and authentic. 

When Snow White escapes her castle prison, the envious Ravenna hires a huntsman to find her in the dark forest. The original story is quite grim and gruesome as the cannibalistic Queen demands that the huntsman cut out Snow White’s heart and liver as proof of her death, which she then intends to eat, believing it will rejuvenate her by absorbing the essence of Snow White’s beauty. 

The wicked step-mother Queen is played brilliantly by Charlize Theron with a show stealing performance. Her beauty is matched only by her sadistic envy. Snow White, as played by Kristen Stewart from the Twilight series, is not the passive, submissive homemaker of the original folktale. In this more exciting and emotionally satisfying tale of sorrow and longing, Snow White grows into a strong and determined warrior princess who leads an army of loyal men, in a brave attack on the wicked Queen to regain her father’s throne. She looks at times to be a Joan of Arc type of strong female presence and reflects a more contemporary role model for young girls today.

I thought the film captured the power and essence of the original Brothers Grimm tale quite well, while adding elements from other fairy tales into the mix. This movie may be too scary for young children but adults will definitely enjoy this diabolical and sinister take on an old favorite fairy tale. For those who grew up with the Disney cartoon and have never read the original tales, I highly recommend reading them. They're much gloomier and creepier but also more interesting.

JP

Apocalypse Now and the Vietnam War film

The Vietnam War was a chaotic hallucinogenic haze of Huey helicopters and jungle warfare. Young and frustrated American G.I.s lost and exhausted in a densely forested hostile environment, fighting a cunning enemy no one could see let alone shoot. This is the war that Apocalypse Now (1979) brings to stunning and shocking life in one of the first major films to be made about Americans fighting in Vietnam.

Loosely based on Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and personal accounts from soldiers who had recently returned from the war, the movie was originally conceived and written by John Milius and George Lucas, who intended to direct it. But because of delays, Lucas began preparing to film his space opera Star Wars (1977), and it eventually fell to his good friend and mentor, Frances Ford Coppola to direct it. Francis Coppola was already a successful filmmaker with The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather – Part II (1974), and used his own money to finance the new film.

Inspired by Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972), and filmed entirely on location in the Philippines, Apocalypse Now is the story of an obsessed Special Forces marine, Captain Willard played by Martin Sheen, looking for a suicide mission. He is eventually entrusted with a top secret operation to find and terminate a rogue Colonel, played by Marlon Brando, who has set himself up as a warlord, fighting his own war in the jungles of Cambodia without any military authorization. Taking control of a group of young inexperienced soldiers, the Captain sets off in a gun boat that will take them on a journey up the Mekong River into the unknown regions, where the rebel Colonel Kurtz is believed to be hiding. Along the way, the group comes across all manner of surreal and hellish sights that comprise the Vietnam War experience.

The movie is stunningly filmed in epic style with dissolving montages, grand scale battle scenes and a psychedelic soundtrack of popular Doors tunes of the time, giving the move a surreal nightmarish feeling. It’s one of the most personal films by director Francis Ford Coppola who took his family to the Philippines and spent more than a year there while filming and writing the movie. During this time his wife filmed a great deal of behind the scenes footage about their experiences and eventually released it as an acclaimed ‘making of’ documentary called Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991).

A longer re-edited version of the film with deleted scenes restored was released in 2001, adding an additional 49 minutes to the film and was retitled Apocalypse Now Redux. This longer and more complete version is well worth seeing and was praised for improving on a film already considered a masterpiece by many and Frances Coppola’s magnum opus.

Considered to be one of the most iconic war films of all time and a masterpiece of unforgettable images depicting the horrors of war, it’s a visceral cinematic experience that was as chaotic and difficult to make as the chaos depicted in the film and set the standard for later films about Vietnam like Platoon (1986), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Hamburger Hill (1987), The Hanoi Hilton (1987), 84 Charlie MoPic (1989) and Casualties of War (1989).

The Vietnam War was the first highly visible war being covered by the media in graphic detail on television news, and films about Vietnam have become a popular subgenre within the war film genre. Well know master filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick, Oliver Stone and Brian De Palma all weighed into the Vietnam War experience with their own films in the 1980s. As more details of the brutality of that war began to surface, filmmakers became interested in exposing the post war trauma suffered by returning service men in movies like Birdy (1984), Jacknife (1989) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989).

JP