Earlier this month, Hayao Miyazaki took the stage at the Venice Film
Festival after the screening of his latest film The Wind Rises(2013) to
announce his retirement. Miyazaki is no stranger to retirements; he was in a
semi-retirement after Princess Mononoke(1997) but then returned with
wonderful and his most successful film, Spirited Away(2001) then back
into retirement only to resurface in 2004. However this time he says he is
serious. Only time will tell us if he is but if at all he is, that is indeed a
sad news, especially for someone like me who has always been in love with his
films and Studio Ghibli for many years. Miyazaki is one of the most well-known
and respected directors in the world of animation and has left his unmistakable
print on the medium in more than three decades of his career as a director. I
am taking this opportunity to look back on his career, in the usual style of
these posts, with the help of every film he has directed. Let me make few
things clear first; this is a profile of a ‘Director’. So I am only looking at
the films he directed and I am looking at only his feature films. I would’ve
loved to include his shorts as well as they are just as wonderful but I just
couldn’t get hold of all of them. With that, let’s get right into it.
The Castle of Cagliostro(1979): Miyazaki
had been working in various departments of an animated studio for almost two
decades. He even had directed episodes of couple of TV serials but this marks
the first time he put on the director’s cap for a feature film. Coincidentally,
this was the last of his films I saw. As a film, there is nothing quite wrong
with it per say. This is actually quite a decent film; albeit a little
amateurish in both story as well as in animation. It’s just that it is such an
odd-man-out from Miyazaki’s filmography. Every film he did since then contains
many very specific things that everyone now kind of expects from any Miyazaki
film, or any Ghibli film in general, and Cagliostro is void of every single one
of them. These traits definitely make his films richer in context and more
layered and the lack of them doesn’t necessarily imply inferiority but it is
kind of distracting, especially when you know the director so well. Grade: B.
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind(1984): Success of
this film made way for creation of Studio Ghibli next year. Even though this
wasn’t under studio’s banner, it fits perfectly into that cannon. We have
Nausicaa, a young, dynamic female protagonist that loves everything in the
world she lives in and as bad the things get, has a confidence that it can
still be saved and does everything she can to save it. We have Kushana, an
antagonist to start with but with redeeming qualities and Asbel, Nausicaa’s
male counterpart who helps her in getting the things right. Story is strongly influenced
by Japanese philosophy and motifs like commercial greed and their disastrous
effects on the environment play very important part in it. It can be very warm and
fuzzy when needed but also gets very dark as the things get worse. In a way, it
was a test case for everything we know Studio Ghibli for now as all these
features play very important part in every single film he directed and help
form their own identity. And it works so wonderfully well even after almost 30
years. Grade: A
Laputa: Castle in the Sky(1986): In 1985, along with fellow
animator Isao Takahata(who later went on to direct wonderful and heart
wrenching Grave of the Fireflies(1988)) and producer Yasuyoshi Tokuma,
he started his own animation production company, Studio Ghibli. Castle in the Sky became the first film produced under that banner. If you ask me to
pick a film to introduce someone to Miyazaki and Ghibli, I will pick this one.
It is very sweet, easy to get into and unlike some other films, is not too dark
or violent but still leaves you with a great message. There is something
wonderful about Sheeta and Pazu and their friendship that always warms my
heart. In a typical Miyazaki fashion, these are kids wise beyond their years
but they haven’t lost their innocence. And that iron robot at the end is just
the cherry on the top. As a matter of fact, this is my favourite film Miyazaki
directed. One of the motifs of his films has always been morally ambiguous
antagonist with various redeeming qualities. This is one of the only two films
of Miyazaki to have a clear villainous character; other being The Castle of Cagliostro. Grade: A
My Neighbour Totoro(1988): Many of his
other films might have been bigger critical or financial successes but I don’t
think you can find a more beloved or popular character than Totoro in this
film. Most of his characters are inspired by the Japanese philosophy. Totoro,
however, is created completely from his own imagination and is based on his own
childhood experiences. Miyazaki also created Cat bus for this movie which I am
quite sure is more popular than some of his movies. Another character that I
dearly love is Mei; she is just the cutest little thing you will ever see.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the highest opinion of the film in general as I
think it gets a little too sweet after a while but I am eagerly waiting for an
opportunity to introduce this film to my 4-year old niece. However I will agree
that the darkness of this film is deceptive, very well hidden under all the
cuteness and can point to more serious themes if you want to look at it that
way. Grade: B+
Kiki’s Delivery Service(1989): Another
film that can serve as a good entry point for Ghibli newbie’s is this
coming-of-age story of a young girl about developing her confidence but is
little lighter and less ambitious than Laputa. However let me tell you that of
his ‘lighter works’(Totoro, Kiki, Ponyo and maybe even Porco Rosso),
I like Kiki the most. In yet another typical Miyazaki way, plot of his film
itself is principle point of attraction – a 13-year-old girl has to leave her
house and spend one year away as a mandatory part of her witch training before
becoming a full-fledged witch. That just gets me instantly interested and I
haven’t even mentioned Jiji yet. If not for last 15-20 minutes of this movie;
where I think it loses its focus a little in an attempt to give Kiki one final,
big task before she can pass her test; I really like this film. Miyazaki’s
father was the director of Miyazaki Airplanes which produced rudders for the
fighter planes during World War II. Miyazaki seems to have developed quite a
fascination for aviation since his early years as it features quite prominently,
in some form or the other, in many of his films including Kiki flying on her
broom. Grade: B+
Porco Rosso(1992): Miyazaki also wrote every single one of the films
he directed and in many cases also created Manga strips for them. Porco Rosso is one such film. In many ways, even this is quite a deviation from
what we have come to expect from Miyazaki movies. Even though Fio can fit as a
typical Miyazaki heroine, protagonist of this film is not a young female – Fio -
but an adult male – Porco , a WWI pilot in 1930’s Italy transformed into an anthropomorphic
pig who now works as a bounty hunter. It also lacks the usual environmentalist
tone of his films and is more about the code of honour. Once again, it is the
final few minutes of this movie – the duel between Porco and Curtis – that diminish
my overall opinion of it. Grade: B-
Princess Mononoke(1997): This film
has a distinction of introducing Miyazaki to the western world. I don’t belong
to that world anymore but it was my introduction to him and to Ghibli as well;
a start of love affair that has lasted since. I haven’t even mentioned the best
thing about Miyazaki’s films that make them dearer to me than many other modern
animated movies and that is they are traditionally animated. Even though this
was the first film that Miyazaki used some kind of CGI for, he is believed to
have drawn 80,000 drawings for this film himself. There is something about
those drawings that makes them so much more relatable and personal and I love
that way more than CGI. Mononoke is no doubt a great film with amazing characters
and wonderful message; a natural double feature with Nausicaa but it is also
much darker, more violent(one aspect of anime films that I am not most fond of though I
will have more to say about it a little later). It also is the first animated
film to win the Japanese Academy Awards and was the highest grossing film ever
in Japan then. Grade: A-
Spirited Away(2001): I watched both Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away in pretty quick succession back in 2010 and that 1-2 punch quite
literally knocked me. I really hoped to re-watch both before this post as I
haven’t seen them since but unfortunately, couldn’t fit it in. To tell you the
truth, I don’t remember every single detail of either of the film but I
definitely remember liking this one better than the former. The fact that I can
remember this way more than Mononoke even after watching both in quick
succession also supports my claim. I am usually an advocate of making a little
denser, intelligent kids film and majority of Miyazaki’s films are perfect
example and off course, the hand-drawn animations in it make them more likable
to me. Phenomenal financial success of this film also indicated that even
people are ready to embrace them. Spirited Away not only promptly became
the highest grossing Japanese film then and is his most financially successful
film to date but went ahead and also became first anime film ever to win an
Oscar for the best animated film. Grade:
A
Howl’s Moving Castle(2004): Miyazaki came out of his second semi-retirement
after the original director of this film, Mamoru Hosoda, passed away suddenly to
make most violent movie from his filmography but also earned his second nomination for the Best Animated Film of the year. I have noticed it on various
occasions that, mainly in anime movies, I am turned off by excessively violence
because most of them tend to lose their focus once all the fighting ensues. Maybe
it’s my Ghibli-toned sensitivities that play major part in it but many people
consider Akira(1988) as one of the best anime movies ever and I really
couldn’t get into that movie. Same thing happened with Paprika(2006) when things
start getting stranger and stranger. I will say that Howl wasn’t that bad an
experience but I wasn’t much emamoured by all the destruction in it
either. Grade: B
Ponyo(2008): After Porco and Cagliostro, this is Miyazaki's third film with Male lead. This is my least favourite of all his films and
unfortunately not because one of them had to be. I actually found it to be
quite childish, something I never thought I will say about a Miyazaki film. I liked Sosuke enough and his house on the cliff was amazing but I really couldn't get into it once the effects of Ponyo's metamorphosis start materializing. It goes without saying that I am really excited for The Wind Rises(2013) but I am happy that he is directing it because I really don't want his last film to be my least favourite film. I really hope I like it too. Grade:
C
Woody Allen
One of the best directors of his generation, David Fincher, is probably also the darkest, grittiest mainstream director with such a huge box office success and equally big fan following. Starting off his career working on many, many commercials, he subsequently moved on to the music videos and then on to films. I should be the last person to say anything about the music industry since I really don't know much and besides, I don't think I have actually seen any of the songs he directed but I will definitely say one thing - he has worked with some pretty big names. Over the last little over 20 years of his career as a film director, Fincher has directed 9 feature films, which I intend to talk about in this post and it should be safe to say that quite a few of them have been widely influential, defining movies of that era. If ever there was a 'Hall of Fame' of Hollywood, along with the likes of Christopher Nolan and Paul Thomas Anderson who also should have many, many more years of their career ahead of them for our sakes, David Fincher would be one name destined to be in it. With the Alien 3 that I saw last week, Fincher became the 5th director that I have seen all the movies of for this series. Let me get to his movies.
Alien 3(1992): Alien 3 was the last Fincher film I saw and at some level, I have to
attribute this to couple of things. One, I haven't seen Alien(1979) or
Aliens(1986) in almost two years now. Though I don't have any major complaints about
either of the two, they just didn't blow me away like at least one of the
two did, to many others. So I wasn't particularly interested in the third one and second
reason; even big fans of the first two consider third to be an inferior film. Now
if you are thinking I am going to say something redeeming about it, you are
wrong. I am not but, well, I didn't Not like it either. The biggest compliment
I can give is, I could easily get through it and the biggest complaint I
have is I could just get through it. It was just an exercise in mediocrity
throughout. It kept me interested but at multiple points, there was a
possibility of elevating it to another level and every time, Fincher just lets
it pass by. Looking at the rest of his career now, I couldn't help but wonder if
Fincher is really to blame here? Or was there someone, something else behind the
curtain, pulling the strings of then almost unknown guy, working on his
first ever film? And then I read about Fincher walking out, even disowning it as
His movie and multiple other problems during the production, and it all made
sense. Grade: C
Se7en(1995):
The fact that Fincher is not to blame for the debacle of Alien 3 becomes much
more apparent after you have seen Se7en. It's almost impossible to imagine that the same guy can go from Alien 3, which has to be the unanimous choice as the
worst film of his career, to Se7en, which I think should be a strong contender and a personal choice for the
best film of his career, in just about three years; four is you consider a year
studio was editing Alien 3. I saw this movie for the first time about six years ago, without knowing anything about David Fincher. Back then, main draw-in factor for this movie was the way Seven was written and Morgan Freeman. When I sat back down about a year ago, I only remembered being a lot of blood and gore in it and off course, who the murderer was but there were a lot of unconnected dots. Still Fincher's darkest and creepiest film of his career with gruesome make-up and painstaking attention to the on-screen detail worked just as much the second time around as it did the first time and this time, it was easy to see how influential it has been on the genre over the years. Next time I watch it again, it will be for Kevin Spacey. Grade: A+
The Game(1997): I have a kind of romantic reaction to The Game which, if truth be told, makes it a little difficult to judge this movie objectively. This is the movie that made me fall in love with the city of San Francisco. Even now when I think back about it, first thing I think about is not the ending or the thrill of watching your whole life getting out of your hands in front of your eyes. It is how beautiful San Francisco looks in pretty much whole movie but particularly, Michael Douglas running behind Sean Penn on those steps in the night. When I first watched it I remember thinking 'how amazing will it be to live in such a city?' during that scene. But that's not the only thing that works here. I love the way he builds the suspense of their game, the way relationship between two brothers is developed, the way their characters are built up until the big reveal. And with the kind of ending it goes for, that's the make-or-break point of whole movie. If that ending works for you, you will love this film. If it doesn't, there is very real chance you might hate this movie as well. For me, it works exactly as it's supposed to. Grade: A
Fight Club(1999): I am kind of scared to say this because I am pretty sure all hell will break loose when I say this but I don't really love Fight Club. I have watched it a couple of times. I gave it another chance a couple of days ago, before writing this and while I admit that it worked much better this time around than the first time I saw it, I still can't say that I love it. First time, I pretty much hated the final twist. Again, even that worked a lot better this time around. Judging by this, you can keep a faint hope that it will keep on getting better and better with every re-watch (which, by my track record, is once in a year or so) but I really doubt it really will climb any further than this. For now, I will accept that it is better than I used to think it is but it's still not what people will want me to say. There is a lot of craziness in it starting from the basic storyline and characters to editing and style, even in the soundtrack which makes it one of the defining films of the decade. Most of which I like and I completely understand cult-classic status it has attained over the last decade but at some point it just gets too out of hand. Grade: B+
Panic Room(2002): I don't much like the sound of it but I think Panic Room had the
misfortune of being directed by Fincher. Don't get me wrong, I like this movie.
I like the perpetual tension in it, the menace three villains possess and the feeling of
constant anticipation of what this mother-daughter duo is going to do next paired with some good performances, including
pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart. I also don't say this because he himself agrees that this is a footnote movie, something which is not terribly important because this is like Tarantino saying Death Proof(2007) has to be the worst movie of his career. Sure, Your career! That itself is setting the bar too high. The reason I say it had the misfortune is because
in comparison to Fincher's other works and this comparison is unavoidable when you have the same person at the helm, it always seems to take a back seat it really doesn't
deserve to be in. This could easily be the best film of some another director with less stellar body of work. Grade: B
Zodiac(2007): After taking a 5 year break, I have no idea why, Fincher returned with another movie with a classic look of '70s San Francisco. However, there is nothing romantic about it now. This time he focused on case of Zodiac killer which many consider to be the most perplexing case of unsolved crimes in modern history and he handles it with such a diligence that Robert Downey Jr. will be more than willing to attest for. Zodiac is long, it's little slow in patches and it's painstakingly detailed but it is a thrilling journey that keeps you into it from start to end. Fincher already had some experience in handling serial killer subjects with Se7en but in comparison, he puts much more time and effort into letting us into the psyche of the characters, their motivations behind their actions like running behind this killer which everyone seems to have given up on than actual murders. Only thing that works against it is the ending. I know it is no fault of Fincher that these murders were unsolved, he is just showing the story as it is but I just can't get over the fact that they never find the true identity of one of the most notorious serial killer.
Grade: A-
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button(2008): Next movie he did was his third collaboration with Brad Pitt
with this story of unusual person growing backwards. It made quite a
splash that year with 13 Oscar nominations, eventually winning 3. Once
again, there are many things to like in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. In acting department, it is handled ably by the likes of Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton and most
notably Taraji Henson. It is good technically as well, especially
make-up showing Benjamin's growth backwards and art direction, creating
pretty much whole 20th century around. There are many moments that might
touch you emotionally but this is where is starts to loose me. First of
all, it is way too long and even slower for its length. For every
moment that connects with me e.g. whole sequence with Tilda Swinton or his birthday postcards for his daughter,
there is one more that I just doesn't work e.g. when he starts to walk
for the first time. Moments like this quite often take me out of this movie.
This was another movie I made sure to watch again before I say anything
here and once again, I would stand true to my original judgement. Grade: B+
The Social Network(2010): When it comes to being a cinephile, I am a late bloomer. I watched a lot of movie before but I started taking it seriously about four years ago. So even though I had seen Se7en before and heard a lot about Benjamin Button couple of years earlier during the Oscar race, in many ways Fincher's most drama-centered or least mystery-oriented movie, The Social Network was my introduction to Fincher and even Aaron Sorkin. This probably was the first movie I walked into knowing who David Fincher was and it was his movie and I loved everything about this movie. Fincher's superb direction, his portrayal of social networking that has become so much prevalent these days, Sorkin's gripping story and even more importantly his fast, snappy dialogues that grab you from the very first scene (For the record, that is as good a starting as you can hope for), all the actors even in the smaller roles that if I start naming, I can fill pages and pages with. Just Everything!! Inception(2010) is my favourite movie but I never saw it as an Oscar winning movie, that was The Social Network. The fact that it didn't, or more specifically David Fincher didn't win is something I don't think I will get over. Grade: A+
The Girl with the Dragon tattoo(2011): After doing two movies which relied much more drama, Fincher sort of went back to his roots, thrillers, with his next one. I went into this movie having read the book and seen the original Swedish movie. Even though I belong to the 'Original is better than Hollywood remake' category, that is not to say that I didn't like Fincher's take on it. I just like the Swedish version better. To me Rooney Mara's Lisbeth comes off more as icy cold, detached character whereas Noomi Rapace looked tough but vulnerable which is an important distinction, especially considering the next two installments of the book trilogy. Once again, I will admit that Rooney Mara probably was the best thing in the movie. She just wasn't what my impression of the character was. Bringing Daniel Craig in as Mikael is one of the areas this remakes scores over original and another huge improvement would be the soundtracks. Fincher does know his music well. Grade: B+
Woody Allen
Quentin
Tarantino has got to be one of the most unique, most notorious and most direct
directors in the film industry. This is the crazy maniac who openly admits that every single one of his movies has been stolen from many, many movies and none of us seem to mind it either. Well, if anyone can do it as well as he does, no one should either. 20 years ago, when he released his first movie
and shocked everyone with it, he created
lot of hype around his name right from the very start. Fast forward to 20 years
later and now we kind of expect these things from his movies. We expect them to
have a lot of violence, amazing soundtracks and to be very stylistic. Even though every
one of his movies has come with great performances and gripping stories, I
think I speak for everyone when I say that none of these have as much pull, as
much power of summoning the movie enthusiasts into the theater as much as the title
card saying "Directed by Quentin Tarantino", one of the reasons when
Tarantino recently made his desire to retire after the age of 60 public, it became such a
hot topic. He has successfully created a brand for himself.
With the release of his latest Django Unchained(2012) on Christmas Day and
Netflix making Four Rooms(1995) available for streaming gave me a chance to do
something I have been meaning to do for a long time - finish his filmography.
Which shall bring us to this post, getting into Tarantino's complete
filmography, starting from his first short My Best Friend's Birthday(1987) to
Django, every movie he has directed.
My Best Friends Birthday(1987)(short) - Tarantino actually made a movie before this as well or at least started making it because apparently he never finished it. So, this is his first attempt at film-making. Originally, he wrote it as a 70-minute movie where a young man, played by Tarantino himself, is trying to make sure that his best friend has a good birthday but nothing goes right. However, apparently due to some accident only 36 minutes of it survived and that is what I saw. I hate to say this but it feels very amateurish in every department. Now I know that it is 1987, it is his first film and only half of it has survived but even by that standard, I wish I had some kind words to say. Alas! At least it kick-started what would become a legendary career. Grade: C
Reservoir Dogs(1992) - So this is where it all really started. Tarantino's first full length feature film. Every single thing you now expect from Tarantino movie started with this. His language, his soundtracks, his title cards, the way his characters walk, talk, behave, his way of killing off important characters with a moment's notice and his way of showing violence on screen or not - it all starts here. I am sure most of us know the story of how Harvey Keitel got involved into producing this faltering script. I often wonder how it would be on the sets with Director being the most inexperienced person on the set ordering everyone around but then I remember it's Quentin Tarantino. I am sure he would be the first one to joke about it in his trademark style. Oh and he never gets his hands dirty by actually showing the robbery which everyone is so pissed about. Grade - A
Pulp Fiction(1994) - Saying that Pulp Fiction is one of my favourite movies would be such an understatement. Samuel Jackson reciting Ezekiel 25:17 and whatever happens before or after that in that apartment alone was enough to make it my favourite. It is much more than a movie that I really, really like. It is one of those movies that made me a movie buff that I am right now. Sure, I saw a lot of movies before Pulp and sure, there are quite a few that I loved as well but none of them made me want to go and seek out more movies like this one. If they make it anything like this, I seriously wanted a piece of that. At Once. I have been trying since. I am quite sure that this was the first Tarantino I saw, sometime around Fall of 2009. The fact that it had such a a huge impact on a novice like me almost 15 years after its release itself should speak volumes about how influential this movie is. Grade: A+
Four Rooms(1995): (Segment "The Man From Hollywood") - I have my problems with this movie as a whole, especially with meaningless first segment and ridiculously over the top acting of Tim Roth and others. But if we start talking about just the Tarantino segment, all my issues disappear. Of the four stories in the movie, his is the best by a long margin. First of all it is a very straight forward and fun story, off course with a usual Tarantino zing to it. Even in the small 20 minute window, he leaves his footprints all over it. Once he enters the room, it doesn't leave for it's full length. It's like one long 20 minute sequence. It starts, quickly finds its footing, picks up the pace and soon ends with a blast, never missing a beat. Grade: A-
Jackie Brown(1997) - This seems to be the start of Tarantino's decade worth of movies with female protagonist. Some also believe this to be his last normal movie or last good movie as after this he gets much more stylistic, violent if he wasn't already. Off course, I do not agree that he didn't make anything good after this but I understand the criticism and see where it comes from. In my opinion, this is his most un-Tarantino-esque movie of his career. It seems like most of his signature items are dialed down a notch. But he has enough juice in his characters and in his script to carry them through. With the help of yet another flawless ensemble, this is a heist movie that keeps you guessing till the end. Admittedly, Jackie Brown suffers a little from being the follow-up of legendary Pulp Fiction but there were many years between my viewings. So, I never felt it was over shadowed. Grade: A
Kill Bill: Vol I(2003) - Taking a mini hiatus of 6 years to work on World War II screenplay which eventually became Inglourious Basterds(2009). However since that screenplay was taking a long time, he focused on another project in the mean time which will mark his most glorious, most bad-ass and even most dichotomous female protagonist in the form of Bride in this first part of a revenge story fueled by Tarantino's love for Samurai and Martial Arts movies. In his typical style, Tarantino throws us right into the action from the very first scene and never backs down from getting his hands dirty. With multiple action scenes that spill blood by barrels, this has to be his bloodiest movie. Being first part of two, another thing he does well is Tarantino gave it its own legs. He made sure that even though they both have strong connection with each other, they both also stand very well on their own. Grade: A-
Kill Bill: Vol II(2004) - Apparently, it wasn't Tarantino's plan of making this movie in two parts from the start. Just being another one of his passion projects, he kept on adding stuff and never stopped until he felt it's done right. The final product was the more than four hour long revenge story which producers and distributors weren't sure about from the marketing point of view. And hence they did it in two parts instead of one. I have no idea what was the public reaction about this decision at the time of its release since I was nowhere in picture then but I don't think it would have been very enthusiastic. However, despite that second part seems to have much more favorable critical reaction than the first one and I can certainly see why. First one is much more of an action movie with a lot of action and much more blood whereas though second has its fair share of action and gut, being much more drama-centric has more gravitas. Grade: A-
Death Proof(2007) - In the THR Directors Roundtable Tarantino himself said that Death Proof has got to be the worst movie he has made and if it stays like that, he'll be happy with it. I know, I'll be too but the question is do I agree with his assessment? To tell you the truth, I don't have any problem with this movie. I know that it is a little loose and maybe even disconnected story, but I think it is a fun movie with a long and electrifying chase involving Zoe Bell of all people in the end and with the risk of sounding sadistic, an amazing crash scene in the middle. I love the way it shows that crash from the perspective of everyone involved. But as much as I hate to admit it, if we are discounting Four Rooms as a whole and his first short, Tarantino is right. It is such a fun ride but is still his weakest. Grade: B+
Inglourious Basterds(2009) - At around the same time that I saw Pulp Fiction and went on some serious kick looking for his movies, Inglourious Basterds was in theaters. Imagine 1-2 punch of these two that knocked me out and I was sold. As I said earlier, this was the point where I was very much in infancy of being a movie-buff. I was still learning to appreciate what makes good movie a good movie. This movie added many things to that list. Have you ever seen anything like that long, continuous opening scene? I still cannot believe how lengthy many of his scenes are but even more importantly how brilliantly they build the tension in the scene, case in point French Tavern sequence. Now it does get a lot of criticism about being over-indulgent, especially over it's 'masterpiece' ending. But tell me, Do I give a Damn ? Grade: A+
Django Unchained(2012) - Tarantino's latest. This year's Oscar nominee for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay among others. Let me get the biggest concern out of the way first. For the first time in his career, his movie looked a little indulgent to me. Don't get me wrong, I still don't give a damn and I still love this movie but I believe I saw some chinks in the armor for the first time. What I loved the most about it is the way he blends multiple genres so inadvertently. Since I haven't mentioned it before anywhere, I have to mention the soundtracks of his movie which are one of his signature by now. Every single one of his movies has had an amazing soundtrack and this one isn't any exception but perfect way they reflect the 'western-ness' of this movie is exceptional. Grade: A
Woody Allen
