Movie Review: 'Django Unchained' is a Nasty, Blood-Splattered Masterpiece

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Friday, 28 December 2012 06:51

Written by Matt Oakes

Django Unchained
Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L Jackson, Kerry Washington, Walton Goggins

Quentin Tarantino tactfully draws back the shade on the dark underbelly of America's great shame- slavery- and the result isn't easy to swallow. Django Unchained is an ugly, gruesome, ruthless film...and I loved every second of it.

The uncharacteristically chronological narrative follows the journey of ex-slave Django (Jamie Foxx) and his bounty hunting liberator (Christopher Waltz) as they attempt to free Django's wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) from twisted plantation owner and mandingo curator Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio.)

This splatterfest symphony has all the earmarks of a Tarantino film- flashy superimposed text, snappy dialogue, terse banter, larger than life characters and an emotional revenge narrative- but it uses the backdrop of the slave-ridden south to expose the nastiness of our nations past. The sad truth- this is pulp fact, not fiction.

While we can conjecture about the historical accuracy of the film, it's probably all more true than we'd like to admit. Tarantino sweeps the most unpalatable of human nature from under the rug and into our faces and we can't help but watch paralyzed and hopefully take something away from it. In an interesting juxtaposition to this years similarly-themed Lincoln, Django may not be the history lesson we want but it's probably the one we deserve.

Without the vast talent of its cast, Django may have fallen flat and lost its emotional oomph. Thankfully, every performer in this sprawling epic places their definitive stamp on their varied roles with great success.

Waltz is easily the highlight, not only of this film but of the entire year, as he chews up the scenes with masterful gusto. He has a mysterious way of making you listen to his each and every word, perfectly slung like the sweet-talking gunfighter he is. Waltz is the ideal vessel for Tarantino's trademark dialogue and their pairing is a perfect marriage we can hope to see prosper for many years to come.

Foxx plays the titular Django with swagger and style. He's a no-frills badass with a crystal clear motive and he executes his worthy mission with trigger-happy snark.

In a career first, DiCaprio assumes the role of the villain and is downright venomous.  A highlight of the film involves him and Waltz in a confrontation about a handshake that will be sure to leave you shaken and wowed.

And last but not least is Samuel L. Jackson, who hasn't been this good since his unforgettable turn as Jules in Tarantino's sophomore phenomenon- Pulp Fiction. This nasty-hearted head house-slave may not be spouting Ezekiel but his conniving ways are equally malicious and chill-inducing.

As should be expected, there are moments where Tarantino is overindulgent- I could have used about five minutes of riding horses through various landscapes and a couple unfitting musical numbers edited out- but it's all a part of a great and sprawling film that's not only highly stylized but injected with a urgent sense of purpose. Plus, has gangster rap ever been better in a feature film?

While it's not for the faint of heart- be prepared for torrents of blood and no short measure of the "n-word"- Django Unchained is that rare masterpiece that will have you laughing out loud one moment and in jaw-dangling horror the next.

All the performers involved are hitting their mark with pitch perfect bravado and Tarantino once again proves that he's the king of cinema.

Theater Review: “Peter and the Starcatcher” is Enormously Clever, Wildly Comic Peter Pan Prequel

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 24 December 2012 16:58

Written by Lucy Komisar

“Peter and the Starcatcher”
Written by Rick Elice
Directed by Roger Rees and Alex Timbers
Based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.
Starring: Matthew Saldivar, Celia- Keenan Bolger, Adam Chanler-Berat, Teddy Bergman, Arnie Burton, Matt D'Amico, Kevin Del Aguila, Carson Elrod, Evan Harrington, Rick Holmes, Isaiah Johnson, Eric Petersen

Wild and wonderful and definitely not only for children, Rick Elice’s play imagines what turned a mistreated orphan boy into Peter Pan.

Captain Hook and the crocodile are there, too, and we find out how they got the hook and the tick-tock. While you get the history lesson, you will enjoy one of the cleverest, funniest spoofs to come down the pike in years with direction by Roger Rees and Alex Timbers that is truly inspired.

In 1885 two sailing ships were making for an unknown Asian country. The one captained by the brigand Slank (Matt D’Amico) was transporting Peter (Adam Chanler-Berat), who didn’t yet have a name, and some other boys to be servants for the Asian potentate.

Another ship was carrying the aristocrat Lord Aster (Karl Kenzler) to deliver a very valuable trunk to the same destination. But that ship is taken over by pirates led by the comically threatening Black Stache (the unforgettable Christian Borle) who is after the trunk, which is full of treasures like stocks, bonds and unregulated derivatives.

Stash, with a villainous painted-on moustache, says he has “no heir apparent” (which he pronounces “hair apparent.”) Borle, who had a starring role in “Spamalot,” recreates the brilliance of his unforgettable comic style and grin.

Aster’s daughter Molly (Celia Keenan-Bolger) is on the boys’ boat and helps them get decent food. (I don’t want to tell you what they had been fed – it’s every kid’s horror.) Molly is a take-charge self-assertive young lady who is competitive against the boys and in a running joke is repeatedly challenged by Prentiss (Carson Elrod), who wants to be the leader.

At a certain point, Stache discovers that the trunks have been switched on the dock and he is carrying a load of sand. He takes off for the other vessel.

There ensue battles, shipwrecks and myriad adventures. There’s a running-in-place fight between two villains wielding weapons of poetry. The action moves from ship decks and holds to a fantastic island (Sets by Donyale Werle.)

 Teddy Bergman is very funny as the Fighting Prawn who heads the Mollusk Islanders. He punctuates his remarks with exclamations like “scampi,” “calamari,” “lasagna” and “tiramisu.”

The music by Wayne Barker is a collection of Hollywood extravaganza, ragtime and Broadway. Much of the dialogue takes place in chorus. My favorite number is the 1940s movie-style dance number where the guys (Molly is the only female in a cast of 12) dance and sing as mermaids with pulchritude created by silvery food steamers and the like. (The costumes by Paloma Young are terrific.)

There are some inside show biz jokes, such as one character claiming, “You abused the concept of the theater collective.” Smee, a long-faced Cockney (a very good Kevin Del Aguila) declares that the crocodile is “chewing the scenery,” and Stash describes something as “elusive as the melody in a Philip Glass opera.” There’s also a “Les Miz” moment when Molly is wheeled out on a high platform.

It’s all very witty and nutty making this a theater classic every bit as much as “Peter Pan” was.

Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 356 West 47^th Street, New York City.  (212-307-4100)
April 15, 2012-Jan 20, 2013.
(Originally produced by the New York Theatre Workshop March 9 to April 24, 2011.

Theater Review: “Chaplin”- A Brilliant Musical About the Life and Politics of a Great Artist

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 24 December 2012 01:28

Written by Lucy Komisar

“Chaplin”
Book by Christopher Curtis and Thomas Meehan
Music and lyrics by Christopher Curtis
Directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle
Starring Rob McClure, Jim Borstelmann, Jenn Colella, Erin Mackey, Michael McCormick, Christiane Noll, Zachary Unger, Wayne Alan Wilcox, Justin Bowen, Emilee Dupre

Charlie Chaplin wasn’t just an actor. He created the characters he portrayed, wrote and directed the films he starred in. There hasn’t been anyone like him since. But his art, his life, and above all his ideas were dangerous to the political system. The opening of “Chaplin” shows him on a tightrope, and he was heading for a fall.

Based on a book by Christopher Curtis and Thomas Meehan and with music and lyrics by Curtis, this is the best, most powerful, most intelligent new musical of the season. It's inventive and often thrilling and a worthy tribute to Chaplin the man and the artist.

The creativity of the writers and director-choreographer Warren Carlyle rivals Chaplin’s own. His past is portrayed in black and white---the shades and shadows of a film of his life. Chaplin racing on a turntable recalls the flickers of an early film.

The central conceit tracks the way Chaplin’s art was essentially inspired by his mother’s advice to look inside people, their stories, their hearts. She said, “Then you can play your part.” The genius of this musical is to show a backdrop screen with a Chaplin film that echoes the biographical events that occur on the stage.

The iconic film “The Kid” is shown when the play depicts the childhood of Chaplin, the poor London youth with a father who deserted him and a mother who was a music hall performer and then left him alone and destitute when she was hospitalized.

We see the kid on the screen being taken from his mother in a scene shown repeatedly as a backdrop to Chaplin’s life. There’s a direct line to him picking up the long shoes and bowler hat that represented the character of The Tramp.

Rob McClure is superb and dynamic as Chaplin, both in a dramatic role and as a musical performer.  His face and demeanor and his quirky smile conjure up the master. He has a good Broadway voice, though it sometimes is not melodic enough and suffers from Broadway over-miking. Zachary Unger also plays a cute young Chaplin and the child actor Jackie Coogan.

We see the development of “The Gold Rush” and “Modern Times.” There is dazzling staging and choreography of the Hollywood years, jazzy songs and dancing. The sets by Beowulf Boritt and costumes by Amy Clark and Martin Pakledinaz are smart and evocative.

Chaplin set up his own studio. Perhaps looking for the love he missed as a child, or as part of the Hollywood casting couch, Chaplin had a lot of women, many of whom (according to the play) threw themselves at him.

They also choose to include the actress Paulette Goddard as Hollywood is shown as a circus with hoops and dancing girls with cash bags and ex-wives that claim big settlements.

But politics was more dangerous than dalliances. With the rise of Hitler, the mass war deaths in Russia, and the U.S. staying out, Chaplin, who was Jewish, gave speeches calling for entry into the war. He made “The Great Dictator” in 1940.

The running joke is that a Jewish barber is mistaken for Hitler and makes a speech about peace. Using real video of Hitler at a rally, he imitates his gestures, then turns off the sound and adds text to say, “I’m a little teapot.” Biting satire for the time. And apparently premature anti-fascism.  It took the U.S. entry into the war for the studios to churn out the anti-German pro-U.S. military movies of the forties. It’s all about timing.

Meanwhile, the politics of anti-communism would bring Chaplin down. The vicious Hedda Hopper (a taut, tart Jenn Colella), angry because Chaplin wouldn’t go on her radio show, decided to slander him as a communist.

Hooper's a pro-German, who taped him at rallies, and collaborated with U.S. Attorney General McGranery (Michael McCormick) to target him for politically incorrect speech. She also managed to promote a paternity suit by a putative lover. “What you gonna do when it all falls down” is a jazzy, brilliant number.

Chaplin left the U.S. for Switzerland in 1952, sleazy FBI Director Herbert Hoover got the Immigration and Naturalization Service to revoke his re-entry permit, and Chaplin returned only twenty years later in 1972 to receive an honorary Academy Award and a glittering audience ovation. This all just a month before Hoover died. By then, even in Hollywood everyone knew that fascism was bad and that Chaplin’s detractors had been evil.

This is a memorable theater experience.

Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 243 West 47th Street, New York City. (212-239-6200)

Sept 10, 2012 - Jan 6, 2013.