Ghoulish Guilty Pleasures

Ignore the little shits posting fireworks through your letter box. Turn a blind eye to that woman’s arse hanging out of her “sexy” ladybird costume. Air the house out from your pumpkin carving stink. Turn on the telly, put your feet up and enjoy Film Fry Up’s top three guilty pleasure Halloween movies.

 Let’s face it, with the clocks going back and a new storm forecast every week, staying inside has never seemed like a better option. Finding the perfect popcorn movie can be a hard thing though. You don’t want to it melt your brain like Inception, you don’t want it to run too long like Django Unchained and you certainly don’t want to watch anything too graphic like The Last House on the Left.  So let Film Fry Up make the call. Seen as it’s the Halloween season, let’s keep in the spirit of all things ghastly, ghoulish and altogether guilty pleasure-y!

3: Idle Hands (1999)

Back when The Offspring were cool (well, if they ever got close to being cool) Devon Sawa and Jessica Alba starred in a film about a stoner whose hand gets possessed by the devil. Get it? Idle hands make the devils work and all that jazz. Its camp, gory and a little bit crap but can be genuinely funny in places and will make you wish for the times when MTV only played music videos.

2: Halloween: H2O (1998)

I said these were guilty pleasures, right? Because when it comes to bad, very bad (and when I mean bad, I mean in a good/bad way) teen slasher movies you really can’t beat Halloween H2O.Josh Hartnett with  dire hair cut, the slutty one from Dawson's Creek, The kid from Jumanji all grown up (Well a little grown up), LL Cool J. Never has a movie call sheet read like H2O's. This is genuinely where it’s going. And it’s an enjoyable ride all the way. Tacky, fun and bringing Jamie Lee Curtis back to proper scream queen status, wrapped up in 85 perfect minutes, there’s not much else you could really ask for from the Halloween franchise (it was the reigning champ in Halloween sequels, that was until Rob Zombie released his) Oh and did I mention Josh Hartnett is in it?!

1: Hocus Pocus (1993)

Film Fry up couldn’t really write a blog about Halloween Movies and NOT mention Hocus Pocus. Getting its annual dust down off the shelves of our D.V.D collection is the children’s movies starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and 90’s teen heartthrob (ahhhhhhh!!!) Omri Katz. It really has all the elements for the perfect Halloween movie. Made in 1993 it’s aged quite well and remains a firm favourite in Film Fry Up HQ. Touching, light-hearted and a little creepy in parts you can never go wrong with a little Hocus Pocus. 

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Relocation, relocation, relocation

Well it has been awhile, hasn’t it? Film Fry up has had a change of location, to an old renovated convent. And yes like all good horror films that’s normally the start of something bad. As long as our kitchen isn’t sitting atop an ancient Indian burial ground I think we might just be fine for the time being. But enough about all that Amityville Horror shtick, let’s get down to brass tacks and fill all you lovely readers (yes the two of you) in on what’s been occupying Film Fry-Ups brain cells and ocular  devices for our brief hiatus.

Starting things off is the Way Way Back (2013), a run of the mill coming of age story with all the charms and quirks that is normally involved in a Fox Searchlight picture. Steve Carrell and Sam Rockwell, a firm Film Fry Up favourite (try saying that five times fast), switch their usual typecasting roles of Mr Nice and Asshole and it works a treat. This film won’t change your life but it’s full of witty, heartfelt moments that help push it over the standard indie movie fare.

Probably the biggest shock over the past few months came from The Good Doctor (2011). No the film isn’t good but gawd Orlando Bloom is. Who knew? Almost always wooden, I’ve become used to seeing better acting performances from my cat, but he knocks it out of the park in The Good Doctor.  Telling the story of a doctor who makes malpractice an art form, the film never really escalates to where it should be heading but Bloom’s performance is enough to keep the viewer entertained for its trim 93 minutes running time.

Trim running time is something that Denis Villeneuve should have taken on board when editing Prisoners (2013). Every once in a while a movie like this hits the talky picture shows. The one that gets praise and amazing reviews and with a stellar cast including Jake Gyllenhaal and Paul Dano, Film Fry Up went into their screening with high hopes. Fast forward a very long, drawn out three hours and one numb backside and an empty pick a mix later, wondering what movie these other reviewers had been to see? Because it certainly wasn’t this bloated, unintelligent, uninspired, B-grade Criminal Minds, snooze fest, Film Fry Up went to see. Biggest disappointment in a while.

And rounding up this little catch up is a recommendation for all you docu buffs out there, if you haven’t seen it already that is. West of Memphis (2012) is probably the most complete and comprehensive documentary made on the West Memphis Three case to date. Shocking, uplifting, thought provoking and thoroughly entertaining, it’s a must whether you know everything or nothing about the lives of the WM3 men.

Well that’s about it my dear friend. Let’s not leave it this long in the future, eh? Don’t be a stranger.

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Calm before the storm

It’s been eighteen years since Jesse and Celine first met on that train heading to Vienna and it’s been nine years since Jesse missed that flight.  Richard Linklater’s trilogy of Before films capture that magical moment of meeting, connecting and falling in love with someone on an honest, real and relatable level that is always hard to find in romantic movies. Normally set over a short few hours they have become a real case study into the workings of relationships, communication and ideals. On paper and in theory they shouldn’t work, the films comprise of one hundred or so minutes of conversation. Long shots of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delphy) spouting dialogue that feels more like a stream of consciousness than a script, but this is where the films soar. The chemistry between the two leads is something that doesn’t come around all too often and the performances suck the viewer in rather than exclude them. And thankfully for all fans of the franchise, Before Midnight stays true to its predecessors and is a brilliant third act to the play about these two lovebirds.
 

 Without giving too much away the story picks up nine years after that faithful day in Paris, where we see Jesse and Celine enjoying, or maybe not, a holiday in Greece.  The banter is as strong as ever and the chemistry still sizzles between Delphy and Hawke. There are a few more age lines, on the leads faces and on the relationship but the dialogue is just as smart, intelligent, witty and truthful as it was all those years ago. Most franchises would sink into oblivion now in days if nine years were spaced between their follow ups but with this trilogy it just helps cement the realistic tone, while standing as a testament to the impact these two characters have had on people’s consciousness.

More brutal in its approach than Before Sunrise and Sunset, Before Midnight is almost uncomfortable to watch in certain parts which is definitely proof of its triumph. Conversations seem familiar and all too well performed by the leads. As realistic yet magical as it’s predecessors Before Midnight isn’t the ill-fated third chapter cinemagoers are so used to now in days. Jesse and Celine still have some bark left in them, and maybe even some bite.

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All that glitters...

Steven Soderbergh in recent years has definitely kept the audience guessing. Going from big budget crime capers to heartfelt tales of male exotic dancers, there isn’t a pin big enough to stick a label into his directorial preference. His next piece of work, up on the plate of Film Fry Up, is Behind the Candelabra, a Liberace biopic.  Now correct me if I’m wrong but for most people Liberace may not be a person they would be all too familiar with, let’s say anyone under the age of 25. This Fryer Upper having only been familiar with his name as an adjective. I grew up in a house where anything outrageous or covered in glitter was often called “very Liberace”. Within saying that I shared a house with an 80 year old woman, that same demographic that vastly populated the screening of Behind The Candelabra that Film Fry Up attended.

 

 

Telling the story of Liberace, a man famous for his ostentatious clothes and taste as much as for playing the piano, and his relationship and secret love affair with Scott Thorson. Michael Douglas and Matt Damon play expertly against their type casting and are a joy to watch. Deemed too “gay” for American theatrical release only speaks volumes as to the men’s ability to act the pants off every scene (and the ridiculousness of America).  There’s great whimsy in Behind the Candelabra but lurking underneath the piles of fur and pounds of gold jewellery there’s an ominous dark side of drug abuse and neglect, which contrasts beautifully to the glitter and glitz. Everything in this movie is played out expertly and precisely but somewhere along the way the piece starts to feel empty, lacking a substance of great importance. This is always an issue with biopics and maybe that’s why Walk The Line was so successful as it had great meat on its bones that kept the audience entertained. But apart from the amazing and thoroughly engrossing relationship between Liberace and Scott, there isn’t much else on offer here.

Behind The Candelabra may not be fully worthy of its overtly positive reviews and ratings. It does seem that once an actor steps outside their proverbial box, may it be either to lose weight, get ugly, play against type cast or to go “Forrest Gump”, they get inundated with praise and accolades. Now Michael Douglas and Matt Damon may be worthy of such but Behind The Candelabra as a whole? Not really. Maybe America was right in the decision to stick it on HBO, at times it’s a great and even brilliant  T.V. movie but that’s just about where the buck, and all the sequins, stop.

 

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The Good Gatsby

Baz Lurhmann has given the cinema going public some great films in the last decade or so. Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet and even Moulin Rouge have all married his trademark style and memorable soundtracks with stories of great loves and losses. Now correct me if I’m wrong but Baz Lurhmann adapting The Great Gatsby, one of the greatest stories of love, loss and hope around, seemed like a match made in heaven. But sadly this film’s treacherous climb to those pearly gates stumbled and fell somewhere along the way.

 

 

I think it would be redundant in any critique of this movie to slate it for not rigidly sticking to the book’s plot, as amazing as the book may be, watching something adapted for the big screen means that a director has taken a great story and put their own stamp on it. A mundane blow by blow retelling of the Great Gatsby would have been uninspired and altogether disappointing. I’m not a purist, if the film maintains its main theme and message, which made the Gatsby so great; then by all means change away. Within saying that amid all the amazing sets, brilliant costumes and perfect performances, Lurhmann’s take on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s seminal classic seems to have lost its heart on the dance floor among the glittering confetti and spilled bathtub gin.

Telling the tale of rich people and rich people’s woes, it all becomes a bit “first world problems”. The films saving grace in this respective is in the form of Leonardo DiCaprio. One of many men to fill in the shoes of Jay Gatsby, his performance is understated, complex, vulnerable and just the perfect dash of crazy.  Gatsby is not an easy character to portray but DiCaprio makes it look effortless, even in a pink suit.  Tobey Maguire lets the side down with a very banal and bland turn as the story narrator Nick Carraway but that could be more to do with the script and less to do with the man himself.

Another hit and miss aspect of The Great Gatsby is the soundtrack. Lurhmann in the past has had a great knack of mixing the old with the new. Anyone just has to give a listen to the Romeo + Juliet or even the Moulin Rouge soundtrack to know that but here it just doesn’t work. I admire him for the attempt but it fails due to the obscurity of some of the songs. Crazy in Love is re worked brilliantly and there is a nice touch of Jay-Z along the way but when it came to the blow out party scenes, the music sat jarringly with the film as opposed to complementing it.

Feeling like it’s fallen off the back of the Baz Lurhmann automated production line, The Great Gatsby has too many similarites with his previous works.  Its bookend scenes nearly lifted directly from Moulin Rouge. While visually stunning, it resonates a hollow centre, much like many of its characters. But if you’re a fan of the book, or even a fan of DiCaprio then it might be worth your time. The Great Gatsby, no, but the Good Gatsby, maybe.

 

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Maniac on the dancefloor

Horror remakes normally lack in the fresh meat stakes. They seem to either be blow by blow retellings with better FX or uninspired gore fests with under developed characters and unoriginal ideas.  Maniac is an interesting case as although it may be laden with fake blood and horror clichés it also has inspired performances and interesting directorial decisions.

 

 

In the 1980’s Maniac became a cult classic, telling the story of a man who falls in love, only he also happens to be obsessed with murdering women and using them to complete his mannequin collection through the delightful process of scalping.  Although 2013’s Maniac has slight changes to the script, the foundations of the film remain the same, there are still lots of mannequins and yes you guessed it, lots of scalping. Elijah Wood cast in the role of Frank, the films maniac, is an inspired choice. Yeah we have seen him play against character before, see Sin City, but he had no easy feat getting this complex psycho across. His demeanour and look add depth to the idea of this on-going internal struggle, flashing from angel to devil in two seconds flat. The film is shot in the POV of Frank, so considering that Mr. Wood’s face is on screen for all of about ten minutes, he still manages through brilliant off camera dialogue to convey a truly horrifying young man. Although the camera shots may annoy along the way, it helps to cement this feeling of claustrophobia and uncomfortable closeness in the viewer to a majorly deranged person. A breath of fresh air and a great directorial choice from Franck Khalfoun, whose previous outings are all trashy straight to DVD slashers. If you have seen P2 or Switchblade Romance please get in touch, you may need professional help.

The story itself is a little under developed and a tad on the deja vu side of things. There’s Bates inspired mother issues and of course the obligatory migraines. It would have been helped by a little less of the gore and a little more of a story. Saying that, the gore is great. It might not have meant to be on the funny side of things but a little chuckle did escape this film fryer-upper during some of the more ludicrous moments of the bloodbath.

You could do worse than watch Maniac; it’s a neat little package that doesn’t over stay its welcome, wrapped up in 89 minutes. If you like actors playing against typecasting and a soundtrack drenched in perfectly subtle 80’s synths then this just might be a surprise success for you. If you don’t, then just don’t bother. That other film about mannequins with Andrew McCarthy is pretty good too. Give that one a watch. Just don’t mix them up.

 

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Ironed out

Robert Downey Jr. What a man. Going from a strong upward career in the 80’s to a complete downward spiral into drugs and substance abuse that aired on the tragically funny side, see the incident involving a mistaken bed in 1996, to becoming an A list staple, it’s safe to say the man has been around the block a good few times.  Look “comeback” up in the dictionary and you will probably see a picture of his face. Never has someone returned to the celebrity stratosphere more perfectly than Downey and it must be more than coincidence that Iron Man 3 is a return to the charming, cheeky form of Tony Stark that audiences fell in love with in 2008.

 

 

 

Iron Man 3 picks up where The Avengers left off, leaving Tony to deal with a whole wealth of anxiety issues due to “what happened in New York”. A new super terrorist in the form of the always great Ben Kingsley is the new baddie up to bat, blowing places up and doing general bad guy things left right and centre. What follows could be summed up as the generic superhero story arch but Shane Black has done a terrific job in slotting in a few dips in the road of the action film highway. Fair enough there is no “I see dead people” twist during the end credits but there is enough intelligence to keep the movie feeling fresh and somewhat smart. Special credit also to Guy Pearce who fills in the smarmy suit void that the delightful Sam Rockwell left open in Iron Man 2.  Not to mention a good healthy dose of Downey Jr witticisms thrown in for good measure. That is after all what the movie goers paid the cost of the cinema ticket to see, right?

Some may argue that Robert Downey Jr. isn’t a good actor, that he just plays himself in all his roles. But I think it would be without question that the Iron Man franchise is what it is today thanks to the man himself. He adds a certain realism and tongue in cheek attitude to the films that speak the viewer’s thoughts, echoing a certain Dr.Jones along the way. He gets things wrong, fumbles with baddies, trips up during the big fight, but that’s what makes Tony Stark so gosh darn enjoyable to watch.

This might be the last viewers could see of the Iron Man but something tells me his story isn’t going to be over just yet. Normally with franchises they decline as the numbers after the titles rise but Iron Man 3 has taken a big leap up from its predecessor. The Fat Lady, or should I say Angus Young hasn’t sung just yet.

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Entrancing

Danny Boyle must live his life by the belief that variety is the spice of it. From big scale sci-fi to true life stories, from zombie attacks to quirky tales of love, ranging in locations from Scotland all the way to Mumbai no two Danny Boyle films share the same ideas. But where Mr.Boyle really comes into strength is with his inherent splash of “Boyle-ness” that seeps from the screen, making you instantly recognise his work from a mile away. Be it found in the original and trademark cinematography ( no over use of lens flares here ) or even just a few bars of some randomly placed 90’s House, or a plot with twists and turns that entertain the viewer not annoy ( M.Night take note ) a Danny Boyle film is hard to ignore.

 

With that being said his latest offering of Trance appears to have slipped under the radar for much of the general public. This film fryer-upper having gotten a lot of “What?” or “Never heard of it” when bringing Boyle’s most recent work in conversation. Which surprised me, fair enough, he was always a little bit more of an independent man, more Fox Searchlight than 20^TH Century, but this is the man who cleaned up at the Oscars a few years back, making him a household name overnight.

All that aside Trance maintains the essence of Boyle with some nice little twisty plot points along the way. Telling the story of a man who must undergo a series of hypnotherapy sessions to unlock the forgotten location of a very expensive painting he has robbed. It may not be as fresh a concept as Boyle’s earlier works and that may take away some of its charms, but it’s strong pace and great performances from the leads help this movie move a fraction above the normal fare running at your local picture house.  It sometimes feels like a mixed bag of ideas that have all been done before, see Inception and another film that if I told you its name would ruin a big plot point, and in the hands of another director it might have seemed contrived and a bit “head up its own ass-y” but with some great and jarring soundtrack choices and inspired casting ( see McAvoy playing against his usual character, one quite similar to Ewan McGregor’s in Shallow Grave ) , Trance is pulled off with a fine level of success. Fans of Boyle’s work will be harder on the director as they know what he is capable of but on its own, without comparison to other movies, Trance is an entertaining if flawed piece.

It’s great in places where it needs to be great and has flashes of Boyle’s earlier work but sometimes, like McAvoy’s accent, it slips up along the way. Entrancing, you bet, but it’s no Derren Brown.

 

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Pretty Stoked

One might be forgiven in believing that Park-Chan Wook’s first English language film has something to do with vampires. After all the name Stoker is so synonymous with the blood suckers, like Daniel Day Lewis and Oscar trophies, one is never far away from the other.  Written by Wentworth Miller, that’s right, the baldy one from Prison Break, Stoker might not have any real vampires in the mix but there is a lot of metaphorical blood sucking to sedate anyone’s appetite.

 

 

A slow, woozy thriller, Stoker tells the story of a newly widowed woman and her eighteen year old daughter, India, who unexpectedly have a new house guest in the form of a mysterious uncle. As the man’s mystery unravels and India begins to put the sordid pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together, instead of being repulsed or terrified she finds herself with a newly found incestuous infatuation for her long lost relative.

Park-Chan Wook shows the audience a master class in not wasting one iota of running time. Given that Stoker comes in at a below average 98 minutes, it’s a tight, taunt film where each and every single frame adds to the whole completeness of the plot and story. Unlike a lot of recent movies, where anything under two hours is nearly unheard of, Stoker never outstays its welcome. The imagery is more than beautiful, shots and symbolic spiders that will have you dissecting and discussing them for hours afterwards.

The script although good, could have been stronger. The three leads, Mia Wasikowska , Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode give award worthy performances in underacting and help hold the tension and atmosphere throughout but maybe they could have been helped with a stronger hand with the dialogue. They still do amazingly though and this is the film’s true triumph. Stoker could have come over all campy and crass but with the capable skills of the protagonists, it stays grounded. Hard hitting, with stoic iciness.

Stoker won’t suit the average cinema goer though. Although one look at the trailer would have you believe that its twist, after twist and action after action, there is only one real reveal that most people could see coming from a mile off.  There’s not much talking either but a lot of cold stares exchanged over dinner tables, open curtains and windows. Stoker is all about reading between the lines and listening out for what’s not being said. To quote its central character “sometimes you need to do something bad to stop you from doing something worse”, that is you could go see that new Jason Statham film but really, wouldn’t you rather do something bad?

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Getting Warmer

 

Girl meets pale, dead boy; A Love Story. Sound familiar? Well that’s because the bones (and rotting flesh) of Warm Bodies is all too similar to that of the Twilight franchise but thankfully all other likenesses , apart from the female lead bearing an uncanny resemblance to a certain Ms. Stewart, end there. Warm Bodies is a surprisingly witty, quirky, original take on the zombie AND rom-com franchises. Of course there will be die hard zombie fans clutching their copies of Day of the Dead, breaking out into a disgust driven rant over this film but Warm Bodies knows what it is and doesn’t take itself as seriously as some movie buffs might.

Set in a world where an apocalyptic illness has spread, causing people to turn into the walking dead, Warm Bodies tells through the clever and well executed tool of voiceover, a young zombie’s perspective on the whole matter. When he meets the (living) girl of his dreams, he soon realises that maybe he might have a chance at being human again through the process of learning to love. It all sounds quite sappy and cliché, not to mention our leads are called R and Julie, but the film’s charm and self-awareness means that it can just about get away with it. This is also in part to great casting, intelligent dialogue and a well-paced plot line. With a great parallel and commentary on how teenage love is about mumblings and awkwardness, Warm Bodies is a great piece of light entertainment. Maybe even in a few years a cult favourite.

This movie won’t be for everyone though. The sheer ridiculousness of Warm Bodies makes it humorous to this Film Fryer Upper, watching a zombie comfort a girl in hysterics with a Bob Dylan record was an original and oddly funny idea to me. But many people will hate everything this film is about, the clash of genres, the muddled up ideas. If you are going to watch it, I’ll give you one piece of advice, don’t take it too seriously. I don’t think anyone else is.

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My Bloody Valentine

Valentines Day eh? A celebration that began when some dude got imprisoned for marrying soldiers who were forbidden to marry, many many moons ago.  Saint Valentine would probably be rolling in his grave if he saw all the cheap stuffed toys, romantic dine in for two’s, not to mention the over priced chocolate boxes.

As you can probably guess I’m not a fan of “commercial love day”. To me any grand gesture of undying, unfaltering love proclaimed on Feburary 14^th just means that much less. Give me a rainy Wednesday somewhere in November, or maybe even a crisp January morning. Being romantic then means that you thought about it, not that society told you to do it.  But anyways rant aside, one of my favourite pasttimes on “Love Day” is to watch some anti love films. You know the kind, ones that make you weep, ones that make you glad you didn’t follow the traditional root, ones that make you happy you sleep with only your cat every night, ones that make you thank your stars that you didn’t go on THAT second date. You know the way they say it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, well in these movies that is just a plain old lie.

Valentine’s Day, it’s not me, it’s you.

Blue Valentine:

Oh look its Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams in a movie about relationships. Oh and look he is being all cutesy and playing the ukulele. Major sigh. Oh but wait, they both have a drinking problem, and they also appear to be dying slowly from the inside out. Oh and they seem to hate each other more and more by the second.

Perfect film to make you glad you don’t have someone to argue with

Edward Scissorhands:

An outsider falls in love with the small town, all American, Norman Rockwell, beauty queen. On the surface Edward Scissorhands seems like a great romantic fantasy movie but really if you scratch beneath the surface with its sharp blades, it’s just the tale of a girl who took too long to realise her emotions, which leads to the death of a teenage boy, the isolation of the lead and the unrequited love of everyone involved. As an old woman, she tells her story of this man, who changed her life but ultimately ruined his.

Real romantic, eh?

Eden Lake:

A loved up couple go on a romantic camping trip with the intention, unbeknown to the woman, of getting engaged. Just lovely. But wait what are those youths doing? Why are they hanging around this isolated part of the country? Cut to an hour and a half of the super happy couple getting tortured by some angry thugs and it makes you thankful that you turned down that opportunity for a romantic getaway.

Brokeback Mountain:

Ah Love. It can be found in the most unlikely places. Maybe even on a mountainside with your fellow worker in a tent. But really the people and lives ruined by Ennis and Jacks love for one another was sheer devastation. They had an undying love alright but it tore them apart each and every day of their adult lives because they couldn’t be together. Makes you wonder, maybe sitting at home on a Friday night and watching Tallafornia ain’t all that bad.


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You've been Django-ed

I don’t like Quentin Tarantino. There I said it. Over the years although I may have begun to slowly come around. And when I say come around I mean stop hating him with a passion and maybe actually tolerate and enjoy certain aspects of his films. Take Inglorious Basterds for instance, anyone who has seen it will remember the scene where Michael Fassbender and Diane Kruger are meeting in the bar covertly only to be hassled by the Nazi Officer. Pure and gripping cinema, but a shame that the film descends into utter and unadulterated madness, ruining what was in turn an amazing first act. Bearing that in mind, as a consummate professional, I went into the viewing of Django Unchained with an open mind. After all, it does have Leonardo Di Caprio and Christoph Waltz on the billing.

 

 

Set in a pre-Civil War America in the South it tells the story of a bounty hunter who hires an ex-slave to help with his business of making money off the dead. The first act of the film is gripping, well-paced and beautifully directed. Genuine laughs a plenty while hitting hard with the graphic scenes of slavery and abuse.  But soon enough like all Tarantino films the plot descends into the ridiculous nearing the end of the second act. Normally it would have irked this reviewer to no end but at last this was a film that called for a guns blazing, bloody, no holes bared shoot out. After all it’s a western, a western paying homage to its b-grade counterparts. Finally Tarantino had found a genre where this kind of carry on was acceptable.

 

Don’t get me wrong though, there are still faults with this movie (See Jamie Foxx in general and a terribly jarring Tarantino cameo) but the positives tend to majorly outweigh the negatives.  Christoph Waltz and Leonardo Di Caprio seem to be having some brilliant competition as to who can be the most politely menacing person around them there parts and it’s a joy to watch. Some gripping scenes that will linger long after viewing, Django could have been disastrous but it wasn’t, it was pretty delightful.

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