The Great Gatsby (2013) - Baz Luhrman

I like the story, by F. Scott Fitzgerald more than the film. Don't get me wrong, it was a worthwhile movie, but I don't think I'd watch it a second time, and still be entertained. However, that being said, Leonardo Di Caprio shines through yet again. I feel that Luhrman just brings out a brilliant actor within him, something that Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012) failed to do.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Jackie Brown (1997) - Quentin Tarantino

Django Unchained (2012) has got nothing on classic Tarantino.

 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Django Unchained (2012) - Quentin Tarantino

Well, without beating around the bush, this film was a disappointment at best.
For me, I really think the classic Tarantino films, the brilliant ones, all rely on a big cast. There isn't one main character. There's always a few. Django Unchained, relies solely on Django. Christoph Waltz is good in the film, but as he's not a title character. He's at best, a supporting artist. Leonardo Di Caprio is briliant as always, but the script is a little lack lustre, meaning not even Leo can save this movie. Even the soundtrack, usually a key feature in a Tarantino films, was just a bit, "meh". There were a couple of good scenes, interesting and funny, but they didn't disguise the rest of the film. The editing was a far cry from when Sally Menke used to do it in his older films, and it really shows in the final product.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Inglourious Basterds (2009) - Quentin Tarantino

At first glance, this is just a remake of The Inglorious Bastards (1978) - Enzo Castellari, but after watching it, the only way they are similar is the title, and even that is different enough, so that Tarantino knows his big budget film won't be confused with the Italian director's work. Apparently, Tarantino did buy the rights to the name of the film anyway, just to stop any copyright infringement, unlike what he did with Reservoir Dogs (1993), eh, soundtrack fans?

I spectacularly enjoyed this film, which is what cinema is all about. The problems I had with it, are purely production wise: Brad Pitt's star credit was unnecessary. His screen time was much less than Christoph Waltz (who gave a remarkable performance of eerie authenticity as Colonel Hans Landa), and I'm not sure if his name was there for any other reason than publicity. That being said, Pitt still gave a pretty good go at stealing every scene he was in, and was eclipsed only by the fact that he was not alone amongst the sterling performances.

Both the ending and the (sort of) epilogue with Pitt and Waltz, without giving too much away, were the best pieces of the film, and worth the 2 and a half hours we spent getting there.

A fine film from Tarantino, and a worthy predecessor to what I'm hoping will be a blockbusting phenomenon: Django Unchained (2013).

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆