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 Posted:   Dec 25, 2014 - 5:49 AM   
 By:   Warlok   (Member)

re. Django Unchained,

Suspicious sign: no "Music By" credit.

Having sat through the film, I can say it was not overly long. The slavery tale was compelling and brutally realistic. I think many of the participants - in bit parts - deserved recognition for their work. Laughed at the 'hood' bit... bloody hilarious. One of his best films for sure.

BUT...

... I ***hated*** the soundtrack. Tarantino needs to place someone in charge of the music in his films. Not himself.

(mighty frown voice)

 
 Posted:   Dec 25, 2014 - 6:48 AM   
 By:   Mr. Jack   (Member)

Suspicious sign: no "Music By" credit.

Have you seen a Tarantino movie before? The man never has an original score written for his films (aside from a smattering of Robert Rodriguez and RZA cues in Kill Bill).

 
 
 Posted:   Dec 25, 2014 - 6:57 AM   
 By:   barryfan   (Member)

Was that Morricone song in the titles something made for the movie?

 
 Posted:   Dec 25, 2014 - 7:20 AM   
 By:   Bill Carson, Earl of Poncey   (Member)

it probably needed Unchained ..melody!

 
 Posted:   Dec 25, 2014 - 7:26 AM   
 By:   Warlok   (Member)

Suspicious sign: no "Music By" credit.

Have you seen a Tarantino movie before? The man never has an original score written for his films (aside from a smattering of Robert Rodriguez and RZA cues in Kill Bill).


Heh heh, yup: haven`t enjoyed those "scores" either. Pulls me right out of the film...

 
 Posted:   Dec 25, 2014 - 7:32 AM   
 By:   Grecchus   (Member)

I don't have a problem with the choice bits of music Tarantino selects. It's his way of saluting what came before. He's not robbing in the strict sense. He's doing what we would if we could. That makes him the biggest fanboy of all! wink

 
 Posted:   Dec 25, 2014 - 8:37 AM   
 By:   Chris Rimmer   (Member)

Was that Morricone song in the titles something made for the movie?

I thought that the main theme was Luis Bacalov's "Django" song, or am I mistaken?

 
 Posted:   Dec 25, 2014 - 9:45 AM   
 By:   Khan   (Member)

Was that Morricone song in the titles something made for the movie?

I thought that the main theme was Luis Bacalov's "Django" song, or am I mistaken?


You're correct, that was Bacalov.

 
 
 Posted:   Dec 25, 2014 - 10:19 AM   
 By:   Morricone   (Member)

Was that Morricone song in the titles something made for the movie?

Yes. "Ancora Qui" sung at the dinner table scene is the first instance of a film composer doing a new piece of music in a Tarantino movie. Based on that and the fact he asked Morricone to score INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (he couldn't do it due to a conflict with BAARIA) I am hoping he might ask him to do THE HATEFUL EIGHT, his next more traditional western.

It is funny that I have been a diehard Tarantino fan, both of his films and his scores until DJANGO UNCHAINED. For the first time the music didn't quite come together for me and neither did the film. The combination of his usual stylized sequences going back and forth with more realistic ones didn't gel for me. Not enough to call it a bad film but enough to call it his weakest.

 
 
 Posted:   Dec 26, 2014 - 4:12 AM   
 By:   MCurry29   (Member)

Really?! Just watched it?! I don't get what you are saying. So, you have watched Quentin's other films you should know the deal about the music he chooses for his films. Quentin has excellent taste in music and his films are among-if not the best of the last 15-20 years. I guess you have learned your lesson- stay away from Tarantino movies and stick with whatever it is you like.

 
 
 Posted:   Dec 26, 2014 - 6:52 AM   
 By:   Thor   (Member)

Wonderful film and a superb soundtrack, as always with Tarantino. I understand why it doesn't gel with those that are more traditionally inclined, but I absolutely love it. The film and film music world would have been so much poorer without him.

The only thing that didn't go down so well with me was the cameo by Tarantino himself. He's done that better in the past.

On another note, I still think INGLORIOUS BASTERDS is the director's alltime masterpiece.

 
 Posted:   Dec 26, 2014 - 7:49 AM   
 By:   Warlok   (Member)

Really?! Just watched it?! I don't get what you are saying. So, you have watched Quentin's other films you should know the deal about the music he chooses for his films. Quentin has excellent taste in music and his films are among-if not the best of the last 15-20 years. I guess you have learned your lesson- stay away from Tarantino movies and stick with whatever it is you like.

Yes - I watch most films on disc. Some films sit patiently in my collection awaiting my viewing; its not a job, its a liesure. That is, its not something I schedule or anything.

 
 
 Posted:   Dec 26, 2014 - 10:54 AM   
 By:   Morricone   (Member)

Wonderful film and a superb soundtrack, as always with Tarantino. I understand why it doesn't gel with those that are more traditionally inclined, but I absolutely love it.

Well I am not sure how traditionally inclined his other films have been that I have enjoyed. I would make a case that DJANGO is much more traditional than PULP FICTION or KILL BILL. Anyway Tarantino for me has been consistently outrageous in his approach to moviemaking with a wink toward old movies throughout. But here we actually have straight faced portrayals of brutal slavery, that is mentioned by so many above. These are not the revenge set-ups like he has used in the past with homages to movie techniques. This is baldly violent which calls for a more baldly violent revenge at the end. Then Django does horse tricks and I ask "where the hell does that come from?" In his other films I would not have asked. It is because he has demanded too much in this film to take his film seriously that Tarantino loses his emotional center for me.

I think I would have had the same objection if in the middle of INGLORIOUS BASTERDS we took a straight faced visit to Auschwitz.

This is from a guy who wildly admires his filmmaking, dialogue, music, etc. right up to this point.

 
 
 Posted:   Dec 26, 2014 - 11:28 AM   
 By:   Thor   (Member)

Well, Henry....where I think Tarantino excels is his simultaneity of the serious and intense and the meta and humourous. There was a hardly a moment in INGLORIOUS where I felt this was "only a film". The way he directed and executed the scenes prevented that. Same with DJANGO, really, although not to the same extent. Yet, I became fully aware of his tools and his riffs and his references.

It's this 'double' effectiveness of his films that makes him so appealing to me. Of course, his chosen music is part of that.

 
 
 Posted:   Dec 28, 2014 - 4:49 AM   
 By:   pp312   (Member)

Well, Henry....where I think Tarantino excels is his simultaneity of the serious and intense and the meta and humourous. There was a hardly a moment in INGLORIOUS where I felt this was "only a film". The way he directed and executed the scenes prevented that. Same with DJANGO, really, although not to the same extent. Yet, I became fully aware of his tools and his riffs and his references.

It's this 'double' effectiveness of his films that makes him so appealing to me. Of course, his chosen music is part of that.


I thought Django was a pile of dog's doo. Just to prove how much I missed the point of this 'masterpiece', here's a paragraph from my IMDB review:

"Can Tarantino spell i-n-c-o-n-g-r-u-o-u-s?

Actually I'm not even going to list the crimes against that word (trust me, they are legion). Apparently in a Tarantino film you're not supposed to question incongruities and historical absurdities; it seems, for some inexplicable reason, such restrictions apply only to other filmmakers. So rap songs in a pre-civil war western are okay as long as your name starts with T and ends with O. Negroes riding around with cool sunglasses talking back (or is that 'black'?) to plantation owning southerners without instantly getting blown out of the saddle is all part of Tarantino-World; as indeed are weapons with an accuracy far beyond anything known in the 19th Century. So no, I'm not going to question the lack of verisimilitude in this movie; I couldn't be so unkind to such a genius..."

 
 Posted:   Dec 28, 2014 - 5:06 AM   
 By:   Grecchus   (Member)

Thor says it quite c-o-n-c-i-s-e-l-y. A Tarantino movie is not a straight line. It bends and meanders according to Tarantino relativity principles. I can go with that. His directorial and editing style somehow fits the whole 'plot thing' in a consistent enough manner.

We are now attuned to his ways, so it will be interesting to see how he's going to pinch and tug at Hateful 8 so as to remain a fresh presence.

 
 
 Posted:   Dec 28, 2014 - 7:43 AM   
 By:   CinemaScope   (Member)

I didn't like Django as much as I thought I would (I loved Inglorious Basterds). I thought the casting of Jamie Foxx was wrong, he's not nearly likeable enough, & to think of all the great Italian western music Tarantino had at his disposal, his choice seems a bit mean. But what I really hated was the huge lack of logic near the end.

***spoiler alert***

Why does the Waltz character shoot DiCaprio? I mean he kills people in cold blood for a living, so why is he so shocked at DiCaprio's racism & cruelty? He spoils everything, they were free & clear, so they were found out & the girl cost them a bit more money, so what. It makes no sense, & Waltz guatantees their doom in doing so.

 
 
 Posted:   Dec 28, 2014 - 7:43 AM   
 By:   MCurry29   (Member)

Wonderful film and a superb soundtrack, as always with Tarantino. I understand why it doesn't gel with those that are more traditionally inclined, but I absolutely love it. The film and film music world would have been so much poorer without him.

The only thing that didn't go down so well with me was the cameo by Tarantino himself. He's done that better in the past.

On another note, I still think INGLORIOUS BASTERDS is the director's alltime masterpiece.



AGREED!

 
 
 Posted:   Dec 28, 2014 - 7:47 AM   
 By:   Thor   (Member)

Actually I'm not even going to list the crimes against that word (trust me, they are legion). Apparently in a Tarantino film you're not supposed to question incongruities and historical absurdities; it seems, for some inexplicable reason, such restrictions apply only to other filmmakers. So rap songs in a pre-civil war western are okay as long as your name starts with T and ends with O. Negroes riding around with cool sunglasses talking back (or is that 'black'?) to plantation owning southerners without instantly getting blown out of the saddle is all part of Tarantino-World; as indeed are weapons with an accuracy far beyond anything known in the 19th Century. So no, I'm not going to question the lack of verisimilitude in this movie; I couldn't be so unkind to such a genius..."

If you go into a Tarantino film expecting verisimiltude, I can see why you're so disappointed. That's simply not what he's about. It would be like faulting Bob Dylan for not writing bigger and more complex symphonic music.

 
 Posted:   Dec 28, 2014 - 8:27 AM   
 By:   Warlok   (Member)

pp312, you point out a few aspects of the film I hadn`t quite zeroed in on, yet find myself in reflective agreement upon.

Gun accuracy I can overlook... behold any Eastwood western and you can accept that despite the tech of the day, some folks are just "that damn good" at shooting (real world comment: yeah, right).

Jamie Foxx delivered a generally acceptable performance as an abused slave. I`d agree more intrinsic wear & tear in the psyche, in the demeanour and conduct of the character could have been good.

The nonsensical action by Waltz`s character at the end is quite remarkably illogical, though there I can simply accept that he reached his limit for abiding by slaving scum.

 
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