Film review - Django Unchained

So lets get the boring details out the way: It is an 18 - expect bloody violence, but then it is directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is roughly about three hours long and stars Jamie Foxx as Django, Christoph Waltz as Dr Schultz, Leonardo Di Caprio as Calvin Candie, Samuel L Jackson as Stephen and Kerry Washington as Broomhilda von Schaft.

I suppose in essence it is a western with a little bit of a Southern slavery feel to it as well.

Django, a slave, is freed when bounty hunter Dr Schultz buys him to help him track down some brothers who he is after. However, rather than going their separate ways after the bounty is paid Django enlists the help of Dr Schultz to try and get his wife Broomhilda back after she was sold to plantation owner Calvin Candie.

This film is simply brilliant. If you love the humour of Tarantino will love it. It is one of those films that you think as it is about slavery it will be a bit heavy but the comic moments are fantastic. One in particular has Don Johnson, of Miami Vice fame, and Jonah Hill as members of a hooded gang who are having trouble with their cut out eye holes. Really funny!

Now many people who haven't seen the film say it is overly violent and that it causes people to be violent. This does get to me I studied this quite a lot at uni but that is for another post I think.

I suppose you could say the film is violent, people get shot, but the way it is portrayed it quite different. When someone is shot it explodes out of them, the blood is a very bright, and an unrealistic shade of red. The people continue to moan when in reality they would have died long ago. It is bloody but not graphic, if that makes sense.

There is one scene, however, that I did turn away as it was quite graphic a slave is ripped apart by dogs. Not very nice to watch but then this probably happened a lot during the slavery period.

Performance wise they all shine. Christoph Waltz deserved his BAFTA, and hopefully will get the Oscar on the weekend. He is just brilliant and full of humanity and comic genius. Leo DiCaprio is so unhinged but perfectly fantastic. I am of the generation that still sees him as a teen idol in Romeo and Juliet so to see him in another role so far removed from this is great. Samuel L Jackson is almost unrecognisable as Candie's man servant Samuel but is very sinister and underhand, you do wonder if it him that is in control of Candie rather than the other way around. Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington to are brilliant.

I simply cannot fault this film it is amazing and although long doesn't feel like it. If you have never seen a Tarantino film, firstly why not?! but maybe try this see how you get on and then if not try Pulp Fiction.

The legend that is Tarantino strikes again.

My Week With Marilyn

I am surprised that I have never published a piece about my love for Marilyn Monroe. For as long as I can remember I have been a fan of Marilyn Monroe, I do remember watching 'Some Like it Hot' with my Grandad so I think it stems from there.

As I got older my fascination grew, I have many posters and prints on my walls of the actress and have many books on my shelves. Many biographies and picture books, all filled with facts, theories and maybe a little fiction, probably created by Monroe herself to get the public on her side.

I have read so many they blur into one, one however I have not read it 'The Prince, The Showgirl and Me', a diary by Colin Clark, who worked as a third assistant on the filming of 'The Prince and the Showgirl' (1957) starring Monroe and Laurence Olivier.

Clark was 23, and the book is his first hand account of having to deal with Marilyn during filming, he subsequently fell in love with her and had his heart broken by her, as so many men did.


The book was published in 1995 and the film is out now.

I was a little dubious at first as a Marilyn Monroe fan I am always a little critical about people playing Marilyn.


However, I was pleasantly surprised Michelle Williams is just phenomenal, she made me fall a little in love with her portrayal of Marilyn and that is just what she does portray Marilyn. She isn't trying to be her, or do a funny caricature.


She has picked up Monroe's mannerisms and is playing a normal Marilyn. She does deserve the Oscar and at times I had to remind myself that it wasn't the real one.


I don't personally think that anyone could have played Marilyn in quite the same way. Scarlett Johansson and Megan Fox may be fans or style themselves like Marilyn but I personally feel if they had played the star they would have pushed the sexuality aspect of her persona to the forefront and rather than a fragile young woman, she would have been a sex goddess with a tinge of sadness. Whereas, Williams plays her with a vulnerability, while also showcasing her magnetism and sex appeal.


As a massive fan I just felt a sense of relief after seeing it and felt that Williams had done the actress justice.

The film itself was really good, Kenneth Branagh is brilliant as Olivier and conveys the jealousy he felt towards the Hollywood star. Eddie Redmayne as Colin has a naivety and innocence. All the cast are really good and add something. But Williams does steal every scene she is in just as Miss Monroe did.

There were moments in the film that I kept thinking if Marilyn and Colin sleep together it is fabricated as I know people think she was a bit loose, but when married I believe she remained faithful.

I think the film showed a side of Marilyn that we don't really see - her lack of confidence when she filmed and also how people she worked with saw her. As they say when she turns it on she has it, also that she had a natural talent that many try years to achieve.

This is a great film and Williams is amazing as Marilyn and if she gets the Oscar nod she more than deserves to win.