Much like Inglorious Basterds, his revisionist take on Jewish revenge on the Nazis, Quentin Tarantino tackles the curious American institution of slavery in Django Unchained.
by Jason Gargano
11.11.2011
Friday Movie Roundup: Lighten Up, Leo, Edition
When will Leonardo DiCaprio lighten up? It doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. Asked recently if he would consider doing something besides the heavy dramatic lifting of recent years (see Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, The Departed, Body of Lies, Revolutionary Road, Shutter Island, Inception and now J. Edgar), the 37-year-old actor responded with this to-the-point rebuttal: “Why would I want to do something I would consider a profound waste of time?" Alright, then.
Inception (Review)
Christopher Nolan gives the gift of another brainy blockbuster
0 Comments · Wednesday, July 14, 2010
'Inception' finds writer/director Christopher Nolan in familiar territory as his previous reality-bending works ('Memento,' 'The Prestige,' 'The Dark Knight'), and the result is something almost as thrilling to contemplate as it is to watch. Even if you now know a little about what 'Inception' is about, you don’t even know the half of it. Grade: A.
Hubble 3-D (Review)
IMAX gem zips audience through vastness, beauty and colors of space
0 Comments · Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Leonardo DiCaprio effectively narrates this 43-minute IMAX 3-D journey into the farthest reaches of outer space. The film follows the Space Shuttle Atlantis on its 2009 rescue mission, and the eye-popping views of space shift into warp drive when the Hubble telescope substitutes for the IMAX camera lens to provide incredibly clear images of galaxies, stars and nebulae millions of light years away. Grade: B-plus.
Shutter Island (Review)
Scorsese and DiCaprio score again with complex and engrossing mystery
0 Comments · Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Martin Scorsese's latest is a gorgeously stylized psychological thriller full of darkly lush horror that torments its obsessed protagonist. As a former World War II veteran and U.S. Marshal, Leonardo DiCaprio hits every psychological mark that Scorsese dynamically orchestrates against a vast metaphorical natural and unnatural setting. Grade: A-.
Revolutionary Road (Review)
Strong performances by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio drive look at '60s suburban life
0 Comments · Wednesday, January 14, 2009
This is not the sentimental romanticism of the two lead actors' 'Titanic.' In fact, it is much harder-edged and much less compassionate than its director Sam Mendes' previous 'American Beauty,' which mixed humor and a hallucinatory dreaminess into its similar tragic theme. Grade: B.
Body of Lies (Review)
Russell Crowe and Leonardo DeCaprio provide espionage thrills without digging too deep
0 Comments · Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Throughout David Ignatius’ 2007 novel Body of Lies, you can feel the potential for creating something ... deeper. While the surface markings were those of an age-of-terrorism espionage thriller, there were also hints of Mystic River author Dennis Lehane: the portrayal of a world in which moral decision-making was virtually impossible and the best a soul could hope for was to make the least immoral decision.
