Django Unchained

Django Unchained is a modern addition to a long-standing string of movies with the word "Django" in the title. Except for having been inspired by the 1966 Sergio Corbucci film, I don't see a connection. But that's ok. Many of these films have nothing to do with each other. This Quentin Tarantino movie has been called an homage. I'm glad I saw it, both because I'm gradually working my way through the Django movies and because Tarantino is worth checking out. I won't see it again. For one thing, I like my Django films to be Spaghetti Westerns, and this is not anything I can classify.

trailer:

The New Yorker calls it a "crap masterpiece". The NYT says it's "crazily entertaining, brazenly irresponsible and also ethically serious in a way that is entirely consistent with its playfulness."

EW has a B- review. Rolling Stone says, "Welcome to alternative History 101 with Professor Quentin Tarantino" and closes with this: "Wake up, people. Tarantino lives to cross the line. Is Django Unchained too much? Damn straight. It wouldn't be Tarantino otherwise."

Empire Online gives it a good review and says, "Django Unchained isn’t a Western. Tarantino himself has said, if anything, it should be tagged a ‘Southern’" and concludes:

Another strong, sparky and bloody entry in the QT canon. Although, creaking under its running time, it’s not quite as uproariously entertaining as his last pseudo-historical adventure, Inglourious Basterds.

Roger Ebert gave it a full 4 stars and calls Tarantino "a consummate filmmaker." Rotten Tomatoes has a critics rating of 88%.