THIS GIRL IS BADASS: NO, SHE'S JUST BAD

Let me start by saying that I love martial arts movies. I couldn't begin to tell you the number of times I've watched ENTER THE DRAGON but it is in the double digits. I've enjoyed the new comers to the genre when they began like Steven Segal, Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van Damme. I've liked the more current round of stars like Tony Jaa and Gary Daniels. That being said there is something that folks should realize when looking for a new martial arts film.

The films made overseas in the Far East sometimes lose something in translation. Some don't like the historical martial arts films of the past. A few of the police films featuring some top fighting sequences lose something. But the ones that lose the most are those that are based as much in humor as in fighting. They lose tons in translation. What is funny in one country falls flat in another.

That being said, THIS GIRL IS BADASS loses almost everything in translation. The film offers martial arts that are fairly weak and should be the foundation of the film. Instead we have a girl using her bicycle as a weapon and not believably so. But let's get to the plot first...if I followed it correctly.

Jukkalan is a bicycle courier who speeds around town delivering items for various people. Currently she's been assigned to transport some packages for some underworld types who then want to take back the money they paid her after she delivers their package. Why they would risk so much for so little is beyond me. Instead of dying though she uses her aforementioned martial arts/bicycle skills to take down the gang sent to dispose of her.

Then she gets another job to transport another package for another mobster. The first one apparently wants to sit back a while before tangling with her again. Once more she's attacked after delivering the package and yet she continues to work the same job. Not only that but she's been lifting a portion of the profits from each delivery.

If this wasn't enough of a plot we have a few others as well. One involves her uncle, a man in love with the woman who lives next door and who does laundry. But her uncle has some sort of shady past we don't find out about till near the end of the film. Then there's the boy next door, a goofy looking guy who is in love with Jukkalan. But she's in love with the hunky guy who lives nearby and sits around playing guitar all the time.

The plot lines in this film are as lame as they can be and the mixing of one storyline to another fails miserably. The acting is one of two things, either really bad or simply so unlike that seen in other countries as to appear terrible. Perhaps these would be unnoticeable in the country it was filmed in but here it's the main thing we see. The worst sin of all though is the fighting sequences which seem forced at best and lame at worst.

There is nothing I can say that would make this film an enjoyable experience. It was truly a movie I wouldn't waste time on. I would only recommend it to those who feel the need to watch every single martial arts film ever made. Myself, I'll watch the good ones over again.

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BEST OF LATINO LAUGH FEST: THIS CAN'T REALLY BE THE BEST CAN IT?

The easiest review for this DVD release would say simply, this DVD is not in any way funny. End of story. But that would be too easy. Instead let's just say that this collection of Latino stand up comics falls far short of offering the best there is.

Shot during a festival that lasted for days, what we are offered here are glimpses of the comedians that were in attendance performing. The offerings are wrapped around by host Cheech Marin as he makes quips about the performers and introduces them, at times giving them awards for various qualities on display.

The problem is that most of these comedians aren't all that funny. I would say it's because I'm not their target audience but the fact of the matter is I've seen some of these performers here and loved them in the past. Most notably is Paul Rodriquez who seems to have lost the quality that he had when he first started. The same is true for John Mendoza who at one time I thought was one of the funniest comedians around. His deadpan delivery was topped only by Steven Wright.

Perhaps the problem revolves around giving so little time for each performer so that so many could be on display in this DVD. I'm hoping that's the case. I know many of those included here have shown they can be funny but this showcase doesn't display anything worth laughing at. Rather than watch this I'd suggest catching any of these performers on Comedy Central where they have the chance to show how funny they can truly be.

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REVENGE FOR JOLLY: I WANT REVENGE ON THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THIS

There are good movies and there are bad movies. Good movies you enjoy over and over again. Bad movies you sit through and then say well that was bad, I won't bother with this one again. And then there are movies like this one. Movies where you think of them as so terrible that you want to find the folks responsible for it to slap them around and demand not just your money back but the time that you lost of your life in watching it, just wishing something good would come about. When it doesn't you find yourself doing what I did: you scream at the TV wondering why oh why you didn't just pull the DVD out of the machine sooner and just toss it out the door like an unwanted Frisbee. What makes it even worse is when you see the names of well known actors in the film. There are only three reasons this could be:

1) They thought it was good in which case you will never trust another film they make.

2) They got paid tons of money to be in it which in this case is doubtful as the budget is obviously low.

3) They knew someone involved and did the film as a favor. If that's the case please folks in Hollywood, do the right thing, make the right choice, be the big person and tell the folks behind projects like this that they are truly terrible and should be burned as kindling on the backyard grill.

Harry is a neer do well living without a care in the world, loving only one person/thing: his pet dog Jolly. Jolly is the center of his life and the only thing that brings him any happiness. He leaves Jolly to visit his best friend to discuss the fact that he owes some people for not performing a task they assigned to him (no we're not sure what that task is). When he returns home he finds that they've sent someone to his house and that someone has killed Jolly and left Jolly hanging from the kitchen ceiling.

Harry is now a man seeking revenge. He rounds up his cousin and as much artillery as he can and sets out to find out who killed Jolly. Along the way he kills anyone he feels like. For instance the bartender where they hang out makes a comment that it was only a dog so Harry kills him. Elijah Wood plays the bartender which makes you wonder why he took this role...why Elijah?! WHY?!?!?

The trail of clues lead them to a lawyer's office that results in a massive shoot out where everyone gets hurt or killed in one way or another. Eventually they end up at a wedding where the guests become bullet fodder. I would tell you what happens at the end of the film but if I did I'm sure that someone would tell me I'm wrong for spoiling the end of the film for those who wish to see it. All I can say is that if you watch this dung heap of a film after what I've told you then you deserve what you get.

I've seen movies I didn't like before that left me angry at having wasted my time on them. This one I watched all the way through and didn't so much get angry at as I did sit in a rage when the end credits began to roll. I had lost 84 minutes of my life that felt more like 3 hours and I would never be able to reclaim that lost time. I don't think I've ever felt this angry at a something I watched. There are not enough adjectives in the dictionary to describe just how bad it was.

I may never trust the names of Elijah Wood, David Rasche, Ryan Phillippe, Kevin Corrigan or Kristin Wiig again. I do know that should I see the name Brian Petsos again, the person responsible for starring as Harry and for writing this piece of crap, it will be a warning sign for me not to rent the movie with his name attached. Think of the worst most disappointing movie you've ever seen, multiply that by a million and you get this movie. My only hope is that I never see it on a shelf in a store. If I do look at the arrest record in the local newspaper for my listing as going insane and damaging store property.

This one is so bad I refuse to post a link to order. If you truly want to be punished seek it out on your own. It really is that bad.

BROKEN CITY: CORRUPTION NEW YORK STYLE

I've become a fan of Mark Wahlberg over the years. It's fantastic that many have finally gotten past the whole Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch persona that could have been a career ender when it came to acting. The truth is that Wahlberg has shown he has the chops to perform in a dramatic role and make it truly believable. So going into BROKEN CITY I had high hopes.

The movie takes place in New York and opens with Wahlberg as Billy Taggert, a police detective who finds himself in the center of controversy after gunning down a supposed rapist in project area known as Bolton Village. While asked to step down by his superior Taggert is praised by Mayor Hostetler (Russell Crowe). Even though he leaves the force, the mayor makes sure to let him know he'll keep an eye out for him.

Fast forward seven years later and Taggert is now a private eye with a ton of bills and clients who more often ask for leniency than pay their debt to him. Then one day he gets a call from the mayor to come see him. Hostetler hires Taggert to follow his wife and get any information on her that he can. Is she cheating on him or is something else going on? The mayor isn't saying but Taggert can't refuse the money he's paying him and begins surveillance.

But that surveillance leads to something else going on that is far beyond a simple fling for the mayor's wife Cathleen (Catherine Zeta-Jones). The man she meets is tied into the mayoral campaign of Hostetler's main opponent. When that same man is murdered after Taggert passes along the information to Hostetler the entire concept of the film changes from a simple wife having an affair to the complications that go on in an election year.

Along the way we are shown that Taggert has been dating the sister of the woman who was raped by the man he killed in the movie's opening. But things don't go well with the two of them and that portion of the film seems wasted. Another reference to the past isn't though as the mayor holds something over Taggert's head, a piece of hidden evidence that he is using to force Taggert to stick with his plans and follow instructions. Only an honest man could find a way to cut through this and take on the most powerful man in New York.

The cut throat world of behind the scenes back stabbing and manipulation take the forefront in this story and Taggert's decision to either go with the flow or stand up for what is right are found at center stage before the film ends. With so much on the line and with the murder of an innocent man resting on his conscious just what he will do is pretty much a given but then some movies have taken the opposite direction you expect.

So with all this star power as well as the direction of Allen Hughes, half of the brother duo behind hits like THE BOOK OF ELI and FROM HELL, why is it that this movie didn't pull me in and hold me there? Don't get me wrong, it is an entertaining film that delivers the goods, but it just doesn't have that oomph feeling that one would expect with the pedigree involved.

Both Wahlberg and Crowe seem to be walking through their roles without putting something new into them. These characters as portrayed by these actors feel like we've seen them before. Nothing new is added. Sure they do a great job but as a viewer I expect more from an actor than simply sleep walking through a role. Zeta-Jones is wasted in a part that offers her little. That could be a blessing seeing what the others did with their parts.

The movie also has a predictable feel to it, like we know what's coming long before the characters involved do. That may be because films with a story like this have been done before and this one adds little to make it different than the rest. As I stated earlier, this doesn't make it a bad film, it just makes it feel like been there, done that. For Wahlberg and Crowe fans you won't be disappointed. For the rest go in with low expectations and the movie will no doubt satisfy.

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STAND UP GUYS: THE GOOD OLD DAYS

I grew up watching Al Pacino and Christopher Walken from their early starts to their current films. I've loved almost every character they've played and every movie they've been in. So when I heard that they were going to be in a movie together playing old time mobsters I was delighted. I'm pleased to say that while this movie doesn't offer them at their extreme best, it is a wonderful film that I might find myself tempted to watch again in the future.

Pacino plays Val, a low level criminal who is just getting out of prison having served a 28 year sentence for an armed robbery where someone was killed. Walken plays Doc, his best friend, who shows to pick him up and take him back home. But things have changed in the old neighborhood not to mention with the two old cons that have aged over the years.

Enjoying his time outside Val doesn't want to go back to Doc's place, he wants to go out on the town and enjoy the life he once knew. He doesn't realize until things happen that he's not who he once was. A visit to the old whorehouse they used to go to finds the new Madame is the old one's grand daughter. An unsuccessful go round for Val leads the duo to break into a pharmacy to steal some Viagra. While there, Doc begins to lift a few other drugs that he now takes on a regular basis. The result of the Viagra lends itself to one of the funniest moments in the film.

Val later attempts to hit on a couple young girls at a club thinking he's still the young buck he once was only to get turned down. He's now an old man. As reality sits in he finds new ways to deal with it.

Unknown to Val is the fact that Doc, while his friend, has been given the unenviable task of killing him. It seems that the big boss, Claphands, wants Val dead. During the robbery that landed Val in jail, Claphands son was shot by Val in the crossfire. Even though Val took the fall for the whole group, even though he was a stand up guy, Claphands wants him dead.

Eventually Val realizes what is going to go down. Rather than fight it, he and Doc set off on a series of adventures in an attempt to live life to the fullest until the fateful hour that Doc has to sign off that he's been killed. Included in those adventures is the rescue from a nursing home of their old wheel man Hirsch (Alan Arkin) who has one of the funniest moments in the film when they return to the whorehouse.

What makes this movie so good is the interplay between Pacino and Walken as two friends who have grown old, one who realizes it and has learned to deal with it living on the outside and the other who doesn't at first having been in prison for 28 years. Living those years in a cell Val hasn't seen the world around him change but Doc has. The prescription scene is one that verifies that. But the camaraderie between these two friends and later Hirsch makes up for their differences and unites them as friends, as stand up guys, until the final moments of the film.

It's rare that either of the lead actors in this film offer a bad performance and here they once again show why they've always been at the top of the list in their profession. Both bring subtle nuances to their roles that many might not see at first but that bring their characters to life. It might be that the roles they play don't lend themselves to being larger than life parts that will become memorable but what they do with these parts makes them realistic and touching in so many ways.

The movie offers many laughs, a heartfelt look at growing old and performances by some of the best actors in the business. It entertains from start to finish and you couldn't ask much more of a movie these days. It may not be a slap in the face effects filled blockbuster of a film but it is one that can be enjoyed more than once.

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DARK SKIES : THERE'S SOMETHING OUT THERE

If you've seen the trailer for this movie then you probably know what the main theme involved is. If not then by all means wait until you've seen it before reading further. Yes, this is a spoiler alert for those who have no clue what this movie is about.

Years ago it seemed that we lived in paranoid fear of what beings from another planet might intend for those of us here. Movies had a common theme of us versus them and a battle always followed. Then Steven Spielberg brought us both E.T. and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and suddenly aliens were a friendly bunch who just wanted to hang out. That gets tossed aside and the old times return with the movie DARK SKIES.

The Barrett family seems like your typical suburban group. Mother Lacy (Keri Russell) is a real estate agent, father Daniel (Josh Hamilton) is a recently unemployed architect, older son Jesse (Dakota Goyo) is the typical troubled teen going through adolescence and youngster Sam (Kadan Rockett) is pretty much oblivious to it all just thinking about playing. Their life seems idyllic at first but then we get glimpses of troubled times like a 90 day notice on their mortgage.

It seems that Daniel has been unemployed longer than we suspected and finding a job isn't going as well as he had hoped. Lacy is also having problems not being able to sell some of the properties she's been in charge of. To cap it off Jesse's rebellious side is beginning to show itself in the tone he uses now and then.

As if this wasn't enough, strange things begin to happen around the house. First off Lacy goes downstairs one night to find her refrigerator emptied all over the kitchen floor yet she's just seen everyone asleep in their beds. The next night she wakes and goes down to find all the food in the cupboards stacked in geometrical patterns like a jigsaw puzzle on the tables, chairs and counters. The police find no evidence of break in and suspect someone in the house is doing this.

Daniel has their house security system re-started and the results offer nothing more than the alarm going off with these same sorts of situations found in the house. When the parents question the boys, of course they know nothing of what's going on. But Sam does tell his mother about someone who told him not to tell, who was behind all this. He tells her it was the Sandman.

At first afraid that the stress of their home life may be doing something to their children, they attempt to gather more information. Daniel sets up a camera system connected to the computer to watch the halls and rooms. What he finds is glitches that travel from room to room but show nothing. Things get stranger still when Sam flips out at the playground and can't remember a thing. Then Lacy finds she can't account for 6 hours of her day yet has a bruise on her forehead.

Things change and the story alters, from what could have been a ghost story to science fiction, when Lacy enters Sam's room one night and in the darkness sees a shape standing over the bed. Lights turned on and he disappears but Sam is suddenly outside looking towards the sky. With no understanding of what is happening and fears that no one can calm, the couple eventually turn to a source they're not sure of, a man who studies these sorts of things. But is this contact enough for them to change things around?

The movie offers a number of jump scenes and quick glimpses into what might be going on without revealing it for certain until Lacy's glimpse. It is then that as viewers we know what's going on for sure but the characters still aren't quite convinced. The suspense factor in the film is held up throughout and it's not until half way through that you begin to have thoughts of what might be. Of course the trailer, as I said earlier, did give you enough information that you tend to veer off the haunted track and more towards...well you'll see.

The production values of the film are top notch. Everything from every single performance to the photography are melded together to make a suspenseful film that will hold your interest from start to finish. Best of all the movie doesn't go for the cheap and easy route of extreme gore (with a few minor scenes) or over the top effects. Instead it relies on storytelling and involving characters to get you involved. Once again a film shows restraint and offers complete entertainment showing that it can be done.

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SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK : IN EVERY CLOUD...

With so many movies being released these days it's hard to decide what movie to rent or watch. If you have a particular favorite genre you usually lean that direction. If you hear from a friend you might use that to decide. Most of us rarely step out of our comfort zone though. Make a decision to do that tonight and rent SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.

Forget the cover or ads, this is not a romantic comedy. There is romance and there are some funny moments, but the heart of this film revolves around mental illness. Not in the usual depressing sort of way but in a way that opens up discussion about the topic and that makes you realize you can have problems but still find hope.

Bradley Cooper plays Pat, a bipolar sufferer whose mother gets him released from a mental institution after 8 months inside. Pat went there after he returned home early one day to find his wife in the shower with a colleague and attacking him. This was the trigger that brought about the realization that he was suffering from bipolar disorder.

Once home we get a glimpse of where Pat's problems may have begun. His father Pat Sr. (Robert DeNiro) is a book operator who is slightly OCD to say the least. Problems in the past between son and father are history but at the same time affect much of what happens in the present. Trying to rebuild bridges and solve those problems makes up part of this story.

Pat is trying to change his life all in the hopes of getting back with his ex-wife, who has a restraining order out against him. He runs, works out and is reading the syllabus of books she recommends to her students. She wanted him to lose weight, to be better read and to find a way to enjoy life. Now he's trying in hopes of their reuniting.

Pat's friend Ronnie invites him to dinner and there introduces him to his wife's sister, Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence). Tiffany has problems of her own with her husband having died a few months earlier and having just lost her job.  The two seem at first to but heads but eventually a friendship begins to flourish when Tiffany suddenly shows up to run alongside Pat while he jogs.

As a bond slowly forms between the two and friendship blossoms, Pat remains focused on his ex-wife.  Tiffany continues to try and build on their friendship, eventually agreeing to get a letter to Pat's ex in return for one favor. She wants him to help her by being her dance partner in a ballroom dancing competition. Pat agrees, anything to bring his ex back.

The nice part about this film is the chemistry between the two actors in the leads as well as the supporting cast that surrounds them. There isn't a wasted moment of film used in the telling of this story and you find yourself rooting not only for the main characters but everyone involved here. The icing on the cake is the slow development of the characters rather than the rushed feeling most movies present these days. Instead of Pat or Tiffany suddenly becoming a different ball of emotions, their changes develop as the story unfolds making it a more complete and realistic film.

The charm of this film is that you can't help but love these characters as portrayed because they seem so real. You want the best for them, you want them to succeed and until the final moments of the film you're just not quite sure if that will happen or not. It also provides a platform to leap from if there is someone with a mental illness in your real life. The topic has always seemed taboo but films like this will make it easier to approach someone or to open up and say "I have a problem."

The highest praise I can offer for this film is to say I think it should have taken the Oscar for best picture. It is a movie I felt like I could sit back and watch all over again just as soon as it finished. Finding a movie like that these days is rare indeed.

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THE LAST STAND : ARNOLD STILL HAS IT

As hard to believe as it seems it's been 10 years since Arnold Schwarzenegger headlined a feature film, TERMINATOR 3. He's done some small bit parts but to be the major star behind a film for the first time in a decade is a rare achievement. For fans it was well worth the wait.

In THE LAST STAND Schwarzenegger plays Ray Owens, the sheriff of the small town Sommerton Junction on the Mexican border who retired from the DEA in Los Angeles for a more subdued role in this tiny location. He left the DEA after a botched mission that resulted in the death of most of the team leaving him the only member untouched. Wracked with guilt over that mission, he left for this new job.

Owens' life is about to change once more. As the film opens a well guarded top level drug cartel kingpin named Cortez escapes his captors and heads for the border driving a test model super car with speed to spare. The FBI team in pursuit is led by Agent John Bannister (Forest Whitaker), taken completely by surprise with this escape. The only possible way it could have taken place (which we figure out but that takes them over half the movie to realize) is if someone on the inside was helping Cortez. Now he's hurtling down the highway at breakneck speeds straight for Sommerton.

Word is sent to Owens and he begins to assemble his deputies to prepare for the worst. He has figured out what is coming having earlier noted the appearance of several disreputable looking men in the local diner. This group is building an impromptu bridge for Cortez to cross the border. When his deputies go to check out this group they're fired on and the battle begins.

In need of help Owens deputizes more men including a town ex-jock as well as the local weird character played by Johnny Knoxville. Knoxville's character comes in handy since he has a "museum" that contains an over abundant amount of weapons, most of which will be put to use when it comes to dealing with the bad guys.

With the roads blocked and the battle being waged on the streets of Sommerton long before Cortez gets near, action rules this film. But while the film does start off with the escape of the bad guy much of the time between that and the end battle is spent with character development and preparation for the fight. True, the characters aren't that deep but we get the chance to empathize with them and their plight.

That being said you have to remember that this is an Arnold Schwarzenegger action film. It's not about the deep meaning roots of evil or the problems of government agencies when it comes to handling criminals. It's about shooting people and blowing things up. And there's plenty of that to go around in this film. With Arnold involved it also means that every so often we're going to have some quip or catch phrase tossed in for Arnold to say. I can tell you that the film has more than one of those.

If you go in expecting to find HAMLET here you'll be sorely disappointed. If you're looking for a fun time, action packed film that occasionally has you gripping the arms of your chair you're in luck.

At 65 years of age when most people are retiring it seems that Arnold has decided to make a come back. With films like these the fans will be pleased. 

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JACK REACHER : A NEW ANTI-HERO

Back in the sixties a new sort of character was formed in movies. This was the anti-hero, a person who did the right things but not always for the right reason and who always seemed to do things in the most unorthodox and unapproved ways. Where this was usually the odd man out during the time it eventually became the norm rather than the exception. Over the past few years there haven't been that many successful anti-heroes out there. With JACK REACHER that all changes.

Tom Cruise stars as the title character, an ex-military detective who is self assured in everything he does and can back up that attitude. When a man named Barr is accused of being a sniper and having killed 5 innocent people, he tells them to contact Jack Reacher. The problem is no one knows how to find him. That doesn't matter though since Reacher has seen the news story about the killings and heads their direction.

It seems like an open and shut case. The gun, the equipment to make the bullets, the van he drove and a quarter with his fingerprint on it found at the scene in a parking meter all point to the guilt of Barr. Helen (Rosamund Pike), his attorney, doesn't doubt his guilt but wants to make sure he isn't executed. Thinking Reacher might be her salvation she's surprised to find that he came here to make sure Barr is put away, explaining to her what he did years ago when he served in the military. But as she talks to Reacher things don't add up and he stays on to become her investigator.

If he did nothing more than that the story would be a short one. Instead, those responsible for the killings, attempt to take Reacher out of the picture resulting in some major medical problems to the five men who try to follow through on that order. Rather than brush him off it does nothing more than make him feel certain that there is someone else responsible for the killings and trying to frame Barr.

As Reacher delves deeper into the lives of the victims it becomes apparent why these people were chosen, or at least one of them. He continues forward facing down opponents tossed his way, an attempt to frame him for another murder and a slew of bad guys who want nothing more than for Reacher to go away. But that's the problem with an anti-hero. He may have nothing invested in the cause going on but when you push him chances are he'll push back...and much harder than you pushed to begin with.

Cruise has become the king of action films with not only this movie but the entire MISSION IMPOSSIBLE series and other films as well. In this film while he doesn't resemble the character from the series of books (a fact that miffed many fans of the series) he does turn in another fantastic performance as Reacher. Reacher is a character that you wouldn't want to anger but that you'd love to have in your corner. Cruise does a great job of making his Reacher believable with ease.

The rest of the cast does an equally commendable job, especially Pike who offers a character who could come off simply as a damsel in distress but who instead shows a bit of grit of her own. Noting that she is the daughter of the district attorney trying the case, she butts heads with her father throughout trying to find justice rather than a simple easy conviction for him.

Director/screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie has always had a handle on action films, smart ones at that. It would be great to see him continue on with this series with Cruise in the lead but a weak box office return for this film means that isn't likely. Then again hot DVD sales/rentals could change all that.

So if you're looking for some top notch action this week look no further than this film. It does it all in spades from fast paced car chases, to shoot outs to well choreographed fight sequences. Action fans couldn't ask for more.

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DJANGO UNCHAINED : SPAGHETTI WESTERN REDEUX

Quentin Tarantino has never been one to shy away from controversy. From his first film RESERVOIR DOGS he jumped into film making head first, creating films he wanted to see and that apparently the rest of the world has too. The best part of this has been the fact that in doing so he's created some of the most original films around. Such is the case with his newest film, what many thought was a remake of the classic Franco Nero spaghetti western (he even does a cameo here) but is something altogether different.

DJANGO UNCHAINED starts off with the excessive bloodshed that Tarantino fans have come to know. Taking place shortly before the Civil War, Dr. King Schultz (Chritoph Waltz) is a traveling dentist who comes across two hunters transporting a group of runaway slaves back to the south. After enquiring about purchasing one to a negative response, he shoots one and wounds the other then "purchases" the slave, a man named Django (Jamie Foxx).

It seems that Schultz has actually given up the practice of dentistry and now makes a living as a bounty hunter. His reason for seeking out Django is that he can identify the men Schultz is currently seeking, high money bounties that will serve his pocketbook. In return for his help he tells Django he will pay him and give him his freedom. When Django tells him his story and how he wants to search for his wife who was sold Schultz agrees to help him with that as well.

When Django tells him his story and how he wants to search for his wife who was sold Schultz agrees to help him with that as well if they can continue on earning enough money before hand. The two travel across the country seeking out the bad guys who seem to pay well for their capture, dead or alive. Along the way the become friends and Schultz teaches Django the tools of the trade to the point where Django becomes one of the fastest guns around.

A year passes and eventually the pair track down the men Schultz was searching for to begin with. They collect their bounty and then put into motion the plan it will take to not only find Django's wife but to get her back again. She's been sold to one of the worst plantations in the south, a place known as Candyland and owned by Calvin Candie (Leonardo DeCaprio). Candie is a man Schultz realizes will not be interested in just selling Django's wife. Instead they will have to con him into inviting them to his home and finding a way to get him to want to sell her.

The plan goes along fine until Stephen (Samuel Jackson), Candie's house slave, begins to think something is up. With his advising Candie the question of whether or not Django will be reunited with his wife or end up once more a slave comes into question.

With a hot topic like slavery it becomes apparent where the controversy Tarantino arrived from. Depictions of somewhat historically accurate moments in history that many would like to forget are on display in living color. Whippings, dogs turned loose on slaves, branding and more are there for all to see. It does make you feel uncomfortable to watch but at the same time is an effective way to build an understanding of the character of Django and why he acts and does the things he does.

What seemed to garner more press was the use of the "n" word throughout the film. Yes, it truly is a despicable word to be tossed around freely but then again you have to understand that this is a film set in a period of time when it was commonly used and not in the most flattering ways. This was the language used at the time and can be seen not only used by the slave owners but the slaves themselves. Tarantino's decision to use it here seems more realistic than if something had been used in its place. In so doing the vulgarity and ugliness of the word become apparent.

This is one of Tarantino's better films. There rarely seems a time when you find yourself checking your watch to see if it's over or not. The acting is tremendous here with each actor so enmeshed in their characters that you actually believe they are who they are portraying. Over the top scenes seem natural for some of these characters, especially those involving DeCaprio.

DJANGO UNCHAINED may not be a film for everyone, but those less sensitive and fans of Tarantino will not walk away unhappy. Instead they'll be pleased to see he's made another film that may cause plenty of talk around the table but at least isn't the usual film to come out of Hollywood.

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