I sincerely hope Blacks understand how impressive this movie is

Rating: 9/10 (5 January 2013)

The first two thirds of this movie, anyone should consider sheer movie magic. I was so amused and entertained by it that I kept fantasizing all of Hollywood being turned over to Quentin Tarantino, maybe the Hollywood sign replaced with Quentinville, or something. As an indication of its beauty, even now, I'm not sure who I would say was the best actor here. There's Don Johnson as Big Daddy in far too short of a scene, followed by Leonardo DiCaprio pulling out all the stops as Calvin Candie, followed by Samuel L. Jackson creating one of the most unforgettable characters I've ever seen, Stephen. And all the while Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx are the film's always interesting center.
The first two thirds or so are brilliant beyond words, all to the credit of Quentin and his peerless taste and savvy. Yes, there is constant use of the N word, and the blacks in the audience when I saw this movie seemed a bit conflicted about what they were seeing, laughing nervously and a bit hesitantly. I think they should be unequivocally proud of how far blacks have come to be able to portray themselves as helpless and hopeless as they are for most of the movie.
But then Django Unchained goes more in the direction of one of Tarantino's action movies and the moment is lost but hardly forgotten. Though I enjoy action and understand why Tarantino felt the need to not follow the first part of this movie to its logical conclusion, I was still a bit disappointed. Not enough to feel cheated, however, the first few acts are just too strong. I've never seen a better depiction of what plantation life must have been like.
My only complaint is that I think Tarantino is not self-aware enough of his prodigious talent which is probably the most engaging of anyone making movies today, and that is saying a lot with so many great directors out there (Spielberg, Scott, Cameron, just to name a few). It just seemed he was mocking his vision a bit in a couple of places when he shouldn't have been. What's to mock when you've hit it out of the park?