The Other Woman (2014)

4/5

The Other Woman is a surprisingly stellar film, funny and emotional in just the right concentrations. The plot follows Carly (Diaz) as a high-powered lawyer who discovers that the man she's dating, Mark (Coster-Waldau), has both a wife (Mann) and a second mistress (Upton). The initial premise sounds bland and cliché at first--and little more than a substandard chick flick--but it surprises time and time again. The writing is extremely well-done (e.g., "cry on the inside like a winner") and the characters feel much more fleshed out than those occupying your standard rom-com. Diaz is truly outstanding. I am not a fan of Cameron Diaz in general, but this is honestly one of my favorites roles from her entire career.

The Other Woman has a couple of flaws. First, it is filled with unusual, sometimes uncomfortable, music choices. Second, Mark's final comeuppance (despite how much we have all grown to hate him) is excessively over-the-top, indulging in way too much schadenfreude for comfort. But for all it gets wrong, it gets the most important things right. The Other Woman is a comedy with heart and strong characters that make you a little better off after watching it. And isn't that what movies are all about?

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2203939/

Django Unchained (2012)

4/5

Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained is an unforgettable film. The plot, which follows the recently-freed slave Django (Foxx) and his bounty hunter partner Dr. Schultz (Waltz), propels itself forward at an almost unstoppable pace. It contains so much forward momentum from simplistic plot devices that, when a sharp turn near the end is revealed, it forces you to stop and catch your breath. The whole heartbeat of the movie skips. And you sit there re-evaluating what exactly it is that you just watched.

I initially left the movie filled with disgust and revulsion. I found it terrifying in every sense of the word: to witness the way that people act, how they treat other human beings, when they feel as if there are no consequences for their actions. Tarantino lays bare the darkest qualities of mankind, and does so in such an entertaining way that we become partners in the filth. How devious of him.

But the more I thought about it, the more compelling I found it. That primary emotional response of horror is intentional; DiCaprio performs a difficult role seemingly effortlessly. He is more charmingly evil than Waltz was in Tarantino's previous Inglourious Basterds, which I never would have thought possible before this movie. He is simply spellbinding.

But what is the point of the movie? Perhaps Tarantino is using his lens to reflect on modern society. Or perhaps it's just an exploitation film about a bygone era. Does there have to be a point? People said the same thing about Pulp Fiction. Is it superficial style or is there something hidden deeper within? I still don't know the answer, to both films. But I believe that, with any movie, you get out what you put in. And the more I think about Django Unchained, the more I am discovering, both about the film and about myself.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1853728/