You gotta like a movie where Jamie Foxx in his Prince sunglasses (with the audience behind him) goes Billy Jack/Clint Eastwood on the bad guys, and it's richly deserved and goddamn satisfyingly executed. I was actually surprised they mentioned black slavers, which did happen in the pre-Civil War era.
People whining about its pacing need to stay home and watch TV. (Seriously almost every good big event/blockbuster movie this year, people bitch about being too long.) Movies are not TV, and thank God.
I have a bold prediction. If Leonardo DiCaprio gets an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor, he will win. But I'm not sure he'll actually get in. If he gets in, he will win. He really reminded me of Ralph Fiennes in SCHINDLER'S LIST in that because from the get go he's a slave owner (or Nazi), you know you're not supposed to hate him because of his occupation. But then Leo's character bullies and punishes the audience in show off how evil I can be. He is the slavocracy, unmovable and ridiculously powerful/influential in society, until intervened with violence whether a Spagetti Western-flavored revenge exploitation* movie, or the Civil War.
You know I'm surprised Samuel L. Jackson hasn't gotten more traction for his work here. The first time in dog years that he wasn't merely playing Samuel L. Jackson (with eyepatch or not the only variety) and he's wickedly evil great. You could even argue he's the real villain of the story, and more richly complex.
*=It's truely exploitive in the way it shows off the procedural sadism of slavery, my audience was bothered yet they couldn't look away. I'm sure hands were on front of their faces, eyeballs peeking out between the fingers. I applaud QT for at least not shying away and be squeamish about that shit, but it's exploitive entertainment like any of those "torture porn" horror movies like HOSTEL or whatever.
