TheRetroCritic

Remember when the harshest subject Quentin Tarantino ever tackled was ear-slicing? Well, that time is long gone and after scalping nazis in (pretend) WWII flick Inglourious Basterds , QT now takes on slavery! And you know what? The glourious basterd has done it again. Django Unchained takes the 70's spaghetti western, the blaxploitation genre, adds that fresh Basterds-style raw brutality, QT's trademark razor-sharp, dark-as-night sense of humour to make a thrilling and unique Southern (as opposed to a Western) full of everything you'd expect from a rough-edged QT effort. This time, however, it isn't a revenge mission we're undertaking or even the mindless extermination of bad guys but rather a rescue with some bounty hunting along the way. Which is not to say Django Unchained plays it safe or isn't violent, FAR from it, it just means that at its core, the film is something of a fairy tale with the love story driving the plot fighting to survive among

Die Hard . How do you beat that movie in terms of action and sheer gripping suspense? I'll tell ya. With a vengeance, that's how. Don't get me wrong, I love Die Hard and it is a classic but when it comes down to it, it's pretty claustrophobic taking place mostly in that skyscraper and all. For me, Die Hard: With A Vengeance is just that little bit more glorious in that the entire city is at stake this time, you've got a villain which would give even the likes of Batman chest pains and it all takes off instantly. You thought Die Hard 2 lacked a certain je-ne-sais-quoi? Well here it is. That's another point: With A Vengeance continues the franchise without feeling like a retread, which Die Hard 2 was a bit, to a certain extent. This time around, John McClane's not exactly at the top of his game. He's been suspended from the police force, his marriage has gone down the drain once again and he's got a bad hangover. So when a new villain on