Pre-Review Django Unchained & News: Iron Man 3, Thor 2, The Great Gatsby, Gangster Squad

I saw Django Unchained and it was exactly what I thought it would be: a manifesto for a violent socialist revolution. Quentin Tarantino is an accomplished director, and I much prefer Django to Spielberg's Lincoln, in spite of the clever manipulations Tarantino makes on the plot to make his point, the film (at nearly 3 hours) is difficult to swallow,k especially if you are white (full review coming). In film news, some points for Iron Man 3 (to be released May 3) with Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow have been released: Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) takes down the government and attacks the President and his cabinet in Air Force 1 so Iron Man saves them all by making a human chain out of them.

In news for Chris Hemsworth's and Tom Hiddleston's Thor 2: The Dark World (to be released November 8) Thor and Jane (Natalie Portman) are re-united, but shes possessed by a dark spirit: when the Dark Elevs attack Asgard, Thor loses the battle so badly he must completely rebuild Asgard and must seek out Loki's help to cross the Dark World to save Jane. Scheduled for release a week after Iron Man 3, The Great Gatsby has released their newest trailer (which is in 3D and why some shots look strange):

If you haven't read The Great Gatsby since high school, I can strongly suggest you do. Gatsby (DiCaprio), as a young man who had nothing but makes a fortune, then creates lies to hide his humble background, tries to "break in" with the born-rich group and never quite makes it, making him look bad for trying and the born-rich look bad for being born rich, so it's anti-capitalist no matter how you look at it. Likewise, due out in January is Gangster Squad and here's a little featurette we need to discuss:

What do they say?
After World War II (when America emerged victorious defeating socialism and became a super-power) Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) took over LA; because he "owns" the town, he's probably the symbol of corrupt capitalism if not all capitalism (Cohen cites manifest destiny and the will that made Americans develop the land and build it up, so all American history is probably going to be taken to the garbage in this one) and to battle Cohen the cops have to become gangsters themselves,... that's important (in the film and outside the film/in Hollywood generally) because the generally accepted moral equation is that to must be morally superior to the evil you are fighting; if you're not, it will bring you down with it. We will have to see what the film does with it, but that will be one thing to watch for in just a couple of weeks.

On a side note, I have been terribly sick and unable to get all these half-finished posts finished; I am terribly sorry, and thank you for your patience. When I was waiting to see Django last night, all the Les Miserables showings were sold out, but a guy was talking after getting out and said, "Yea, it's about the miserable ones," and he sounded pretty miserable himself. Django Unchained goes up next, then I will return to The Hobbit posts.
Eat Your Art Out,
The Fine Art Diner