Django Unchained
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Written by Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins
The Weinstein Company
Rated R | 165 minutes
Release Date: December 25, 2012

“I need a hundred black coffins for a hundred bad men / A hundred black graves so I can lay they ass in.” – Rick Ross

Inspired by Django, the 1966 Italian film directed by Sergio Corbucci, Django Unchained is Quentin Tarantino‘s seventh feature-length film: a Spaghetti Western set in America’s Deep South.

The film blends Sergio Leone-style filmmaking and Tarantino’s signature themes of revenge and fetishized violence with fairytale fantasy to create Once Upon a Time in the South.

1863. Texas. Django (Jamie Foxx) is a freed slave on a mission to rescue his wife, Broomhilda, from the clutches of the deplorable Monsieur Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). His companion is Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a German-born bounty hunter with a salt-and-pepper beard who travels the American South collecting rewards on outlaws and other such nefarious individuals.

Waltz is best known for playing the insidious Colonel Hans Landa aka “The Jew Hunter” in Tarantino’s 2009 film, Inglourious Basterds. In many ways, Django Unchained is the spiritual sequel to that film, which provided the ultimate in revenge fantasy by having Jewish-American soldiers machine gun Hitler’s face off. Here, Waltz is not a despicable foil but rather a vigilante who serves as the Yoda to Django’s Luke Skywalker, teaching him the bounty hunting business so he can track down his wife and free her from the shackles of her master.

Her master, Calvin J. Candie, is a cruel-but-charming Francophile (who can’t speak a word of French) with an affinity for Mandingo Fighting. At his Candieland Plantation, Candie orchestrates brutal fights to the death between slaves. At this castle built of blood and cotton, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) is a house Negro – whored out to Candie’s guests seeking the finest in African flesh.

The holiday season usually brings cheer and glee to family and friends, but if you are planning to see a new movie on that day, then you will probably be slapped with some sad stories. That’s because both Les Miserables and Django Unchained open on that day, and both films have rather depressing stories.

So the team at Funny or Die brought Anne Hathaway and Samuel L. Jackson, actors who starred in the two films, to a competition to prove which film is more sad. Check it out below.

The soundtrack to Django Unchained, the much-anticipated new film by the wunderkind of classic exploitation, alpha male laden films by numbers Quentin Tarantino, was released today on CD ($9.99) and MP3 (for only $5!).

Like other prior Tarantino productions and soundtracks which accompanied them, this one is no exception with its eclectic, ironic, tongue planted firmly in cheek and fist punched firmly in face track listing. For a limited time, the film’s soundtrack will be streaming for FREE online and you can listen to it all here below.

Quentin Tarantino is well known for spouting off ideas for movies he would like to make or see made but never come to fruition, but when he becomes devoted to making a particular film, he tends to see it through from writing the script longhand on yellow legal pads to the eventual theatrical release.

He had developed Inglourious Basterds for most of his directing career until it was finally released to great acclaim and fantastic box office in the summer of 2009. He also came up with the idea for what would become his genre-hopping revenge epic Kill Bill during a late night bull session with Uma Thurman (who would star in Kill Bill 1 & 2 as the vengeful assassin the Bride) on the set of Pulp Fiction. The movie was released in two parts in October 2003 and April 2004 and was also a huge critical and financial success for the energetic filmmaker.

Rabid movie geeks will be getting a nifty present this year when Django Unchained, the latest action epic from director Quentin Tarantino, opens on Christmas Day. Not much else is needed to sell people on this movie; if you are anything like me you will have already made plans to go see it on the 25th right after you enjoy Christmas dinner, exchanging presents, and the traditional drinking contest and arm wrestling match with your grandma Freida.

Nonetheless, a new trailer is out today that’s light on plot and heavy on action. Plus we have the track listing and ordering info for the Django Unchained soundtrack album.

You can check out the trailer and the soundtrack info here below.