Critics Consensus: Merry Christmas! Django Unchained is Certified Fresh
Plus, Les Misérables is elevated by a terrific cast.
This week at the movies, we've got a quest for vengeance (Django Unchained, starring Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio), a prisoner-turned-businessman (Les Misérables, starring Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway), and an old-school grandfather (Parental Guidance, starring Billy Crystal and Bette Midler). What do the critics have to say?
Django Unchained
88%
Quentin Tarantino is one of contemporary cinema's boldest provocateurs, and Django Unchained may feature his most incendiary premise yet: it's a Spaghetti western set in the antebellum South. Thankfully, critics say the director has delivered another winner, one that's by turns thrilling, bloody, and deeply moving. Jamie Foxx stars as Django, a runaway slave who teams up with a bounty hunter in an effort to rescue his wife from Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a diabolical slaveholder. The pundits say the Certified Fresh Django Unchained is stylish, exciting, and often very funny, but it also pulls no punches in its depiction of the evils of slavery. (Check out our video interviews with Django's stars.)
Les Misérables
70%
Les Misérables hits theaters swaddled in gravitas: it's a period epic with a prestigious cast that's been adapted from a wildly popular musical by Oscar winner Tom Hooper (The King's Speech). And critics say it mostly deserves the hype -- it's impeccably mounted and robustly acted but occasionally bombastic. Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean, an ex-con turned factory owner who takes care of his ex-employee Fantine (Anne Hathaway) and her daughter while avoiding the ruthless Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe). The pundits say Les Misérables is often over-the-top, but the performances are excellent, and Hooper injects a sense of grit and passion to the proceedings.
Parental Guidance
18%
It's the holidays, so naturally there's a new family comedy in theaters, one that promises to both warm hearts and tickle funny bones. Unfortunately, critics say Parental Guidance mostly fails in its mission -- it's good-natured, but blandly predictable, and it misuses old pros Billy Crystal and Bette Midler. Crusty old Artie (Crystal) and his wife Diane (Midler) agree to babysit their grandchildren for a week; hilarity ensues and life lessons are learned. The pundits say Parental Guidance is sweet but milquetoast, an inoffensive trifle that doesn't amount to much more.
Also opening this week in limited release:
- West of Memphis, a documentary about the campaign to free three young men wrongly convicted of murder, is at 98 percent.
- The Portuguese import Tabu, a drama about a dying woman reflecting on a forbidden love affair of her youth, is at 92 percent.
- Promised Land, starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski in a drama about a company's attempt to open up a rural community to natural gas exploration, is at 71 percent.
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Jacob Holmes
I'm curious as to why you're surprised that Les Mis is taking over Red Dawn. Red Dawn has been out for over a month now, which is the typical lifespan of a theatrical release. Odd that the theater isn't showing Django. Is it a small theater?
Dec 24 - 01:40 PM
King Simba
Red Dawn: A remake that few asked for that was critically scorned and was a bomb at the box office and has been in theaters for almost a month.
Les Miserables: A film hitting theaters with a huge amount of hype and anticipation, and while it's reviews may be a little dissapointing compared to the level of talent involved it is still picking up a lot of nominations and early screenings were very well recieved.
Why wouldn't theaters give up the former for the latter?
Dec 24 - 01:58 PM
Mohd Syafiq Bin Jabaruddin
I actually want a Red Dawn remake because I want to see a film that shows how the 'Wolverines' eventually become the conservative Christian version of Al-Qaeda that spreads terror worldwide. But the remake did not give me that. It looks like the filmmakers how satirical and subversive the original Red Dawn was in the era of the Cold War. I want to see that translated into the current War on Terror.
Dec 24 - 03:53 PM
Janson Jinnistan
That's very funny. I'd like to see a movie about the terroist "Wolverines" in a Communist global empire too.
Dec 24 - 04:34 PM
David E-Brock
I wanted a Red Dawn remake because I wanted to see a film that shows how the "Wolverines" eventually become Wolverine from X-Men and cut everyone up into pieces. The remake did not give me that.
Dec 28 - 10:54 PM