Bernard and CJ kick off 2016 by looking back at Way Too Indie’s Best Films of 2015 list as well as looking at the big releases that are in theaters right now. From The Hateful Eight, to Joy, Anomalisa, The Revenant and more, they’ve got you covered as you brave the winter cold to see the latest movies at your local cinema. You’ve seen our Best of 2015 feature already, but do the boys agree with how things ultimately shook out on the staff-voted list? Considering CJ’s infamously dissentious nature, things could get interesting. Plus…INDIE PICKS OF THE WEEEEEEEK!!!

Topics

• Indie Picks (5:54)
• Best Films of 2015 (16:50)
• Winter Movie Guide (52:45)

Articles Referenced

The Hateful Eight Review
Joy Review
Anomalisa Review
The Revenant Review
Sisters Review
Tangerine Review

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Quentin Tarantino’s last few films have crept closer to cinema’s theatrical roots. Sequences occur in contained rooms, recalling the claustrophobic, object-driven narrative environment established by the physicality of the stage. These scenes are dominated not only by the director’s trademark dialogue but also by an assured language of compositional details, which guide our eyes through the frame and divulge information with a meticulous sense of craft. Tarantino’s detractors are bothered by his compulsion to bloat his works with references to cinema’s long, colorful history, as well as an occasional penchant for comically distorting his vested tone. But after recently having the opportunity to re-watch Inglourious Basterds, it became clear that the work overall was more significant than the handful of lame gestures that prevented me from outright embracing it. A filmmaker calling attention to himself is often irritating, especially when he uses dialogue to inject his own opinion of what he’s created. But this isn’t, and shouldn’t be, anything but an unfortunate stumble along a journey that’s far more complex and rewarding than the singling-out of that gesture would imply.

The Hateful Eight is Tarantino’s most confined feature yet, which initially calls into question his use of the 70mm format. Upon first blush, the decision registers as an arbitrary homage to the golden age of American Westerns. While it is that to some degree, it’s also a method to capture minuscule details in the expressions and appearances of each duplicitous character.

The film begins in the early stages of a Wyoming blizzard as John Ruth “The Hangman” (Kurt Russell, channeling The Duke) nears the end of a journey to collect his reward, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Along the way, they encounter two stranded individuals who Ruth reluctantly adopts as passengers. The first man is the clever and cruel Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), a bounty hunter we learn fought in the union army during the Civil War and the closest thing the film has to a lead character. The second scoundrel to be happened upon is Chris Mannix (a viscerally animated Walton Goggins), who identifies himself as the newly appointed sheriff in the town of Red Rock, where the entire ensemble is headed.

The four arrive at Minnie’s Haberdashery, a cramped, one-room lodge where they meet the remaining faces that make up the titular hateful eight. Bruce Dern’s Sanford Smithers was a Confederate general during the war. He has made the trek to Wyoming in the twilight hour of his life hoping to learn how his son was killed. John Gage (Michael Madsen), is a reserved, weathered cowboy who is almost certainly hiding something. Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth, chewing scenery in the best possible way) is a sly Englishman who claims to be Red Rock’s new hangman. Last but not least is Bob (Demián Bichir), the suspiciously gauche steward purporting himself as an employee of Minnie, thus the caretaker of the haberdashery in her absence.

It’s easy to argue that the narrative in which characters trapped in an inescapable setting are driven to face one another has been cinematically exhausted in decades prior. But Tarantino’s perspective on popular hatreds harbored throughout American history is strangely essential and unpacked with a necessary dose of self-awareness. He illustrates the tight-knit relationship between prejudice and contempt by procuring a tonal delirium punctuated by comic terror. Underneath lines of dialogue, which are programmed to register as humorous, lie disturbing implications about who our characters are and what they represent. At first, animosity is personified only through verbal slander. When tensions begin to rise, Mobray decides to split the room in half, sending Confederate sympathizers to one corner and supporters of the Union to the other. Later on, as viewers familiar with the sensibilities of Tarantino would predict, this animosity is emulated through the graphic mutilation of flesh. The segregation, however, isn’t the first instance in which folly manifests itself physically.

A percentage of those who see The Hateful Eight will be crushed by the weight of unflinching cruelty that man is capable of. But the film, circumventing all expectations, has the audacity to end on a note of coarsely drawn optimism. We’re shown the worst sensibilities of the soul through bloodied eyes, and as the tumult begins to dissipate, it becomes clear that someone’s hatred eventually had to be compromised. In a sea of gore with no redemption in sight, a subconscious shift in mindset embodies what is perhaps the most vulgar step toward progress ever captured on film.

Quentin Tarantino‘s really got his hands full, huh?

Following the director’s recent comments regarding police brutality—“I’m on the side of the murdered,” he said at a New York City rally on Oct. 24th—police unions across the country, including the Border Patrol and the Fraternal Order of Police, have called for a boycott of all Tarantino films, including his upcoming snowy western The Hateful Eight.

Tarantino’s been defending his stance on the issue, claiming he’s “not a cop hater.” The murder of a New York police officer, Randolph Holder, just a week before his appearance at the controversial protest, didn’t help quell the fiery national debate that quickly erupted around the director’s comments.

Fighting tooth and nail for his right to speak publicly against police brutality is surely the last thing the widely beloved director was planning to do in the final weeks leading up to his eighth feature film, but a shiny nugget of good news has arrived today in the form of a new, awesome trailer for The Hateful Eight.

The movie’s had a rough road—if you remember, it almost didn’t get made at all when the script was leaked to the public by one of star Bruce Dern‘s people (that bastard!). Tarantino scrapped the project in a fit of rage, but thankfully for us he changed his tune. Perhaps most members of law enforcement won’t be coming out to watch the film in “glorious 70mm” this Christmas like the rest of us, but maybe the latest trailer will compel some of them to show up in disguise.

The Hateful Eight stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Bruce Dern, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth and Michael Madsen. Here’s the official synopsis:

Set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie’s Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces: Bob (Demian Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all…

The Hateful Eight drops on Christmas Day, but only in the 70mm format. It releases wide on January 8th on all formats.

Quentin Tarantino‘s long-awaited 8th film The Hateful Eight is set for release this Christmas, but the first real glimpse at footage has just arrived in the form its new trailer. The Hateful Eight collects an impressive ensemble of actors including Taratino’s returning favorites (Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, and Bruce Dern) along with a couple of new faces (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Demian Bichir, a perhaps-under-wraps cameo from a Foxcatcher star) for this tale of betrayal “six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War.” Filmed in gorgeous 70mm against the snowy mountainscapes of Colorado (in place of Wyoming, where the story is set), this trailer reveals the central cast of characters in all their fur coat, brimmed hat, twanged accent glory.

The Hateful Eight centers on a stagecoach lead by bounty hunter John “The Hangman” Ruth (Russell) as he drives toward the town of Red Rock, where his passenger Daisy Domergue (Leigh) is set to hang. On the road, the two come across Major Marquis Warren (Jackson), a former union soldier who has taken up bounty hunting himself, as well as Chris Mannix (Goggins), a Southern renegade that claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. Attempting to escape an intensifying blizzard, the four duck into Minnie’s Haberdashery to discover four unfamiliar faces in Bob (Bichir), Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Dern). The travelers attempt to outlast the storm as well as each other, and make it to Red Rock alive.

Let us know in the comments what you think of the latest trailer for The HateFul Eight

The Angulo brothers—Mukunda, Narayana, Krisna, Govinda, Bhagavan and Jagadesh—are aspiring filmmakers with a background all their own: they were raised in seclusion in a tiny apartment, forbidden to step foot into the outside world until they were close to adulthood. They devoted their lives to movies, watching Tarantino flicks, reading film books and making their own movies, accruing a wealth of knowledge that has a certain purity to it, considering the fact that they had such limited influence from the outside.

While running wild on the NYC streets in Reservoir Dogs-inspired attire, they had the good fortune of zipping past filmmaker Crystal Moselle, who found their childlike exuberance fascinating. She chased after them on foot and, a few years later, we now have The Wolfpack, a documentary by Moselle about the boys and their remarkable family story. Doesn’t get more lucky than that. The film premiered at Sundance this past January and has not only garnered a ton of attention, but has also launched what will hopefully be a fruitful filmmaking career for the brothers from the Lower East Side.

The story of how you met the boys is pretty amazing. Maybe it’s because I’m not a filmmaker or documentarian, but I feel like nothing that amazing ever happens to me!
I feel like you just have to be open to it. Strange stories seem to follow me. I’m just interested in the bizarre.

Do you search for bizarre stories?
Not at all. They literally run past me and chase them down.

I feel like most people wouldn’t have chased them down like you did.
I’m always street casting and trying to come up with ideas and interesting characters and stuff. I thought they were mesmerizing. I just instinctually wanted to know what was happening. I’ve always been very curious, ever since I was young.

What was your creative outlet when you were young?
I lived in the hills and I was always going on these crazy adventures, getting lost and getting in trouble. I’d create these fantasy worlds. We had these neighbors. There was this blackberry bush between our houses, and we’d tell them that we were fairies. Then we felt guilty and told the truth, that we were just the kids from next door. [laughs]

You seem to still have that same playfulness.
I don’t think I’ll ever grow up. I can’t. My dad’s 62 and still goes dancing three times a week and doesn’t stop the party.

Sometimes you see people older than us who’ve let go of that playfulness, and they’re less happy for it.
It really helps keep you alive.

I feel like the boys will never let that go.
They have a lot of sequestered energy that needs to be let out.

What’s cool to me about the boys is how talented they are at making movies. I made movies with my friends when I was their age, and our movies sucked. The boys’ minds seem to work differently than most other kids, creatively.
They had a lot of practice. If you think about it, all they did on their free time was watch movies. They’d spend two days writing these scripts, and they’d practice and practice and practice. It was more like performance art. They weren’t filming all of the performances; it was really more about becoming these characters and going into these worlds, these movies. The filming stuff came later. At first, it was about building the world. Filming would interrupt all of that. They went for it, like a play. Their audience was each other. Finishing things is hard, a movie, a short film, a painting, whatever. They did, like, 50 different films.

I feel like their minds work so differently because their upbringing is so unique. It can’t really be duplicated, so there really aren’t any other filmmakers like them. I’m excited to see their stuff.
They just sent me a treatment they’re working on. It’s so cool!

Are you going to be involved with their work at all going forward?
They’re starting a Wolfpack Pictures production company, and I’m helping them.

Do you learn stuff about filmmaking being around them?
Yeah! What was cool is that they read so many books about movies, so they’ll tell you about crazy affairs that happened on set and stuff. They know the backstory about films none of us would ever know. They also study directing books. They know the techniques, and now they’re in the process of finding their own voice.

If I were to grow up in the situation they did, I imagine I’d have been pretty scared of the outside world. The boys are the opposite. They’re fearless and curious about everything.
Throughout this process it’s really been about letting go of fear. They had so much fear, but once they realized the monster wasn’t underneath the bed, they got out there and did it. The first thing Mukunda asked me was, “What do you do for a living?” I said, “I’m a filmmaker.” He said, “We’re interested in getting into the business of filmmaking.” He was very serious about it and straightforward and ready to go. When I first met them in the park, they all had little notepads and they were taking notes. They’re very, very passionate and ready to learn.

It goes back to the idea of finishing things; they motivate me to finish things. I had to finish the film for them. When you’re working on a documentary, not only are the subjects in your hands, but you’re doing it together. No matter what, it’s a sort of collaboration. Mukunda gave me a stack of VHS tapes. He said each of them had ten hours of their childhood on it. I was going through a lot of archival stuff. Govinda would go around shooting B-roll of the neighborhood and stuff. It was an interesting process. The boys are so resourceful and resilient.

What was the biggest challenge of structuring the film?
I worked on this for 4 1/2 years with Enat Sidi, who’s the editor. She’s brilliant, and I learned so much from her. The way she cuts is about working with the motion and finding scenes that speak to you. Once you have the scenes cut together, you just start doing this mix-n-match. It took a while to get to the end. It’s so simple, but there are so many ways you can go. And you have to kill your darlings. The movie’s about the family and what they went through and how they’re dealing with their new lives.

Were you scared to film their father?
At first I was kind of scared. I didn’t film the dad for the first two years. He was there, but when I’d come over, he’d leave. Everything flowed in the right way. I asked him to interview eventually, and he was excited about it. He was very kind to me and thanked me for helping his kids. By the time I came into their story, he had been overthrown. There wasn’t anything to be scared of. I had no idea what was happening in the first year or so.

What do you mean?
I was just interested in the kids because they were cool and fun to hang out with. They have this openness that you don’t really see in New York; everybody has this jaded vibe, like they’re too cool. [laughs] It was cool hanging out with them, but I didn’t know about their history. Slowly, it started unraveling and I’d pick up little clues here and there.

My favorite moment in the movie is when they go to the theater and are so stoked that their money is going to Christian Bale and David O. Russell. It made me emotional because I think most of us take for granted how cool going to a movie is. I loved that they were so excited to support the industry.
Being there was really emotional. This is their obsession, and they’ve never gone to a theater.

The Dark Knight scene with the Joker blows everyone away. The acting is so good!
These kids! These kids! Look at them! [laughs] I love that part. It’s so good.

You mentioned killing your darlings.
There was a great scene that was on Tarantino’s birthday that we had to cut. They celebrate it like it’s a holiday. I’ll find another way to bring that in as a DVD extra or something. But you have to go with the narrative.

Tarantino’s a filmmaker people naturally gravitate to because he’s so beloved by everyone. I like that, even though the boys grew up in this bubble, they still gravitated toward Tarantino, without any outside influence.
I know, right! They saw Pulp Fiction on TV and they were like, “Bring us all his movies!”

What are they like at Q&As?
They’re really funny and open and not nervous, like I usually am. I’m getting better at it, but they’re super cool. Krisna’s like, “You know, I’m more into ’80s rock now.” [laughs]

Are they ladies’ men?
I think they’re getting their mojo. They really liked Chloe, the girl in their movie at the end. The idea for that movie was really brilliant. It came from something deeper and had emotion to it. I thought it was pretty cool.

It’s surprising and frankly disheartening that the state of animated movies has barely changed since its inception. Perhaps the biggest revolution in the art form was ushered in by Woody and Buzz Lightyear and in Pixar’s 1994 jump to the third dimension, Toy Story, but if you take a step back, the sad reality sinks in that animated movies are still as narrow in terms of subject matter as they ever have been. Virtually all animated features that hit theaters these days are either aimed at kids or at least kid-friendly, and adult subjects like sex, infidelity, drug use, and murder remain largely untouched, even in 2015, over 100 years since the world saw its first animated sequence on celluloid.

We’re long overdue for an animation revolution, a wave of films full of mature themes and imagery to expand people’s minds beyond the “cartoons are for kids” mantra that’s been ingrained in our culture for decades and continues to stifle the art form.

Bill Plympton, a veteran animator who’s managed to remain a completely independent artist throughout his decades-long career, has been fighting the good fight and trying to spark said revolution since he put pencil to paper. His work has been seen in film festivals and on television probably since before you were born, telling stories about the messier side of life with his inimitable style and surrealist philosophy.

Cheatin’ is Plympton’s latest film (though the prolific filmmaker has always got at least a couple of projects in the pipeline), a trippy tale about a husband and wife whose relationship slowly crumbles as outside temptation drives them apart. It’s a timeless tale told in timeless fashion, existing in a world where everything looks slightly wrong, and yet strangely familiar.

I had the honor of speaking with Mr. Plympton about the film, which is out on Vimeo On Demand today. In addition, his entire library of work is also available now on iTunes, including 60 short films and 10 full-length features.

You’ve been essentially autonomous as an artist for your entire career. Because of this, do you find you have a more intimate relationship with your fans than perhaps other artists?
I don’t think so. Everybody has fans, just mine are a little weirder. A little strange. There’s sex, violence, and surreal humor in my films, so I think that appeals to a special audience, certainly not family-type people. It’s a younger crowd, probably about your age. Mostly male, though Cheatin’ has been getting a lot of female fans. They’re a little more educated, people who like seeing something they’ve never seen before.

Film is still a relatively young art form, a little over a hundred years old. But to me, animation is still in its infancy, in a way. The type of animated films available to us are so narrow, almost exclusively telling stories that are appropriate for children. You know this as well as anybody. I think your work is important because it keeps alive the idea that animation can be much more expansive than it is, as far as subject matter. What do we have to do to get adult animated movies out there?
Thank you for saying that. It’s something I’ve been asking myself a lot. I don’t know. I think the preeminence of Disney in this country is one factor. People are afraid of mixing cartoons and sex. There’s still that conservative side of American society that prevents these films from getting major distribution. I know there’s a big audience for me, people who want to see something fresh, from a different viewpoint. It’s just a matter of getting the distributors to believe that. That’s been my struggle for 25 years. I hope Cheatin’ is the film that will break that glass ceiling that’s prevented animation from reaching adult audiences.

When I was a kid, I grew up loving animation. I still love animation. So it just makes sense to see adult ideas made with animation. Animation, to me, is a perfect art form. There are no limits to what you can do. Why would you just keep it for kids? It seems very offensive to me that that’s the way it is in this country. An example I use is Quentin Tarantino, who has a lot of sex and violence in his films, and they’re cartoons, basically. They’re very exaggerated, with big, weird characters. How come he can get away with it and I can’t? I just don’t understand it.

I think words get in the way sometimes. I think animation is the perfect art form as well, because some emotions and feelings cannot be expressed adequately through words. With animation, I think you can be more expressive.
I made this film without dialogue for three reasons. Number one is, it’s really expensive to get distribution because you have to do the translation and dubbing and subtitles. Number two is, I’m not really good at writing dialogue, and it’s hard to do lip-synch. Number three, I think it’s just more poetic and powerful to tell a story through sound, music, and visuals.

It’s cinema.
It’s cinema. Pure cinema. That’s the way I like it.

I think what a lot of people don’t get is, visual language is a language as well, and it’s often more articulate than the spoken word. You speak with your images.
I appreciate great writing, but this is just another style of storytelling. I don’t begrudge anybody for telling their stories the way they do; this is just what I prefer. I’m not doing it to be unique; it’s the way I prefer to communicate.

Illustration and animation is special to me because you can see the artist’s work right there on the page and screen. Every stroke. It’s so full of passion and hard work, and there’s a unique connection there. That’s all you on the screen.
Yes, that’s my hand. Every drawing you see on the screen is created by me, pencil on paper.

I enjoy the music in the film. Do you like being retro? Some people don’t want to be retro.
There are some retro elements in this film, no question. I just chose the best elements from each part of the filmmaking. The cars are ’40s, the fashion is ’50s, the architecture is ’20s, the music is European opera. It’s a mixture of different eras, and I like that. I want to create a world that’s unique and special, somewhere you’ve never been before. I like creating worlds that you want to go to and stay. It definitely retro, but it’s more a Neverland, this place that has two people trying to act out their problems.

What else are you working on these days?
I’m working on a film with Jim Lujan. He’s writing the story, designing the characters and doing the voices. He’s pretty well-known for his online cartoon, but it’s not very well animated. I said, “Jim, let’s do a feature film. You do the story and I’ll do all the animation and produce. We’re about a third of the way done, and it’s called Revengeance. It’s about the underbelly of L.A., cultists, wrestlers, bikers, transvestites; all the weird people in L.A.. We’re running a Kickstarter campaign for it, too. One of the cool things we’re doing is, for a pledge of $1,500 or more, I’ll animate you into the film as a character. You’ll be immortalized in a Bill Plympton feature film.

I love the character design in this film. It’s very extreme and exaggerated. Their physical appearance is very much reflective of their personality. Is this the farthest you’ve pushed your design?
Yes. I really wanted to let loose, stretch and exaggerate the physical reality of these characters. It was really fun. Whenever I’m doing a film, if I’m not having fun doing it, I’m doing something wrong. I really wanted to go crazy with the characters.

Are you the kind of person who keeps track of your progress as an artist? In other words, do you look back at your old work and think, “This film is where I learned to do this,” or “My style took a big leap here.”
Absolutely. I’m moving more and more to the surreal right now, but my early stuff was actually quite realistic. It’s always educational to see where I came from. I’ll look back at something I did 30 years ago as an illustrator, and I’d be doing things back then I thought were new now! Style comes back around.

A lot of artists hit a creative plateau, but I don’t think you’ve hit it, even though you’re a veteran.
I think the next few films I’m bringing out are some of the best I’ve ever done. I’m doing a short film called The Loneliest Stoplight that should be done next month. It’s about a stoplight that nobody uses. He’s on a country road in the middle of nowhere and no one cares about him. I’m recording Patton Oswald for it next week in L.A.. I hope I’m getting better. I’m learning more about animation, storytelling, and making better films. That’s the whole point: learning.

What’s your perfect creative environment?
Just sitting at home at my drawing board. I put on my headphones and listen to Emmylou Harris. I can be happy all day long drawing these characters.

Why Emmylou Harris? I love her music.
I grew up with country. I’m from Oregon originally. I listened to Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, people like that. I’ve got a lot of Emmylou Harris stuff. I love it.

Does she know that you listen to her when you work?
I met her at Sundance, actually! She was standing behind me in line for a film. I said, “I’m a big fan of your stuff! You’re so great! I’d love to do a music video with you!” She said, “Here’s my card, send a letter to my agent.” I sent a whole package of my stuff and never heard back.

Oh no!
I think she thought I was a stalker or something.

Does country music inform your work?
Absolutely. Cheatin’ is really a country song. “My baby left me, I want to kill her, I’m going to a bar to pick up women.” It’s a very country-Western style of storytelling. I really want to do a film with all the great ’50s country artists’ music. Hank Williams, Tammy Wynette, George Jones.

Loretta Lynn would be great.
I’d love to do a film full of that music. It would work so well with animation.

I’d love to see you draw Lyle Lovett. He looks like a cartoon already!
His eyes are so tiny, and he’s got that big ‘ol chin. He’d be fun to draw. And I love his music.

Is Kickstarter going to be your regular avenue for putting your work out there?
I’ve done three campaigns. For Cheatin’, we asked for $75,000 and got $100,000, so that was a big success. Now we’re doing Revengeance, and it seems like a perfect way to make a film. It’s a shame I didn’t have this when I was starting out. I’m an independent artist, and I think that appeals to my audience and the Kickstarter people. They want to see me still making films.

It’s quite the community you’ve built.
It is! I go to a lot of my screenings and ask how many people have contributed to the Kickstarter, and usually one or two people will raise their hand.

There are more avenues for independent artists like yourself to reach your audience now than there ever have been. Does that motivate you?
Absolutely. I feel so much more freedom now to make whatever I want. But there’s another issue we should talk about. When I started out making movies, it was all analog. I’d have to get a big camera stand and an operator to shoot all the drawings. It took forever, and it was very expensive. Thank god, now it’s all digital: you put the drawings in the scanner, scan it, and then you can color it on the computer and it’s done. If I see a mistake, I can just go in digitally and change it. Before, I’d have to buy more film and shoot the drawings again. Before, almost 50 percent of the cost went to the technical side of making the film. Now, maybe five percent. The digital revolution really changed my studio setup for the good.

Your art style is so unmistakable. Whenever anyone tries to emulate it, it looks wrong. That’s all you on there.
It is all me. However, I steal from a lot of people. All my career, I take a little bit here and there. Everyone says my style is so unique and different, but I look at it and say, “I ripped off this guy, I ripped off that guy.”

Would you really say you’re ripping them off?
Well, I’d say I’m borrowing.

It’s all filtered through you at the end of the day.
It’s filtered through me and it’s also mixed around with other people’s artwork. It’s about 40% me and 60% other artists. If people say I have a unique look, I’ll accept it. It’s great.

Are there any current animators you could point us to that you think deserve more attention?
Don Hertzfeldt is doing really great stuff. He’s sort of the rock star of animation. Signe Baumane, who did Rocks in My Pockets, is doing interesting things as well. I love Marv Newland’s stuff. Joanna Quinn is a British animator, and she does great stuff.

Pixar makes great movies, and Up is one of my favorites. That opening montage is amazing, but I think a big part of why it garnered so much attention was because it was dealing with adult subject matter in a serious way. I think there needs to be more of that.
I think America’s ready to change its attitude toward animation. It’s ready to grow up. I think Cheatin’ will hopefully be a film that changes the attitude. You need something edgy and fresh and unique.

I think people would love to see a rated-R animated movie.
I see Quentin Tarantino occasionally, and I say, “Hey, let’s do a film together. You write the script and I’ll do the animation. He said, “Yeah! Let’s do it!” I say, “Wanna talk next week?” and he says, “I’m too busy.” He’s got a really full plate.

Do you have a vision of what that movie might look like?
It’d be similar to Cheatin’, but it’d have his flair. His writing is so good. I met him at Sundance back in ’92. He knew all of my movies. He’s a real student of film. I was blown away by his knowledge of animation. In the film Kill Bill, the Uma Thurman character is marrying Mr. Plympton at the beginning of the film. I saw Quentin, and he said, “That’s you, man!”

In honor of the film’s 50th birthday, and the 50th anniversary of the Spaghetti Western as a genre, Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars will help close the 67th Cannes Film Festival during a screening hosted by none other than Quentin Tarantino. The screening of A Fistful of Dollars will feature a 4K version of the film restored by Cineteca di Bologna, and occur on Saturday, May 24th following the main prize ceremony.

The screening’s host Quentin Tarantino is no stranger to the Western genre, claiming to have been influenced by the films of Sergio Leone. Tarantino’s most recent film Django Unchained was ostensibly a Western, and his rumored (but troubled) follow-up The Hateful Eight is expected to be another run at the genre. A Fistful of Dollars, which introduced audiences to Clint Eastwood’s iconic character the Man with No Name, didn’t reach the United States until 1967.

The film restoration was aided by Unidis Jolly Films, A Fistful of Dollars‘ original producer and distributor, as well as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation. Noted cinematographer Ennio Guarnieri oversaw the restoration which was done through the Immagine Ritrovata film restoration laboratory.

In some disappointing news, Quentin Tarantino has sidelined his recently announced supposed next project (and 9th feature film), an ensemble western called The Hateful Eight, when the script was leaked. Though he hasn’t ruled out making the film in the future, it certainly won’t be his next film. Instead, Tarantino plans to publish the screenplay as a book, entering the arena of prose storytelling like he’s been hinting at doing for some time now. The influencial auteur expressed that he feels “very, very depressed” in an exclusive interview with Deadline.

“I finished a script, a first draft, and I didn’t mean to shoot it until next winter, a year from now. I gave it to six people, and apparently it’s gotten out today,” Tarantino said in the interview. Despite the leak, he says the fact that it’s reached his fans isn’t the reason he’s so upset: it’s that he feels betrayed. “I like the fact that people like my shit, that they go out of their way to find it and read it. But I gave it to six mutherfucking people!”

Those six include actors Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, and Nebraska star Bruce Dern, who Tarantino had been courting for a lead role in the picture. Tarantino suspects one of their agents leaked the script, specifically naming CAA, which reps Dern.

Though the news may come as a huge bummer for Tarantino fans (including myself), the director insists that this was the right choice to make, and that he’s got a bevy of other ideas floating around in his head, ready to come to the forefront and take the scrapped Hateful Eight‘s place. “I give it out to six people, and if I can’t trust them to that degree, then I have no desire to make it. I’ll publish it. I’m done. I’ll move on to the next thing. I’ve got 10 more where that came from.”

There’s really not much you can say about Tarantino that most film fans don’t already know–he is one of the most famous names in Hollywood, and for good reason. Even though his incredible eye for detail and storytelling are unbelievably good, his work would not be as prominent or industry celebrated if it not for the actors who bring his notorious characters to life. In this month’s feature the staff had as easy time coming up with 13 of our favourite characters from Quentin Tarantino’s films, many of which were synonymously ranked. Interestingly, Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction, and Inglorious Basterds each had three mentions that made it into our list.

So have a look for yourself and judge where you’d have put these characters in among your favourite (maybe some wouldn’t make it?) and see if it’s similar. We’d love to hear your thoughts and if you want to tell us your favourite Tarantino legend then just drop us a comment below!

13 Amazing Quentin Tarantino Characters

#13 – Max Cherry (Jackie Brown)

Max Cherry (Robert Forester in the role of his life) is far and away my favorite Tarantino character, and for me, the one that has the most depth. Cherry is a bail bondsman who, for the lack of a better word, bails out Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) after she is pinched for smuggling a load of money and cocaine into the country (she’s a stewardess for a low rent Mexican airlines). Grier is great, but to me the film is owned by Forester. Tarantino’s dialogue and the beats that Forester hits combine to create a character that has years of sadness hidden behind his old squinty puppy dog eyes. Cherry seems to always be ahead of the game, even when he seems to be acting aloof. Everything we identify with his through Cherry’s eyes. He hardly has to say anything and we totally understand his point or his motivations. His interactions with Grier (particularly the final scene of the film) and especially Samuel L. Jackson are pitch perfect. Forester deservedly walked away with an Oscar nomination for his work here and in my opinion he should’ve won. Max Cherry was the role Tarantino was born to bring to the silver screen and the role that Robert Forester has been waiting his whole life for. [Blake Ginithan]

#12 – Lt. Aldo Raine (Inglourious Basterds)

Brad Pitt’s accent aside, there are some seriously enjoyable aspects of Aldo Raine’s personality. Firstly, he’s straightforward, bringing us simplicity without stupidity; he doesn’t mince his words and this gives him an air of trustworthiness and reliability. Secondly, he’s a natural leader – he inspires others and isn’t afraid to take charge and get things done. And thirdly, but certainly not least, he’s hysterically funny. Granted, much of the humour we get from him isn’t intentional on his part – whether it’s his poorly accented “Arrivederci” or simply his entire look, Tarantino’s taken extra measures to make sure we laugh. This isn’t just a simple joke, however, as it provides some much-needed lightness in the face of Aldo Raine’s unshakeable desire for Nazi scalps. In the end, Pitt’s whole-hearted performance ensures that even Tarantino’s signature gore isn’t enough to put us off feeling endeared toward his character. [Pavi Ramani]

#11 – Shosanna (Inglourious Basterds)

Inglourious Basterd’s Shosanna may not be as industrious a revenger as Tarantino’s Bride from Kill Bill, but she’s just as bloodthirsty. As a child, having witnessed her family’s murder at the hands of Nazi “Jew Hunter” Hans Landa, she narrowly escapes the same fate. She is given opportunity to enact revenge years later as the now owner of a cinema, armed with plenty of flammable nitrate film. The perfect setting for Landa, and the Fuhrer himself, to hold their film premiere and end up in flames. Shosanna is hard-edged and hell-bent. As she smokes her French cigarettes and endures Landa and his strudel-loving smugness, her hatred seethes through. She’s also given one of Tarantino’s best montages as she prepares to look her best for the night’s bloodbath to the tune of David Bowie’s Cat People (Putting Out Fire). A French Jewish woman taking down the Nazis? Makes for a satisfying historical rewrite. [Ananda Dillon]

#10 – Butch Coolidge (Pulp Fiction)

For a man who’s used to fighting with his fists, he sure knows his way around a samurai sword. Bruce Willis turns in the performance of a lifetime as Butch Coolidge, Pulp Fiction’s boxer-on-the-run whose most prized possession is his daddy’s watch. What’s great about Butch is his staunch sentimentality and reverence for his father, fueled by his hot-headed rage and tough-guy demeanor; he’s a man, but he’ll always be his father’s little boy. His basement salvation of Ving Rhames’ Marsellus Wallace is one of Tarantino’s very best scenes. [Bernard Boo]

#9 – Stephen (Django Unchained)

Who would have guessed that Django Unchained would have given us Samuel L. Jackson’s best performance in years? The last time Jackson had a significant role in one of Tarantino’s films was well over a decade ago in Jackie Brown (with some sly cameos in Kill Bill and Inglourious Basterds), so it was easy to assume that he wouldn’t have a major part in this film. But the real shock came when it turned out that Leonardo DiCaprio’s sneering Calvin Candie wasn’t the true villain after all. It was Jackson’s role as Stephen, Candie’s house slave, that turned out to be the real antagonist in the movie. A man born and raised in slavery, Stephen turns out to be smarter than any of his masters, but unfortunately his role of servitude has made him use his strengths against his own interests. Instead of reducing Django Unchained to an ‘Us vs Them’ revenge fantasy, Tarantino cleverly used Stephen to subvert expectations and expose a side of slavery that the public isn’t accustomed to. It was smart, unexpected and shows how much Tarantino has matured over the years as a filmmaker. [CJ Prince]

#8 – Vincent Vega (Pulp Fiction)

It may be easy for Vincent Vega to get overshadowed by his extremely vocal partner (played by Samuel L. Jackson), but Vincent’s cool, calm, and collective demeanor perfectly balances out the duo’s equilibrium. The audience sympathizes with his character when he is given the difficult task of killing the bosses wife and then with all the mistakes he makes along the way. When Pulp Fiction was first released many people believed John Travolta’s career had become stale with ever since his early dancing days of Saturday Night Fever and Grease, but Vincent’s wonderful character revived his career (and was still able to showcase some of those dancing moves in a scene). [Dustin Jansick]

#7 – Mr. Blonde (Reservoir Dogs)

It’s always the quiet ones. The rabid-hellhound-off-the-leash of the Reservoir Dogs, Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) propels Tarantino’s non-heist movie constantly forward with his psycho-killer swagger and unpredictable bursts hyper-violence (both off-screen and on.) His sadistic “cop-mutilation-two-step” to the super sounds of Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle With You” is arguably as, if not more, iconic than Vincent Vega’s (Blonde’s Tarantino-verse brother) Jack Rabbit Slim’s twist-off scene. Mr. Blonde is such a vital character because he’s a deadly wild card, a ticking time bomb scary enough to make a band of professional criminals–and us–feel helplessly out of control. “Are you gonna bark all day, little doggy? Or are you gonna bite?” [Bernard Boo]

#6 – Jackie Brown (Jackie Brown)

Pam Grier seemed to never get the respect she deserved as the original female action star (she predates Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, the one who gets all the plaudits, by 7 years). Grier’s portrayal of Jackie Brown is essentially if one of her action characters from the 70’s retired from ass kicking, had no money and had to resort to smuggling money and drugs for a lowly Manhattan Beach drug dealer. Tarantino gives Grier the role of career as an aging female stewardess who is barely making ends meet and has nothing to fall back on. Grier is more than up for the challenge. She’s street smart. She couldn’t tell you what E=MC2 is, but could easily hustle you out of half a million dollars. Grier and Tarantino team up to create a character that is smart and sexy. Jackie Brown is an action star that doesn’t rely on using violence to solve her issues, but her wits. 35 years after Grier burst onto the screen, Tarantino finally gave her a role that she deserved and one that had mainstream audiences cheering from the rafters. [Blake Ginithan]

#5 – Calvin Candie (Django Unchained)

Those same icy blue eyes Leonardo DiCaprio uses to capture female hearts in many of his early films sparkle with a sinister energy in his role as Calvin Candie. Owner of Candyland, the plantation where his slaves toil away, Candie trains slaves as Mandingo fighters and then forces them to kill or be killed against other slaves. This spoiled brat of a villain is the bully whose toys you’d never want to steal, which is precisely what our hero has set out to do in Django Unchained. Candie’s exuberance and energy throughout the film are what keep him terrifying, a truly loose cannon. When the ruse is up and Candie realizes he’s being conned, his condescending and malicious lesson in phrenology to Django and Dr. Schultz is terrifying, and that’s before he’s even begun shouting and smashing the dinnerware. A pompous bastard ‘til the end, his yellow-tooth-grinned insistence that Dr. Schultz shake his hand leads to a most satisfying demise. Shot through the badge of his foppery, a white carnation over his heart. [Ananda Dillon]

#4 – Dr. King Schultz (Django Unchained)

Dr King Shultz’s character has, at its core, something that appeals to all of us – the ability to be undeniably badass (he shoots baddies!) whilst also having a moral compass of gold. Indeed, there’s no aspect of him that was designed to be even slightly ambiguous about his lovability. But the reason he’s such a fantastic character goes further than this; he does it all with a flare and charm that we’re instinctively drawn to. Much of this comes from Tarantino’s lines – he’s just as much of a “silver-tongued devil” as he accuses Django of being – but Christoph Waltz, as always, brings a certain whimsical quality with him that propels him from the realm of enjoyable characters to that of irresistible people. With his compassion for the vulnerable and his impeccable speaking style, I think it’s safe to say most of us left this film wishing we were a little more like King Shultz. [Pavi Ramani]

#3 – Jules Winnfield (Pulp Fiction)

Samuel L. Jackson is blessed with some of the best lines of dialog in Pulp Fiction with his role as Jules Winnfield, which is now a rather iconic role. Jules is a vociferous hitman that you find yourself starting to fall for during his infamous rant about how the French call the Quarter Pounder with Cheese a Royale with Cheese. In typical Tarantino fashion, the character is filled with quirks, like insisting on getting into character before busting in to kill the target and fixation of the bible verse Ezekiel 25:17. Yeah, Jules is a real bad motherfucker (just check is wallet) whose foul-mouthed monologues and erratic behavior make him a quotable wild card of a character. Playing Jules Winnfield is without a doubt Samuel L. Jackson’s finest performance to date, one that is truly unforgettable. [Dustin Jansick]

#2 – The Bride (Kill Bill)

Uma Thurman’s portrayal of Beatrix Kiddo or “The Bride” is one of the most memorable performances among Tarantino films, and if you’re a big Tarantino fan, then you’ll probably have The Bride in your top 10 favourite characters of all time. Driven by nothing but revenge, Kiddo’s journey spans over two films (or volumes) and takes you down the remorseless path of Beatrix’s desire for destruction and overwhelming hate. Her passion to kill those that tried to kill her is limitless and she will not stop until they are brought to a violent end. I have nothing but admiration for the Samurai skill and theme that Tarantino brings to life–it’s such a different take on the “seeking revenge” plotline. Kill Bill is one of my all time favourite films and The Bride stands proudly next to her Hattori Hanzo in my eyes as being one of the greatest single characters Hollywood has ever seen. [Amy Priest]

#1 – Col. Hans Landa (Inglourious Basterds)

Despite an underwhelming reaction at its Cannes premiere (a consensus that proved to be completely off-base), Inglourious Basterds got unanimous praise for what is easily the best part about the entire film: Hans Landa. A Nazi detective nicknamed “The Jew Hunter”, Landa is the perfect movie villain: Smart, evil, charming, clever, scary and truly entertaining to watch. The opening scene, where Landa interrogates a French family hiding Jewish refugees, shows that Landa is just too damn good at what he does to let anyone slip by him (and, later on, that turns out to be very true for some chatacters). What separates Landa from other villainous Nazis in film is how his bad behaviour is fueled more by self-preservation than a sincere belief in the Nazi ideology. It comes as no surprise that by the end Landa manages to weasel his way out of certain death, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise given everything we’ve seen beforehand. Hans Landa was the first collaboration between Tarantino and Christoph Waltz, and it proved to be a fruitful one. Waltz won Best Actor at Cannes despite having a supporting role, he went on to win almost every major acting award that year and his career has skyrocketed as a result. All of it was deserved, and it should come as no surprise that Hans Landa is our favourite Tarantino character. [CJ Prince]

Starting as the character “Uncle Machete” in the first Spy Kids movie in 2001, DIY director Robert Rodriguez and legitimate badass Danny Trejo have breathed life into the character we now know as Machete, a Mexican anti-hero, bringer of over-the-top violence, and unlikely vixen magnet. A “fake” trailer in Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse double-feature led to the character’s first headlining feature, 2010’s Machete, a no-holds-barred breed of action flick that retains the same crass ’70s grindhouse aesthetic of Rodriguez and Tarantino’s collaboration. Machete returns in Machete Kills, a balls-to-the-wall sequel full of the craziest action scenes and death sequences you’ll likely see all year.

Machete himself, Danny Trejo, sat to chat with us during a roundtable interview about the origins of the character, his favorite death scene, how Machete appeals to kids, Mel Gibson, Carlos Estevez, other projects he’s got in the works, and more.

Machete Kills opens this Friday, October 11th

Press: The film bookends with a teaser trailer for a possible next film. Were you conscious of including these trailers, or was it more of an afterthought?
Trejo: The whole movie was an afterthought! (laughs) When [Robert Rodriguez] and I were doing Desperado, he saw the way I deal with people, [how I] mingle. I would be walking around Acuna, Mexico with no shirt, going into the barrio, eating at people’s houses and stuff. He says, “Danny, everybody [here] thinks you’re the star of [Desperado].” Nobody knew Antonio Banderas. I said, “You mean I’m not [the star]!?” He told me all about this character, Machete. He said, “[The character] is you. You don’t even have to act!” We talked about it, and when we got to doing Spy Kids, we thought, let’s name him “Uncle Machete”. We did it, and we thought, even if we never do [a Machete film], at least we put him in this movie.

Everybody has that uncle that nobody knows what he does. Especially Mexicanos! (laughs) We did Spy Kids, and then [came] Grindhouse, and they needed a fake trailer. Robert said, “Boy, do I have a fake trailer!” We did the fake trailer, and when the audience came out of the theater, nobody even mentioned Grindhouse. They loved [that trailer], man! Me and Robert talked about it, and we said man, we gotta make this movie. The audience demands it. We did the first Machete, and if you look, it’s one of the first times I’ve ever seen everything that was in the trailer in the movie. Usually, you’ll see something in the trailer, and then it’s like, “Hey! It wasn’t in the movie!” After we finished Machete, Robert thought there was something missing, and he said, “I know! Machete Kills!” and that’s how we got this film.

Press: Do you think Machete is like a response to Desperado?
Trejo: I think it’s that genre. Making Westerns is very expensive, to get horses to do [all these things]. We got as close as we could to a Western without horses! Desperado was as Western as you could get without horses. One of these days, I’ll try to talk Robert into doing a Western. He’ll probably go crazy. I did a Western called Dead in Tombstone with Mickey Rourke [that’s out now]. Dina Meyer from Starship Troopers and Michael C. Hall from Dexter are in it, and everybody really did [great]. This was a hard movie to shoot because we were in Romania, it was cold, and they had the best Western town I’d ever seen. Roel Reine, the director, directed me in Death Race 2 and 3, so he knew how I liked to work. I move, you know? Don’t keep me in the trailer, because I’ll go crazy! If you’re al wet and muddy, it’s not so bad when you’re moving.

WTI: The movie is over-the-top, with violence, guns, sex–let’s be honest, that’s what everybody wants! As I was watching the film, I couldn’t deny the 9-year-old in me who was going absolutely nuts over it. In a weird way, Machete appeals to kids, would you agree?
Trejo: Absolutely. It’s a fun movie. There’s no big social comment. It’s just, “Let’s kick some ass!” My mom wanted to go see Machete. She didn’t even think I had a job! I said, “Mom, I’m an actor!” Then, I did three episodes of The Young and the Restless, and it was like she and her grey-haired friends thought I won an Oscar. I took her to see Machete, and I was about to be onscreen with the two girls in the lake. I said, “Mom, you might not want to…” and she said, “Shut up! I’m watching this!” Robert and Quentin Tarantino were behind me, and to see my mom [freaking out], they couldn’t stop laughing.

Press: To switch gears, let’s talk about your work on Breaking Bad. How was that character proposed to you? It was only in a few episodes, but it makes such a huge impact on the show.
Trejo: Gloria, my agent, got the [offer], and she said, “Do you want to do a Hollywood first? Your head will go across the desert on a turtle.” It was a lot of fun. We did that episode, and it was received so well that we had to do the backstory.

Press: Which of Machete’s kills in the film is your favorite?
Trejo: The helicopter. I mentioned to Robert something about a helicopter, and there are three helicopter deaths in the movie! My mom was 84, and we were watching it. I take three guys’ heads off with one shot of a machete, but everybody laughs because of the way the heads bounce. Robert makes the violence funny. Even though its violence, you know it’s not real and you take it seriously.

WTI: Do you help Robert come up with these death scenes?
Trejo: He doesn’t need help. I was trying to get a hold of Robert before we did Machete, when we were putting it together. I called and called him, and finally I ran into him at Comic Con. “Robert! I’ve been calling you! Why don’t you answer your phone!” He said, “Danny, I was in a meeting with someone. Text me!” I said, “Machete don’t text,” and that ended up in the movie.

Press: You make a lot of blockbuster films, but you pepper in a lot of smaller projects. How do you choose what smaller projects to work on?
Trejo: I kinda let them come to me. Some people with a lot of money try to make low-budget movies. Low-budget movies, for me, are for people who are struggling. Those I’ll do in a minute. Student films ain’t got no money–they’ll take you to lunch and give you a hundred bucks or something. It’s good enough, especially to get someone started.

Press: I liked Bad Ass a lot.
Trejo: I’ve got Bad Ass 2 coming out with Mel Gibson, which is awesome…wait! It’s not Mel Gibson! Mel Gibson is in Machete Kills! (laughs) It’s been a long day. Bad Ass 2 is with Danny Glover. I gotta say, Mel Gibson was awesome in this movie. I had a sword fight with him, and when Robert yelled, “Action!”,  I threw my sword down. Robert said, “What’s wrong?” and I said, “I’ve got to fight William Wallace?! He freed Scotland!” Mel has a great sense of humor. He laughed.

Press: What’s the tone like on the set?
Trejo: One day, we were in an abandoned Home Depot, completely empty. No AC, in Texas. I was looking around, and I was thinking, how could the morale on this movie be up? And it was so up! Nobody cared. We were having so much [fun]. Robert’s like me–he won’t do something if it’s not fun. If we’re not having fun, it’s like, let’s go home early. It starts from the top–if the director is having a good time, everybody is having a good time.

WTI: I think you’ve been blessed with this great face for film…
Trejo: That’s what Robert says!

WTI: It’s probably the most bad ass face I’ve ever seen. Is there anyone who you’d be afraid to face off with?
Trejo: Chuck Norris! (laughs) Let me tell you something–all of these guys who are supposed to be karate experts in the movies? If you want to make them shut up, just ask, “How would you do against Chuck Norris?” and they’ll go “Uh…”. Chuck’s the real deal. Everybody else is Hollywood. We were doing Con Air, which was the biggest test of testosterone. You 50 Hollywood wanna-be bad guys. You’d spit, and somebody else would spit a little further. Soon, everybody’s [spitting]! Everything was a contest. This guy who used to fight Chuck Norris, Benny Urquidez, a kickboxing champion, was John Cusack’s sensei. Now, nobody believes it, but John Cusack is a BMF! He’s bad. He looks like the kind of guy you’d pick on, but he’d kick your ass, man. At lunch, Benny would grab me and say, “Let’s go to the dojo.” We’d meditate, work out and stuff. We’d all throw rocks to see who could throw the farthest, and they said, “No, Dan. If you lose, you’ll throw a rock at somebody!”

Press: Is there any question you wish journalists would stop asking you?
Trejo: No. Everybody’s pretty considerate.

Press: No one crosses the line?
Trejo: I just give them a dirty look. It’s funny, everybody has trouble with the paparazzi, but they’ve always been polite to me.

Press: Who would win in a fight–Machete or Rambo?
Trejo: I think Machete would be a little too slick, and I think Rambo knows it!

WTI: Do you have any intention of stopping making the Machete movies?
Trejo: No. As long as the audience likes them. Even with Rocky, they said, “Why are you making Rocky V?” Because Rocky IV made money! When they stop making money, we’ll stop making them. So far, we’re batting 1000. We’re doing really well.

Press: How was it working with Demian Bichir?
Trejo: He’s awesome. He’s so beautiful. We hit it off the minute we met. He said, “I’ve always been a fan,” and I said, “Shut up! You got nominated for an Oscar!” He’s a great actor. Carlos Estevez! Everybody wanted to be in this movie because the last one was so good. We got Amber Heard. I have a love scene with her. Robert said action, and he said, “Why are you laughing, Amber!” She said, “Because Danny won’t stop saying ‘Thank you Jesus! Thank you Jesus!'” She’s such a Texas girl. Her dad’s from Texas. We all went to look at this car somebody got–everybody was looking at the interior, the color, etc. Amber’s a Texas girl–“What kind of horsepower does it have?” (laughs)

Just as many expected, Argo took home the top award of Best Picture at the 85th Academy Awards, despite Ben Affleck not receiving a Best Director nomination, something that has only happened four times in 85 years. It was a year for records as Daniel Day-Lewis winning Best Actor for his role in Lincoln means that he is now the only person to have won three Best Actor awards in Oscar history. Also, the first time since 1969 there was a tie for a category (both Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty won for Best Sound Editing).

Even though Argo walked away with the top honors and two other awards (Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing), Life of Pi was the film that took home the most awards this year with four wins (Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Score and Best Visual Effects). And while Lincoln had 12 nominations, the film only ended up winning two awards (Best Actor and Best Production Design).

List of 2013 Oscar Winners:

(The winners are highlighted in bold red font)

Amour
Argo
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Michael Haneke – Amour
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Ang Lee – Life Of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

Denzel Washington – Flight
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings PLaybook
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

Alan Arkin – Argo
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook

Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
Sally Field – Lincoln
Amy Adams – The Master
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

Michael Haneke – Amour
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
John Gatins – Flight
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty

Chris Terrio – Argo
Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
David Magee – Life Of Pi
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

Amour
Kon-Tiki
No
A Royal Affair
War Witch

Seamus McGarvey – Anna Karenina
Robert Richardson – Django Unchained
Claudio Miranda – Life Of Pi
Janusz Kaminski – Lincoln
Roger Deakins – Skyfall

Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How To Survive A Plague
The Invisible War
Searching For Sugar Man

William Goldenberg – Argo
Tim Squyres – Life Of Pi
Michael Kahn – Lincoln
Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers – Silver Linings Playbook
William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor – Zero Dark Thirty

Dario Marianelli – Anna Karenina
Alexandre Desplat – Argo
Mychael Danna – Life Of Pi
John Williams – Lincoln
Thomas Newman – Skyfall

“Before My Time” – Chasing Ice
“Pi’s Lullaby” – Life Of Pi
“Suddenly” – Les Miserables
“Skyfall” – Skyfall
“Everybody Needs A Best Friend” – Ted

Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln

Anna Karenina
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman

Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables

Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Argo
Les Misérables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life Of Pi
Marvel’s The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White And The Huntsman

Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays At Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

Adam And Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head Over Heels
Maggie Simpson In The Longest Daycare
Paperman

Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death Of A Shadow
Henry

The Golden Globes Award show got off to a bit of a shaky start when the Teleprompters malfunctioned during Paul Rudd and Salma Hayek’s award presentation, leaving them in an awkward speechless moment. Despite a couple minor out of sync setbacks though, the awards giving out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association went fairly well, thanks in part to the wonderful hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. A couple other highlights on the night were ex-president Bill Clinton appropriately presenting the film Lincoln and Jodie Foster gave a wonderful coming-out speech while accepting a lifetime achievement award.

There were some surprises at the Golden Globes, but because the HFPA voting size is approximately 1.5% of the voting size of the Academy, using the results here to predict the Oscars would not be highly advised.

The biggest surprise was when Argo picked up the Best Picture in drama and when Ben Affleck won Best Director for it, an award for which he was not Oscar nominated for. Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained also received some love from the Globes when it won Best Original Screenplay and the Supporting Actor award by Christoph Waltz.

Full list of 2013 Golden Globes award winners:

(Winners are highlighted in bold red font)

FILM

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Argo
Django Unchained
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Picture – Comedy/Musical
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Moonrise Kingdom
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director
Ben Affleck – Argo
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Ang Lee – Life Of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actress – Drama
Rachel Weisz – The Deep Blue Sea
Helen Mirren – Hitchcock
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Marion Cotillard – Rust And Bone
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor – Drama
Richard Gere – Arbitrage
Denzel Washington – Flight
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
John Hawkes – The Sessions

Best Actress – Comedy/Musical
Judi Dench – Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Meryl Streep – Hope Springs
Maggie Smith – Quartet
Emily Blunt – Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Actor – Comedy/Musical
Jack Black – Bernie
Bill Murray – Hyde Park On Hudson
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Ewan McGregor – Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
Sally Field – Lincoln
Amy Adams – The Master
Nicole Kidman – The Paperboy
Helen Hunt – The Sessions

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin – Argo
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
Leonardo DiCaprio – Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master

Best Screenplay
Chris Terrio – Argo
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
David O Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Original Score
Alexandre Desplat – Argo
Dario Marianeli – Anna Karenina
Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil – Cloud Atlas
Mychael Danna – Life Of Pi
John Williams – Lincoln

Best Original Song
Keith Urban – For You (Act Of Valor)
Taylor Swift – Safe & Sound (The Hunger Games)
Hugh Jackman – Suddenly (Les Miserables)
Adele – Skyfall (Skyfall)
Jon Bon Jovi – Not Running Anymore – (Stand Up Guys)

Best Animated Feature Film
Brave
Frankenweenie
Hotel Transylvania
Rise Of The Guardians
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Foreign Film
Amour
The Intouchables
Kon-Tiki
A Royal Affair
Rust & Bone

TELEVISION

Best Television Series – Drama
Breaking Bad
Boardwalk Empire
Downton Abbey
Homeland
The Newsroom

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Connie Britton, Nashville
Glenn Close, Damages
Claire Danes, Homeland
Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Damian Lewis, Homeland
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad

Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
The Big Bang Theory
Episodes
Girls
Modern Family
Smash

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Lena Dunham, Girls
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Louis CK, Louie
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
Game Change
The Girl
Hatfields & McCoys
The Hour
Political Animals

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Nicole Kidman, Hemingway and Gelhorn
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Asylum
Sienna Miller, The Girl
Julianne Moore, Game Change
Sigourney Weaver, Political Animals

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Kevin Costner, Hatfields & McCoys
Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock
Woody Harrelson, Game Change
Toby Jones, The Girl
Clive Owen, Hemingway and Gelhorn

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Hayden Panettiere, Nashville
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife
Sarah Paulson, Game Change
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Max Greenfield, New Girl
Ed Harris, Game Change
Danny Huston, Magic City
Mandy Patinkin, Homeland
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

Quentin Tarantino continues his new fascination of blending period pieces with grindhouse revenge films in Django Unchained, a movie that fans of Inglourious Basterds will surely enjoy. The setting this time is America several years before the civil war. Slavery is still going strong in the south, and Django (Jamie Foxx) is lucky enough to get freed by King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a bounty hunter who needs him to identify a group of criminals he’s searching for.

Django tells Schultz his story: Him and his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) were branded and auctioned off separately after trying to escape a plantation together, and now with his freedom Django hopes to find his wife and buy her freedom as well. Schultz takes a liking to Django and offers him a deal: Train and work as a bounty hunter through the winter, and once the snow melts they’ll go rescue Broomhilda from the evil plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio) who owns her.

Tarantino surprisingly goes for a straight linear narrative here rather than breaking his story up into chapters, but the film still feels like it’s broken up into sections. The first hour or so follows Django and Schultz around as they try to collect different bounties. This section is probably the strongest part of Django Unchained, with Waltz doing his Hans Landa routine all over again. Naturally Waltz is a delight to watch, and his pairing with Foxx make the two of them a good team. There are plenty of flourishes here on Tarantino’s part, mainly a subplot involving a plantation owner (Don Johnson), but they’re so entertaining that it’s understandable why Tarantino wanted to keep them in the final cut.

Once DiCaprio finally shows up and the plot to rescue Broomhilda starts to take centre stage, the entertainment factor starts to decrease significantly. Foxx, spending most of his time staying quiet when he doesn’t have to make witty comebacks, barely registers once he’s put in the same room as Waltz or DiCaprio. When DiCaprio’s servant Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), a slave whose dedication to his master makes him end up becoming the film’s big bad, enters the picture it’s hard to even remember Django’s presence in some scenes.

And as Django becomes the sole focus towards the end, the bloated 160 minute runtime starts to show. The climax, taking place after an incredibly bloody shootout that showed Tarantino firing on all cylinders, doesn’t have much power to it. Of course Tarantino is still a terrific writer/director, and Waltz, DiCaprio and Jackson are all worthy of awards for their brilliant performances, but Django Unchained doesn’t come close to matching the same level of giddy amazement as Inglourious Basterds. Fans of Tarantino won’t come away disappointed, but he can do a lot better than this.

The first trailer has arrived for Django Unchained, the highly anticipated western from Quentin Tarantino. You can tell just from the music choices and dialog in the trailer that this is a Tarantino film. It looks like a strong performance is in store from Jamie Foxx as the lead.

An escaped slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) goes to rescue his wife (Kerry Washington) from the ruthless plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Along his side is bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) who trains him to make Django his deputy bounty hunter.

Django Unchained official trailer:

Django Unchained opens on December 25th (Christmas Day).

On Monday we reported that a teaser clip of P.T. Anderson’s new film The Master had been released. In my opinion, it is the most anticipated film of the year. So even a minute and forty second teaser clip was enough to satisfy people’s appetite while we wait for the film to release on October 12th 2012. Watch the teaser clip here.

Later on that day, The Playlist reported from the Cannes Film Festival that a select group of journalists gathered and watched an extended trailer for The Master. The screening was shown by Harvey Weinstein himself. Not completely surprising, their impressions from the extended trailer were positive. Even comparing the opening slow dolly shot to something reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick. [Playlist]

The Master was just one of three films Weinstein previewed to the journalists. The other two were David O. Russell’s The Silver Linings Playbook and Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. None of these films were shown at the Cannes festival, but are films The Weinstein Company has bought the rights to.

Apparently Paul Thomas Anderson has screened The Master for one of Scientology’s most famous follower Tom Cruise. Unsurprisingly, Tom Cruise “had issues” with some parts of The Master according to The Wrap. As you probably know P.T. Anderson and Tom Cruise have worked together in Magnolia and have remained friends since. This undoubtedly added some awkwardness to that friendship. The Weinstein Company also plans to screen the film to John Travolta. [The Wrap]

The staff here at Way Too Indie prepares you for the summer with our Top 10 Most Anticipated Films of Summer 2012. The article is definitely worth checking out as you are bound to find a few surprise picks in there. See our Top 10 Summer Films list.

The cast of Wes Anderson’s newest film, Moonrise Kingdom, is stacked with big names such as; Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, and more. But one name that is typically synonymous with Wes Anderson films, Owen Wilson, does not appear in it. Not to worry though as Paste Magazine reports that Owen Wilson will appear in the next Wes Anderson film. No word yet on what that next film will be but he has apparently already started working on the script for it. [Paste Magazine]

The first images from Quentin Tarantino’s latest film Django Unchained have been released. One image shows former slave Django (played by Jamie Foxx) alongside a bounty hunter (played by Christopher Waltz) that is helping him to get his wife back from an evil plantation owner. [Paste]

Speaking of Django Unchained, the movie poster has been unveiled for it. It looks pretty wicked if I must say so myself. [IFC]

Despite Hugo having a lackluster overall box office performance (even though critically it did well, winning five Oscars) Martin Scorsese stands firm on his love for 3D. He expects to use 3D in all of his future projects. [Movieline]

Jennifer Connelly and Saoirse Ronan have been confirmed to join Russell Crowe in the cast for Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming film Noah. Playlist reports that Liam Neeson may be playing the villain role. [Playlist]

As if Noah will not be keeping Darren Aronofsky busy, the rumor is he will be doing a biopic about George Washington called The General. [Twitch]

My favorite indie duo, the Duplass brothers, have been hired to adapt a screenplay from Tony D’Souza’s novel Mule. Mark and Jay Duplass will not be directing it though, instead Todd Phillips of The Hangover will be. [Deadline]

Wes Anderson fans are in for a real treat, six clips from Moonrise Kingdom have arrived. The film is one of the most anticipated films of the year and as we reported, it will be opening Cannes film festival this year. [Twitch]

Speaking of clips, the opening scene of The Dictator has been made released by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Sacha Baron Cohen, John C. Reilly, Megan Fox, and Ben Kingsley. Watch the nearly 2 minute clip over on ComingSoon. [ComingSoon]

The indie short film The Southern Belle is now streaming on Snag Films in it’s entirety (10 minutes) for free. You can see the movie review we did on the short film here. [SnagFilms]