Facing the Odds...

Django Unchained by far is one of the best Quinton Tarantino movies. Everyone knows how great the man is as he has brought us such movie favorites like Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, and Gran Torino. His movies are always filled with the best of the best (Actors). This one stars, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DeCarprio, and Samuel Jackson, not to forget other notable characters. The great aspect of the film is that Tarantino stuck true to old western films but added a modern flavor.  Django Unchained is about a slave and his journey to be with his wife. We find him crossing a winter forest along with four other slaves and three white slave drivers. As luck would have it another white man posing as a dentist stops them and asks for Django specifically. He goes on to explain that the plantation where Django just came from, the slave drivers there were criminals and since he didn't know what they looked like he asks Django for his help to point them out to him. This doesn't sit right with the slave drivers and they demand the dentist leave immediately! As the man is actually a bounty hunter, he wastes no time and shoots two divers and wounds the other rendering him no threat. Django accepts his offer and thus begins the journey to find the criminals. Django and the Bounty Hunter make such a great team that not only do they go after a couple criminals but they put away 50 to 100 in just one winter. The bounty hunter helps Django understand the art of the gun and killing, this gains the trust of Django and he asks the Bounty Hunter to help him find his wife and free her. Eventually the two find out that his wife is located at one of the biggest plantation owners and at the same time, one of the ruthless too. What can be learned from this story, is that no matter the odds, we must fight for what is dearest to us. Django, being a slave had to overcome not only physical blocks but mental too. Its something great to see and puts a fire under your heart giving you the strength and power to overcome great obstacles as well. Go see Django Unchained and don't hesitate to fight the greatest of battles.

Second Chances...

Halle Berry has always been one of my favorite actresses. She disappeared off of the Hollywood map for a little while, as she was pregnant. With the child out, so is Halle, back in the Hollywood spot light. In her latest movie "The Call" Halle stars as a 911 operator named Jordan. Jordan is ahead of the game and top dog at the 911 call center. When someone has a problem it always seems they go to Jordan for help. She is so well known that even the people that call in, know her and ask for her help specifically. The film does a great job portraying this quickly so the audience doesn't have to play "catch up". A call comes in from a teenage girl who is home alone and a man is trying to break in. This is a fear that many people have; someone breaking into their personal life and hurting them or someone they love. Jordan does what she knows best and helps the girl evade and hide from the intruder. As the teen is under the bed hiding from the intruder the call fails and Jordan makes the worst mistake and calls back, but the teen also answers the call thinking the intruder is completely out of the house.....although he's not. Immediately the intruder turns back around and goes directly where the teenage girl is hiding, he rips her out from under the bed and beats her all while Jordan is still on the phone listen to every punch and scream. Jordan begins to beg the man to please stop and leave the girl alone as heavy breathing is all there is left. She says "Stop before you do something you regret" the only response from the man is "...its already done.....Click". The next day Jordan watches on the television as  the body of that girl is found in a field. This leads to Jordan's destruction and she isn't the same. Six months passes and Jordan is now just a trainer, no longer on the phones, she teaches new operators how to handle the phones and how to help. One day as she is walking the floor, a newly added operator becomes desperate for her help as a teen girl is on the phone panicking about being in the trunk of a car. Not sure of herself, Jordan worries but takes a deep breath and takes the phone call into her own hands. After calming the girl, Jordan discovers a man grabbed her and threw her into the trunk of his car in the mall parking garage. Many times through the ordeal, its seems as if the teenager will be able to escape and be OK, but time after time the kidnapper cuts her escape short and makes her pay as well as other citizens that tried to help. Jordan continues to try all her resources and find the girl before anything bad happens to her as well as catch the kidnapper and make him pay. A little after the kidnapper rips the teenage girl from the trunk, he realizes that she has a cell phone in her back pocket, and he makes her pay by beating her. Before he destroys the phone, he listens. Jordan hears heavy breathing again and once more says "Stop before you do something you regret" and once more the only response from the man is "...its already done.....Click". If you haven't guessed by the end of that last sentence its the same man who destroyed not only Jordan's world, but the world of the first teenage girl too. Its been a very long time since a horror film scared me and put me in suspense as this one did. If you are really looking for a heart pounder, this is the 2013 horror film for you. Not only did I get a great scare, I realized that this film showed we do get second chances to make right what was done in the past. We may choose something and it'll take us a little bit of time to realize we may have been able to choose better, and then some how, the choice comes back around to test us once more. Of course the choice may not have you putting someones life on the line like Jordan's did, but you get the point.