Movie Review: Django Unchained

One thing is for certain, Quentin Taratino's newest movie Django Unchained is anything but your typical run-of-the-mill slave flick.

I have to admit that it's been a while since I've seen a movie at the theater that didn't leave me feeling cheated by the time the final credits started rolling, but this one was definitely worth the ticket plus over-priced popcorn. (Yes, I'm a cheapskate...don't judge me.)

Django is the tale of a slave, branded as a runaway, who happens to fall upon the unbelievable fortune of meeting Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a German bounty hunter, who in his quest for his latest conquest buys him and then makes him an offer that he can't refuse: Help him find and capture his marks in exchange for his freedom. And as an added bonus, he promises to help Django (Jamie Foxx) find his wife and buy her freedom. From that point on the dust starts to fly and the guns get to blazing.

Enter Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a blood-thirsty plantation owner who just happens to be the current owner of Django's beloved wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), and his ever faithful house slave Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) for a non-stop chain of events that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

In true Tarantino fashion, blood, guts and satirical humor are never lacking but in the midst of it all there is a story that will strike a chord with viewers of every race, creed and color. While slavery and all of its historical accounts and visuals never cease to be a touchy subject, Tarantino puts an interesting spin on it with this tale of revenge and retribution.

Foxx, Waltz, DiCaprio, Washington and Jackson are great mix of chemistry and talent as the cast of this project, with special appearances by Don Johnson (oldie but goodie) and Quentin Tarantino himself. 

Django Unchained was definitely a worthy cause for making a trip to the movie theater in what I like to call hibernation weather, and if you're "frugal" like me, catching the matinee will be an added bonus.  So all in all this one gets 10 spirit-fingers.

Did you see Django Unchained? Let me know what you thought.

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Don't forget to check out the trailer for our upcoming project Someone To Watch Over Me.

A Lesson In Faith and Patience

I have learned that sometimes in life you just have to let go and let God...and I'm not just saying that to be facetious.  God has an amazing way of dealing with individuals in their specific circumstances and meeting people where they're at.

Recently my husband and I experienced a situation in which I received a lesson in patience while he received a lesson in faith. In our particular situation, we both got an opportunity to pursue something that we have wanted for a very long time so we prayed about it and then went for it.

From the beginning, both of us were convinced that we had heard God correctly and that we were doing the right thing, but then 4 months after we got God's answer we still hadn't come into possession of our blessing. We had been diligent in working toward our goal in doing everything we were supposed to do, but still everything that could go wrong...did.

So like any red-blooded human beings, we started to get frustrated and began to wonder if we were doing the right thing. At one point, my husband turned to me and asked me point blank if I thought that maybe we heard God wrong and were doing the wrong thing. As frustrated as I was, I could not look my husband in the eye and tell him that I believed that we had heard God wrong because I knew in my heart-of-hearts that we hadn't.

The truth of the matter was that even though I knew that God had revealed to us that we would have this blessing, I was tired of waiting and the process of getting to our blessing had turned out to be much harder than I thought it would be. So rather than continue to fight for what God clearly told us was ours, I was ready to give up because...well it was just taking too long. But after I confirmed what we both knew to be true, my husband was like a dog with a bone- he just would not let it go!

So we trudged onward toward the prize and the devil continued to throw every possible obstacle in our way, and every time my husband got close to calling it quits another ray of hope would make its way through and give him that extra push to keep on going...much to my dismay. Because like I said, I was ready to throw in the towel after month #4, but I can honestly say that we have seen first hand that once God opens a door for you NO ONE can close it. Please believe it.

As the Lord worked with my husband on his faith, He convicted my heart for not being obedient. I always knew that God was going to bless us but I was angry because it was taking so long and causing me inconvenience. He showed me that I was holding up the process by being selfish and not being obedient. So with that knowledge, I made that first step toward doing what I knew I should have been all along and from that moment things really began moving in the right direction.

After two more months of waiting, praying and frustration, our blessing finally found it's way to us after the expiration of our man-given deadline. So not only did God bestow an amazing blessing on us, but he also went further to show us that man can't put limits on what He can do even if that "man" is holding all of the so-called cards.  

In the end what we learned from this experience is that: 1) God always keeps His word. 2) You can't rush God and 3) Never be afraid of the journey because if God brings you to it, He most assuredly will bring you through it. 

Faith is substance of the things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. That means that even though your natural eyes can't see God's plan for the future, as his children it is our responsibility to believe Him. Why? Because God cannot lie. If He says it, it will come to pass. Faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.

The bible also says that the trying of our faith works patience. So even though we look forward to the promises of God, we must also understand that God's method of delivery is way beyond our scope of understanding. Therefore as we wait for Him to move, we must remember to embrace the journey and learn the lessons that He means for us to learn along the way.

Be blessed.

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