Clooney/Tarentino's Revenge night.

Tonight's marathon is all about experiencing revenge from the angles of two fantastic directors, George Clooney and Quentin Tarentino. The similarities that the two filmmakers both hold is they're both very outspoken directors combining history with satire along with an unapologetic thirst for justice. Whether it's dealing with the Nazis, a team of assassins who shoot up a bride and her groom in a church, or a freed slave along with the help of a compassionate German joining forces to free his enslaved wife from the clutches of a ruthless plantation owner. It is an exciting, hilarious, and slick stylized marathon. We have on tonight's menu:

   The Monuments Men 2014, Inglorious Basterds 2009, Kill Bill Vol 1 2003, and Django Unchained 2012

The lineup says it all. This is one exciting marathon that gets progressively better as it goes, along with being more grittier and powerful. Everyone of these movies follows the same theme of revenge and getting back what's rightfully yours. For George Clooney's Monuments Men, it's about a platoon
in World War ll being tasked to rescue stolen art pieces from the Nazis and return them to their owners. This one comes with a star-studded cast among the likes of George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, and Cate Blanchett. Monuments Men got unfairly bashed during it's initial theatrical release in February with criticisms stemming from an off narrative, slow-pacing, and blending of humor with the issue of war. Frankly, those arguments seem to imply that many people miss the whole point of the movie. Not all war stories need to be dark and gritty, and can be just as powerful without dark endings. Glooney gave the film a style that isn't much different than what Tarentino did with Inglorious Bastards. It's got a great cast, has clear and noble intentions, and carries with it heart and humor to make it entertaining. It's a shame that come Oscar season early next year, Monuments Men will be missing from the list of nominees in all categories. The next film Inglorious Bastards begins the Tarentino stream of revenge flicks. Also set in World War ll during a Nazi occupied France, a group of Jewish U.S soldiers come up with a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders with a vengeful theater owner having the same idea. All that can be said about Inglorious Bastards to represent how memorable of a film it became is Christoph Waltz. That best supporting actor Oscar win is one of the most well deserved wins for one of the greatest movie villains in film history. The third film Kill Bill Vol 1, strays away from the theme of war but maintains the concept of revenge. In this classic Tarentino tale, a Bride wakes up from a four year coma to seek revenge on a group of assassins for attempted murder while also killing her husband to be. The irony of this group is that the Bride was once apart of the team led by a man named Bill. Kill Bill pays homage to the martial arts films of the 1970's while taking the genre and giving it a new spin. The first Kill Bill remains a vengeful tail about a woman who had everything taken from her, but decides to seek vengeance for what was done to her family. The final film of the evening is perhaps the biggest of them all in terms of scope, and the most controversial of Tarentino's career. Django Unchained reunites the talents of Waltz and Tarentino, but pairs them up with the talents of Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Leonardo Dicaprio, and Samuel Jackson. Like Inglorious Bastards going backwards in history to cover World War ll, this film takes place during the era of slavery. This movie has a freed slave named Django, being aided by a German bounty hunter in the quest to help rescue his enslaved wife from a Mississippi plantation owner played by Leonardo Dicaprio. If there was any actor who needed to get a nomination for best supporting actor and win it, it's him. This is Tarentino's darkest and most personal film since Pulp Fiction. It is quite simply brilliant. Not only is it the best film of 2012, but it also serves as a great contrast to the brutality and serious tone of the great 12 Years A Slave.

What these movies do so well together is to blend history with satire, combining revenge themes that stem from the era of slavery to the holocaust and finally to modern times. The combination of the styles of Clooney and Tarentino compliment each other nicely, making for an evening of great entertainment.