The Watch (2012)
This really should have been better than it was. It had a couple of laugh-out-loud moments but was otherwise MEH.
2/5.
...
Django Unchained (2012)
With such an acclaimed director as Tarantino (whose movies I LOVE), it's really hard to go into a film without comparing it to the rest of his body of work, especially since there are so many common threads lacing between them - Thinking on Django, here you have a vengeance film, as was the Kill Bills, and as was Inglorious Basterds to a certain extent... Then you have more direct comparisons - In Inglorious Basterds, Tarantino is killing Nazis and avenging their victims... Here in Django Unchained, Tarantino is killing slave owners in a pre-Civil War South... So it's hard NOT to compare Django Unchained specifically to Inglorious Basterds.
With that off my chest...
Django Unchained was good. Not the mind-blowing experience that I had with Inglorious Basterds, but it was good. Not surprisingly, Christoph Waltz was really great to watch... Leonardo DiCaprio was fantastic, and Tarantino sufficiently builds tension when necessary.
That being said, I thought the movie was oddly flat - Could be that with Tarantino and the billed cast, I had high expectations - But considering his history, how could you NOT have high expectations... I don't know, I'm ultimately conflicted here as I think back to Tarantino's body of work from Reservoir Dogs to Basterds and this just isn't as impactful as his other pieces, or as impactful as it should have been. I was really disappointed.
Good, but not as great as it should have been.
3/5, I guess, but probably because I am biased and have a hard time giving Tarantino lower than a 3...
...
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Hmmm - Guy Pierce was a great bad guy and Robert Downey Jr. was fun to watch, though the schtick is getting old.
This was better than the second one, but still pretty forgettable.
2.5/5