Best Wishes to Leonardo DiCaprio

Greetings and salutations. Today is a beautiful day, one to spend out and about, painting the town red, which is what my dad and I are doing. Together, with his two friends from Ukraine who are visiting for the week, we are going to Atlantic City! That statement called for an exclamation point, I apologize to those who hate those punctuation marks. Anyway, other than it being a lovely day, today also marks the birthday of a great actor: Leonardo DiCaprio. Indeed, today the fantastic actor turns thirty-eight, which is a year more than he was last year when I wrote a post commemorating his achievements. Can you believe it has been a whole year since I wrote that? (Happy Birthday Leonardo DiCaprio! Yes, it's buried deep within my "archives".) It is astounding how fast time flies, absolutely unfathomable.

Since I already have something dedicated to him, I figure, instead of praising his work yet again, I will simply assure you: yes, I still consider him to be a fine actor. The finest of his time, perhaps. Being such a marvelous actor, the innocent bystander would expect him to have an Oscar to his name; alas, the Academy has been occupied awarding recipients such as Jeff "The Dude" Bridges and Mo'Nique. Forgive my foolishness. Despite these shameful shortcomings, Leonardo DiCaprio may finally--finally, at last--receive an Oscar this year. For what, you ask? Django Unchained. Quentin Tarantino's latest masterpiece about an ex-slave driver and bounty hunter wreaking bloody havoc in the stylish Civil War era. Of course, this terrific director is who makes this entire picture stylish. It is because of him, also, that America now knows the name Christoph Waltz, who delivered a magnificent performance as Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds, to which he earned a Best Supporting Actor statuette. Quentin Tarantino will most certainly make the same accomplishment with Django Unchained, giving the under-appreciated Leonardo DiCaprio his long-overdue Oscar victory. In Django, Leonardo DiCaprio portrays a sinister, devious plantation owner (aren't they all?), and, based on the trailer, it appears that he will be fantastic. He may very well brings another one of Quentin Tarantino's gloriously-written villains to life in a way noother could have managed, just as no one could have embodied Hans Landa so flawlessly as Christoph Waltz had. As for Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained: From his sleek yet revolting appearance to his elegant demeanor to his velvet-smooth Southern drawl, it is stating the obvious saying that he will be received kindly by critics as well as myself. (Velvet is smooth, right?) Unfortunately, Entertainment Weekly does not see as I do, a shock of course considering what crystal-clear Oscar potential the film harnesses. They listed Django Unchained, in their Oscar Predictions article in the previous issue, as a "long shot" in the Best Picture and Best Director categories; Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz were both listed in the second-rate "other contenders" for Best Supporting Actor, which is utterly unacceptable. I just won't accept it. Here's hoping that the magazine will be dreadfully wrong.

In case the film slipped your mind altogether, here's the new trailer for Django Unchained. A sort of "For your Consideration" presentation. Even though the public cannot vote on the Academy, perhaps one of you will be crazy enough to pull an "Occupy Wall Street"-type stunt and have the film earn--deserve--all the esteem it is sure to get.

P.S. I truly wrote this on the date this post entails, but failed to publish it in time.