Basterds of the inglorious type

“Inglorious Basterds” takes place throughout WWII (1941-44 in Nazi France) following a group of American-Jewish soldiers—coined “The Basterds” —with one mission. Kill lots of Nazis…as brutally as possible. But seeing as this is Tarantino it just can’t be that simple, a few other stories exist as well (they are broken into 5 different chapters as the movie goes along and later intertwine). The Basterds receive a mission to help in the assassination of all of the German high command, which is attending a German movie premiere at a French theater owned by a French-Jewish girl, Shosanna Dreyfus; who years earlier barely escaped with her life as her family was executed but SS men. With the perfect chance, opportunity lays in the lap of The Basterds and Shosanna with the ability to end the war, if all goes as planned.

Going into this movie my expectations where high. How could this movie not be great? Starring Brad Pitt, Lt. Aldo Raine, an American-Jewish soldier from the south who loves to kill him “some Natzis" leads The Basterds; with a solid actor like this not a bad start, right? The movie even "guest stars" (as introduced in the title) Ryan (B.J. Novak) from the hit NBC show “The Office”. But this all fell short of what I had presumed, “Inglorious Basterds” plot was shaky at times, wasting their time developing The Basterds and then going no where with them later in the movie. This was really upsetting because it would have added interest to the movie to see where these different characters went throughout the movie; but the movie goes a different direction keeping the characters of the Basterds they developed in very minor roles, besides Aldo; who we don’t know much about at all consequently. One thing that did not fall short was Tarantino’s reputation for his obsession with violence, on many occasions the Nazis are killed gruesomely (the worst so being possibly being with a baseball bat) and then scalped by the Basterds (which they show from time to time). So if you’re going to the movie purely for the shoot ‘em up massacre of Nazis you wont be disappointed; just don’t expect anything on the lines of “Saving Private Ryan” or any more accurate WWII era movie. But at times the movie dragged on (overall run time ended up 152 minutes) and the plot slowed down, making you want to get back to the action of the movie because of the lack of interest in the slow moving plot (a bad sign in a movie that tries to develop the plot and not just be another action movie). Over all the movie provided entertainment (although not for those weak of stomach and when I say weak I don’t mean a little blood, I mean defacement) and laughs from time to time provided by Aldo in his almost “Ernest goes to…” acting and comments. Saying this the movie turned out to be just another action movie, this one involving the killing of Nazis surrounded by solid acting a shaky plot. Seeing it once is enough for me. But if you’re looking for a rainy day movie and want to see Nazis being obliterated it’s worth the $5 matinee viewing.

Overall Rating: 7 out of 10

Not so romantic, comedy

Don’t get the wrong idea that just because this movie is a guy like girl that it’s like every other romantic comedy, “(500) Days of Summer” takes a different-and interesting-look at a relationship between Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) and how they each grow from it. The movie, which flips between the 500 days spent with Summer (in a non-chronological order), starts setting the president for the two’s view on love; Summer taking her parents divorce as to show that life always gets in the way of love, whereas Tom has the view that ones life is not the best until that special person is in ones life. The two meet at work where Summer has just started, moving from Michigan, and then begin their relationship shortly after taking them on a whirlwind of a relationship. Tom believing she’s the one and Summer strictly having fun. Tom looks to his friends and mostly his little sister who not only brings great questions to the table for Tom, but great laughs for the audience. Tom must then figure out what Summer is worth and how to act on all this looking back at it all.

“(500) Days of Summer” surprised me with its great comedy and chemistry between the actors. I found it hard not too laugh one second and then feel bad for Tom the next, the movie does exactly what it tries to, make you invest in the characters. Even though this is a “romantic comedy” it takes a different perspective focusing on the male instead of looking at it from the girls perspective which I found to be interesting and made the movie much more interesting. Over all I actually enjoyed this movie much more than I had expected and although probably not chose to see it again, still thought it was a solid movie.

Overall Rating: 8 out of 10

District 9

Hearing all the rave reviews that “District 9” was getting (although I haven’t read any myself), I was slightly surprised when I didn’t think as highly of the movie than I had heard. Sure, the movie was amazingly entertaining with lots of awesome alien weapons, but where it lacked for me was the plot. I felt that it could have definitely been developed more, especially Wikus’ relationship with his wife. One other downside, mainly for the younger kids who see this, is the pervasive language - they aren’t kidding when they say that under the rating, this movie is laced with profanity. Mainly F-bombs, but a few other swear words snuck in there. This said the movie still had major upsides. With only a $30 million production budget, the movie had some of the best special effects and CG that I have ever seen. Teaming up with Weta, who Peter Jackson has seemed to favor (working with them on “Lord of the Rings”, “King Kong” and the upcoming two “Hobbit” movies). The weapons - which were almost Halo reminiscent (some of which could possibly have been used for the movie “Halo” before it was shut down) - and the aliens - which were the best CG I’ve ever seen in a movie, were both prime examples of the amazing special effects. I found myself caring about the CG-ed alien, Christopher, in which the aliens became actors themselves.

Overall, I think this movie is great, just not as fantastic as everyone makes it out to be. I still would recommend this movie to anyone who likes science fiction or action movies. But even if you’re not into these, I’d still recommend this movie if nothing more than to just see how amazing the CG aliens work with the movie. This movie is worth going to in theaters and worth your money.

Overall Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Aparthieds rebirth

My next new movie release reviewed will be "District 9". The new Science Fiction movie to be released this Friday (August 14th).
District 9 in the movie is an alien ghetto, where the alien race much different than humans are restricted to. They landed over Johannesburg 28 years ago and are now kept there. The aliens move much like M. Night those in Shyamalan's "Signs" but posses Halo like weapons (which only work when the alien DNA is in contact with it); which a government linked weapon manufacturing company (MNU, aka Multi-National United) would like to get it's hands on. A MNU agent goes to delve a litter deeper in the ghetto and ends up getting some of the alien genetics imbedded in himself through a virus. He is then chased by MNU for research and forced to hide himself in District 9.
This new Sci-Fi thriller should be one of the best this summer in it's category and has been highly recomended. Directed by rookie Neill Blokamp and stars his close friend Sharlto Copley. My review will come soon of the movie so stay posted!

Best Movie so Far this Summer

Seems like so far this summer the highly anticipated movies that have been released have not proven worthy of all the hype; although the box office revenues may disagree. From the recreations of once cartoon shows: "G.I Joe" and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (which also has a hold of the top box office so far this summer) many of the summer movies have consisted of action movies or shoot 'em ups, not proving much more than flashing bangs a “sweet fight scenes”, but lacking greatly in plot, development and overall thoughtfulness.

This said the best movie isn't "Transformers", "Public Enemies", or "Terminator Salvation". And, hey, sorry Potter fanatics, the best movie of the summer doesn't go to "The Half Blood Prince"; which actually turned out to be quiet a disappointment. This summer’s best movie so far goes to a kid’s movie, sorry not "G-Force", which shouldn't even be considered a movie, good grief. The best movie of the summer so far goes out to, Disney Pixar's "Up".

"Up" directed by Pete Docter (the man who directed the earlier Pixar great "Monsters, Inc.” follows an old man Carl Fredricksen, who's lived most of his life in the cities. After his wife, Ellie, passes away Carl decides to take the adventure he'd always promised his wife to South America when he accidently hits a construction worker whose business is encroaching upon his property trying to consume it and take everything he has left. With the help of thousands upon thousands of balloons, Carl and an unexpected stowaway, Russell, in pursuit of his final badge (helping the elderly), fly, with his house to the adventure Carl has always dreamed of doing with Ellie.

"Up" combines humor for both kids and adults (as most Pixar movies have a history of doing) allowing for all age ranges to sit and enjoy this movie, with every joke doing what it's supposed to, make us laugh, "Up" clearly puts itself in a different league than all other movies released this summer, getting laughs without raunchy jokes or laced with profanity. Introducing hilarious characters, combined with a great plot that rivals the best of all Pixar movies created. You find yourself attaching a relating the characters because of the great development generated, you end up caring till the credits role. The movie has no let downs and allows for the movie to be desired to be watched again and again, "Up" not only a cutsey family film, makes you think and leave the theater or your TV room (release date set in November 2009) satisfied knowing that you got not just your moneys worth, but something on a different level than most movies do these days. It gives you a sense of real entertainment, something that should be felt coming out of all good movies.
Overall Rating: 9 out of 10