Inglorious Basterds

The trailer for this film suggests a gruesome romp through occupied France by a band of guerrilla Nazi hunters. The trailer doesn't lie, they're in here, but it isn't about them. This is a film about victims who don't give in to insurmountable odds, rather they face their persecutors head-on. As the film opens an evil is established. Then a solution to destroying that evil is presented. What follows are the details and the obstacles that are encountered along the way. It all seems to fit within the parameters of your typical war time drama. The story is even told in a completely chronological fashion, this hardly seems worth mentioning, except that this is a Quentin Tarantino film... Tarantino has tricked us royally with the trailer and the title of this film into thinking we're going to see an updated, blood soaked "Dirty Dozen". Instead we get a poignant film that examines the American fascination with adapting history to make us feel good about ourselves. Sure there's the occasional "Valley of Elah" and "Flags of Our Fathers" that demonize the American war effort, but overall war films have been made to make us feel good and proud about what we've done (or wish we'd done in this case). Tarantino has made a classic war picture, with a little bit of classic "Tarantino" splattered about for good measure. The characters, the locations, the story all could be right out of any other World War II film. It's what the characters say and what they do to each other that makes this stand apart. What Tarantino does wonderfully is that he gives us a sloppy mess of an idea, then he throws characters and storylines at us left and right. When it's all over though, the mess and clutter is forgotten, and the conclusion seems to be the only one possible. I think what I appreciated most was that although there were references to other Tarantino films, this film stands alone. "Pulp Fiction", "Reservoir Dogs" and "Jackie Brown" all are cut from the same cloth. "Kill Bill" and "Death Proof" are kind of limited by their source material. But here Tarantino takes on a genre that has an established, distinguished history and makes a film entirely his own.

District 9

After a Summer of movies that disappointed, finally with "District 9" I have seen something imaginative and amazing. Neill Blomkamp directed and Peter Jackson produced a film that remembers how to thrill an audience. First the film sets the stage, and if you've seen the trailer, it to is a set-up. In the onset, characters are introduced, the basic premise is explained, the rules are established. Then all hell breaks loose. Now this isn't a re-invention of the wheel; this film does follow conventions set forth from the beginning of sci-fi action movie, but here it's done so well that it feels fresh and new. At the center of the film is the age old fable where the main character must undergo metamorphosis in order to repair his misconceptions. This story takes place in a setting that while Earthly, seems so foreign to us, making for an interesting mix of the familiar with what is alien. Then throw into the mix a seamless integration of what is real and what is special effects. I've mentioned before how bored I have become with effect driven movies, well here in "District 9" there are characters that are 100% effects, yet they are as much character and as much a presence as the people onscreen. I will admit that at times it is distracting, because I find myself marvelling at 'how id they do that?' But, for the most part it is just so well done that I was captivated by what was going on, instead of how. As I mentioned before, the real strength that Blomkamp and Jackson show is presentation; they know how good their effects are, but instead of overdoing it or showing-off, they take the time to get us interested, to get us anticipating what will happen next. Then they deliver. And when it was all over I felt like I came, I saw, and stuff got blowed-up real nice.

G.I. Joe

Perhaps I will only be restating what has been said over and over again since this movie was announced, but this is my review, so I think it is my right. I grew up on G.I. Joe. As my brothers can attest to, I loved playing with these action figures and their vehicles whenever I could. We didn't have the big ones; the hovercraft or the aircraft carrier. We didn't have an army of vipers or even all the Dreadnaughts. What we didn't have we made up for with imagination. We built bases, secret underground hideouts and even rivers running down our neighbor's backyard. Storm Shadow was the ninja who spread fear into the hearts of all the Joes, until of course he himself turned good. I'm pretty sure Matt had a Hiss, which was the best tank ever made. Matt had The Baroness, I had Zarana, Matt had Scarlett, I had Lady Jay. Then there was The G.I. Joe movie, and I capitalized "The" because it was all we needed. The end all, be all, definitive action adventure movie about these characters that we loved to play with. Just watch The G.I. Joe movie to find out what Cobra Commander, Destro, Roadblock and Zartan are really like.

That unfortunately brings us to the new "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" movie. At least the let down had been prepared for, and I was able to approach it with little expectations. The story and the acting were actually the best thing here. Scarlett is played by Rachel Nichols, who was previously in the last season of Alias. I mention this only because this movie reminded me a little of an episode of Alias; it had alright production values, moved along pretty quickly, and the actors did what they could within the confines of the script. Beyond that, maybe it's just my glorified memory, but Snake Eyes is way cooler back in the day than he is in this movie. I guess I'm just tired of hitting, kicking, blocking and jumping as a character's full repertoire when it comes to fight choreography. Snake Eyes is a ninja! He doesn't just jump out of an airplane and start wailing on people. There should be like 15 people on the ground before you even hear the plane. Anyways, Jude and Jesse loved this movie, and I'm sure if they saw the stuff from my childhood they'd think it was lame. So sad. What sucks the most is that it should have been someone who loved the stuff from my childhood making this move, instead of someone trying to cash in on my memories. Capitalism at its finest I guess.

Where I'll be on October 16th

Funny People

This is by far the funniest Adam Sandler movie I've ever seen. So often in comedies I feel as thought the dialogue is being forced on me, like someone took a stand-up routine and tried to apply it to a real life situation. The reason this film works is that it's about stand-up comedians, and therefore the writing fits perfectly into the context of the story. Last night I thought that it would be fitting for me to write that "Funny People" is the "Annie Hall" of the current generation. That might be a little too strong of a compliment, but relatively speaking it's about as close as we're probably going to see. This is an introspective film, with characters who aren't afraid to examine themselves from the perspective that we see. The Sandler character specifically knows his weaknesses and fears. He doesn't change magically overnight, but we get the sense that his heart desires to lead him to become a better person. Sure, what slows this film down, as in any comedy, is an attempt to be meaningful. At the same time I think it's a smart move to make "Funny People" about both 'people' and 'funny'. I was interested that the filmmakers used Adam Sandler as they did, considering that I've seen him from very early in his career all the way through all his prime, his fame his attempt to be taken seriously. For him to take this role so head-on worked perfectly, and I admire him for it. Finally, as a warning, just as "Annie Hall" wasn't a family film, this isn't either. Keeping in step with the trend of comedies today, "Funny People" is funny without any real sense of boundaries. Perhaps comedians have always been on the edge, saying things that we all think but social standards keep us from saying. Is shocking people, or talking about private matter necessary to make them laugh? I was just trying to think of some Biblical examples of humor, obviously my favorite is pretty disgusting and comes at someones expense; Ehud stabs King Eglon, who is so fat that the handle of the sword gets covered up by the flab. Then to make things even funnier, the Kings servants don't find out until it's too late because they think the King is just taking time going to the bathroom... I'm sure many of you can come up for different reasons that this account is included in such detail in the Bible. As for me, it is either the worst kind of humiliation against the King and his descendants, or it's just plain bathroom humor. I'm not trying to justify all the humor in "Funny People" with this example, I guess I just think it's interesting that there is this base level at which many people are amused, and if there are examples in God's Word, can it all be bad?