Review: Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino's World War II epic and homage to the great spaghetti westerns finds 3 intersecting stories, in true Tarantino fashion. One story revolves around Lt. Aldo Raine, Brad Pitt's redneck soldier, and his band of Jewish-American soldiers showing no mercy to Nazi's in France, the other story is that of Shoshana Dreyfus, a survivor of a Jew extermination who has big plans for her movie theater. The last is that of the "Jew Hunter," one of the more ruthless Nazi officers who show no mercy to the Jewish. There storys take an explosive turn at Shoshana's movie theater.

After the long-winded Kill Bill, although I really liked Vol. 2, and the bland Death Proof, Inglourious Basterds is a return to form for Tarantino, relying heavily on snappy dialogue, controversial violence, and unforgetable performances from his actors, yet it is able to stay fresh mixing elements of the WWII period and spaghetti westerns, especially the music, creating a brand new outlook on the past.

The story itself was split into 5 chapters. The first one, "Once Upon a Time … in Nazi Occupied France," is superb. This is where Landa truly shines. Col. Landa and his men arrive at a French farm to interrogate the owner about claims that he may very well be hiding Jews. It is unforgettable and one of the tenser scenes to ever be shot for cinema. The second chapter, "Inglorious Basterds," is are first introduction to the titular heroes and their violent and merciless methods. It is truly crazy and over-the-top. It is the chapter for Tarantino to truly cut loose, living up to the legacy that so much controversy has created. This is followed by "German Night in Paris." This is where the story catches up with Shoshana and introduces a lot of exposition for what is to come in the film's climax surrounding the movie theater and Pvt. Zoller. Unfortunately, the movie lost a lot of its pacing here, but the performances stay strong regardless. Next up is "Operation Kino," probably my second favorite chapter after the first. It revolves around a meeting of the Basterds, a German double agent, and a British middle man. Not only my second favorite, it is also the second most tense scene, as the German native members of the Basterds as well as the German speaking British soldier find themselves among the enemy in a small, basement pub. The only thing that really is bad about this scene is the quite hectic editing of the ensuing gun fight that makes who shot who very hard to discern. The fifth chapter is the explosive climax and following conclusion, Aldo and Landa face to face. A decent ending, but chapters 1 and 4 are easily the best.

The acting is phenomenal. Brad Pitt puts his underrated sense of humor to good work as the outlandish Aldo. B.J. Novak, Michael Fassbender, Gideon Burkhard, and Til Shweiger all perform well too as his more seen Basterds. Even Eli Roth, a career director, does well as the Boston-bread "Bear Jew." The beautiful Diane Kruger performs effectively, but is out-shined by Melanie Laurent, who plays the very cold and shut in Shoshana aiding in the creation of one of Tarantino's better female characters. Daniel Bruhl is an exciting actor to watch. He brings so much charm and likeablitiy to his character that it is even more surprising and scary to see his dark side come out near the last moments of the film. The performance that really stands out is that of Christoph Waltz, who plays "Jew Hunter" Landa. A truly frightening villain who seems tickled by the death and destruction he creates. I would compare him to Gary Oldman's Stansfield role from, Leon. There isn't many roles or performances that could have you laughing and on the edge of your seat at the same time.

The last line of the film, "I think this may be my masterpiece," has been noted as being Tarantino's opinion of this movie, but I can't help but disagree. Pulp Fiction was fresh while staying familiar. It was creative, inventive, and inspired hundreds of knock-offs. It included some of the better lines and images of '90's cinema. Until he makes something even better, Pulp Fiction will remain Tarantino's masterpiece.

Inglourious Basterds, while oddly paced and unfocused on its titular heroes, remains an exceptionally inventive, well-made, and fun film. Easily Tarantino's better scripts, second only to Pulp Fiction, and one of the more incredible villain performances in some time.

9/10

Review: District 9

District 9 is a slum in South Africa where alien beings, known as Prawns, considered a racial slur, live in squalor. The aliens themselves are stranded because their spaceship is stalled out above the city of Johannesburg. Used as a social commentary for the very public race problems of South Africa, the story sees a mild-mannered government work, Wikus, who is given the duty of evicting the aliens into another slum. This project goes awry when Wikus comes into contact with alien chemicals that start morphing him into a Prawn. Now being treated like one of them, Wikus sees the corrupt side to his government's race relations, so he makes an uneasy pact with one of the aliens to cure him of his transformation, if he helps restart the alien spaceship.

The movie plays like a documentary. It starts out as a first person perspective as a camera follows Wikus intertwined with commentary by his co-workers, loved ones, and other intellectuals. Thankgully, it does not stay that way. The curtain comes back many of times in order for the viewer to see the other things going on. The mockumentary (albeit not as spoofish) is an interesting concept that allows for exposition to be given at any time, a useful tool with a story as high concept as this, and as dependent on outside opinion of the events that transpire as well as the human emotion of the characters in the moment.

Sharlto Copley, who plays Wikus, is surprisingly good for someone who never considered a career in acting. At first, his strong accent and Clark Kent-like character seemed like he would be a problem, not a strong suit, but he performed perfectly. Watching his awkward geeky character become a desperate man was a near-perfect character arc. His performance added a level tension and fear that no music could, but his character had a witt and charisma that kept you in touch

The effects were also impressive. The aliens seemed very life-like, and at times they were hard to differentiate from the real life footage. The alien spaceship was a dramatic sight especially seeing it turn on and move away. The alien weapons looked makeshift and thrown together but most pack a punch. The weapons themselves reminded me of Halo, and it is no coincidence that the director, Neill Blomkamp, has been one of the rumors of a Halo adaptation.

Many may question how the South Africans could understand the alien language, and vice versa, but I only found it a small suspension of disbelief. It allowed the film to feel authentic but available to audiences at the same time.

District 9 is a credit to its genre. Science fiction at its best, District 9 balances authentic humanity, cool visuals, and social commentary. A must-see during this surprisingly dissapointing summer season.

9/10

Review: Batman Arkham Asylum

During what was supposed to be a routine inmate drop off, The Joker gets loose and turns Arkham Asylum into his own personal theme park with a little help from his friends. Quickly subduing Commissioner Gordon and the other inmates, it is up to Batman to stop the riot and save the remaining doctors and guards still alive. Little does Batman know that Joker is planning something bigger than a simple inmate riot.

Starting with the aesthetics, the graphics are really great. The design of the game combines the industrious elements of Nolan's films and the gothic elements of Burton's with the voice cast of Timm's cartoon most notably Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamil as Batman and Joker respectively. So many, including myself, consider them the definitive voice of their characters. Arleen Sorkin, the voice of Harley also returns.

The story is well-paced, and you get the feeling that the villains were chosen for what they bring to the story instead of forcing the more popular rogues into the movie. Noticably not present are the likes of Two-Face, Catwoman, and Penguin, but all the villains used are used very effectively except for maybe Killer Croc, which I think they could have used better.

The gameplay is great. As with any Batman game, you get a mix of batarangs and grapples to work with, all of which update as the game goes on as you would expect to happen in a video game. At times it seems like push-button fighting, but the high number of thugs and the use of batarangs, counters, and jumps make for an almost ballet-like fight scene that allows for some strategy to get involved. There are even stealth strategies you can use, making the game feel like the next-gen versions of Metal Geat Solid and Splinter Cell. Detection mode is an interesting addition, allowing key items to stand out and forensic tools to be used, allowing the gamer to see things only Batman would.

The high point of the game were the Scarecrow scenes. Occasionally being hit with fear toxin led to Silent Hill inspired scenes into Bruce Wayne's worse nightmares. They were eery and atomospheric, truly some of the better scenes in the video game.

The Riddler was also fun. Throughout the course of the game, Batman patches in to Oracle, former Batgirl Barbara Gordon. The Riddler hacks into the line from time to time to taunt Batman with riddles and side missions that are entertaining to say the least, but easily skipped if you want to focus on the storyline.

Like any game it is clearly not perfect. Batman's facial hair and suit damage stay throughout the game, which on paper seemed great, but I ended up with 2 big tears on my cape. The camera being afixed the way it is meant I was staring at them for a little under half the game. It was annoying and destracting. The final boss battle against the Joker was very anti-climatic, and may have been one of the easier fights in the whole game. I was also unhappy to see that Bob Hastings did not return as Commisioner Gordon. His voice in my opinion has become as iconic to the character as Conroy, Hamil, and Sorkin's. I was also surprised to see that the majority of the cells were empty, and the opportunity for cameos was never taken advantage of. Although Scarface, Clayface, and Ra's Al Ghul make intereting cameos if your are paying attention.

Good Batman video games are hard to come by. They have been infamously bad even though most elements of Batman should adapt well to video games. This game finally does that. Written by Paul Dini, one of the minds behind the critically acclaimed cartoon series, it captures everything great about Batman and makes an incredibly fantastic video game regardless of its faults.

9/10

Review: The Boat That Rocked

The Boat That Rocked is about a fictional literal pirate radio station that was the only source for rock and roll in the '60's in the UK going to war with the stuffy bureaucrats who want to shut them down.

As any ensemble movie, the cast is the greatest thing about this movie. First off you have Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Kenneth Branagh, highly respected actors who are as funny as people think they are dramatic. Hoffman has actually gone down that road before, and Branagh proves to be the bigger surprise. The rest of the cast is well-rounded with British funny men. Bill Nighy is incredibly dry and sarcastic, but he is no slouch in the dramatic department. He is like the lost member of Monty Python. Nick Frost, of Shaun of the Dead fame, Rhys Darby, of "Flight of the Conchords," and Chris O'Dowd and Katherine Parkinson, of "The IT Crowd," all performing exceptionally. Rhys Ifans ends the cast as the strangely sexy hipster rival of Hoffman's The Count character. Tom Sturridge really shines as the film's main character, Young Carl. Young Carl is an awkward virgin British teen who comes aboard the boat to find himself sent by his mother, a sexual icon to the DJs, in a very nice cameo by Emma Thompson.

The laughs are of typical British fashion. Well spoken and well planned witticism, sarcasm, and running jokes that never miss a beat. Intertwined throughout the comedy is the message of freedom, morality, youth, and life that is channelled through the great rock music the character's broadcast.

The beauracrats are especially stuff, overly facist at times, but it is a comedy I suppose. At certain moments in the middle of the film, it bogs down with subplots that could have easily been more funny, but they still hold up the heart of the film. Some of the best parts were the montages of the DJs riffing on air, and I assume the actors doing a bit of ad-libbing, I just wish there could have been a little bit more of that. Outside those moments, the jokes and dialog seemed to specifically move the plot forward, not necessarily a bad thing, but with so many comedic performers together I would hope for some spontaneous humor.

The Boat That Rocked is everything great about British comedy and '60's pop music wrapped into a fantastic picture that I recommend to everyone. 8/10

Review: Brosnan

Brosnon is about Michael Peterson, England's most infamous prisoner, who has his name changed to Charles Bronson by his fight performer on Bronson's quest for fame.

Bronson's life was impulsive, erratic, and adrenaline-fueled, just like this movie. It was a twisted fairy-tale of possibly the greatest anti-hero who actually live. The movie is hypnotic. You cannot possibly take your eyes off of it, due mostly to Tom Hardy, who after some weight gain and humorous facial hair becomes unrecognizable from his previous baby-faced roles and immerses himself into a loud but well-spoken criminal who is as interesting as he is dangerous, or maybe because of it.

The film is very unique and creative bouncing back and forth between Bronson's life and a very eccentric one man show telling his tale. The movie itself was not my cup of tea, but there is no denying the creativity and individuality of this film. It dares to go against the grain and feels more at home among Kubrick and Scorsese pictures of the '70s. And there is no denying Hardy's performance which promises a long and amazing career from the English upstart.

7/10 The plot did not keep my interest, but Hardy was amazing and I can't fault them for trying something new.

Review: Transformers Revenge of the Fallen

Sam Witwicky finds himself intertwined in another cosmic battle between good and evil alien robots when a shard of the All Spark downloads important information into his head.

I think it should be said that I love the first one. It was summer blockbuster at its best. Fun, action-packed, humorous, and never too serious. This one takes those elements and multiplies them by 1000. Michael Bay continues his reputation of complete lack of control turning into an almost parody of himself. I like to think that that means something coming from me considering I have defended for almost everything but this and The Island.

One of the biggest problems this movie had was too many robots. Hard to keep track at times, but too many of them faded into obscurity, especially the ones we got to know during the first movie. Even Bumblebee seemed downplay, and he is arguably the man robot. Unfortunately tons of cool robots were given up in favor of two dimwit twin robots.

Actors were very similar to the robots. Obviously Shia Labeouf and Megan Fox were in the foreground, but the straightman father, the cool soldiers and hackers were given up for in favor of a boisterous wannabe hacker and an even boisterous John Turturro, who plays the ultimate cheesball. As well as a mother who sexuality and accidental drug use proved for more annoying than humourous.

The story itself had a lot of potential, robot gods and a strong Cybertronian history on Earth, but all the parts just didn't click. 6/10

Review- Terminator Salavation

Last left in an underground bunker in Terminator 3, John Connor is now an active member of the resistance in a world overwhelmed with robots. While Connor searched for his would-be father to ensure his existance, Marcus deals with awakening in a this nightmarish world.

The story is pretty loose, but it could have easil been fixed with some kick-ass action. Yet it deals with kick ass action, and is still missing something. It's probably the fact that the focus has turned to a human elements that has already grown cold by the chaos.

It's too bad the acting couldn't have kept up with the themes. Christian Bale turns out a factory performance just like the rest of his stoic roles since Batman. While Helen Bohman Carter and Bryce Dallas Howard capably perform their characters are not nearly given enough to do. Bale is unfortunately surrounded by underwhelming soldier types, specifically Common and Moon Bloodgood. Sam Worthington, the out-of-the-blue Hollywood diamond in the rough but was just ok. Constantly slipping back into his accent was annoying and created a weird accent that was neither Aussie or "non-accent" American. The shining point was Anton Yelchin, who somehow channelled Michael Biehn, yet still young, innocent, and naive. I want to see more Terminator movies just for him.

Terminator fell short of a lot of expectations. The trailers were pretty damn good promising a balance of post-apoc action and the human hope that survives amongst so much rubble, yet it was just another run of the mill action flick.. 5/10