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January 18 2012
Movie Review: Inglorious Basterds
Image by sdfbss via Flickr
Spoilers abound ahead - hard to write a critical review without disclosing the action and the ending...
"Inglorious Basterds" is a story of a guerrilla operation, run by Brad Pitt and a motley collection of Jewish fighters in World War 2. They wreak havoc upon the Nazis, showing no mercy, and, in a typically Tarantino fashion, graphically in some cases, including the brutal baseball bat beating (too many b's?) of a Nazi officer who refuses to divulge the location of another patrol. It also follows the story of a Jewish girl who escaped a brutal murdering of her family at a French farm house. She escapes to Paris and runs a movie theater(!). There she accidentally befriends a Nazi officer who is sort of a German Audie Murphy, who supposedly single-handedly cuts down over 100 Allied soldiers from a church steeple. He then stars in a movie based upon his exploits and the Nazi high command wants to debut the movie in her movie theater. All the German high brass, from Hitler on down, attend, drawing the attention of the Allied high command, who promptly begin plotting an attack on the theater. Can they pull it off and end World War 2 in one blow?
Cover of The Shot
Another problem with "Basterds" is that really, not much happens, at least for the first 90 minutes or more of a 250 minute film. There is no real story building, just a few episodes that paint in the background of the two major stores, but in such broad strokes to make it kind of boring and uninteresting, despite the graphic violence.
Image via Wikipedia
Brad Pitt is just fine as the scene chewing leader of the Basterds. Mélanie Laurent was enchanting as the bitter Jewish survivor who plots the destruction of the German high command. Her ending was just so over the top Tarantino-esque as to be amazing.
But all in all, a 2.5 or maybe 3 out of 5 star movie. I just wasn't invested in the characters or the story, and I still don't understand the ending.
Related articles- Film Review Inglorious Basterds (socyberty.com)
- Inglorious Basterds (themoviereport.net)
August 31 2011
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Documentary Heaven
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Zediva
Zediva is a new online movie rental service. Using Zediva, you can watch the newest movies and TV shows available on DVDs.September 07 2010
Friday Media [5]
![Friday [5]](http://jdarnold.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/6a00c2251d8df0604a0123ddfb3a7f860b.jpg "Friday [5]")
Not a whole bunch of media notes, but enough to fill a Media [5] again, I think:
- Watched the original D.O.A. on Netflix Instant and liked it a lot. It had a little too much music and there was one strange spot where Frank Bigelow went to SF to "unwind" and he ended up in a hotel with lots of pretty girls and every time he glanced over at one, the music would do a litle wolf whistle, which I found a little jarring. But once the action started, it was interesting and ended perfectly.
![D.O.A. (Dead On Arrival) (1950) [Remastered Edition]](http://jdarnold.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/6a00c2251d8df0604a01347efd81d7860b.jpg?w=210 "D.O.A. (Dead On Arrival) (1950) [Remastered Edition]")
- Also finally got 'round to watching The Hurt Locker on Netflix Bluray. A solid, exciting action flick, with a top notch "you are there" feeling. But that's all - nothing too deep and sometimes even a little predictable. A real testosterone fest, with some excellent explosions, definitely putting my subwoofer to the test. A disappointing Oscar Best Picture winner, but a good view nonetheless. Virtually no extras on the disc at all, save for a commentary track (which I never get to anyway). And shouldn't they be wearing something on their hands?
![The Hurt Locker [Blu-ray]](http://jdarnold.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/6a00c2251d8df0604a0123de1462d5860c.jpg?w=231 "The Hurt Locker [Blu-ray]")
- Mostly just have time for TV episode watching. I enjoyed season one of Californication, although I find it impossible to believe anyone really talks like that. Finished season five of LOST, which I have enjoyed but find it a little too weird usually. Started to watch the first season of Ally McBeal but am finding it too angsty. I watched pilot episode for free on the computer, via Amazon Video On Demand, but watching a few more episodes on DVD is getting me hinky. Way too much angst. And I watched the first "season" of The Guild and thought it pretty funny. For some reason, I couldn't get the second "season" to play on my PS3 Netflix Instant, but I'll try again tonight.
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I'm re-reading Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series, starting with the first one, March Violets. What fun. To balace off that fun, I decided to try a mass market "thriller" by Alan Folsoom. I saw the 3rd book in the series at the library and the back cover sounded interesting enough, so I grabbed the first massive tome, The Exile. I'm on about page 200 of the book and it's just painful. Absolutely no grace in the writing, all the characters emote wildly and the action is one coincidence after another. I'll probably soldier on for a few more chapters but I can't imagine actually finishing it.
- Still listening to The New Pornographer's Together CD. My girls really like it, especially songs 3 - 5 : Your Hands (Together), Silver Jenny Dollar and Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk. It's a little uncomfortable saying their name to them though and I can just see them going to school and saying they love listening to Pornographers at home! And am also really enjoying Jakob Dylan's Women+Country.
Book Review: The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together
The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together by Ty Burr
My rating: ★★★★★
Wow, what a wonderfully fun book! Lots of great movies to expose the girls too, who already have a pretty good appreciation for B&W movies. They loved "The Kid", enjoy the 3 Stooges and really had fun with "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein" (even if Burr disparages that classic).
Definitely going to show them "Bringing Up Baby" and "Meet Me In St. Louis" next. Wish more of these were available on demand as opposed to DVD rental, but hey, what can you do?
So if you love "old" movies, even if you don't have kids, get this book. There are lots of recommended movies, with plenty of interesting tidbits, to keep you entertained for hours.
If you have kids, don't really know old movies, and want to show them the classics, get this book. Burr goes to great lengths to explain why a movie might appeal to a younger generation, splitting the movies up into 3 groups - for the youngest of them, "tweeners" and teenagers. With 2 daughters of his own, this book hits particularly close to home and I am anxious as all get out to try a few more on them.
I'm marking this as "Read" but really will be returning to it often. My first purchase on my new Nook and a great reference to keep stored there.
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Movieclips.com
Movie clips and movie scenes at movieclips.comJanuary 07 2010
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1980’s Flashback: 22 Movies For Family Night
Here are 22 classic movies from the decade that are worth revisiting for your next movie night. They’re generally very family friendly, but some may contain some scary scenes or questionable language, so be sure to pre-screen them if you have little ones!April 22 2009
Red2Blu
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The best Internet video entertainment in English: free online movies, television shows, music clips and funny videos
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Maybe Soup is currently being updated? I'll try again automatically in a few seconds...
