I'm happily surprised to say that there are now four good movies of this summer. And I'm not including Star Trek in May. I'm not even going back to The Hangover in June. I'm talking about July and August, the real months of summer. There's The Hurt Locker, 500 Days of Summer, District 9, and now Inglorious Basterds.
Tarantino's new movie has his signature all over it. There is a lot of pop playfulness that shows us that making the Kill Bill movies really did change him. He's now more about having fun than seriousness and so I don't expect him to ever make a movie as serious as Jackie Brown again. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, because Jackie Brown was pretty great, but so is this new Tarantino.
Basterds is loaded with flashy screen titles that burst onto the screeen with loud music, catchy dialogue, and funny characters. The movie is a pretty straight forward men on a mission story, and from what I understand, when Tarantino was first writing this, he ended up with a giant novel that wouldn't end. It probably had nothng to do with the mission at the theater. I'm glad he didn't make that.
The movie is two and a half hours, but it doesn't feel like it at all. It moves quickly and keeps our attention at all times. Whenever I see a new Tarantino movie, it takes me multiple viewings before I can really appreciate it. So I'm not surprised that I don't love this movie right now, but I certainly enjoyed it and look forward to loving it in the future after I see it again.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Good news: GREAT MOVIES!!!!!
Finally, here in August, the good movies of the summer have finally come out. And it's not what you'd expect. All of the loud, big budget extravaganza turned out to be garbage. Be it the mega-junk films like GI JOE and Transformers 2 or the other stuff like Bruno and Public Enemies and Funny People. Aside from the Hangover, June and July were pretty terrible. But now, at long last, here we go....
Three movies: The Hurt Locker, 500 Days of Summer, and District 9. All of them cool. All of them fun.
Hurt Locker is the best of the three, although it aint no feel good movie. Still it is incredibly deep and thought provoking. The smartest movie you'll find. And ridiculously intense. Every scene is fantastic and clever and important. And the action is great too!
On a lighter side, because not everyone wants to see drama or action, theres 500 days of summer, which really is smart and nice and fun. It's a romantic comedy, although it doesnt play by any of the rules of romantic comedies. in fact, it sets out to defy the rules and does a damn good job. People have said there hasn't been a rom-com told from the guy's pov this well since Say Anything. I'd say since High Fidelity, but yeah, the idea is pretty accurate. Very enjoyable and quirky and different.
And then there's District 9, an alien sci-fi movie that also breaks the rules and tries to be its own unique, clever thing. Are we seeing a pattern here? District 9 is very cool with amazing effects that look real (as opposed to the usual drawings done by computers). It combines elements of Blair Witch and Cloverfield and the Office, to make the film feel more documentary-like, and that's exactly what a movie like this needs. It needs to be taken seriously and this movie figures out a way to do it.
So three good movies, none of them headlined by big stars, all of them low-key, and all of them smart as hell. These are the summer movies I've been waiting for. They're finally here!!!!!!
Three movies: The Hurt Locker, 500 Days of Summer, and District 9. All of them cool. All of them fun.
Hurt Locker is the best of the three, although it aint no feel good movie. Still it is incredibly deep and thought provoking. The smartest movie you'll find. And ridiculously intense. Every scene is fantastic and clever and important. And the action is great too!
On a lighter side, because not everyone wants to see drama or action, theres 500 days of summer, which really is smart and nice and fun. It's a romantic comedy, although it doesnt play by any of the rules of romantic comedies. in fact, it sets out to defy the rules and does a damn good job. People have said there hasn't been a rom-com told from the guy's pov this well since Say Anything. I'd say since High Fidelity, but yeah, the idea is pretty accurate. Very enjoyable and quirky and different.
And then there's District 9, an alien sci-fi movie that also breaks the rules and tries to be its own unique, clever thing. Are we seeing a pattern here? District 9 is very cool with amazing effects that look real (as opposed to the usual drawings done by computers). It combines elements of Blair Witch and Cloverfield and the Office, to make the film feel more documentary-like, and that's exactly what a movie like this needs. It needs to be taken seriously and this movie figures out a way to do it.
So three good movies, none of them headlined by big stars, all of them low-key, and all of them smart as hell. These are the summer movies I've been waiting for. They're finally here!!!!!!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
More of the same
As people start to weigh in about the movies that are out now or coming out soon, things are once again looking gloomy. The Adam Sandler movie Funny People is apparently way too long at 2 and 1/2 hours. It seems to be two movies in one, and more dramatic than funny. I'm sure its okay, but I was hoping for something a little better than okay. And the GI Joe movie, I thought it might be guilty stupid fun, but now I'm starting to think it will be just stupid. If it's all computer effects, like it appears to be, than what's the point? recently I've been rewatching the sci fi movies of James Cameron in the 80s, Terminator and Aliens, and the use of makeup and real effects as opposed to computerized ones make such a difference. These things actually look real. Unfortunately those days seem to be long behind us. 500 Days of Summer is still supposed to be good, and I'm sure Inglorious Bastards will be cool. So I suppose there's some silver lining out there somewhere.
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