Basterds makes Four

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.

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!!!!!!

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.

Good things ahead?

Good news. I'm hearing that there are good movies on the horizon. A bunch of them. Some are out right now, like 500 Days of Summer and In The Loop. Both movies are small and almost-indie, but that's okay. They are both supposed to be excellent.

Then there are the movies that will be in theaters soon. Funny People, the new Judd Apatow movie is supposed to be very good. I just have to see it for that Raaaandy guy alone. And even GI Joe is supposed to be decent. Not sure how much stock I can put in that one, but it actually doesn't look half bad.

And of course, the movie I've been waiting for all summer is not so far off anymore. Inglorious Bastards will be out in a few weeks!

So here's the list of seeable movies

1. 500 Days of Summer
2. In The Loop
3. Funny People
4. GI Joe
5. Inglorious Bastards.

Only three of these movies will be out in the next week, since Funny People opens this Friday and the last two still have time before theyre released. But three movies worthwhile is better than we've gotten all summer. Finally, a reason to go to the movies!

Harry Potter and the blah blah blah

Just saw the new Harry Potter movie. It is literally the same old shit. I'm starting to realize that these movies (except for the one true great one that was Prisoner of Azkaban), are all pretty much the same. They really don't have plot and instead concern themselves with the minor minutia around the school. Who likes who, who's flirting with who, and a lot of spells stuff that seems pointless to anyone who hasn't read the book. The movie is not bad in the sense that the style and shots and color palette are all wonderful. But for three quarters of the movie there is just no plot. Harry has to get the new professor to tell him something. That's the plot. And the professor doesn't tell him until after three quarters of the movie. The ending is cool and surprising (unless you read the book), but it's just so long and effortless. It's as if they know the audience is coming, so they can literally do whatever the hell they want. And take as much time as they want with doing it. This is not a movie that has to please, like say The Hangover. There's a built in audience and they bank on that the whole qway. This movie doesn't earn any points for creativity or being different.

Garbage...garbage...and more garbage

It's now mid-July and things are looking ugly. There has been so little that is worthwhile this summer. Going all the way back to May, Star Trek was fun, and then the Hangover, but there hasn't been much since. I hear Up is worthwhile and Harry Potter that comes out in a few days is supposed to be dark which means good (remember Prisoner of Azkaban, the only really dark Potter movie and by far the best). Still, aside from those four movies spanning the months of May, June, and July, it's been pretty gloomy. Based on word of mouth, Public Enemies is boring, Transformers is idiotic, Taking of Pelham has a terrible ending, Bruno is non-stop offensive. Where's the fun? I went to see the Larry David - Woody Allen movie Whatever Works, simply because there was nothing else to see, and it was just as plain and predictable as everything else. Maybe Judd Apatow's Funny People will be ok, and I have high hopes for 500 Days of Summer and Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards, but those three would have to be pretty miraculous to put this summer on par with where it should be.

the dog days of summer

For some reason, studios have gone more and more in the direction of bringing out the biggest and most anticipated movies in May, leaving little for June and almost nothing for July. And don't even get me started on August. So here we are, in early July, and our two big movies are Transformers 2 and Public Enemies. Obviously Transformers 2 is supposed to be terrible. No surpirse there. It looks like loud, clangy, suped-up garbage. But Public Enemies doesn't look a whole lot better. So Johny Depp is in it. So what. It's a Michael Mann movie and honestly the guy hasn't made a well-paced movie since HEAT in 1995. Everything the man does is slow in the name of art. His movie Collateral with Tom Cruise as a hitman had no reason to be slow and yet it still was. And even HEAT, much as I love it, was too slow for it's own good at times. Well, Public Enemies doesn't look any better.

So what's out that's worthwhile? the same stuff that was out and worthwhile three weeks ago, maybe more. Up and The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three, and The Hangover. Those three movies. Those are the ones to see. And I'm hoping that I'm not wrong about Pelham, but it could really go either way.