At the Cinema - September 2009

Inglourious Basterds 10 out of 10

You’ll like this movie if
a. you like Quentin Tarantino
b. you like Brad Pitt
c. you like gratuitous grossness that makes you look away at times.

Tarantino, always reserved, does no less than a little history rewrite in this audacious World War II opus. This crazy movie joins Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bills as Tarantino masterpieces. The 2 hour and 20 minutes fly by as Tarantino weaves his story.

Brad Pitt anchors the movie as Lt. Aldo Raine, the head of the legendary Basterds, a Jewish killing squad in Nazi-occupied France. But it is two star making performances that carry the day here. The one that is going to get the most recognition is Christoph Waltz as Col Lans Handa, the Jew Hunter who becomes through Waltz' craft one of the all-time great movie villains. But it is Melanie Laurent as Shoshanna Dreyfous whose intense desire for revenge carries the movie. They’re both scary good.

Make no mistake, this is every bit as gory as you’ve come to expect from Tarantino. It’s not for the faint of heart. So, don’t go if you’re easily offended. But, if you like your entertainment over the top, this is your cup of blood.

It Might Get Loud – 8

You’ll like this movie if:
a. you like rock and roll
b. you like the guitar
c. you like Led Zeppelin, U2, or The White Stripes

While not a great movie, this is an often fascinating portrait of 3 great guitarists and their creative process, their reverence for their musical roots, and their evolution as technicians. Documentary Director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) got together Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White and filmed them together and separately. It’s pretty cool stuff.

The film peaks as it’s ending with the three jamming on The Weight. It left me kind of wishing there been more of that. In fact three greats just sitting there playing some songs would have been a pretty fine movie by itself.

Julie and Julia – 8

You’ll like this movie if you like:
a. Meryl Streep
b. The joy of cooking
c. The joy of eating

Once again here’s a movie that surprised me. The lukewarm reviews of Nora Ephron’s latest had me a little reluctant, but this is a charming movie. It weaves the story of Julia learning French cooking and putting it into an American cookbook with a modern-day blogger (Amy Adams) cooking her way through the same cookbook.

I laughed, I cried, I got real hungry.

As always, Meryl Streep is phenomenal here. If you don’t remember Julia Child, who died in 2004, you can’t fully appreciate this performance. Meryl Streep is a true National Treasure. She tops my current list of Female National Treasures, which by the way goes something like this:

Meryl Streep
Barbara Streisand
Jodie Foster
Bonnie Raitt
Julia Roberts
Ellen Burstyn
Sheryl Crow
Julia Louis Dreyfous
Anne Hathaway
Tina Fey
Amy Adams
Natalie Maines
Sarah Silverman

The Informant! 7
You’ll like this movie if:
a. you like Matt Damon
b. you like Steven Soderbergh
c. you like corporate intrigue
I have to admit that Soderbergh’s critical acclaim puzzles me a little. My favorite movies by him are Erin Brokovich and Out of Sight. Those Oceans 11,12, and 13 movies were Hollywood earmarks – mindless pork for the masses. Here, Matt Damon shines in Soderbergh’s take on a corporate whistleblower story that probably has David Brinkley rolling over in his grave.

I had never heard of Archers Daniel Midland when it inexplicably began sponsoring This Week with David Brinkley back in the 90’s. Apparently, they had a lot of money to spend (and the movie tells why) so they began advertising, but advertising what? I remember being mystified then, and they went away as quickly as they had appeared.

Damon plays Mark Whitacre the biochemist whistleblower who suffered from a multitude of problems, all fully on display in The Informant! There are some amusing sequences, and more than a little irony as the story unfolds. Not the worst way to spend 2 hours.