Inglourious Basterds

****1/2 - This film shows that when one is making a movie set during the events of a historical period, the plot can still be entertaining while not necessarily following the real-life events with any accuracy. In that respect, this movie can be considered somewhat of a fantasy or alternate history. It was enjoyable throughout, with great characters and acting (the guy who played Landa was especially good) and an interesting story. The only reasons this one doesn’t get a five star rating are the fact that Tarantino still doesn’t seem able to recapture the outstanding dialogue of his first three films, and that there is a bit of a gore-factor that didn’t appeal to me (e.g. gratuitous scalpings, etc.).

Religulous

*** – Bill Maher is certainly not the type of chap that everyone (myself included) enjoys listening to. While this movie features him at his smug, self-serving ‘best’, it also features him in unfamiliar terrain; as a populist philosopher. This documentary of him making the foolish look even more bewildered than they are is entertaining, but it also seems too easy to accomplish, and too colored by Maher’s own viewpoints. Agreeing with someone on one topic does not always mean one must enjoy their biased antics.

State Of Play

***1/2 - Is Russell Crowe as a tubby CCR-loving hippy, Ben Affleck as a straight-laced legislator, and Jason Bateman as a bisexual coke-head lout a perfect combination? Well, if this film is any indication, I would say that is a fair statement. A mysterious plot weaves its way through this well scripted and acted film that keeps the viewer guessing without annoying them. The ending isn’t entirely satisfying, but is good enough to raise this flick above the pack by a bit.

Surrogates

** - One more in a long string of movies that pound into our heads that machines are evil and humans are great. While I don’t necessarily disagree with the “over-reliance on technology is bad” message that is espoused in this film, I would have to say that it is pretty unsuccessful in making that point appealing, as all the characters – human and robot alike – are equally despicable. When you think about it, though, the idea of ‘surrogates’ as a potential future technology is pretty dumb, as anything these human controlled robots do could easily (and much more affordably) be simulated in a computer with the same results.

Inside Man

****1/2 – Despite its self-proclaimed status as a “Spike Lee joint”, this movie is an absolute delight to watch. An outstanding plot and script keep the viewer guessing as to what is going on without feeling foist upon or overly confusing. Many plot threads that seem unrelated at the beginning weave themselves into a rich tapestry by the end, and solid acting from Clive Warren and crew adds to the enjoyment of the overall package. I highly recommend this film.

Babylon A.D.

*1/2 - The ever befuddled-looking slab of flank steak known as Vin Diesel stars in this dystopian future world-on-the-verge-of-Apocalypse type of film. He is apparently supposed to be some sort of mercenary who is hired to transport some girl from Russia to America, but the girl might be infected with some virus or something… I don’t know. Oh, and also, the virus causes people to explode. However goofy the plot is, the action is decent and the scenery’s not half bad.

Whiteout

** – A small cast, unoriginal scripting, and lack of directing subtlety make the ‘twist’ ending of this film unbelievably easy to guess almost from the outset. While nothing about this movie other than the obvious finale was particularly bad, there wasn’t anything here that was terribly interesting or engrossing either. The Antarctic scenery (which isn’t something that one has the opportunity to see very often) was strikingly beautiful, though.

Wanted

**1/2 - If your ideal film involves Angelina Jolie and some wormy guy performing strange, law-of-physics-violating gunplay maneuvers, than this is the film for you! The plot is trite and hackneyed, but it’s gussied up with tons of stylish yet probably unnecessary murder… but who doesn’t like that stuff? I can’t say I disliked this film, but it probably could have been better, and the fact that the writer(s) tried to make my sort of nerdy bloke identify with the main character was more annoying than anything else.

The Happening

** - M. Night Shyamalan has moved on from telling interesting mystery stories (i.e. “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable”) and apparently decided to write and direct movies that are silly & obvious parables decrying urbanization. Mark Walhberg is perfect in is role here, assuming Shyamalan instructed him to act like an emotionless strip of pressboard paneling. Zooey Deschanel (Zooey? Please, darlin’ …) is just as poor in the role of his semi-estranged wife, and John Leguizamo solidifies his reputation as the complete waste of space he established himself as in “Spawn”. I’d recommend avoiding this one.

LOST: The Complete 4th Season

**** – This is the first season of the acclaimed series ‘LOST’ that I didn’t see any of on TV (mainly because I started to go to bed way before its airtime). While certain aspects of this writer’s strike shortened 13-episode season are outstanding (such as the introduced freighter team), the fact that it expanded on some of the worst parts of season 3 (e.g. goofy love triangle subplots) was somewhat disappointing. The character that had been the show’s most enigmatic, John Locke, makes odd and seemingly unfounded choices that may have come off better in a fully fleshed out season. Hopefully it will all make sense in the end.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

***1/2 – I have to say that the production design in this movie is some of the best that I have seen in any movie. While the story is a bit silly, I’d certainly recommend watching this just to see the outstanding character design and production, if for no other reason. Like the first “Hellboy” movie the dialogue in this outing is really quite poor, unfortunately. I like the walking fish guy, though. Kind of like a blue C3-PO who isn’t a homoqueer.

The Day The Earth Stood Still

** - In this remake of the “classic” (by which I mean old, boring and overrated) 1951 sci-fi film, Keanu Reeves breaks open a big ball of glowing ice in the mountains of India, falls asleep, then wakes up 80 years later covered in whale blubber after falling out of a spaceship in Central Park only to realize he is still a chunkhead who can’t act. This film seems to posit that if ever there is a national emergency - such as a meteor strike or Keanu Reeves attack – a large herd of nerdy professor-types from varying acadmeic fields will be rounded up and put on the front lines ahead of military personnel.

Public Enemies

**1/2 - This picture about a portion of gangster John Dillinger’s life (the length of which is not made entirely clear) looks nice and is mildly entertaining, but doesn’t hold up for its entire two and a half hour run time. The dialogue is goofy, full of corny one-liners spouted out by Dillinger, his associates and FBI agents (most of which are gunned down at one point or another in the film). It also tries to portray every character – gangster, FBI agents, and whores- with a sort of grandiose esteem that is usually reserved for heroes and such. It strikes me as odd to do so about a bunch of people who killed indiscriminately.