Review: Inglourious Basterds (DVD)

Finally I've finally seen all of the Best Picture nominees! I didn't succeed in seeing all nominated actor and actresses this year, but I saw more than I thought I would, and I set my goal for only seeing the Best Picture nominees this year, so I'm proud of myself nontheless.

And here it is, the final movie I had to see, Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds." So sue me, I'm not a gigantic fan of Tarantino. At least I never thought I was. I hadn't (and still haven't) seen a majority of his movies, with the only exception being "Death Proof" from "Grindhouse," and even that, though I like it, isn't my favorite of the two "Grindhouse" movies. So maybe it's not that I'm not a huge fan, but rather I hadn't given him a chance. Like at all. I assumed I wouldn't like his movies, so I never bothered to see them. I wrote them off as being too violent - which they are - but the violence is done with a smirk. It's not a bang bang shoot them all up and drive in fast cars with guns movie, it's an artfully done violence that kind of makes me smile. I can't describe it.

I've read other critics say that Tarantino purposefully makes you laugh during his movies in places that aren't really supposed to be funny. Like after a Nazi gets his head beaten in with a baseball bat! In real life, not that funny. But in "Basterds" I chuckled. I laughed at being uncomfortable at Christoph Waltz's terrifyingly hilarious Nazi, the "Jew Hunter." Especially the opening scene where he confronts a French farmer who had been hiding Jews under his floorboards. The Jew Hunter was an awful, terrible person - but that barely showed through the cracks of a gentle demeanor, unless he let it flourish, then he was truly scary. No doubt he will win Best Supporting Actor - and he should! He kind of held the whole movie together.

I'm going to try to make it a point this year to see the rest of Tarantino's movies. He has a unique style, kind of a throwback to the 70s, with a modern sensibility. I take it as he's a pretty fearless filmmaker. A couple examples: 1) He does things like direct a period history drama and it looks like everything is period accurate, but then uses a David Bowie song as background music before the climax. Or 2) He has the balls to rewrite WWII and almost create an American fairy tale story where everything turns out perfect. Well, except for the fact that SPOILER ALERT: barely any characters survive.

So I guess I do like his films, and should Netflix them because I really liked "Basterds." A lot. I rented it on iTunes (which was an adventure in itself, I had never done that before, but it's pretty nifty) and watched it in one sitting, totally enthralled. I don't think I even paused it to go to the potty!

Patrick Approval Rating: 10/10

"Inglourious Basterds" @ imdb

Review: Public Enemies (DVD)

I'm going to take this opportunity to discuss my theory on entertainment and how life syncs with it. I believe every movie, TV show, song, book - anything that you do or watch or read or see for enjoyment is linked to a certain time or memory in your life. You know, you always have that one song that brings you back to that one super awesome moment in your life where you were listening to it driving around in the car at 5AM. Or you have that TV show you watched and for the first time it dawned on you, "This is what TV can be!" But alas, for the purposes of the blog, I'm going to discuss movies but I think the sync-theory applies to all entertainment. It's just that sometimes you sync perfectly with a movie because of where you are watching it, who you are watching it with, what mood you're in, what place you are at in your own personal life and how the movie's themes tie into your own at the time. The experience of how you see a movie affects your enjoyment of it. For example, I may have joined the rest of the majority of Earth to think the movie "Deep Impact" is as awful as it truly is, but it was the first grown-up movie I saw without my parents and for that reason, watching that movie always brings me back to being a scared 12 year old with his best friend Kyle sitting in the crappy movie theater chowing down on popcorn and bawling like a baby when SPOILER ALERT everybody dies in the end. (Except for Leelee Sobieski. Thank goodness she was one of the few who lived. Leelee. For real, that's her name. How sad/awesome.)

That all being said I hated "Public Enemies," the movie I'm supposed to be reviewing here. Maybe in another time, another place, seeing this in the theater when it first came out, seeing it with friends - maybe I would've liked it. Certainly seems like it would be a good fit for me on paper, - Christian Bale (nevermind him as Batman, look for him in "Newsies" - duh,) Johnny Depp (who doesn't love him,) and Marion Cotillard (who over the past two years has become one of my favorite actresses.) I should've liked this movie. I was even waiting for it to come on my Netflix for weeks. Well it arrived January 12th and here we are, Feb. 3rd and I've put it on tonight because I've finally finished watching all of "Lost" before last night's premiere, and this DVD's been a burden holding up the rest of my queue and I needed to get rid of it. So I'm going into the movie not really wanting to watch it. I made myself a dinner during the course of the movie, a dinner I butchered due to my split concentration (a watery mac and cheese with baked beans in which I found pieces of the paper wrapping from the can in after I cooked it because I fought a lengthy battle with my new can opener to get the darn can open.) I had a half and half day at work (half good, half bad) and have my mind on other things. And I'm now writing this blog entry as the movie wraps up. It's been on for two hours, and I've maybe actually only watched 10 or so minutes combined. I tried. It didn't hold my attention. I can't even tell you the general plot.

So maybe I'll revisit "Public Enemies" someday. Maybe when it's on cable, maybe re-add it to my Netflix, or maybe I'll call it even and say "Public Enemies" and I are not meant to be.

Patrick Approval Rating: I didn't pay attention to enough of it to even care.

Public Enemies @imdb