Inglorious Basterds

I have already mentioned that I wanted to see the Best Picture nominees before the Oscars, it should be noted that I failed miserably. I managed to see 3 out of 10. I will eventually see most of them, but 10 is a big number. I did manage to see Inglorious Basterds before the awards show, and I am tremendously glad that I did. I wasn't sure how I felt about this movie going into it. I had heard that is was incredibly violent, and knowing Quentin Tarantino movies I didn't doubt this. I also thought that this would be a very sad movie, you don't often go to a WWII film and laugh your way through it. I watched this one because my roommate wanted to, and I ended up loving it.

The title of the film refers to a group of Jewish-American soldiers who tromp through Germany killing and scalping Nazis. This group is led by Leiutenant Aldo Raine, played by the brilliant Brad Pitt, a soldier from Tennessee. The Basterds are very good at what they do and their name is soon feared by all Nazi soldiers. The Basterds are a very violent group, and much of the film's gross out moments come when they are on the screen. The scalping, while disgusting, was not too bloody for me, the chicken, to watch. I did turn away when they took a bat to a Nazi's head but apparently it wasn't too terrible to watch. Another name among the Basterds is BJ Novak from The Office. His character doesn't talk much, but it was interesting to see him play someone very serious and stoic.

While the title of the film would indicate that the story is about these Basterds, I would have to say that the movie is only half about them. The rest of the movie is taken up by two brilliantly portrayed nemeses. Christoph Waltz won an Oscar for his role in this film as Colonol Hans Landa of the Third Reich. Col. Landa is known as the Jew Hunter among his peers, and Waltz does a stunning job of bringing out this man's true brilliance and creepiness at the same time. I truly hated this man while watching this film, and while I guess that is probably not hard to do while playing a Nazi I really believe that Waltz took it to another level. His nemesis is Shoshanna Dreyfus played by Melanie Laurent.

Col. Landa and Shoshanna first encounter each other in the dairy region of France when Landa slaughters her family and she narrowly escapes. This is our first glimpse of the relentless heartlessness of Landa. Shoshanna picks her life back up in Paris where she runs a relatively small cinema. Landa and Shoshanna are reintroduced when the Third Reich decides to hold a movie premiere at Shoshanna's theater and Landa is in charge of the security. The brilliance of these two actors is highlighted in a cafe scene where Landa goes on and on about putting creme on Shoshanna's apple strudel. The scene is so incredibly tense, you sit on your edge the whole time, yet really they are just talking about dessert.

The movie comes to a peak as we near the movie premiere. The movie is about Frederick Zoller a sniper that held down a town for the Nazis single handedly. Frederick, who plays himself in the movie called Nation's Pride, falls for Shoshanna. It is his idea to have the premiere at her cinema. The Basterds hear about the premiere from a prominent German actress, Bridget von Hammersmark played by Diane Kruger, who has turned against the Third Reich. When they hear that Hitler himself will be at the premiers the Basterds come up with a plan. The Basterds are going to go into the premiere with Bridget and with tons of explosives strapped to their ankles.

What the Basterds, and the Third Reich, don't know is that Shoshanna has devised her own plan for taking out the people in the theater. Shoshanna and her projectionist have a large collection of film as you would expect a theater to have. The upside for them is that at this time in history film is one of the most flammable items on the planet. They have enough to burn the theater to the ground.

I won't tell you how the whole things comes to an end because I really want you to see it. If you don't mind a little blood and a lot of tension, you will love this film. It's a good story, everyone loves to hate the Nazis. Brad Pitt is always talented, and you will definitely want to hear him try to speak Italian with his Tennessee accent. There is enough humor in this film to break up the tension and find that perfect balance of action and comedy.

Avatar

To tell the truth I put off going to see this movie. It was so hyped up. People were painting their faces blue, they went to see the film over and over. I feared getting excited about the movie and then being let down when it didn't live up to the hype. To tell the truth this movie looked weird. The blue people looked a little strange to me. I hate watching people fall in love when I know one of them is lying, which I thought was the premise of this movie. It makes me uncomfortable and nervous waiting for that moment when the truth is out there, and it just sits there. To Avatar's credit, while this does happen in the movie, the movie is so much more than that.

The people that have called this movie visually stunning were not over-hyping it. It was one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. James Cameron has always been one of my favorite directors. (Can you say Titanic?) He definitely didn't disappoint with this futuristic epic love story. Everything you loved about Titanic is taken to new levels in Avatar, except that boys actually liked this movie. I call this an epic love story because in truth that's what it is. It's not your typical love story though. Sure boy meets girl and falls in love with her, but it's more than that. Boy meets girl and falls in love with an entire planet.

The story takes place on the planet Pandora. A large company has set up an operation on this planet to mine for a substance cleverly called unobtainium. There are three types of humans on the planet: company suits, mercenaries and scientists. The suits don't play much of a role in the movie, except that they are the reason everyone is there. The mercenaries are there to protect the operation from the indigenous people, the Na'vi, who don't like their planet being destroyed by mining. The scientists are there to study the planet and the aliens who inhabit it.

The cast is not heavy on big names. Sigourney Weaver plays the lead scientist who has formed a bond with the Na'vi people. Sam Worthington, a relative unknown, plays Jake a paraplegic ex-Marine who the entire story revolves around. Jake's twin brother, who dies before the movie begins, was a scientist who had planned to travel to Pandora. The movie's title comes from the real life Na'vi bodies who are controlled by human minds and who cost millions of dollars to create. The Na'vi bodies are mapped to specific human DNA sequences, since Jake is a twin he will fit the mold for his brother's Avatar. He knows nothing about science, the planet Pandora, the native language or the mission of the company. Once out and about in his Avatar on Pandora Jake is separated from his group. While out in the wilderness he meets the daughter of the local Na'vi tribe's leader. This chance encounter is what sets the story of Avatar in motion.

The planet Pandora is like nothing you have ever seen. The mountains float, the flowers glow, the animals have too many limbs and the people are blue. Much of the beginning of the movie is spent showing you scenes of this crazy beautiful planet. The colors and shapes jump off the screen, especially if you see this in 3-D. Once your eyes have feasted until completely over-sated on the scenery, you begin to settle in to the plot.

Jake petitions the tribe to let him live among them and learn their ways. Neytiri, played by the beautiful in blue Zoe Saldana, is charged with teaching Jake the ways of the Na'vi people. At this point you are started to be reminded of Pocahontas, but Cameron takes the story to the next level. The standard scenes that could be expected from this story line are escalated from routine to extraordinary due to the stunning background. By day Jake is with Neytiri learning to survive on this beautiful yet deadly planet, by night he is back at the company home base documenting his adventures. It is complicated to explain how this works, just trust me when I say it makes sense in the movie.

I don't want to give too much of the story away, so I will just tell you that tensions build and a battle ensues. I must say that this is one of the more exciting battles that has ever been on the silver screen. It rivals the Helm's Deep battle at the end of Two Towers. I didn't expect to fall for the plot line of this movie in the way I did. I expected it to be the same story that has been told before, but I found myself completely enchanted by all things Avatar. I think that is James Cameron's true gift; he takes a story that we have heard before yet he tells it in a way that keeps you completely riveted.

If you have the chance to see this one in the theaters I highly recommend it. If you can afford the few extra bucks, and you don't get motion sick, then I suggest going for the 3D version. It is not the 3D where crap seems to fly out at you from the screen and scared the bejeepers out of you. It really just enhances the depth of the movie visually, everything pops just a little bit more. There is a reason this movie is generating Oscar buzz. Give it a shot, if nothing else your eyes will love you for showing them something they have never seen before.

Up in the Air

I realized a few days ago that I had not seen any of the Oscar nominated movies. I probably won't see most of them, but there were a few on the list that sounded like movies I would enjoy. Yesterday was a snow day for me, a first since high school. There are in fact a few upsides to being a teacher. I decided to take advantage of my unexpected freedom and went to the movie theater. We decided to see Up in the Air and Sherlock Holmes. I know Sherlock is not on the Oscar list, but it still sounded pretty interesting.

Up in the Air is a story about a lot of things, but I think what it boils down to is a look at the life of the modern businessman. Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizer, his company comes in and conducts the exit interviews for companies who have to downsize. Essentially he fires people for a living. In order to do this he travels 270+ days out of the year. Through this lifestyle he has developed a philosophy that he lectures about, essentially teaching people to free themselves of all attachments.

There are two ladies that I would refer to as leading ladies in this film. They have both been nominated for the Supporting Actress category. Vera Farminga plays Alex, a fellow world traveler. She bonds with Ryan at a hotel bar while they compare company loyalty cards. Anna Kendrick plays Natalie a fellow downsizer who is trying to pitch the idea of firing people via video conference.

The film takes a quick but poignant look at life for the average person in the rough economy over the past couple of years. They had real people speaking after they have just been fired. From someone who has made the call to let people go in the past, it was definitely a difficult part of the film to watch. They try to make it light hearted by throwing in a few funny moments of the people being fired, but you never feel quite right laughing at people at their weakest.

The movie never really came to an end for me, I guess thats why its on Oscar movie. Maybe I am just not deep enough to get what the point of the movie was. What I took from it was that it is OK to form attachments with people, and its ok to just live a life free of commitments and attachments. Also I learned that a swivel suitcase is the only luggage to invest in, and it takes 35 minutes per flight to check bags and pick them back up.

I am glad I went to see this movie, I enjoyed it. There were some truly lovely moments, and to me a few great scenes can make a movie. Clooney can truly wear a pair of pants, even though he is way to old for me, it is still a pleasure to watch him on screen. Maybe you are deeper than me and will be able to appreciate the movie for its more artistic statements and the truth about life that it speaks to. I just enjoyed an interesting story about three people who live in a world that is relatively unknown to me.