Review: Inglourious Basterds

Review: Inglourious Basterds

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Have you ever watched a "plot-to-kill-Hitler" historical drama and found yourself wishing that the end just might turn out differently from the end you know is coming? Well, then, do I have a movie for you! Inglourious Basterds (yeah it's spelled wrong) delivers the ultimate World War II revenge fantasy. Based on no facts whatsoever, Tarantino presents a masterful film that speeds by much faster than its two and a half hour length would suggest. It's Tarantino's best movie since Pulp Fiction -- and it occupies a pretty close second place. Tarantino never ceases to surprise, and he never ceases to employ over-the-top violence to make his point.

Much has been made of Christoph Waltz's chilling performance as SS officer and "Jew Hunter" Col. Hans Landa, an Aryan nightmare if there ever was one. He uses charm, cunning, and psychological pressure to get what he wants from those unfortunate enough to be in his way. His interrogation scenes are intense, uncomfortable to watch, and directed brilliantly by Tarantino. Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine (an homage to gravel-voiced Aldo Ray) and his band of Jewish American soldiers provide Tarantino's special brand of gore and comic relief.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: District Nine

Review: District Nine

Rating: ****

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

A science fiction bug movie that transcends the genre, asking us to examine what it means to be human. The film, intense and uncomfortable, never backs away from the constant tension inherent in the situation. Shot as a documentary, the movie, as my friend Sue said, piles parable upon parable, challenging us to confront our deepest prejudices and to ask ourselves how far we would go were we Wikus Van Der Merwe, the main character deftly played by Sharlto Copley. The story ignites our collective memories of historical horrors: Apartheid, the Holocaust, Japanese World War II internment, the treatment of immigrants, and the Slaughter of the Innocents to name a few. The ending leaves room for a sequel, but the probable plot is all too obvious: they will be back and they will not be amused.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Shorts

Review: Shorts

Rating: *1/2

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 44%

If you are a male about nine years old who enjoys booger and fart jokes, you just may love this movie. Then again, you may not. As the adult who accompanied the child to the film, I found it excruciatingly difficult to sit through -- and I had had high hopes with John Cryer, James Spader, and William Macy each portraying adults with various levels of cluelessness.

The moral of the story is harmless enough: "Be careful what you wish for," but the out-of-sequence plotting of the movie is unnecessarily choppy and distracting. I was, however, rather fascinated by Jolie Vanier, pictured above, who plays Helvetica Black (named for a font?). She seemed to be channeling the young Christina Ricci as Wednesday in The Addams Family -- not entirely successfully, but she was trying. Whenever she appeared in a scene, the soundtrack chanted her name incessantly, something my grandson Max found very creepy. Do skip this one.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Funny People

Review: Funny People

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $

Rotten Tomatoes: 65%

Anchorman, The Forty Year Old Virgin, Talladega Nights, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Pineapple Express. I've enjoyed quite a few of Judd Apatow's movies in spite of the gross-out humor being a bit much from time to time. But I endure it.

So, I was looking forward to Funny People. The over-the-top humor surfaces in the very first scene. I noticed that the men seated around me in the theatre laughed loudly. But soon, their jocular outbursts were just snickers, and then their laughter seemed to disappear altogether. As one critic pointed out, this is the most "adult" of Apatow's films. The laughs are quickly mixed with George Simmons (Adam Sandler) learning that he has a terminal disease and not long to live.

George becomes depressed while his personal assistant Ira, played by a slimmed-down Seth Rogen, does all he can to shore up George's resolve and his spirits. Ira has a sweet nature and is bent on doing the right thing. He's convinced that George might be better served by focusing more frequently on thinking of others before he satisfies his own needs. Until the end of the movie, however, there's seems to be no glimmer of hope for that possibility. So, finally, the film becomes a bit of a morality tale. Is it worth two and a half hours of Apatow?

No.

Wait for cable.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

Rating: **

Nonna's Rating: $$

Rotten Tomatoes: 35%

If you've read my reviews for a while, you know I get rather impatient when people compare movies unfavorably to books -- especially when they complain about the omission of particular incidents or the alteration of bits of dialogue. Well, I'm about to compare a movie unfavorably to a book, but I will defend my right to do so.

I do believe that we experience two completely different art forms in movies and books and, therefore, should not sweat the small stuff -- like eliminated or added scenes. However, I do argue that we have a right to demand that movie makers not alter the intrinsic nature of a book.

I have two quibbles with this movie. First, the lesser quibble. I have never read a book in which life in Chicago was so vividly realized. While reading, I could almost smell the stale air from the sidewalk grates in downtown Chicago. In the book, Chicago is a fourth major character and totally integrated into the love story. So, I understandably anticipated some drop dead takes on Chicago streets -- a la the marvelous cinematography in High Frequency. Unfortunately, what we got, for the most part, was Toronto. Big oversight just to save money.

My second quibble is more serious. There is almost no chemistry between the time traveler and his wife, played by Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. The book is a love story for the ages; the movie just doesn't approach that level of intensity. It's a disappointing film.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Julie and Julia

Review: Julie and Julia

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 74%

Another great date movie. Especially for married couples. Yes, the movie is about a young woman, at loose ends about her life, who decides to introduce structure and discipline by recreating all the recipes in Julia Child's Art of French Cooking in a one year period. Layered in her story are slices of Julia Child's life in the decades after World War II when she was trying to find her own life's vocation. You've probably heard that Streep's performance as Child is a tour de force and absolutely delightful. It is. Indomitable Meryl portrays a woman of such infectious optimism, confidence, and complexity, we find ourselves fantasizing that we had been a guest at one of her dinner parties. Oh yes, there's the food too. Child did have something to do with transforming the way Americans shop for, prepare, cook, and consume food.

There's all of this, but the most poignant and effervescent moments of the movie are found in the portrayal of Child's relationship with her husband, played by Stanley Tucci. It is a marriage in which each partner shares equally in caring for the needs of the other -- equally in passion, love, and healthy independence. Unfortunately, there's one lingering effect of the movie: you will have an overwhelming desire for an expensive French meal as soon as it's over.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: 500 Days of Summer

Review: 500 Days of Summer

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

Oh, groan! Another romantic comedy. But wait, neither Katherine Heigl, Jessica Sarah Parker, nor Jennifer Anniston is in it. There's hope. Indeed, there's more than hope. 500 Days of Summer is a delightful surprise -- beginning with it's title, which suddenly makes sense as we learn that "Summer" is a girl's name. The girl is played by the fascinating Zooey Deschanel who doesn't look, dress, or sound like the typical romantic movie heroine. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the male lead. I certainly didn't recognize his name, but I recognized his face. He played Tommy Solomon on Third Rock from the Sun, the "oldest" of the space alien Solomon clan -- definitely the most mature despite his teenage body. Gordon-Levitt's talents shone through in that series, but he earns the right to continue his acting career in lead roles in this movie. His character, Tom, is hopelessly in love with Summer, who just might not be that much into him. The film plays deftly with a reversal of the sexual stereotypes so prevalent in current romantic films. And, I don't want to give away much more. Just know that this is not a chick flick. It bound to delight men as well as women.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it

Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

I wish that the producers of the Harry Potter films had decided that this book, like the final one, would become two movies. That probably would have prevented much of the whining about what was left out of Half-Blood Prince in the film.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for this kind of complaining. Translating from one art form (novel) to another (film) necessitates eliminations, additions, and transformations of the printed text. That's a given. That said, the makers of Half-Blood Prince did a fine job capturing the major themes and incidents in the book -- a book which, after all, is full of loose ends given that it is the penultimate installment of the series.

Many reviewers lamented the abbreviated final battle of the movie, a battle in which most of the major characters participated. The decision, according to industry information, was motivated by financial concerns (it would have cost a great deal to bring in major stars for a few scenes), logistics (getting them all there at the same time would have been almost impossible and delayed production), and similarity (to the final battle scene in the last book). They didn't want to pull out all the stops prematurely.

What remains of the book on film is entirely engrossing and quite satisfying. Several friends who have not read the books reported enjoying the movie immensely; the edited story hangs together well. Harry, Hermione, and Ron have matured into their roles, and the romantic themes that run through this movie add a new dimension to their characters. The adult Voldemort is absent from this film, but Helena Bonham Carter is deliciously evil as Bellatrix Lestrange, and the two boys who play Voldemort as a child and teenager deliver chilling, effective performances. If anything, the film whets the appetite for the final two installments. If only we didn't have to wait so long!

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it