Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino has done it again.  This time, in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, he's created an alternative ending to WWII, how it might have ended a year or so earlier if the various chapters of events in this movie had really happened.  Brad Pitt, the most underrated actor in Hollywood, plays a good ole Tennessee boy who's gonna kill him some Nazis (he pronounces that "nazzis") with the help of a crew of Jewish soldiers.  

But the creepiest actor ever is Christopher Waltz, a Nazi official who appears throughout the movie.  He has the sliminess of Hannibal Lecter, but he's scarier because he's not locked up.  Watch him, actually listen to him, as he spears a creampuffy dessert.  

Be forewarned that Tarantino isn't afraid of a little gore here and there.  But the violence, severe though it is, is paced throughout the movie;  it's not like wading through a pool of waist-high blood.  And you can bet that Waltz will be getting a nomination at Oscar time.

Ponyo

The anime director Hayao Miyazaki's newest film, and perhaps his most charming, is PONYO, the story of a little boy and a goldfish, sort of.  The goldfish, whom the little boy names "Ponyo," gets a taste of human life and decides she wants legs, arms, a voice, the works.  The plot includes the boy's parents and Ponyo's, a sea-wizard and a "beautiful but scary" sea-woman reminiscent of some of Disney's most haunting creations: part cloud, part memory, part imagination, part dream.  A storm like no other is a centerpiece.

One of the fun parts of any animated film these days is figuring out who's voicing the characters.  Here Liam Neesom is notably wonderful as Ponyo's sea-wizard father, with the right blend of majesty and frustration.

The drawing is enchanting, the music lovely, the storyline imaginative.  And some would say, best of all, it's not 3-D.

JULIE & JULIA

     So immediately after I saw Nora Ephron's amazing JULIE & JULIA last night, I rushed home to my battered (but largely unused) copy of the first volume of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." I wanted to check my memory: yes! it was signed by both Julia and Paul Child.  I remembered a trip long ago to Vroman's in Pasadena, where Julia was speaking, accompanied by Paul, and I went to hear her.  I remembered also all the PBS shows of Julia and her hooty voice, which in J&J Meryl Streep--of course--has exactly right.  

     The movie combines two books: the one written by Julie Powell, in which she cooks a year of Julia Child recipes and blogs about her experience; the other Julia Child's autobiography, about her years leading up to her fame resulting from the wide acceptance of her cookbook and the subsequent popular PBS shows.  Ephron weaves the stories skillfully, even though they are generations apart. Amy Adams' Julie is a worthy participant in this foodie/love story film.  

     I've dogeared the boeuf bourguignon for later this fall, and then, when my courage and ambition return after this summer, the pate de canard en croute.  Sigh.  I'm salivating.

     

   

(500) Days of Summer

Even though you're told at the beginning of (500) DAYS OF SUMMER that it's not a love story, you'll insist on believing the opposite.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel play the Boy and the Girl: he a would-be architect who writes greeting card copy; she an administrative assistant at the greeting card company.  Their story is told out of order, skipping from day 5 to day 376 to day 43, for instance, showing the intricacies of this particular relationship as it waxes and wanes in its development.

In some ways, the "love story" is the tribute to the architecture of downtown Los Angeles, not the new stuff like the Disney, but the old stuff, like the Bradbury building.  If you haven't taken an architectural tour yourself, do.  Check out the LA Conservancy for ideas.

Complicated and fulfilling, (500) DAYS OF SUMMER is well worth experiencing the heartaches and joys of this relationship.  You'll come away with an understanding how relationships work, including, maybe, your own.

Funny People

Writer/director Judd Apatow has done it again, even better, in FUNNY PEOPLE, his take on what makes a particular comedian tick.  In this case, Apatow's long-time friend, Adam Sandler, plays famous comedian George Simmons, who long ago segued from stand-up to dumb-looking but money-making movies.  Lost and bored with his ostentatious lifestyle, filled with things but no people, George learns he has a potentially lethal form of leukemia. He decides to go back to stand-up.

Seth Rogen plays Ira, a would-be comic and current deli worker, who follows George onstage at a comedy club tryout.  George hires Ira as his personal assistant and possible joke-writer.

The movie is about a lot of things: friendship, mentoring, facing death, reflecting on life choices...It also has a lot of very funny bits, including in the blur of cameo appearances by comics new and old, mostly with very very dark blue--call it indigo--humor.  You'll lose count of the male anatomy jokes.  

Rich and complicated, FUNNY PEOPLE is a triumph.  

The Hurt Locker

THE HURT LOCKER joins HBO's GENERATION KILL in its powerful portrayal of the incredible tension and continual anxiety endured by soldiers in wartime.  Here, three members of a bomb-defusing unit do their jobs: two help the third don a spacesuit/firefighter's gear and then stay in radio contact as he works on the bomb: finding it, clipping the appropriate wires, finding its detonator and whether it is on a timer.  The other two are also constantly looking for enemy sniper fire in the small city where much of the movie occurs.  Such danger can come from apparent civilians with video cameras or young boys selling DVDs. 

Director Kathryn Bigelow has chosen hand-held camera work, for the most part, which adds to the already extreme tension felt by the audience just because of the subject matter.  The movie isn't for the faint of heart, but you'll come away with more understanding of why war is so awful.

The Stoning of Soraya M.

The powerful and disturbing THE STONING OF SORAYA M., based on a true story, is about a contemporary small Iranian village whose inhabitants are quick to anger and even quicker to use the horrific practice of stoning a woman "proved" to be adulterous.  The proof against any woman in this village (and, apparently, in parts of the larger Iranian culture), consists of any three males agreeing that she did what others say she did.  The three men in this case are her abusive husband, who wants a new 14-year-old wife but can't afford two wives; a village widower for whom Soraya works, a job the village male elders pressed upon her; and the widower's son, presented as having less than usual abilities.  

Soraya's aunt tries to reason with the elders and, earlier, with Soroya, pleading with her to recognize the limits within which she lives.  Failing that, the aunt agrees to care for Soraya's two young daughters.  Soraya's two young sons have already been co-opted by her husband.

The stoning itself begins with Soraya's father, who has disowned her but who still has trouble hitting her with the three stones he throws.  

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE is a worthy entry into the HP series.  More than any of the other HP movies, this one really requires that you've either read the books and/or seen the movies, or you might find yourself quite lost.  Here, Harry is about 17, in his penultimate year at Hogwarts, the British school for Witches and Wizards.  His friends Hermione and Ron are worried about his preoccupations and dark moods.  Any older audience member, parent or not, will recognize the moods as teenage angst, although Harry's specialness provides a serious difference.  All three teens are beginning to face romance: the unwanted kind, the wanted-but-rejected kind, the mutual kind.  Where does friendship leave off and romance begin?

The first of the series to be rated PG, this HP is darker both in mood and in actual screen brightness, fitting for its serious subjects.  Our favorite characters are back, including the ones we love to hate.  Enjoy them while you can.