Movie #249 Inglourious Basterds *2009*

Here are my 3 Reasons to watch Inglorious Basterds:  (That is 3 out of 1,000)

Reason #1.  The "Putting out the Fire with Gasoline" scene is one of the most empowering and sexy scenes in recent memory. 

Reason #2.  The opening chapter is a masterpiece in screenplay sufficiency. 

Reason #3.  The scene in the basement bar playing cards.  Totally Tarintino while still being creative and refreshing.

I give Inglorious Basterds ★★★★1/2.

Movie #213 Indiana Jones and the Last Cursade *1989*

Big time cheat here.  I have watched all the Indiana Jones movie numerous times and I like all of them in varying degrees.  Here are my 3 Reasons to watch the 3 movie in the series.

Reason 1.  It is the most "old time radio serial" film of the bunch.  The film unfolds like a "When we last left out hero" type of story.

Reason 2.  Sean Connery exudes cantankerous and worldly in this picture.  He is totally charming.

Reason 3.  The movie never lets you exhale.  This is a driven film.  And I mean who doesn't want to see Indy fighting Nazis?


Reason 4. (cheating my cheat) River Phoenix blew up after this movie!

I give Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ★★★★.

Movie #162 Sucker Punch *2011*

NAZI-ROBOT-ZOMBIES!!!

Emily Browning - Baby Doll
Abbie Cornish - Sweet Pea
Jena Malone - Rocket
Vanessa Hudgens - Blondie
Jamie Chung - Amber
Carla Gugino - Vera Gorski
Zack Snyder (Director)

I feel like I should say right off the bat that this is a defense of the movie Sucker Punch.  This film is getting eaten alive by critics.  I have read many of the reviews and I disagree with a lot of the readings of this movie.  The comments have been pretty harsh.  "Collection of near-rape fantasies", "Hands-down the most nightmarishly awful film of the year", and " two hours of humorless, masturbatory non sequiturs". 

Right off the bat director Zack Snyder lets you see what you are going to be in for.  The movie opens with a series of curtains opening revealing stage after stage.  I figured at this point that the films was going to be an "Inception" like film.  Dream within a dream kind of stuff.  There for everything within is subject to dream logic. 

The plot of the film is woven around a girl abused by a step father is placed in a mental institution and by shady means with an orderly, is set to receive a lobotomy.  The rest of the film is told through her dreams in which she and the other girls in the ward fight off a series of monsters, robots, Nazis, dragons, and other meanies in an attempt to collect the items needed to escape their confinements.  This fights are really dreams within her own dreams (I was right) in which the female patients are dancers at a burlesque / whore house.

That sounds like a lot to process I know.  But I didn't really go into the movie looking for any existential examinations or philosophical debates.  I wanted to see hot chicks in fishnets with samurai swords fight Nazi-robot-zombies.  And who better to give me that then the director of Watchman and 300?

I didn't find this film to be a "girl power" flick because the girls weren't really standing up to their oppressors.  They were fighting mythical creatures in their place.  This is pure escapism.  I don't really like it when people say you should just turn off your brain and enjoy the spectacle.  I like to be challenged by a film.  I like it to ask questions of me.  If nothing else I demand to be entertained by a movie.  There was no big challenge in this movie.  The narrative structure is deviceive , but not complex.  The film did cause me to ask questions.  Not deep meaningful questions like a Godard or Felini would, but I was intrigued throughout.  And the movie entertained me from opening to ending.

A few other notes:
The soundtrack was great!  The electric/metal/rock thing is normaly not my bag, but I dug it here.
The performance were all decent.Emily Browning was given the most to do and she made away with the show.  She is so seductive with huge eyes and pouty lips.  I am not calling her the next Marylin Monroe, but I understand where those comparisons are coming from.
Carla Gugino has never done anything for me and that streak continued here.
I see a lot of blogs comparing this movie to the video game Call of Duty.  I am not a gamer and I have no idea what COD looks like, but I think that is lazy writing trying to get hits from video game enthusists and the #1 selling game in the world right now.  Without a doubt the movie has a very video game feel to it, but it is obvious right from the very begining.  Lazy.
I got a very twisted "Wizard of Oz" vibe from this movie.
This is a sexy film.  Yes, it is a collection of every fanboy fantasies but what is wrong with that?

Anyway, I don't think this movie is going to be anywhere on my radar when it comes to the end of year "Best of Lists", but for the time being it was an enjoyable show.  I give Sucker Punch ★★★.  Haters gotta hate.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.

Movie #99 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo *2009*

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first film in the millennium trilogy.  Tattoo (as I will now be referring to it) is based on a book of the same name.  It is the story of an abused orphan who works as a private detective and a publisher that has been convicted of a crime.  They end up working together on a missing person case at the estate of a rich excentric family.

The book is an airport book.  By that I mean that it is the type story that fills an international flight or great for relaxing at the beach.  I of course haven't read it, but I am told that the film is a good representation of the source material. 

The films is a dark one that deals with issues like rape, Nazi's, torture, incest, self mutilation and other taboo topics.  The star of the film and the series is Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander.  She is excellent in a difficult role.  She has to play a detached , hard as nails vamp.  But she need to be a sympathetic character to the viewer or we wouldn't care about her story.  We have to love the woman that doesn't believe in love.

This film is a Swedish one and it is subtitled.  But if you watch this movie and the sub titles are the thing that bothers you most, you should probably seek professional help. 

I watched this over the Christmas break.  I just never got around to blogging about it.  My fondest memory will be of my girlfriend falling asleep on my lap while watching this.  I don't think that says much for the film, but I won't forget it for a long time.

Tattoo is a solid thriller in the vein of Michael Criton films.  It did make me want to see the rest of the trigiloy.  FYI:  David Fincher is remaking this in English.  I am excited about that, but I am excited for every new Fincher film.  I give Tattoo 3.5/5 stars.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.

I am proud to say that I am now totally caught up on my bolgs!  Vacation here I come.