Inglorious Basterds

Got around to seeing it at last.

15 years later on I've heard strangely little about this movie beyond Christoph Waltz who we'll get to, so walking in I was blind but from years of seeing Quentin's films and recognizing that pansche that style he brings I knew it was worth watching. True to himself the movie is split into five chapters, connected in one way or another, of an operation in nazi occupied France to pretty much firebomb the high regime of the third reich as we follow a cinema owner, a group of americans behind enemy lines, and allied agents who all have pieces to the puzzle for ending the war. For a movie clocking in at two and a half hours it does not feel it's length able to build the mood, suspense, and story without rushing and while the characters don't ooze depth they all are immediately identifiable and engaging. Brad Pitt as the Tennesse bred leader of the american party Aldo Raine though not as much a focal point as you would believe is fun to watch and believable in the role. Melanie Laurent as the cinema owner Shosanna has her own agenda and story involving a german soldier, and because she's a theater owner we get to flex those movie muscles bringing up film around the mid 20s to late 30s so that's always great! And maybe this was just me, and I almost hate to say it but I think overhype is the keyword when it comes to Christoph Waltz as the SS officer Hans Landa, at least for me. Far from calling it bad, the dichotomy of how Waltz plays it so charming and nonchalant before seeing the cold dead stare and meticulous extermination of jewish people is indeed great, you almost get lost in the pleasantries before you remember oh yeah, nazi fuck! But somehow without spoilers I've heard people tout Landa as one of the greatest movie villains over the years and I just saw a solid performance. And I will give credit where it's due that Quentin Tarantino doesn't make light of the second world war, it does stand all on it's own as a war movie an alternate history war movie but regardless it takes itself seriously and doesn't shy away from the so called "Just War" when really it wasn't so black and white. It's no Django Unchained and just replace racist bigots with natzis, but nor is it a gritty as hell reality grounded war epic like All Quiet On The Western Front or Saving Private Ryan, there are some quirks of Tarantino but largely is it's own beast. That stated however the violence and blood is upped, the entirely practical production is outstanding with the period clothing and sets and the startling pyrotechnics. Soundtrack is pretty bitchin' too but that's to be expected! I'm so happy I got around to seeing it and talking about it, I do recommend it but the caveat here is Quentin Tarantino is a diverse filmmaker and you never know what project is next for him leading to different tastes and tones so don't walk into it expecting a Pulp Fiction or Once Upon A Time In Hollywood kinda vibe. It's something different but worthwhile and trying different stuff can be exciting. 3.5 stars, 8/10, and I guess Civil War is up next. Not the historical Civil War, no not the Marvel Civil War, the other Civil War. Yeah that one.

No Time To Die

As strict first impressions go I very much liked this movie but this is the first time where I am curious where the series will go from here.

As an exit for Daniel, it worked. As a Bond film I thought it was great. But it just raises too many questions, not in term of plot but what comes next? Despite my love for the Brosnan era, it never crossed my mind once what would happen after Die Another Day, the Bond series has always been something that has been a matter of fact, those movies have always been around. I was always looking back and never ahead until now. But I had a real good time with it. Does it improve on Spectre? Partially. It does it's own thing entirely with Bond coming out of retirement to usurp the new villain Safin from releasing a blood virus on the world, while he reconnects with Madeliene. It's a good plot and for an almost 3 hour film the pace was kept excellently. Craig is having the most fun I think of this role than any others in his tenure, he gets little moments of each Bond. He gets some charm from Connery, the humor of Moore, the romance of Lazenby, the cold kill of Dalton, and the action man status of Brosnan. And yeah, there was some fan wank in this film boy but I won't lie, I loved it. When I heard the chords of We Have All The Time In The World and Vesper's theme I did have an emotional response. The marketing campaign puts a lot of emphasis on secrets and changing the game which it delivers on quite a bit, but not really in the way you would think. This is one of those movie that will get an In Retrospect one day and there will be much to discuss. New additions to the cast are great with ample love going to Ana and Rami who were excellent. The action got my blood going and was always visually interesting. The sets and locations are wonderful and each used to the fullest. It all worked for me, despite there being some big notes from me. I do definitely recommend it, I would give it 4 stars, and an 8/10. Stay tuned for the also long delayed ranking of the 007 series tomorrow.

Spectre

Alright. Let's get this over with.

Spectre has really put Quantum in a better light for me, it's truthfully the most problematic and so un-Bond film of the series. Never Say Never Again probably has more standing in being a James Bond film and that was nothing but a titanic f*** you and die to Cubby Broccoli, EON productions, and Roger Moore. Now I will give good points here and there, the overall production in terms of cast, cinematography, stunts, locales, and direction is good. However. The sole unifying factor in making this quite possibly the lowest ranking film in this series for me is the story. And what boggles my mind to shattered pieces is this screenplay was written by the same guys who wrote Skyfall, what in the everlasting nine circles of hell is this bullshit? This movie plays out like any generic spy thriller. Take out the Aston, take out Bond, SPECTRE, the returning cast members, and the little references to past films, and you would lose precisely nothing in this story. Granted we start off actually really good with a Birdman-esque sequence of long takes in Mexico City where Bond essentially goes rogue agent in tracking down an assassin which leads to a trail of breadcrumbs culminating to the discovery of the organization of SPECTRE and it's head #1 Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Now on paper that is not a bad plot, we finally get the classic villain organization back after decades of that asshat Kevin McClory (who can eat shit you f***ing hack bastard) locking the rights away in a lawsuit that pretty much cut short the lives of Ian Fleming and Albert Broccoli, and now Barbara can utilize it in a story. Huzzah! It didn't work out that great but I'm happy we can see it again. There is so much I can dig into here, almost going through the plot point by point there is that much stuff to severely question and hate but I will attempt to bullet point some things that hurt the film overall. Madeline Swan is the most bland Bond Girl I have seen and I know Lea Seydoux can act, if memory serves the first film I saw her in was Blue Is The Warmest Color and I really really liked that movie and she did very well in it, but there is no way in this universe or any alternate universe you can convince me that she is the woman Bond decides to settle down with. No. No. Wrong. She has nothing on Tracy or Vesper in the slightest, but I do actually hold high hopes that the next movie will give a lot to her character. The action in this movie is beyond dull, none of it is thrilling, visually interesting, or impactful. It feels so empty, from a car chase more suited to Roger Moore with comedy beats galore, shootouts that makes me feel like I'm in the vacuum of space, and nonsensical final confrontations. I could bitch at nauseatic lengths of the big interconnecting web that this movie tries to weave and include all the movies before. God Marvel just made it impossible for movies just to be movies, and like sheep everyone tried their stab at it. Jesus wept. Okay, gotta focus. Christoph Waltz is a very fine actor, Blofeld is a memorable villain but never had much of a solid grip in terms of personality and initiative, and this is the worst Blofeld I have seen. It does not work in any semblance whatsoever, and once more I hold hope for No Time To Die to actually give the characters something to do. Everyone is acting fine and well here, but there is no meat to these character's bones. Daniel had so much to work with in the last film and could convey so much with a look alone, and here...there's nothing. Not for anyone. It's this void of recognizable elements, with occasional fun and nice bits of dialogue and story, but is so bogged down by everything else it's such an easy skip. I don't like the action, I don't like the big story moments, I certainly don't like Blofeld, I don't like the opening titles all that much, it just gave me nothing. That sucks. Nobody wants to hate a James Bond movie, but when the bullshit mans says that's bullshit you take his word for it. 1.5 stars, 4/10. Tomorrow, the end of an era with an almost 3 hour long runtime. There is no time to die, but you only live twice Mr. Craig, and here's hoping for an all time high.

Django Unchained

Yeah boy.

Full disclosure, I've seen parts of this movie on television before, mostly towards the tail end of it so this has been my first full watch through, and I thought the last 25 minutes was wild! Boy howdy lemme tell you something now, this is a great movie! I've come to know what to expect from seeing several of Quentin Tarantino's films, and yet he does something similar but still unique to each of his films. The man was born to make grindhouse-esque movies, you can tell real quick from just the opening credits but then you get the absurd zooms that never failed to make me laugh because it's that over the top, and the ridiculous amounts of blood. I've seen gory films in my time, I've seen bloody shootouts in my day, but not quite like this. And the story hardly took any time before I was fully invested, it being centered around a slave named Django who is quickly teamed up with a Dr. Schultz and collects bounties with him before the true meat of the story comes about when Django sets out to save his wife from a plantation. It's a movie where they ain't afraid to use the ugliest word in the human language, it makes almost 3 hours go by like 90 minutes, and every racist person gets a bullet in them. I am on board with that last part. They don't pull any punches, they keep it real to the times, they tell it how it is and do something with it. I heard that Jamie Foxx wasn't the first initial choice for Django, but honest to God I can't imagine the movie without him. His prescence, his wit, his physicality, it's pretty damn perfect in my eyes. But you really can't talk about one main character without talking about the other, and Christoph Waltz is giving his best performance to my knowledge (still haven't seen Inglorious Basterds just yet), and what a powerful duo these two are on screen. It is a joy to see them converse, blast fools, and have a really good friendship dynamic. And the supporting cast is just as strong, with Kerry Washington who is just a lovely lady and I'd pump people full of lead too to make sure she's safe and well, Leo is f***ing out there as usual and always fun to watch, Sam Jackson made me feel bad making me laugh so much at such blatant racism I mean sweet Jesus when the man starts calling people motherfrakkers you got to laugh. I just, I ain't mad at Tarantino for even a second for the dialogue, it's how they talked back then, but damn I still felt bad. But in reality, if you feel bad about seeing people be talked to that way and treated that way then you're not the problem, you got the better sense to know it's wrong. Even he said he despised Leo's character because he was such a hateful sack of shit (my words not his), so I ain't gonna give the man good grief for that. There isn't much action beyond the climax, they treat the gunplay seriously and with restraint mostly, but every damn time someone gets shot it's like if they had a overfilled blood bag under their clothes, it's ridiculous how much blood goes gushing after a gunshot. I guess high blood pressure will do that. It's a pretty spectacular movie, I was having a party during it and got big reactions out of me, I loved the cast, I loved the story, I wouldn't honestly complain if we got a sequel, it's just a great time at the movies. 4 stars, 8/10! I'm gonna buy it, watch it time and time again, and never get tired of seeing asshats get dead, D-E-D, dead! We'll shift gears a bit tomorrow which will lead into next week's reviews, and I'll give you a dollar if you can guess what it is.

In Retrospect: Alita Battle Angel

I love this movie!

I have great respect for Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron for doing this story properly. They took it seriously, and wanted to make a good movie based off of something most americans wouldn't go for. It's a risk but I think it payed off to bring an adaptation of a influential and beloved manga to western audiences. I took a step back as the movie played and I asked a simple question, could anybody enjoy this film? And as the film progressed and I really looked at how they handled everything, I really do feel that anybody could. The world has evolved since Blade Runner, that movie was a hard sell for audiences and wasn't very successful but it grew to be one of the best science fiction movies in history and even it had fans when it came out. The movie knows how to connect us to our main character, they make her so charming and lovable you are with her every step of the way, and the way they handle her story makes you interested and invested. They got Alita so right, not just from a character point of view but as the driving force for the audience. They explain the world but still leave intrigue to where anyone can come to terms with it and wants to know more. The romance works, the characters are still believable and have their charms, the world is interesting and cool, everything works just right. But they don't play all their cards at once, and I very much hope they make the rest of the series because they handled this first chapter incredibly well. This could be a great film series, hell in a weird sort of way I kind of associate it very much with films like Ladyhawke or The Last Starfighter or Big Trouble In Little China, this could be a kid's favorite movie growing up. It could make a kid's imagination run wild and they would love every second of it, they could put it on anytime and have a ball. It's understandable to a kid, kind of relatable, has a fascinating story, good characters, and action that gets them fired up and makes 'em want to play some motorball. I would have loved this movie when I was 8 years old! It really does harken back to the more underground films of the 80s, and I know it's right up some kid's alley. I mean it has a straight up F-word like any true PG-13 movie from the 80s, it just fits that mold perfectly. I would totally rent this movie on VHS if I could from a video store. The setting is dystopian but is still pretty and visually striking, all the effects are done expertly and Alita looks damn near real. I mean you don't even notice it's an effect early on because the movie grabs you and you roll with it. And I'll level with you, Alita Battle Angel was the first manga I actually read, and it's a great story! Sure it has some tropes in it that a lot of anime take note from but it works, it throws you for twists and curves and you want to see what the end goal is and how it ends. I know that series can make damn good movies and I really hope people give it a chance. It's worth the rental and you may want to see what happens next, but for me this is a definite buy. I mean let's face it the western culture isn't screaming for adaptations of japanese media, and they screw up sometimes. I mean poor Dragonball man and we won't even mention the atrocities of Netflix, but they did Ghost In The Shell very well and I still stand by my views on that being a good movie, they did Alita well and have a fantastic opportunity for more, friggin' Detective Pikachu was pretty much set for success due to my generation being Pokemon maniacs and the time was right, movies based on anime or manga is something different but when they get it right they get it very right. And I don't know about you but I'm in the mood for some more kickass lesser known and valued movies. I think I know just the one to see too.

Alita Battle Angel

Boy this is tough.

It is not bad, in fact Alita Battle Angel is a good movie but I think I finally know how all those people who read the book first feel. The book series if you have followed my Twitter, was on my reading list last week and it's really good stuff! Not for the younger folk, if anything be at least 18 if you read it but anywho, I never heard of this Alita but I heard a bit of the reputation and standing it has since it's inception in I believe 1986 or 87 in literally this month so I had to check it out. And the movie does mighty fine recounting the first volume of the story, of course with liberties taken but none of them are out of place or betrayal worthy, it all works very well. The special effects including Alita are done very, very well and fit the style of the book maybe not much the tone but to be honest the books series has a tone problem a little so we'll forgive that! I really like the casting, Rosa Salazar is damn good as Alita, and I don't care I like the big eyes they are very impressive, she gets the character she has her cute moments, her badass moments, her questions of who she is and where she's from, so it is hit after hit across the board with her. I thought the casting of Christoph Waltz as Alita's dad figure Ido wasn't bad but honestly I couldn't think of anyone else better for the part, and he really goes into dad mode a bit and I love it, so big thumbs up from me. If there was one thing I almost entirely dislike about the movie is the PG-13 rating, cause this series is not known for it's availability for everyone. I've never seen so many brains outside of the human skull so much in one work, ever. It's brutal in those books man! But it's more an adult story and a great one at that so it has my respect and love. Now granted I love the pure F-bomb used in the movie just like the good ol' days! But it doesn't like, work with the style of this story. It feels reigned back a bit. In the book, the city is absolute dumpster fire, like imagine Gotham but even worse and with cyberpunk architecture but with this movie it seems like a decent place minus the junkyard in the center of the city. Fine whatever, a new take on a old story. But there is a clear distinction between movie and source material. So if you haven't read the books, you're gonna dig the movie and if you have you can appreciate the movie for what it did. I think of this more the same way of Ghost In The Shell, a basic telling of the story with great visuals, basic characters, and an introduction for those who haven't travelled abroad in terms of entertainment from the land of the rising sun. Good movie, great series, no doubt going to buy both.

And that is all for today, but tune in tomorrow for more movie adventures.