Defiance

Saw this just after seeing Inglourious Basterds. Two films about Jews fighting back against the Nazis and their collaborators. IG is pure imagination whereas Ed Zwick's Defiance is based on a true story. I kept seeing this preview in theatres. It would show up before a feature, then disappear for a while, then months later show up again. I assumed they kept changing the release date and based on the final product I am guessing there may have been some issues. The film stars Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell as the Bielski brothers who end up being the saviors of 1200 Jews whom they hid and protected in the forests of Belorussia from 1941-1944. It really is an amazing story and the director, players and crew bring their A game to telling it but I kept finding myself slipping out of the film. Of course I kept tripping myself up with movie cliches as they appeared. Tuvia and Lilka lie in bed of their makeshift hut bathed in yellow light (not previously seen in the film) wrapped in each others arms. Lilka: "You saved my life." Tuvia: "No. You saved mine." Cliches aside, Craig is great as he always is and Schreiber is solid. Zwick and his screenwriter bring a lot of philosophy to the film which made it more than just an action film or true life tale. I was moved by the characters as they tried to work through what it was for a Jew to not only live, but to be free in a world that demanded your extermination. The discourse was a bit clunky, but at times claustrophobia set in even in the forest as they tried to work out how to stay civilized in the face of the barbarism playing out around them and the barbarians hunting them down.
Memorable moment: The final battle sequence - I was shocked they survived!

Inglourious Basterds

What's so wrong about a movie being solely derived from other movies? Nothing as far as I am concerned because the result can be pure entertainment. Quentin Tarantino's latest goes down easy even when it runs long in sections. I found myself immersed in this film from the opening sequence. Right away he merges a western with a WWII flick. The rancher, I mean French countryman, waits patiently as he sees the riders, I mean Nazi cars approach his homestead from a distance. The scene that then plays out introduces us to the jewel of the film: Christoph Waltz. From the start this is Waltz's film. He owns the screen and our attention in every scene he's in and we miss him when he's not there. His character Hans Landa is a master detective who now uses his powers of observation and deduction to hunt down Jews. So in addition to western and war flick, Tarantino throws in a police procedural and creates a new detective to rival Holmes and company. As if Waltz's performance wasn't enough, the film also has a fabulous turn by Michael Fassbender as the film critic turned military operative ala David Niven in Guns of Navarone. What was bizarre was that in this role he was a Kevin Kline clone, not sure if this was on purpose but for most of the film I was sure he must be Kline's progeny. Now wait a minute... what about Brad Pitt? Yea he's in the film and he does an interesting turn as the head of the Basterds but with so much charm oozing out of Landa and Hicox who cares? We need a prequel that shows Landa prior to 1941 and how he became the "Jew Hunter."
Memorable moment: The Lady in Red and Cat People sequence... so anachronistic and so perfect!

District 9

This film was like a breath of fresh air. New director/screenwriter and new actors all of whom have created a great twist on your basic apartheid/alien invasion/mockumentary/buddy flick. Neil Blomkamp wrote the script (with Terri Tatchell) and directed the film. The previews had me tantalized from the moment I first saw one. I could not wait to see this film. There was something about the rawness of the shots and the teasing of an alien flick in which the humans are the baddies. The full blown product did not disappoint. Blomkamp has a great eye and makes the most of his $30 million budget (10 times less than Transformers 2 cost apparently). The film intertwines a documentary about the events of a film we also see played out before us. At first I found this off putting trying to get my head around outsiders narrating what I was experiencing. Once I stopped fighting how I wanted these two threads play out and just accepted how they were designed, I was able to really enjoy the film for what it is and not for what I wanted it to be based on my American film going prejudices. Sharlto Copley is amazing as the main character Wikus Van Der Merwe. He plays Wikus as a bit of a bumbling, ladder climbing tool who is rather funny to watch at first. As his character slowly wakes up to the dark reality of his situation, Copley deftly shifts gears back and forth between denial, loneliness, confusion and anger. This man really knows how to act. This summer he and Christoph Waltz are making a very good case for casting non-American leads in US films. The two of them are far more talented than many US actors trying to obtain A-list lead status and can appeal to worldwide audiences which potentially means bigger international box office. District 9 is funny, violent and in the end sad and heartfelt. I have not stopped thinking about the film since I saw it a few weeks ago and I look forward to seeing it again.
Memorable moment: Wikus and the garbage rose.

Julie & Julia

Let me begin by saying I love the movie You've Got Mail. I never saw Sleepless In Seattle or When Harry Met Sally and I have no plans to. Who the fuck wants to see Billy Crystal in anything and that kid in Sleepless looks annoying. So know you have my history with Nora Ephron's famous romance pics. Though I suppose one could possibly argue that Silkwood is also an Ephron romance/thriller. For the record I liked Silkwood. Now to the punchline: Julie & Julia is no You've Got Mail. It tries but despite Amy Adams' best efforts to make Julie likable she is annoyingly selfish and shallow. Balancing her story against the rich and bon vivant lifestyle of Meryl Streep's Julia Child made me hate Julie and want to know more about Julia. Maybe that was the point? The Julia Child of this film was a woman who enjoyed both life and food and who jumped head first to be engaged with both. The Julie of this film is a woman seems disappointed by everything in life and can only get satisfaction from it when she boils it down to a checklist of things to to do. She equates success with completing a task and not with taking enjoyment out of the doing of the task or the savoring of the creation. I, like, Julia was disappointed in Julie but not in Amy Adams. She was fun to watch even though she had very little of a human being to work with. Now the real enjoyment of this film is Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci. They are so wonderful together that I wanted a whole film for them in which they could explore the romance of Julia and Paul Child. Oh well c'est la vie! I shall be happy with half a film which I can string together to watch when it comes out on DVD.
Memorable moment: Julia practicing onion cutting at home.

Last Chance Harvey

Finally saw this film. I loved Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson in Stranger Than Fiction even though they had very little screen time together. There was something about their chemistry that made me want the film to suddenly revolve around them. Last Chance Harvey should then be the film where the two of them fulfill what was hinted at in STF, but it didn't quite work for me. I really liked the film but the subplot points that bring them together kept interrupting the flow of the romance. The clunky subplot about Emma's Mom being nosy about her neighbor and Dustin's subplot of his job being jeopardy and him being left out of or having left his daughter's life were annoying and failed to simply be a backdrop to the romance. When the two of them were left to get to know each other and share screen time the film really came to life. I enjoyed the scenes as they walked around London especially on the South Bank. According to the extras on the DVD the two did a lot of improvisation which may be where my problem was.... they get to free form and create a lovely film inside another film that is heavily scripted and heavy handed. Hope I get to see them work together in another vehicle somewhere down the road.
Memorable moment: Harvey trying to take a shortcut through a zen garden.