Brian's Thoughts on Movies

Inglourious Basterds-spoilers included Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is one of the most fun films I’ve ever seen and my vote for best film of 2009. As soon as it was over I could not wait to see it again, which is not something I often feel after spending two and a half hours in the cinema. Tarantino may have topped himself with the daring innovation of this film and I hope we do not have to wait five or six years until his next film. One of the unique features of the film is that it is not to be taken very seriously. It is a fantasy version of events. Specifically, what if the Jews had the opportunity to kill Hitler and all of his closest advisors? I have yet to hear someone complain about the fantasy version of history. People accept Tarantino’s fantasy as being what it is and are having a great time going along for the ride. For more than 10 years I read that Tarantino was working on a WWII film about a group of guys on a mission a la Guns of Navarone. I saw

A warning, the content below does contain spoilers. I saw the film Hurt Locker last night, one I had been hoping to get to for awhile. I remember first reading something about it when it was released back in the summer of 09 and thinking it would be an interesting film. The pedigree of Kathryn Bigelow, a very bold director who did a film I really liked called K-19, and the story focusing on an elite bomb squad during the last six weeks of their tour in Iraq was plenty to attract me. It received such a small release I decided to wait until DVD. Now I have finally gotten to it. For starters, let me say I have never been in combat nor would I likely have much to offer if I were in it. That being said, from a cinematic sense, if Platoon is the definitive film on the Vietnam War from the soldier's perspective, Hurt Locker will likely receive a similar distinction on the Iraq War. Many of the real threats in this war come from the bombs that outnumbered insurgents leave out, th

I saw Up in the Air and was pretty impressed with it.  It had a similarity to director Jason Reitman’s Juno in that it a looks at an issue through the eyes of a fairly normal person during a period in his life that holds some extra drama which causes him to reevaluate some parts of it.  However (minor spoiler alert) his life does not change dramatically throughout the film, though his perspective does. George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a road warrior who flies to different cities around the country doing the incredibly unenviable job of firing people.  He handles it as well as can be by having genuine empathy for the people and giving them as positive a perspective on it as possible.  Reitman makes these scenes, which I feared would be very uncomfortable to watch, bearable because of the humanity, yet directness that Clooney brings to it.  He loves his job, nonetheless, in large part because it keeps him on the road.  He has a high frequent flier status with American Airlines and