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August Movie Roundup

Some takes on recent movies I've seen. Full reviews will be posted to Philly.com of a some of them in the next couple of weeks.

"Inglourious Basterds" (Quentin Tarantino)

My Take: It's Quentin Tarantino. It's Jews killing Nazis. Two of my favorite things, together in one movie. So why didn't I like it?

The movie is just plain too long and too slow. It's full of long, long dialogue scenes, but the dialogue isn't up to QT's usual great standards, and most of the time the buildup isn't worth it. The trailer made it look like a two-and-a-half hour rampage through Europe, with Brad Pitt and the gang knocking off Nazis along the way. But that's only about one-fifth of the movie. It's not Tarantino's worst movie- that would be the second "Kill Bill"- but certainly the biggest movie letdown of the year.

But on the other hand...: I think I'm going to be The Bear Jew for Halloween this year.

Spoiler-filled questions: So now we can make historical movies that alter how history actually turned out? Someone should adapt Halberstam's "Summer of '49," only with the Red Sox winning the World Series instead of the Yankees.

***

"The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard" (Neal Brennan)

My Take: A whole bunch of very funny comedians (Jeremy Piven, Ken Jeong, David Koechner, Will Ferrell and about ten more), combine to make an unfunny "Anchorman" ripoff set on a used-car lot. Piven plays a more smarmy version of Ari, while Ferrell contributes a not-very-impressive cameo. And all the car stuff was done much better in the Ashley Schaefer BMW scenes on "Eastbound and Down," also with Ferrell.

But on the other hand...: Kathryn Hahn all but steals the movie. And the director co-created "Chappelle's Show," so he's probably capable of better.

Spoiler-filled questions: The villain (Ed Helms) is in a boy band. When was this script written, 1997?

***

"Cold Souls" (Sophie Barthes)

My take: Paul Giamatti plays himself, an actor who tries to gain a professional advantage by... having his soul extracted and stored at a science facility. Not only does this premise not really work as comedy, drama, or sci-fi, but similar ideas were mined in a much better way in both "Being John Malkovich" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

But on the other hand...: Great to see Michael Tucker, from "L.A. Law," in a bit part.

Spoiler-filled questions: The plot just makes no sense- if the soul-extraction thing is a medical breakthrough that's been written up in the New Yorker, why hasn't anyone figured out that it's all an international criminal conspiracy led by Russian gangsters? And why hasn't the lab been sued by, oh, every client they've ever had?

***

"District 9" (Neill Blomkamp)

My take: A brilliantly conceived sci-fi parable about aliens living in Johannesburg, and a government bureaucrat who gets mixed up with them in a surprising way. I really liked the film's concept and execution, although I didn't find it quite as transcendent as some others did. I didn't think it was that much better than, say, "28 Days Later."

But on the other hand...: It gets a little lazy and standard-actiony in the third act.

Spoiler-filled questions: I'm curious, if the aliens landed in South Africa in the early '80s, whether South African history still unfolded the way it did. Did apartheid still end in 1990?

***

Next week: "Big Fan" and "Taking Woodstock"

An addendum: A woman sitting down the row from me at the "Cold Souls" screening last night goes in the Bad Moviegoer Hall of Fame. First, before the movie, a guy wanted to sit next to his wife, but there were only two seats available that weren't next to each other. So he asked the three people in between to slide down one. Two of them got up, but the third woman said "No!" When asked why, she replied, "I'm sitting here, and I don't feel like moving!" When the other two people rotated so the guy and his wife could sit together, the woman blurted out, "What, I'm just being honest!"

As soon as the movie began, she fell asleep, and snored loudly for the ensuing two hours.

Posted by Stephen Silver at August 20, 2009 03:33 PM