INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (title spelt correctly by the way!The audience seems pretty split on this one although that's probably standard for a Quentin Tarantino film. Most aged around 50+ will most likely dislike it and those younger will probably enjoy the ride and take elements with a 'pinch of salt'. It took a couple of viewings for me to really get the most out of it so those who have only saw it once (and didn't enjoy it) should really give it a second chance before making a final decision.
The film revolves around two stories, although both are quite separate they do meet at the end to accomplish the same conclusion.
The cast is fantastic, featuring a brilliant international mix of American, German, British and French actors, most of which I hadn't seen before on screen but hope to again in the future. The Gestapo Captain played by Christoph Waltz, gave the best performance in my opinion. He's going to be in the new Green Hornet movie, I'll look forward to that!
On my first viewing I did find it a bit too long but I really didn't appreciate the amount of work that had gone into it, as mentioned above my second viewing sorted out any doubts I had. My verdict, it's a great film and plays very differently to any other Tarantino film. He's maturing as both a screen writer and director.
HURT LOCKER - I went in to watch this with absolutely no preconceptions having heard practically nothing other than Guy Pearce (LA Confidential) starred in it and it had something to do with bomb disposal. It's sometimes best to watch films like this.Well, Mr.Pearce was in it - for at most 5 minutes and the rest of the film was pretty much made up with a cast of unknown/lesser known actors. Please don't take that as a negative as it made the film feel far better than a typical big budget feature full with massive Hollywood egos, fighting for their screen time.
The film has a semi documentary style to it and is about a small bomb disposal team based in Iraq. It's sometimes terrifying how realistic it feels and really brings to light questions as to what are American and British troops are doing over there and if this campaign will ever achieve anything. It's well worth a watch.
It's great to see a female director (Kathryn Bigelow) taking on a gritty war film like this.
DISTRICT 9 - As mentioned in my blog below, this has got to be seen to be believed!Set it South Africa, a ginormous alien mothership appears over Johannesburg carrying a race of dying creatures. Humans help move the aliens (nicknamed 'shrimp') into a refugee camp and the story takes place 20 years later in a segregated Johannesburg, not separated by colour but by species.
I don't really want to say too much more on this - it's just a great film! If you like sci-fi but fancy something different please watch this.
The cast is completely unknown to me, probably stars in their own right in South Africa. Like the other two films mentioned above, I really enjoy seeing non famous actors playing lead roles. They seem to have less of an ego and have more freedom to concentrate on their performance rather than performing to a standard expected of an established Hollywood actor. It obviously doesn't stay like this, the main character from District 9, Wikkus (Sharlto Copley) will be seen next playing Captain 'Howling Mad' Murdock in the A-Team reboot!
Here's some other great films I've recently seen and recommend;
ZOMBIE LAND (2009)
Awesome Zombie comedy featuring the best famous cameo!
UP (2009)
A lovely Pixar animation about the adventure of an old man and his floating house.
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (2009)
Its absolutely insane but thoroughly enjoyable. Kids and adults of all ages should love it. Mr.T's provides his voice to one of the characters also (yay)!
