Inglourious Basterds - 2010 Academy Award®: Best Picture nominee

I think Quentin Tarantino makes good enjoyable movies like Kill Bill 1 & 2, and the Grindhouse Death Proof. There is almost a formula that he uses to make these movies fun and funny to watch. I think he incorporates it this movie too, but for some reason it falls a bit short.

He has a great cast, interesting plot, but somewhere in there I just felt it didn't deliver on the fun or humor. I can't really say why. Maybe I expected more because of his previous films and big actors. This movie was just ok to me. Not good or bad, but definitely watchable.

I am very surprised it got a few Oscar nods and would even be more surprised if it won best picture. There are just better nominated movies out there.

2010 Academy Award®: Best Director nominee: Quentin Tarantino
2010 Academy Award®: Best Picture nominee
2010 Academy Award®: Best Supporting Actor nominee: Christoph Waltz

The beginning of this movie was extremely slow, but it does build the German character up. Just too much time (15 - 20 minutes) was wasted in this scene. I do think it bothered me a little bit that they take a real figure (Hitler) in history and insert it in this storyline. You might like it or hate it. For me, I was a bit disappointed in a movie I really wanted to like.

Netflix Summary:

A Jewish cinema owner (Mélanie Laurent) in occupied Paris is forced to host a Nazi movie premiere, where a radical group of American Jewish soldiers called the Basterds, led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), plans to roll out a score-settling scheme. The face-off is about to go down -- that's if Col. Hans Landa aka "The Jew Hunter" (Christoph Waltz, in a Golden Globe-winning role) doesn't get in the way. Quentin Tarantino directs this World War II-set spaghetti Western.

Thirteen Days

This political movie based on actual events looked boring in the trailer to me. However, I was always curious about the details of the events during the Kennedy years.

This movie is well directed, scripted and casted. I think all the actors did an amazing job and were believable in their roles. They definitely captured the sense of pressure during these times where we almost went into WW III. I didn't realize how serious it was until watching this.

The movie is quite long, but the pace is fast so it doesn't drag at all. The characters are well developed so you get a good sense of what type of people these were. One thing I didn't like were the military people at the highest levels. They reminded me of Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Wolfowitz during the invasion of Iraq.

Watch the movie because you will enjoy it.





Netflix Summary:

When a nuclear missile presence escalates in Cuba, President John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood) attempts to curb the threat with help from his aides, his generals and his younger brother, Bobby (Stephen Culp), then the U.S. attorney general. After assessing the situation, they quickly realize the Soviets could launch offensive warheads, leaving the fate of the world hanging by a thread. Kevin Costner co-stars in this drama based on actual events.