Speaking of funny, for men (and women, of course) of a certain age like me, "Moonlighting," for the five seasons or so it ran on ABC, was pretty much the very definition of it for TV, so the return of Glenn Gordon Caron to the realm of private eyes can only be good news.
Among other things since "Moonlighting" went off the air in 1989, Caron has developed the series "Medium," but now he's getting back to something that should be more fun, a series based on real-life private investigator Pamela Slaton, who specializes in reuniting clients with long-lost loved ones.
So, not quite the same thing, but I'm still betting on something worth watching coming from all this.
And comedy of a very different - and much darker - sort will surely come with Roman Polanski's "Carnage," and will hopefully even come to my little corner of the world when this opens Dec. 16. Having seen Yazmine Reza's great play, on which this is based, in Minneapolis, I can tell you that it is indeed savagely funny, and with Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz all starring in the movie, it should be a real treat. Here is the first trailer I know of for it:
Next up today comes the first teaser trailer I've come across for "American Horror Story," the new series that "Glee" and "Nip/Tuck" creator Ryan Murphy has developed for FX. Delivering solidly on its "Snakes on a Plane"-style title, the show is indeed about an American family that moves into a house that is rather haunted. The fairly phenomenal cast features definite Reel Fanatic fave Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott, Francis Conroy and even, oddly enough, Jessica Lange. Keep an eye out for the show on Oct. 5, and enjoy the trailer.
OK, now on the promised Saturday morning funnies, starring for my money two of the funniest people in the world. In fact, though I'd still put Bill Murray No. 1, with what he's doing on his "Louie" sitcom of sorts, also on FX, Louis CK has vaulted into the second slot for me. If you've never seen it, you're really missing out. Granted, his humor isn't for everyone, since, as you'll see from this clip in which Conan O'Brien wisely just lets him riff, he's the kind of person who, like me, finds children auditioning for "Shindler's List" or (as in the clip he shows from "Louie") dressing up in black face to be very funny. Enjoy the interview.
And finally today, there are very few things I enjoy watching more than Ricky Gervais and the Muppets, so why not combine the two for some sadistic humor? Gervais' humor is indeed more than a bit mean, and his latest foil, Warwick Davis, is clearly in for some punishment on their mockumentary series "Life's Too Short," which will hopefully be coming to HBO sometime soon. To say any more would spoil this, so just enjoy it, and have a great rest of the weekend. And anyone considering seeing the "Fright Night" remake, know that it was written by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" vet Marti Noxon, and while never close to as funny as that, it's much better than the average horror movie remake. Not a ringing endorsement, I know, but it's at least worth a Saturday afternoon matinee. Peace out.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Saturday morning funnies, with Louis CK, Ricky Gervais and Warwick Davis
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Roman Polanski and the art of the extremely uncomfortable
OK, I'm more than a little slow. I knew Roman Polanski's next movie was titled "Carnage," and I've seen the Tony award-winning play by Yazmina Reza "Gods of Carnage" while on vacation with my family in Minneapolis, but not until now did I manage to put the two together.
In my defense, why in the world do they have to keep shortening movie titles to as few characters as possible? Martin Scorsese, of all people, found the title of one of my favorite books, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," so odious that he had to cut it all the way down to simply "Hugo" for his Thanksgiving offering. But was "Gods of Carnage" really so long that people couldn't digest it on a poster? Sheesh.
But I already digress. Polanski's "Carnage" has been chosen to open the New York Film Festival on Sept. 30, and for many reasons, the play is just a perfect fit for his style of filmmaking.
First, a bit about what the movie and play are about, and who's starring in the flick. Reza's play (and hopefully Polanski's movie) takes place entirely in one New York City apartment, where two groups of parents are gathered after one child has acted out violently to the other one. I'm just guessing from the photo above here, but I have to think John C. Reilly and Jodie Foster play the parents of the wronged child, and Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz the other couple. Take a second to digest all that star power in one small room.
The setting is key, because in that tight space, the often scathing words aren't just weapons, they're WMD's, and the "Carnage" is immediate and brutal. And, thankfully, Reza's whip-smart play is also devastatingly funny, as when the character to be played by Reilly (again, I assume) explains how he used to be in a "gang" when he was a kid. It's not a comedy of manners, but of pretty much the complete lack thereof, my favorite kind.
In relation to the best of Polanski's movies, it fits in perfectly. The most direct correlation is to "Death and the Maiden," in which Sigourney Weaver traps and torments Ben Kingsley in Polanksi's take on the Ariel Dorfman play. In that and his most recent flick, the political thriller "Ghost Writer" (well worth an immediate rental if you haven't seen it), among others, the tension is not just kept high, but ramped up to the point of suffocation throughout, giving his best movies a very claustrophobic feel.
And that, in short, is why Roman Polanski's "Carnage" is definitely a movie to keep an eye out for when it opens hopefully wide enough to reach even my little corner of the world on Nov. 18. And I'll leave you today with, courtesy of collider, eight or so short clips from another movie I'm certainly looking forward to, "The Help," the movie based on Kathyrn Stockett's insanely popular novel and starring Emma Stone and Viola Davis, set to come out as some relief from the usual August slog on the 10th. Enjoy, and have a great Sunday. Peace out.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Tarantino gets his Django, and Gervais' "Life's Too Short" heading to HBO
If it's true, as has been suggested, that the racial language (I think you know what I mean) scared off first Will Smith and then maybe Idris Elba too from "Django Unchained," that's areal shame, because having read the script, I can guarantee it has the potential to be among Quentin Tarantino's very best movies.
And while Elba would have been my definite first choice, it seems that Tarantino has found his Django, and it's a sold second (or I guess third) choice in Jamie Foxx.
With that out of the way, and Christoph Waltz, one Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson too all cast, the only major part left is that of Django's enslaved wife, Broomhilda (yes, really).
So, what's this all about? Well, it's a grand tale about a German bounty hunter (Waltz, natch), Dr. Schultz, who frees the slave Django (Foxx) to help him in his quest as a bounty hunter who has a particular interest in taking out slave owners. They eventually cross paths with the big bad, Calvin Candie (DiCaprio), who runs a mandingo fighting ranch called Candyland (again, yes, really) and is Broomhilda's owner.
And what's great about the script? Plenty. The dialogue, principally between Schultz and Django, is Tarantino sharp throughout, and it's used to set up some set pieces that should rival the best scenes in "Inglourious Basterds" (though nothing will match the burning face of Melanie Laurent in that theater .. priceless.) Best of all should be the last half hour or so, which is just packed with tension as Schultz and Django arrive at Candyland in the guise of mandingo buyers to rescue Broomhilda.
As I said, pretty much by force, just about every page of the script is littered with a certain word that begins with the letter n, but it also sets up something potentially great for 2012, so definitely stay tuned for more just as soon as I can find it.
And after that today, it's all about great comedy, starting with a fantastic partnership and closing with great news about Ricky Gervais and Warwick Davis.
If I were to list the 10 or so people who most make me laugh, Gervais would definitely be on it, but so too certainly would Armando Iannucci and Steve Coogan. And now comes word that the latter duo have teamed up for what should be some really big laughs.
Iannucci has joined Baby Cow, the independent production company founded by Coogan and Henry Normal, as the company's creative director. Iannucci is the mastermind of "The Thick of It" and the fantastic movie satire "In The Loop" that sprang it (featuring what still stands as the most gloriously profane turn of all time with Peter Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker.)
And Iannucci is currently at work on something for HBO that could be potentially very funny, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss in "Veep," a hopefully sharp satire in which she plays the vice president of the United States.
As for his previous work with Coogan, the duo combined to create what is still his best character, the epicly clueless Alan Partridge. You could easily spend an entire day watching the Alan Partridge archive on YouTube, but here's just a sweet little taste, Partridge singing a great Kate Bush medley for Comic Relief. Yes, really.
What will they come up with next? Who knows for sure, but I do know the company currently has a 12-month partnership with the BBC to develop new comedy scripts, so perhaps we'll find out very soon.
And finally today, in great news for anyone who, like me, subscribes to HBO, the inevitable word has come down that "Life's Too Short," the series that Gervais is cooking up with little man extraordinaire Warwick Davis, will be coming to HBO sometime in 2012.
No word yet on when exactly that will be, but this faux documentary about Davis' life should be nothing but a hoot, so I'll let you know as soon as I find out anything solid. In the meantime, here's the show's first trailer, which isn't nearly as funny as it could be, but still gives you a taste of what's to come. Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
When will we get a new Tarantino movie?, plus a short clip show
Actually, I've read what I'm about 99 percent certain is the rough script for Quentin Tarantino's next movie, "Django Unchained," and if he manages to make the movie that he's spelled out on paper, it will be a real doozie, and possibly his best yet (I'm still taking it all in, but I'll put up a script review soon.)
But when will we get to see it? Well, the Weinstein Company has now set up this wild ride as a great Christmas present set for release Dec. 25, 2012.
And what's it about? Having read it, I can tell you it's a fairly epic Southern/Western about a German bounty hunter and a freed slave who join forces to take out slave owners and other generally despicable individuals, and eventually work to rescue the freed slave's (Django) wife.
And the cast, as so far assembled, is just perfect. Christoph Waltz, naturally, will play the bounty hunter, Dr. Schultz, and in even better casting, Leonardo DiCaprio will most likely play the big bad, Calvin Candie, the owner of a mandingo fighting operation (yes, really). Left among the major parts to cast are Django and his wife, Broomhilda (again, yes, really), and though many names have been thrown about for the former, including one Will Smith, having read this I can see Idris Elba as the natural choice for Django, who in Tarantino parlance, truly is one bad motherf$#%er.
The one thing I know for sure about all this is that, on paper, this is a revenge flick that's even crazier than "Inglourious Basterds," my favorite movie of 2010, so all I can say is hurry up and bring it on!
In the only other major movie news out there this morning, it seems that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is hedging its best when it comes to this big question: What if we don't have 10 movies that can be logically be considered worthy Best Picture contenders?
To prepare for that inevitable eventuality and, in their explicit reasoning, to add some more suspense to the contest, the academy has now announced that, rather than a set field of 10 nominees, there will now be anywhere from five to 10, with the actual number not known until the field of nominees is announced.
Not a shocking development, and I suppose it could add some interest to the nominations announcement, but I'll just leave you with this thought before we move on to a couple of videos: With the field of 10 for this year's awards, I correctly predicted all nominees. Not bragging, just saying.
OK, now on the clips, starting in a great spot with the first trailer I've seen for a new Errol Morris documentary set to come out July 15. That alone would be reason to cheer, but with this movie, "Tabloid," it seems he's found a perfectly bizarre story that just naturally fits his style of filmmaking. Best as I can tell, it's about a model who "kidnaps" a Mormon missionary to sex him up and deliver him from the fold. And no, I'm not kidding. You'll have to see the movie itself to learn more, as I certainly will at the first opportunity, but for now just enjoy this fun trailer, and then stick around for a parting shot from Reel Fanatic fave Anna Faris.
Now that Kristen Wiig has gotten the opportunity to craft a smash comedy (and easily one of this year's best movies) with "Bridesmaids," I'd say Anna Faris is now the comedienne most deserving of the same break. Unfortunately, "What's Your Number?", the first trailer for which I've come across is below, doesn't seem to be it. Although veryfunnyman Chris Pratt of "Parks and Recreation" (aka Mr. Faris) is in this too, the flick, set to come out Sept. 30, just looks like the most generic variation of "romantic comedy." Oh well. "Enjoy" the trailer, and have a perfectly passable Wednesday. Peace out.
Saturday, May 07, 2011
When you're Will Smith ...
Actually, first off, just in case you're having any doubts, go see "Thor" if you're a fan of big, cheesy and thoroughly fun summer flicks. It's all three, and I loved it.OK, moving on to the main attraction today, when you're Will Smith, I suppose getting to work with Quentin Tarantino is simply the logical next step, but if he indeed signs on for what QT is cooking up now, as the Hollywood Reporter reports he's likely to do, it should be nothing but cool.
For anyone who needs a catch-up, Tarantino's next flick will be a Western (though, as he himself has said more than once, it's indeed more of a "Southern") titled "Django Unchained." In it, if he takes the part, Smith would play the titular freed slave who teams up with a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz, natch) to reunite with his wife, and the two eventually set their sights on Django's former owner. Samuel L. Jackson is apparently on board to play the house slave of an "evil" plantation owner.
Sounds more than a bit crazy, right? Certainly, but look at the plot for "Inglourious Basterds" on paper, and that seemed ludicrous too, but it turned out to be by a pretty wide margin my favorite movie of 2009, with several scenes that are still permanently burned on my brain. Definitely stay tuned for more on this whenever I find it ...
In one more bit of movie news before what has to be best trailer I've seen all week, Bill Murray will be joined by one of my favorite actresses when he plays Franklin D. Roosevelt in an upcoming movie. Mull over for a second or two just how good Murray as FDR could be ...The movie is called "Hyde Park on the Hudson," and it focuses on FDR's love affair with his cousin and is set during a June weekend in 1939 when the British King and Queen visited his upstate New York cottage in the first-ever visit to America by a member of the British monarchy. Juicy stuff that, and now comes word that definite Reel Fanatic fave Laura Linney has signed on to play the cousin, with Roger Michell (who back in the day directed still my favorite Jane Austen adaptation, that "Persuasion" starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds) directing.
Sounds like slightly more serious stuff for Murray, but he'd be funny at a funeral, so I'm sure he will be here too.
And finally today, to wrap up a short Saturday morning report, I had never heard of this flick from "Man on a Wire" director James Marsh until I found this trailer this morning, but it looks fantastic. "Project Nim" follows the real-life project in the '70s that set out to teach a chimpanzee sign language and embed him in a family of humans.
As you can imagine from that scenario, it got more than bit crazy (as one of his keepers points out in the trailer, Nim liked "alcohol and driving fast.") It was also an important experiment, however, and it looks like a fascinating flick. Enjoy the trailer, keep an eye out for this in at least some markets July 8, and have a perfectly pleasant weekend. Peace out.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Details emerge about Roger Ebert's new show, plus the first look at "Water for Elephants"
As with many things that don't come immediately to my fairly little burg when it's promised to be "opening at a theater near you," we won't be getting the return of "Roger Ebert Presents At The Movies" in its first-run airings. Nards.
I'm still fairly certain that we'll still get it within a week or so of its initial airing in Atlanta, and with, according to Ebert at least, "81 percent" national coverage and the top 20 markets all getting this in first-run, most of the country will get to see this, and that can only be a great thing.
Before being resurrected from the ashes by Ebert and returned to its public TV beginnings, the "At the Movies" franchise was terminated by Disney after a rather impressive run. Now, with Ebert in charge and, of course, the show airing at truly God-awful times (more on that below), here's hoping it will at least find a limited audience for a five-year run or so.
When it makes its debut on some stations on Jan. 21, it will return to the simple thumbs up/thumbs down format, but seems to have lost one co-host. Christy Lemire of the AP, who likes odd movies and deplores by-the-numbers romantic comedies,which I can certainly appreciate, will still make up one half of the main duo of hosts. Elvis Mitchell, however, who starred on the pilot they released earlier this year, has apparently left, which is a real bummer.
As for who will step into that slot, you'll know when I do, and for a complete list of when and where "Roger Ebert Presents At The Movies" will makes its debut, check out this pdf.
And all I have after that today is the first trailer I know of for "Water for Elephants," which is based on one of my all-time favorite novels. Thankfully, the movie is coming out fairly soon, April 15, so definitely keep an eye out for it.As you'll see from the trailer, I think they got the casting just about perfect. The story, a rather grand bit of historic and romantic fiction, tells the story of Jacob Jankowski, a veterinary student who leaves school and finds work tending to the animals of the Benzini Brothers Circus. There, he becomes involved in a rather steamy love triangle with the beautiful horse lady Marlena and her husband, the brutal head animal trainer August.
Already known was that one Robert Pattinson would play Jacob (fair enough), Reese Witherspoon plays Marlena (even better) and Christoph Waltz plays the often maniacal August (just about perfect). What I didn't know until this morning, however, is that, best of all, the truly great Hal Holbrook plays the narrator of this tale, the elder Jacob from his nursing home. I really can't see anyway this flick, being directed by Francis Lawrence ("I Am Legend," among other things), should be anything short of fantastic (at least if it is, I'll be rather sorely disappointed). Enjoy the trailer, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
David Cronenberg and Sigmund Freud? Bring it on!
Avatar 3D. Most amazing visuals I've ever seen. Story-wise, meh. But credit for all the Iraq war parallels. Notice that?
It's really apropos of nothing, but I just thought that Twitter burst from the alwaysveryfunny Elizabeth Banks summed up James Cameron's movie rather perfectly, so I had to share it.As far as actual news today, there's word of a new David Cronenberg movie coming together, and on a subject that seems perfectly tailored to his view of the world and with a cast that's pretty solid too.
With full credit to The Playlist, which as far as I can tell broke this news first, it seems that the Australian distribution company Hopscotch Films has announced that two "Inglourious Basterds" (my favorite movie of 2009), Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender, plus Keira Knightley have all signed on to star in "The Talking Cure," which Cronenberg is directing based on the 2002 play by Christopher Hampton.
In it, Knightley would play Sabina Spielrein, a "beautiful young woman, driven mad by her past." For help, she turns to Carl Jung (Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Waltz).
Christoph Waltz as Sigmund Freud? Sounds like perfection to me, especially since Cronenberg's best movies deal as much with psychological as physical violence, especially my favorite of his flicks, "Spider."
But will any of this ever come together? Well, with that cast you would certainly think so, but Cronenberg is also attached to possibly direct a movie based on the Robert Ludlum thriller "The Matarese Circle," with Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington set to star.
As promising as that might sound, here's hoping "The Talking Cure" jumps it in his directing queue, and that he gets to work on it fairly fast, because it's just been way too long since the world has seen a David Cronenberg movie.
Just how did Kevin Smith manage to "Cop Out" on "A Couple of Dicks"?
No matter how he tries to defend it, "Cop Out," the new name for Kevin Smith's buddy cop movie starring Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis and set to drop in February, is just nothing but boring in my book. And judging from the trailer you'll find at the end of this post, the movie itself probably won't be much better either.But, any time Smith is given a forum to spout off, he always says at least a few things that make me smile, as he did when discussing the new title with Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider blog. It's worth reading the whole thing, but here are a few highlights if you don't have the time, starting with exactly why he had to drop the "A Couple of Dicks" name in the first place:
(Be warned: The language in this, as usual with Mr. Smith, is more than a little salty.)
Kevin Smith: Look, losing A Couple of Dicks was almost akin to losing my own dick. It was a perfect buddy-cop movie comedy title. Everyone knew it. You couldn’t say that title to somebody without a f—ing smile crossing their face. But what I had gone through with Zack and Miri Make a Porno — “porno” had become very problematic, it became tough for us to advertise [the film], blah blah blah. Warner Bros. decided, “Hey man, we’ll call the networks and see if we’re going to get any problems [with A Couple of Dicks as a title], months before the movie’s ever going to come out.” The top 3 networks — CBS, ABC, NBC — said we can’t run one of your spots before 9 o’clock. ... So my feeling was like, it’s an R-rated movie, so who the f— are we talking to anyway before 9 o’clock? Warner Bros’s feeling was like, “Hey man, the sports audience, dickhead. We have to advertise to the sports audience on Saturday and Sunday and all those sporting events usually take place before 9 p.m. in the evening.” At which point, I was like, “Oh wow, you guys are way smarter than me.”
You still certainly can't convince me that "Cop Out" is any way a funny fallback, but he went on to explain how the title could have, amazingly, possibly been even worse:Smith: So for months now, they’ve always had A Couple of Cops as kind of this fallback thing — a placeholder, essentially. And then all of a sudden, one of the producers of the movie was like, “Hey they’re locking the title, because the trailer is going to be put on Sherlock Holmes.” And I was like, “This is an abundance of wonderful and horrible information.” I want to be on Sherlock Holmes because everyone on the planet will probably go see it on Christmas, but I don’t want it to be A Couple of Cops. That just seems like we didn’t even try! We went from a really clever title to the least clever title of all time. I was like, “God that title is going to feel like such a f—ing cop out.” And [the producer] goes, “We should just call the movie that.”
OK, I know that's a lot of Kevin Smith for people who, like mi hermano, just find the man to be a tremendous tool, but any fans of juvenile comedy will at least smile at this final bit which includes the perfect, fan-suggested tagline, which means it will never appear on a movie poster.
Smith: We were making up sequel titles in our heads, dude. Like, you know, Two Bigger Dicks. Or Dicks 2: It Just Got Harder. Somebody online said you could take Cop Out and vary it with like, “Rock out with your Cop Out!” Hopefully that will be a tagline on a poster or a trailer. And if it is, we owe that random dude on Twitter like at least a few free passes.
But what about the trailer, which appeared this week? Well, like I said above, it really doesn't look too promising at all, even with an appearance from the alwaysveryfunny Susie Essman of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." I love Morgan on "30 Rock," but it's clear he's only as strong as the material he's working with, and "Cop Out" just looks way too weak. It certainly appears like Mr. Smith's stint as a hired hand for Warner Bros. will result in exactly the kind of "comedy" that appears and disappears very quickly each February. Anyways, "enjoy" the trailer, and have a perfectly pleasant Christmas eve. Peace out.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
OK, this is late, but for me QT is the king of summer
As I was wondering how in the world to finally write something about Quentin Tarantino's simply insane "Inglourious Basterds," my easily distracted mind moved to thinking about the possible standards by which you can judge movies.
There are certainly many more than one that are valid, but for me it's always come down to simply this: Is this flick entertaining or not? And by that simple standard, QT's latest, and I think best, movie is wildly and often maddeningly so, and is therefore my favorite movie of 2009 so far.
Much of the praise I've seen for "Inglourious Basterds" (and except for the incredibly arrogant and equally vapid David Denby pretty much calling QT a retard, I haven't seen a lot of criticism) has centered on Christoph Waltz and the opening sequence, and with good reason.
Waltz just approaches his role as Hans Landa, aka "The Jew Hunter," with the most disturbing glee, and the opening gambit, set at a farmhouse in occupied France, is a model of what has always been QT's greatest strength, the ability to write extremely wordy scenes that never feel too wordy, since those words are turned into weapons that slowly and constantly raise the tension. Tarantino clearly knew he had a winner with this scene, since he released the script for it well in advance of the actual movie.
I can't take credit for this myself, but as my Facebook friend and devoted movie fan Ashok pointed out, many of the best scenes in "Inglourious Basterds" take place around tables, the real arena of action here.
And one such scene that I found even more dynamic than the opener comes when the titular Basterds are sent to pick up a German-actress-turned-counter-spy, played by Diane Kruger, at a French bar. The tension is both alleviated and sustained here by a sublimely silly game of celebrity Indian head poker so perfectly that when it all inevitably falls apart it just hits that much harder.
But as great as these and other set pieces are, they would all be wasted if they weren't used in the service of some truly inventive storytelling. I'm gonna have to assume from here on out that almost anyone who wants to see this has done so already (I was positively giddy to see that it came within a whisker of knocking "The Final Destination" from the top spot in week three.)
If you have, you know that what QT has unleashed here is nothing less grand than a revenge fantasy about taking down the Third Reich, and the chapters of "Inglourious Basterds" build as flawlessly as did those of "Pulp Fiction" (yes, I went there) to a grand finale that I guarantee will just be seared onto your eyeballs. I know it makes me more than a little sick, but both times I watched this, I started grinning as soon as I heard the first strains of David Bowie's "Cat People" ("putting out the fire with gasoline") and didn't stop until Shoshanna's face was being projected in smoke over all the carnage like the Wizard of Oz.
Now, all that said, "Inglourious Basterds" is far too ambitious to be perfect, and it certainly has its faults. The titular "Basterds" are just far too cartoonish for even a tale as crazy as this one, so thankfully they get the shortest chapter. Though I normally love Brad Pitt as a comedic actor, his Aldo Rayne just constantly grates as he seems to be channeling Karl Childers through the spirit of John Wayne.
And be warned: As with any QT movie, the violence here is just often way over the top. Even more than the finale, the scalping and, well, let's just say engraving of Nazi soldiers is more than enough to make even the most hardened person squirm.
But none of that was nearly enough to spoil the fun of this one for me. Even more than the dynamic set pieces or wild storytelling, it's just the spirit of this flick that sets it apart from anything else I've seen this summer. As my friend Randy Waters remarked as we were leaving the theater the first time I saw this, why stick to the facts for something as conventional and simply tame as "Valkyrie" when you can use your vivid imagination to twist history to your own ends?
I almost never clap at the end of movies unless the director is somehow in attendance, but I have to admit I did a little each time I heard Pitt utter that "masterpiece" remark, mostly because in spite of the hubris of it, I have to admit he's right: This is indeed Tarantino's masterpiece (at least so far) and thus my favorite movie of 2009 so far. Peace out.
P.S.: As part of my ongoing bid to do my minuscule part to promote glorious, traditional animation, here's the second trailer for "The Princess and the Frog," which just looks more and more like its gonna be a real winner.