Tropic Thunder

How much can really be said about this silly silly movie. Tom Cruise was hilarious. Robert Downey Jr. was brilliant. Jack Black was stupid funny. Ben Stiller was stupid. Matthew McConaughey was good. I laughed kinda in my head a few times. I didn't not like it. I thought the device of killing the director was pretty absurd. It was oddly not hilarious at points. I liked elements of it. I think it could be a movie I watch a few more times and enjoy more and more with every viewing. I call that the 'Zoolander' effect. I am not really sure what else to say about it. I have few words. Goofy sums it up. So maybe someday soon I will watch it again and love it more.

Inglourious Basterds

It is hard to compare Tarantino films to any other movies being made today. His newest creation, 'Inglourious Basterds,' is certainly in a league of its own with respect to other movies I have seen this year. I was certainly not expecting to see a film that tops 'District 9' so soon. IB combines some amazing acting (Brad Pitt is stellar, but Christoph Waltz dominates this film), a lot of clever dialogue, more suspense than I could handle, plot twists that left me breathless, classic stellar Taratino camera shots, just enough violence to keep my big bro interested, and lots and lots of bloody revenge (as The Bride would put it). This is a nearly three-hour film that everyone should make it to the theatre to see. I was on the edge of my seat for the last 30 minutes and was fully enraptured with how things were going down. The subject matter of the film, does still leave me a little bothered in my soul. I have to suspend a great deal of my personal beliefs and convictions in order to love watching this movie. I suppose the same way I need to suspend similar beliefs to love 'The Boondock Saints' as much as I do. In real life, I pretty much hate violence, killing, revenge, mutilation, etc, and I can't even get behind this stuff in the name of killing Nazis, but that does not make me enjoy this film any less. There were very few moments that I had to shield my eyes during, which surprised me. All in all, I loved and highly recommend this movie. I doubt it, but maybe someday Tarantino will make a film I don't just enjoy watching multiple times.