The Great Review Index Thread!

[Pilgrim]

The Great Review Thread!

OK... so we have several guys who have in the past written some great reviews. I like reviews.

So here's the Great Review Index thread.

Post Reviews for whatever you want here. I'll update this post with a listing of each review and a direct link so people can find what they want easily without the need to go through the entire thread/Boards.

If you want to write a review to be discussed, write it in it's own thread and I'll just link there. Please try to include the word review in the Thread Title so I don't get all confused.

PAX :)


Games!:

Settlers of Catan (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums//showthread.php?t=2102)

Tides of Iron (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums//showthread.php?t=2105)

Axis & Allies (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums//showthread.php?t=2103)


Books:

Stu's Review of Snake Agent by Liz Williams (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5941&postcount=9)

Pilgrim's Review of the Malazan Books of the Fallen By Steven Erickson (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6954&postcount=8)



Movies:

Pilgrim's Review of the Movie "Pathfinder" (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1066)

300 (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=336)

Spiderman 3 (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1362)

Pirates 3 (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums//showthread.php?t=1625)

Mikes review of Shrek The Third (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums//showpost.php?p=8875&postcount=11)

Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums//showthread.php?t=1941)

Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2334)



TV:

Troy's VENTURE BROTHERS Season 2 DVD Review. (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6504&postcount=4)

Mike's Review of WKRP in Cincinnati DVD Season 1 (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6964&postcount=10)

The Gamers Haven Heroes Thread. Discuss debate and review the show here (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums//showthread.php?t=353)

The Gamers Haven Battlestar Galactica Thread. Discuss debate and review the show here (starting mid-season 3) (http://www.gamershavenco.com/forums/showthread.php?t=357)





_

[ColGreeley]

Cool, thanks Jim.

I think this will definitely get a workout after next Friday, and throughout the summer.

Donnie Darko is a great movie Steve. And you are right, it is kinda of a sleeper hit and it didn't get much publicity.

[Pilgrim]

Thanks for the Bump T-Roy!

My vission for this thread is it's for any reviews... for anything really.

Read a good book, write a little review, saw a movie, TV show, new game, RPG. Whatever, you want people to know your opinion on a movie, it goes here.

I'll index everything with direct links, and keep it organized by subject.

It's great fun!

[ColGreeley]

Sounds good. Maybe I will give a review of the Black Sabbath concert I will be seeing on Sunday!

Hmmmm.....The only new thing I have gotten recently to share is the SEASON 2 DVD set of the VENTURE BROS. This is awesome. I got Season 1 for Christmas last year and loved the show. I remember Dale and Stephan talking about this new show called VENTURE BROS. back in the old store but I had not seen it yet. It is hilarious! Any fans of the old JONNY QUEST show will love this and appreciate the humor. The only regret is having to wait til late Winter 2007 ( or early 2008 according to one webiste) for new episodes on Adult Swim. Great show, great fun, highly recommend it.

[Pilgrim]

New official Rule.

Reviews need not be written in this thread.

I think we will just make links to review threads that others have written!

[ColGreeley]

I think this thread is the best out there! 5 stars!

[Pilgrim]

If anyone writes a review for a game system in a different section, Toss me a PM and I'll link it here as well.

[Pilgrim]

Malazan Books of the Fallen. By Steven Erickson

I'm gonna start this out proper... I hate High Fantasy. High Fantasy being defined as magic rich worlds with Monsters and Dragons and so on and so forth... I hate them. I like Low fantasy, little to no Magic, lots of men trying to kill each other with pointy things. That's my kinda fantasy. So when Rob suggested I read Gardens of the Moon I was hesitant at best. After the first few chapters of magic battles and borrowing ancient skeletons I was real close to done.... but I soldered on.

Boy was I glad I did.

Trying to describe the Malazan Books is like trying to describe a Giant tapestry, when all you can see is the threads. There's gold, and blue, and purple in there.. and I can tell you about all those, but it's when you step back and see the tapestry that your jaw just drops.

The World itself is a rich and diverse place with a deep history for seemingly every inch of soil. The way Erickson unfolds that history slowly and with perfect deliberateness and pacing makes it every time you reach a plateau of understanding of what this world is made of so worth the journey you took to get there.

He assumes nothing, and assumes everything. He won't tell you the history, he'll just let it unfold. He won't tell you where that strange race came from. This is a world where everyone understands the concept of their world... They aren't going to take allot of time explaining it to each other for your benefit... but you will understand it in the end.

I'm so used to authors taking the shortcut of throwing in a character who knows so little that they are a stand in for the reader, having everything dutifully explained to them... not so here.

There are wars and gawds and BridgeBurners, and Elves, and Dragons, and Floating Cities, and empires... and it's all so well written that no explanation is ever needed for why they exist... it will unfold for you.

There are characters who's history is as complex as the world they live in... sometimes it will be a character on the edge of the story that suddenly is thrust forward into prominence. Slowly you'll see this amazing world as this character sees it. The Soldiers, the Wizards, the Assassins, the Immortal, The god, and their extremely dangerous servants ... all take their turn showing you their bit of the world.

So far the first 5 books have been published in the States, 6 is out overseas with 7 out in a few weeks. The series is scheduled to go to 10 books.


If you enjoy Fantasy, and don't want to just be told a story, but shown a complicated, brutal and beautiful world, read these books. The only Caveat I'll put on this is Read Gardens of the Moon... but even if you hate it Force yourself through Deadhouse Gates. If you still don't like it then walk away... But you'll never know what you've missed.

[mruch89]

I have read the first 3 books, and I have to agree with Jim, they take some time to read and appreciate. But once you get there you will not want to stop reading.

[mruch89]

WKRP in Cincinnatti 1st Season DVD

It took a long time to get these out. There was a lot of legal wrangling about the music played in the show and the rights to them. So they eventually had to strip the classic music from the show and replace with generic ones. This can lead to some odd scenes as the characters are clearly dancing to a different tune.

But the heart of the show is still there. And the lines are still humorous, delivered with skill by some fine comedic actors and actresses. I have to say that the show holds up astoundingly well considering. And the quality is excellent, the picture is very good, better than some of the stuff you see now on regular TV. Loni Anderson is still hot. And the comedic genius that was Les Nessman is still funny.

Overall, if you were a fan of the show, it's worth it to pick it up.

[mruch89]

Shrek the Third
Caught this yesterday with the family.
I enjoyed it, had a number of out loud laughs, which is the goal of any such movie. It was diverting, and I would not have been paying any attention to the time if not for my youngest child deciding to get bored.

Certainly a number of excellent scenes, which again is all you ask for in a movie like this, deep intricate plots are not required. And the soundtrack choices were inspired. Of course any time you hear Rock'n'Roll High School it's a good thing.

Overall, I give it 4 out of 5 Stars. And it is a definite addition to the family DVD collection when available.

[ColGreeley]

I enjoy the Shrek series, but will probably wait to see this one on DVD. I still have to see pirates and there are some others I want to see coming up. I have this one is pretty funny. Thanks for the review Mike.

[PURGATUS]

someone please find and post a review for 'The Protector'. Tony Jaa is soo sick in this one. I must possess this movie to place next to my shrine of 'Ong Bak'.

[Rorschach]

Superman: DOOMSDAY
So, I watched the new Superman animated straigh to DVD - DOOMSDAY…and I LOVED IT! I never enjoyed the whole Death of Superman Storyline, until now.

Implied Spoilers below!

The violence was harsh…but extremely TRUTHFUL. Not “realistic”, because hey, this is a comic book. But it’s what would happen if two titans threw each other through buildings. Or punched normal people.
There was a shot where Supes dropped DDay into a building, and totally demolished it. I kept thinking, “Dude, how many people did you just crush to death?” I mean, we’re supposed to assume they evacuate, but not everybody does…
Still, aside from things like that, they really made it seem HARSH. As it should be.
The fights were SO brutal and bone-crunching, it reminded me of old Champions campaigns. I love the shot when two big guys clash fist to fist, and there’s a shockwave. Or when someone throws a cargo ship at someone!

James Marsters as Luthor was pretty damn good. Not Clancy…but just a different enough take. More youthful and athletic. And CRAZY!

At first, I disliked Ann Heche as Lois. But she totally sold it when she and Mrs Kent talk about Clark's death, and she broke down. And that’s tough with just a voice part.

I really dig Superman’s robot Butler too (is that Brainiac?).

Seeing Toyman's fate was SO satisfying, and yet disturbing. You kinda go, 'yeah...that was great but also...ummm...scary."

I kept thinking, if they’d done THIS as the Superman movie, Warner Brothers would’ve had the best Superhero film EVER. Stoopid WB!

[Rorschach]

So I watched FIDO this Halloween. And it was awesome.

Taking place in a 50s-style world, Post-WW ZOMBIE!, it's the heartwarming story of a boy and his pet Zombie.
The gore is mildly cool. The humor is 100% satire, and runs so deep you never actually touch bottom. The script, directing and editing is just slick enough to convey the point, but never belabors it. They do the gag, and move on before anything gets stale.
Billy Connely as Fido is so perfect, you'd have to go back to Peter Boyle in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN for a rival in a nonverbal role.
Surprisingly good was Carrie Ann Moss, as the Mother. She ranges from overbearing and overstrict to the awakening flower. It knid of reminded me of Joan Allen in PLEASANTVILLE.

Check it out!

[Rorschach]

A review of the action film DOOMSDAY (not Superman related) from AICN:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/36050

I'll try to edit the bad words...



Harry says DOOMSDAY is bugnuts!

On the last day of SXSW – I was depressed… the flu killed SXSW as an experience for me. And once you’ve been spitting up nasty chunks of lung slime – the sorts of films that play SXSW – just isn’t what I needed on that last day.

I wanted to see a movie, but what?

Then RAV popped up on AIM and asked, “Have you seen DOOMSDAY yet?” – To which I responded that my ass has been sick – and he said I should see it cuz it’s ridiculous fun.

From the trailers – I realized this was a film about a virus that spreads like the flu and kills everybody in a zone that’s just cut off from the world and they have to send a hot chick to see if there’s a cure.

Well – a deadly hot zone flu virus is what I just had – and crazy Mohawk customized car maniacs… well, that’s the sort of movie you call your dad up to go see. After all… we’re in the 21st Century and we’re not quite at the kill other motorists for the gas in their car’s gas tank stage just yet, but dammit… it’s been a long god damn time since we’ve had that type of movie … besides – I’d get to see the HULK trailer on the big screen.

So on the final day of SXSW, instead of high-minded movies – I decided that I would go see… DOOMSDAY.

DOOMSDAY is a spicy salsa construction where the tomato is ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, the jalapeno is ROAD WARRIOR, the onion is 28 DAYS LATER and the lime juice is OUTBREAK. Neil Marshall blended all of that up and came up with DOOMSDAY. A really insane film that doesn’t, at all, feel like a movie from 2008, but some film that would have come on as the third film on a Drive-In triple feature in about 1985.

This is Neil Marshall channeling Enzo Castellari. And I kind of f*****g love the insanity that it produces. With DOG SOLDIERS and THE DESCENT – Neil played it fairly straight. S**t was intense, but it kinda seemed like our universe. Only with werewolves and cave creeps.

Here – I just don’t think our world would turn into cannibalistic punk lunacy in 20 years. I mean – is the current government all that stands between us and cannibalism and horrifying hair styles? 20 years of non-supervision will result in us adding spikes and bones to our cars. And apparently cooking people – badly – and eating them… without seasoning.

Now sure – you might be like me and waiting for Bush to completely end government – and counting down to cooking one of the neighbor children to see if kid meat is sweet. But I think general societal madness would take a little bit something more. Not only that – but I feel if isolated – humanity would reorganize and self-govern… to avert eating the kids.

This film is bugnuts! Off the wall bugnuts! It is an absurdly insane film that is in love with the lunatic films of the 80s. There’s even a bit of KNIGHTRIDERS in this film and man… I love that.

DOOMSDAY is by no means a great film or even a good film. It’s fast and loose with logic and as the film continues it gets crazier and crazier. The last shot is one of those, WHAT THE F**K – WHY moments that just makes you giggle or scream or giggle and scream. It makes no f**king sense at all.

The film just is bugnuts.

And when was the last time you saw a genuine bugnuts film from a major studio? A film where they blow up bunnies? A film with gleeful decapitation and rampant happy cannibalism?

If you love SUICIDEGIRLS.Com – you’ll dig this film a little more than the average joe or jane. But for me – it’s a bit of a love hate relationship.

Sure, I’d f**k it – but I also want to put it in a shallow grave – so I can dig it back up and f**k it later. It’s a mess – and just like your bedroom – you’ll know where all the trash came from. Cuz all the 80s toys were brought out and fucked with to make this trash heap – and I think that’s why I got the kick out of it that I did. But I’ll be goddamned if I can figure out what Bob Hoskins, Alexander Siddig and Malcolm McDowell are doing in this. Cuz they had to be bugnuts too.

I'm going to see it tomorrow!

[Rorschach]

ZACK AND MIRI

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/38385


Imagine if Knocked Up, The Player, Orgazmo and Mallrats all came into the same Petri dish, got mixed together thoroughly and then artificially inseminated Chasing Amy and you have a good idea of what ZACK AND MIRI MAKES A PORNO is.

[papaThunder]

Gone Baby Gone

Saw it last night with the wife. What a terrific movie. Casey Aflek can act, turns out Ben can direct. They should keep it that way.

[Pilgrim]

Casey Aflek is brilliant in the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. One of the best performances by any actor I've seen in many-a-year.

[papaThunder]

Casey Aflek is brilliant in the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. One of the best performances by any actor I've seen in many-a-year.

Another great movie, and Brad Pitt does a pretty good job too.

Ass of JJ and GBG are probably the two best movies I have seen in years.

[Rorschach]

Neat PUBLIC ENEMIES review at AICN
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41588

I like that they call out the Stephen Lang performance. I was lucky enough to see him perform as Stanley (the Brando role) in a STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. And I got to meet him in a workshop format afterwards. I'd hazard to say he's my favorite in that role - the stage always makes a better improession, but he made Stanley dark in a way Brando never did. Anyways, if that's the kind of 2nd tier quality to PUBLIC ENEMIES, I can't wait to see the main performers cut loose.

-Dale

[Rorschach]

Roger Ebert's BRUNO review
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090708/REVIEWS/907089995


"Bruno” is a no-holds-barred comedy permitting several holds I had not dreamed of. The needle on my internal Laugh Meter went haywire, bouncing among hilarity, appreciation, shock, admiration, disgust, disbelief and appalled incredulity. Here is a film that is 82 minutes long and doesn’t contain 30 boring seconds. There should be a brief segment at the next Spirit Awards with John Waters conferring the Knighthood of Bad Taste to Sacha Baron Cohen. If he decides to tap Cohen on each shoulder with his sword, I want to have my eyes closed.

[Lawrence]

I guess im just too low brow to get Cohen's comedy. I didnt like Ali G. I finally watched Borat due to hearing everyone quote the movie. I actually watched it twice because I was trying to figure out what I missed the first time. Now Bruno is coming out and everyone is giving rave reviews. I just dont get it so ill wait for Bruno on Hbo

[Rorschach]

I'm normally allergic to embarassment comedy (like I can't stand "Curb Your Enthusiasm"). But these situations are too funny and ballsy to not chortle at... I mean who the hell tries to make a celebrity sex video with Ron Paul?!

[Lawrence]

ballsy ill grant. Funny ill dispute.


I mean who the hell tries to make a celebrity sex video with Ron Paul?!

exactly. Ballsy? ok. Funny? I just dont see teh funny there lol

[Rorschach]

TORCHWOOD: Children of Earth

See it! I haven't seen anything as mean to its characters since my last L5R campaign... ;)

Sci Fi, suspense, politics, personal dramas, and no "Deus Ex Doctor" ...top notch stuff from the BBC.

[Stu]

I had heard folks rave about this, and I have wanted badly to like Torchwood since it came out. But I didn't. It was too predictable, and the characters don't seem consistent to me. I'll acknowledge that they're more likable than the characters in Being Human.

I understand that the trend with the BBC shows at the moment is to show some flawed heroes, and I can get behind that. But it's almost as though the characters are straining to be flawed. I mean--they aren't horrible people you somehow love anyway, like Fitz in Cracker or House or some such. They are typically likable characters that inexplicably act stupid at predictable points in the script, then angst out about it, then fail to redeem themselves.

I think I'm going to look at this trend in all the Brit shows I don't like, and pin it on Rusty Davies. He's an affable, horny, Whedonesque hack, and I think he's maybe just been over the same patch of carpet so often the floor's showing through.

Despite the criticism, I did watch the show all last week, without turning it off or falling asleep much. Therefore, I must admit that I was at least somewhat entertained. Watching Gwen Cooper go underground and kick ass two-gun was pretty cool.

[Lawrence]

ive got it dvr'd and been on the fence about zapping it with out watching. I watched about half the first season of Torchwood. Just didnt hold my interest

[Rorschach]

Watch it, Lawerence, you certainly won't be bored.

I've also realized, while reading Stu's post, that Gwen is sexier if you pronounce her full name with the Welsh accent... "GWen cOOper" ;)

I also kind of get what Stu's percieving, except I wouldn't say much of CoE was predictable. In fact, I'd say the only Torchwood member who acts "predictably" is Jack, and by the goddess, he pays for it in ways you either won't see coming, or won't want to dwell on.

And I do like BEING HUMAN despite the "stupid hero" syndrome. The Master Vampire is simply too deliciously, urbanely Evil. For instance, after watching the elder chat up a serving girl...
Mitchell: "What's that, more of your tricks?"
Herrick (dryly): "It's called Manners"

I am excited to see the Moffat take on Dr. Who, and I hope they give him a crack at a future Torchwood as well. Davies needs to recharge his ideas, but CoE was a masterful bow to take before leaving.

[Stu]

The Welshness of Torchwood is a nice touch. It darkens the mood.

I'd be curious to see what Rusty does after a little writer's retreat.

I'd like to see him and Whedon collaborate on a Grenada/Mutant Enemy production about vampires that are hired to build a tunnel under the Atlantic from Britain to America called Underwaterworld, which of course is an anagram for Warlord Rude Newt, a Jamaican cartoon from the sixties that both writers watched. The vampires have to deal with the pressure, which--while it doesn't kill them--affects their libidos. That is, until they meet the savage and powerful Trogozon women, who reawaken their suppressed desires by utterly dominating them and marrying them into their tribes with ritual spankings. Until the timely arrival of the mysterious and heavily armed extra-governmental commando force known as TOOL, the Tactical Office of Order and Law, genetically-enhanced, semi-reptillian super soldiers--sent to keep the project on schedule and budget--whose leader, Col. Ram Upjohn, a Welsh/Punjabi confused by his conflicting desires--falls in love with Sadie, the scruffy, scrappy vampire female vampire foreman with a heart of gold (who's feeling dejected because she also loves a Trogozon woman who has no use for her) but he can never actually touch her because of the bulky armored power suit he must wear to avoid being crushed in the depths. But for his first aide Scrimly, who has invented a power armor docking mechanism because he is smitten with Col. Upjohn and dreams of making love with him under the anomalous Luminescent Maelstrom of the Mariana Trench, which, as it turns out, is a dimensional vortex through which Scrimly is being sent subpsychotronic images by a hostile Being From Beyond Space to undermine his loyalty . . .

Um. Yeah. Well, you can see how something like that would go.

[Rorschach]

We missed our calling, Stu.
We should collaborating even now to make your ideas a reailty, over espressos and sushi, at a Rodeo Drive cafe, while earnest starlets massage our egos.

[Stu]

Not too earnest, I hope . . . :)

I doubt either of us could resist the gravitational pull of West Hollywood, where we would surely be killed and eaten. But if we could . . .
That would be interesting.

[Rorschach]

We just need a 3rd person to be our "Face Guy", plus his taken-for-granted secretary, and then our wacky hijinks and LA adventures could ensue.

[Lawrence]

Ok so for Stu's story we need Jason Statham, Zooey Deschanel (wouldnt she look good in fangs?), Jeri Ryan, and Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje or Tyrese Gibson (your choice)

[Rorschach]

Replace Jeri Ryan with Katee Sackhoff, and I'm in. :-)
Are we going to need another offshoot thread?

[Lawrence]

ok I can go with Katee (I only mentioned Jeri cause after the 7 of 9 outfit you know she would look good in scales)
Dale, its pretty evident that if I get involved in a topic ill skew it far enough off line that it will require its own thread. Someday ill manage to bring everything full circle and into one thread

[Stu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/stu2000/RudeNewtWarlord.jpg

From Wikipedia:

Rude Newt Warlord was an extremely obscure English/Jamaican cartoon that ran three seasons, from 1967-1970. Jimmy Cliff recorded the show's theme, and young Malcolm McDowell and Robbie Coltrane respectively voiced Rude Newt and his waterfowl sidekick, Mighty Puffin.

Like Scooby Doo and the Krofft cartoons contemporary to it, the simply-written and crudely-rendered children's fantasy was embraced by the counterculture for its loopy humor and frequent, though likely unintentional, references to illicit drugs.

Rude Newt's swamp was known as the Rastafenokee, and he wore his horned helmet back on his head to reveal pronounced dreadlocks. He continually rolled and smoked cigarettes, which at least partially explains why the cartoon was universally shunned by American distributors.

Original tapes and merchandise are highly prized by collectors of animation and drug paraphernalia alike.

[Rorschach]

I want to live in Stu's world.

[Lawrence]

me too.

[Rorschach]

INGLORIOUS BASTERDS reviewed by Drew McWeeny at HITFIX

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/2008-12-6-motion-captured/posts/sdcc-2009-forget-cannes-inglourious-basterds-is-a-triumph


It's funny... I frequently attend festivals, and I publish my reviews from those festivals, and I ask you to trust me that my reaction to those films aren't colored by where or how I see them. And yet, here I am at the end of July, and after seeing "Thirst," "Anti-Christ," and now "Inglourious Basterds", I'm going to have to dismiss outright all of the buzz from this year's Cannes festival, because it seems to me that those early responses have next to nothing to do with my own reaction to those films.

In particular, Quentin Tarantino's newest film really took it in the face this year. I'm guessing part of it was simply the urge that seems to exist in many people to take Quentin down, no matter what. Ever since he was "annointed" with "Pulp Fiction," every single film he's released has been an opportunity for people to declare that he is no longer relevant, or that his voice has been dulled, or that it's just the same old thing again and again. I politely disagree on a nearly molecular level. I think there are very few filmmakers with a voice as innate as Quentin's, and I am perfectly happy to sit through an "inconsequential" movie as fun as "Death Proof" or an "homage mix tape" as ridiculously entertaining as "Kill Bill." Personally, my favorite of his films is "Jackie Brown," and I think I can pinpoint why that is. It's a movie about people, and not a movie about other movies. Do I mind that he's a shameless magpie? Absolutely not. You can find my "Kill Bill" or "Grindhouse" reviews over at Ain't It Cool, and I still feel the same way about both films, but "Jackie" hits me on a deeper level. I adore those people, and I could spend time with them, even away from that particular situation. I just plain enjoy every element of that movie, every performance, every shot, every exchange of dialogue.

[more after the jump]

When the "Inglourious Basterds" script leaked last year, I read bits and pieces of it, but at this point, Quentin works at such a deliberate pace that I decided to hold off and not read it before seeing the movie. And, man, I'm glad I made that choice, because as I understand it, there were some pretty major changes from script to screen, and if I'd just been sitting there cataloguing what was different, I don't think I would have enjoyed the experience quite as much.

And let's be clear... I love this movie. In an age when everyone rushes to remake old movies and old TV shows and comic books and toys and whatever, Quentin decided to remake World War II.

And this time? It ends right.

I think some people may have taken the title too literally, and as a result, there's some dissatisfaction that we don't see enough of the titular Basterds in the film. I would argue that this whole movie is filled with self-serving bastards, ruthless people who will stop at nothing to accomplish what they want, and that both of the major storylines actually tie into the title, thematically speaking. The film starts with a riveting sequence at a dairy farm in France, where Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) shows up on a mission. He's known as "the Jew Hunter," and he's searching for the Dreyfus family, who vanished into thin air. When he finds them, the results leave Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent) alive, alone, afraid... and very, very angry.

The second chapter of the film introduces us to Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and his special squadron of Jewish soldiers, ready to parachute in behind enemy lines. Aldo explains their mission in one of the film's most entertaining bits of dialogue. They are tasked with only one goal: killing Nazis. They aren't really a strategic weapon... more like a psychological one. Their methods are brutal, and their purpose is pure terror. They plan to destabilize the Nazi regime by scaring all Hell out of the rank and file. And just as soon as Raine finishes outlining their plan, we find ourselves in the office of the Fuhrer himself, where we learn that the Basterds are indeed accomplishing their goal. By this point, even Adolf Hitler (Martin Wuttke) himself has heard of them.

We definitely see the Basterds in action in the field, but we also spend a significant amount of time with Shosanna, who has resurfaced four years after the first scene, now the owner of a cinema in Paris, where she is determined to wait out the rest of the war, surrounded by film. It's a good plan until she meets Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl), a young German soldier who loves movies and who finds himself smitten with her. He's a hero, having killed over 300 men from a sniper's eagle nest during a three-day assault on a town where he was the only German soldier left. And his heroism brought him to the attention of Joseph Goebbels (Sylvester Groth), the Third Reich's Minister of Propaganda. Goebbels saw Zoller as a symbol that common soldiers could rally around, and so he decided to make a film about Zoller's exploits, starring Zoller as himself. Very Audie Murphy. Now that the film is finished, there's a major premiere planned, and Zoller, desperate to impress Shosanna, wants to hold it at her theater.

That premiere becomes the focal point of the energies of both Shosanna and her lover Marcel (Jacky Ido), as well as the Basterds, who pick up an OSS officer, Lt. Archie Hickox (Michael Fassbender), who is determined to help them destroy the theater during the premiere. Shosanna has the same goal, and she seems more than willing to burn down this place that is so obviously dear to her if it means she can cut the head off the Nazi party. Most of the movie is dedicated to gradually bringing these two storylines together at that fateful premiere, and that slow burn pays off in some of the most inspired and emotionally satisfying material of Tarantino's whole career.

In fact, I find it hard to describe quite what I felt at the climax of the film. I won't tell you what happens, but I'll tell you that the imagery that unspooled pulled a primal reaction out of me, a genuine bloodlust I didn't know I possessed. Part of it is because of the situation, but part of it is that Tarantino has put together one of his most eclectic and interesting ensemble casts ever.

Brad Pitt seems to relish each and every line of dialogue he has, like each one is a perfect piece of steak he can't wait to eat. I really don't get people who think Pitt is anything less than the most eccentric leading man working right now. He looks like a matinee idol from the golden age of Hollywood, but his heart is pure '70s character actor, and he makes Aldo a focused and fascinating angel of vengeance. The Basterds themselves are made up the last actors in the world most people would have used to fill out a WWII film. Samm Levine, Paul Rust, Omar Doom, and B.J. Novak are all guys who look like anything but the typical action heroes, and that seems to be the point. These guys aren't larger than life because of how they look... it's what they do.

A few of them in particular become near-mythic figures. One is Hugo Stiglitz, played by Til Schweiger, a former German soldier who started killing his own officers out of disgust for what the Nazi party was doing. The other is Sgt. Donny Donowitz, played by director Eli Roth, known to the German soldiers as "The Bear Jew," infamous for beating his victims to death with a baseball bat. I assume some people will never judge Roth's performance fairly, taking whatever baggage they have about the "Hostel" films into the film with them. Screw that. Roth does very, very good work here, and I'd love to see more directors use him based on how good he is.

I've seen Melanie Laurent in a few films, but until now, I had no idea what she was capable of. She's wonderful, delivering a textured, rich performance full of anger and pain. Even better, Christoph Waltz's work as Landa, the Jew Hunter, is staggeringly good. Alternately charming and terrifying, he is the ultimate opportunist, a disturbing character who is compulsively watchable. Daniel Bruhl, so good in "Goodbye Lenin," comes of age with his work here as Zoller. Tarantino's Hitler and Goebbels are grotesque parodies, appropriately exaggerated, and overall, the entire cast seems to be made up of the exact right faces, the exact right people.

Robert Richardson's photography is lush and gorgeous, and Sally Menke's got this final release cut of the film fine-tuned so that it hums along with a genial malevolence. I love the use of the Morricone music throughout the film, with a few notable exceptions. As much as I sort of rolled my eyes when I heard that the David Bowie song from "Cat People" was going to be used in the film, it's perfect where and how he uses it. More than anything, what I love about the movie is that, for the first time since "Jackie Brown," Quentin has made a movie about people, a movie about characters and a particular situation, and not a movie about other movies. And considering how little of this is stitched together from moments or ideas from other films, it's sort of amazing how the movie ultimately seems to be about how cinema itself can be a weapon, a powerful tool for revenge.

There are some images towards the end of the film that I've been replaying in my head, over and over, since I saw the movie on Saturday night. I plan to see it again the second I can, and I'm fairly sure I'll see it several times during its theatrical run. This is a movie that should be seen with a crowd, a movie you should see in the very best theater you can find playing it. This is a movie that once again restores my faith in one of my favorite working directors, and one that I think should silence any of his detractors who actually watch the film instead of just prejudging it. "Inglourious Basterds" isn't what I expected when I sat down to watch.

Instead, it's so much more.

"Inglourious Basterds" opens nationwide on Aug. 21.

[Lawrence]

this should be interesting

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-depp-burton-dark-shadows.html

[Rorschach]

I know I'm an AICN repost whore, but this is a fun article:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41858

[Rorschach]

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/43130


Bella Swan is one of the most detestable, obnoxious, mentally unstable characters in modern American literature. She is a character so over the top that she borders on satire; and were she some sort of Holden Caulfield-like, deliberately unlikable character written with the intent to openly mock the ideals of modern romantic literature, she would be acceptable, if not perfect for the part. But Stephanie Meyer isn’t that self-aware. Instead, she has woven together a cloyingly insufferable romantic saga – a junkfood and cheesecake epic, if you will – centering around a woman who revels in, nay celebrates, how damaged she is. I dated a girl like Bella once. Thank god they make medication for girls like that now.

There is a rule about dating women like this that older generations often have to pass onto the younger: if a woman tells you she is trouble, if she tells you that you want no part in her problems, if she swears that she has too much sh*t in her life to fall in love, you need to f**king believe her.

Gosh, should I rush out for tickets right now?

[Nate]

Ok, look, I am a super veteran minatures player and comic book nerd. I am also new to the store so I understand if my opinion is not held in high esteem.... yet. BUT, just wanted to drop a plug stating that as of right now Warmachine and Malifaux are the best table-top miniature games out there!