Godwin’s Law, a well-known law of the internet dating back to the virtually prehistoric times of 1990, states that ‘as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one’ (see TV Tropes ). Perhaps a related law should be established stating that ‘the more films are made within a year, the greater the probability that the next film you see will involve Nazis’. Old Nazis, young Nazis, melty-faced Nazis and metaphorical Nazis, there’s no escaping them, as anyone returning from a showing of the latest (really rather good) X-Men film, X-Men: First Class can tell you. Although the basic characteristics of the film Nazi do not change much, being uptight, smartly uniformed, highly organised and irredeemably evil, their uses vary widely according to genre and to the purpose they serve within the film. We’ve highlighted just a few of the most common.

(N.B. These are all films from Allied countries – German films about Nazis are another kettle of fish all together).

The Human Evil Nazi

As seen in: Schindler’s List (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1993)

There’s a reason Ralph Fiennes was asked to play Lord Voldemort, and the reason is this film. Fiennes’ blistering performance as concentration camp Commandant Amon Goeth is the embodiment of evil in human form. The difference between Goeth and Voldemort is the essential element of humanity that remains present even in the context of the horrific acts Goeth carries out. Although Voldemort starts out as human, he becomes a symbol of monstrous evil, of a person who has lost their humanity by giving in to evil and heartlessness entirely, represented by his absent nose and snake-like features. Goeth and his fellow Human Evil Nazis are explorations of a wickedness that remains chillingly human throughout. These are often the most powerful and complex portrayals of Nazis on film.

See also: Inglorious Basterds, Conspiracy (TV movie).

The Conflicted Nazi

As seen in: The Sound of Music (dir. Robert Wise, 1965)

The Conflicted Nazi is closely related to the Human Evil Nazi, and can often slip into the even more evil form as the film progresses. The difference is that the Conflicted Nazi starts out as a reasonable, even likeable, person and displays at least one moment of uncertainty before embracing the total lack of morals of the Human Evil Nazi. This moment may be as long as a soliloquy or as short as a fleeting facial expression, but it will be there. Alternatively, the Conflicted Nazi may embrace evil right up until the arrival of the Allies and the accompanying threat of a war crimes trial, at which point the full evilness of their actions suddenly comes home to them. The Sound of Music’s Rolfe is perhaps the quintessential Conflicted Nazi; he is almost entirely likeable and romantically charming on his first appearance, but becomes increasingly dubious as he is slowly led astray by the Nazi Party, until finally he is willing to condemn an entire family, including his ex-girlfriend, for the sake of Nazi values and his Nazi career.

See also: Ice Cold in Alex, The Pianist, Holocaust (TV series).

Faceless Enemy Nazis

As seen in: Saving Private Ryan (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1998)

The Faceless Enemy Nazi is not always a Nazi at all; often he may be a German soldier with no strong political leanings. The American or British soldiers chasing him will not take the time to find out. Nor should they, of course, as they’re in a combat situation – but the point, from the filmmaker’s point of view, is that no German will be humanised within the film, nor will any line be drawn between an enlisted German soldier and a Nazi. This should be viewed in contrast to films like The Longest Day, in which scenes of German soldiers behaving in ordinary or even sympathetic ways may be included to humanise the enemy, like the brief scene in which a hapless German lookout despairingly declares that the entire Allied fleet is heading ‘straight for me!’ The Faceless nature of the enemy in Saving Private Ryan stands out because the film was made so long after the war and its reliance on Faceless Enemy Nazis is therefore more surprising, but it is by no means the only film to portray German forces in this way.

See also: Where Eagles Dare, The Guns of Navarone.

Bogeyman Nazis

As seen in: Raiders of the Lost Ark (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1981)

A third entry for Steven Spielberg on this list – he is quite the Nazi connoisseur. Bogeyman Nazis are Nazis who play the part of the Bad Guys in a genre film, usually science fiction or fantasy, but an action/adventure film using them as cardboard cut-out bad guys also counts. Although human, they fulfil a role that could have been fulfilled by all manner of genre bad guys, from werewolves to vampires to aliens (and indeed, TV’s True Blood actually gives us Nazi werewolves. And Nazi vampires). In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Nazis are the Bad Guys Who Want the Stuff, and our hero has to get The Stuff before the Bad Guys get it. They are eventually brought down by their own hubris and subjected to melty-faced doom, a fate the audience is encouraged to cheer and celebrate, without thought of the actual horror of that idea. Nazis, in this scenario, could be replaced with various other groups of generic Bad Guys and little would be lost. Little, not nothing; there is usually a metaphorical or tonal purpose to the use of Nazis specifically, in Raiders’ case, the fact the our hero is protecting a Jewish artefact from the enemies of the Jews. Such thematic resonance, however, takes a backseat to the Nazis’ overall purpose as simple villains.

See also: The opening scenes of X-Men: First Class, Red Dwarf’s ‘Meltdown’ (TV episode).

Metaphorical Nazis

As seen in: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One (dir. David Yates, 2010)

The most common of all cinematic Nazis, you know you are in the presence of Metaphorical Nazis when you see long lines of soldiers dressed in grey and marching in tight formation, bad guys attempting genocide or discussing eugenics or the master race at length, any kind of camp into which good guys may be put, any large and well-organised army bent on world- or universe-domination… Found largely but not exclusively in science fiction and fantasy, metaphorical Nazis are everywhere. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One may be singled out as the most blatantly signposted recent example. The identity of the Death Eaters as Metaphorical Nazis is clearly present in the books and earlier films (mixed in with a bit of the Ku Klux Klan in the film version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) but in Deathly Hallows Part One the costume and art departments really go overboard. The Harry Potter series is set in the present day, with earlier sequences featuring the destruction of such recent landmarks as London’s Millennium Bridge (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince). The wizarding world has, however, always been a bit behind the Muggle one in terms of fashion, the adults often displaying a marked preference for robes and other pseudo-medieval attire. In Deathly Hallows Part One, though, certain denizens of the wizarding world – most notably a woman being interrogated concerning her blood status – suddenly and unaccountably take to wearing 1940s fashions, complete with 1940s hairstyles. Others, including nasty bad guys working closely with the newly evil Ministry of Magic, abruptly decide that long black leather coats, sometimes with red accessories, are the way to go. In case we didn’t already realise, from the obsession with blood status, the desire to rid the world of Muggles and ‘Mudbloods’ and so on and so forth, that we were in the presence of Metaphorical Nazis, the costume department have raided the World War Two Costumes section, just to make sure.

See also: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the entry-to-Rome sequence in Gladiator, Star Wars, Doctor Who’s Daleks (TV series) etc, etc, etc…

Summer blockbuster season is a perfect time for the movie fans to show their true colors. For some, the appeal strikes with a comic book inspired action movie, as in Iron Man 2. For others, it might be a laugh-out-loud high concept comedy, as in Get Him to the Greek. But for cult geeks like myself, nothing beats the summer heat like the grindhouse grit of a Quentin Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez film.

Barely making the cutoff, Rodriguez is capping off this summer’s blockbuster season with Machete due September 3rd. Adapted from his very own fake trailer headlining 2007′s Grindhouse, it stars Danny Trejo. Trejo takes on his original role as a renegade former Mexican Federal, starring along with Steven Seagal, Robert De Niro, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Alba, and a whole array of unlikely actors you wouldn’t expect to be in a film together.

Sure you won’t find middle age women going gaga over the newest Stiletto heels, or toys planning their route of escape from an evil teddy bear, or even Mr. T; but rest assure you’ll find your fill of blood spewing violence, chock-full of knife fights, machine gun brawls, and at last, Mexican Standoffs. Ah, what would a summer be without the dramatic buildup of an awesome Mexican Standoff?

In honor of this film’s advent, here is my list of the Top Ten Best Mexican Standoffs in cinema.   So sit back, put your bluffing face on, and everybody please point your gun to the person on your right. The Top Ten Mexican Standoffs are about to begin:

10. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

For me, the ending is probably one of the most unconventional and emotional standoffs on the list. Now some might contest whether or not this actually constitutes as a Mexican Standoff. The fact that Butch and Sundance have to face a whole Bolivian army make the odds a little slanted, but there are those elements of uncertainty and hope that make it possible. There is hope that maybe their aim will be sharp enough and their legs fast enough, so that they can dodge the enemy’s bullets and escape to a safer place. We nor the guys can be certain, nor will we really know for sure.

9. Robocop

Two words explains why this short yet memorable standoff is so great: Kurtwood Smith. Smith has the mouth to talk fast with, fingers to dip wine in, and enough muscle to make you shit snow for a year. But will Mikey kill him? I don’t think so.

8. Shaun of the Dead

You know what? I lied. This is the most unconventional Mexican Standoff on the list, not to mention the funniest one. Armed with broken bottles and corkscrews, the film parody’s one of the best Mexican standoff scenes ever from Reservoir Dogs. The only thing better than seeing zombies battling it out with Shaun and Nick is watching it back to back with a Tarantino cult classic.

7. Straw Dogs

Probably one of the most unsettling standoffs you’ll come across. Hoffman finds himself in a bizarre triangle between a man who wants to rape his wife and his wife’s ex lover. The struggle between Hoffman and the intrudes is compelling, forcing you to be at the edge of your seat until it’s very end. Filled with shotgun blasts to the chest and a tumbling fight down a flight of stairs makes this standoff definitely not for the faint of heart.

6. Desperado

Where would a Top 10 Mexican Standoff list be without Robert Rodriguez? There is nothing cooler than a vigilante Mexican, looking to settle the score with a guitar case full of guns.  You know it is a good Mexican Standoff when you can consider that the whole damn movie isjust one huge standoff.  Definitely full of high energy, this film is the definition of a Mexican Standoff, and could be a good pregame before seeing Machete.

5. True Romance

Want to know how to make an awesome Mexican Standoff pie? You take a dash of Tony Scott’s smokey visual effects, a heaping bag of pillow feathers, and a generous sprinkle of witty Quentin Tarantino dialogue. Oh, and don’t forget the big dollop of Chris Penn on top. Now that’s what I call cooking with love. If a couple can survive a day like that, they can survive  anything.

4. The Killer

John Woo definitely puts the “WOO” in Mexican Standoffs. This film has tons of 80’s cliche’ goodness, chalk full of white-suit-on-white-shirt attire, fluttered doves, and long paused smiles. It’s just a cluster fuck of action that questions whether or not the style of shooting should actually be renamed “Chinese Standoff”. From exploding oil drums to back-to-back shooting, it’s a film that tests the ages of time and should be on top of any action fans top ten list.

3. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

This is the granddaddy of all standoffs. The iconic no-win-no-lose situation that is seared into American cinematic history. Even the title alludes to the fate of a three party shoot off. The setup of the scene is perfect. Between Client Eastwood’s pan cold facial expressions, to Sergio Leone’s masterful cuts from the shooter’s eyes back to their guns and to Ennio Morricone’s brilliant climatic buildup of a score. Suspense is thick in air as the movie watcher clutches their fingers between their teeth, waiting in anticipation for the first blow. The scene over nine minutes long of pure tease, and you’ll find yourself screaming “SHOOT ALREADY GODDAMMIT!”  It’s simply the perfect finale to an awesome Western.

2. Battle Royale

It’s hard not to believe that a Mexican Standoff would not happen when you place a group of unwilling students on an island to fight to their death, but it will stop you in your tracks when you see it happen. The concept of the movie itself seems like one big standoff, as you wait to see if each student has the guts to kill their peers.  In particular, the lighthouse scene is one that will just blow your mind, forcing you to rewind back and watch it again and again. What’s not to love about a Mexican standoff involving Japanese school girls, a game of “Who Poisoned the Soup?,” and the gattling of machine guys in a confined area?

1. Inglourious Basterds

At this point in Quentin Tarintino’s career, the Mexican standoff has become sort of a cliche’ in his films, but you have to admit that the man knows how to build an intense scene. Ask anyone to name a memorable point in the movie, and chances are they will mention the bar scene. It’s the type of scene that you have to watch over and over again, because the buildups execution is epic. The last thirty seconds will just put you in a daze and give you a better buzz than any thirty three year old glass of scotch. Soak it in and enjoy the ride. Just pull up your most comfortable chair, lay back, and “Say Auf Wiedersehen to your Nazi balls!”          

- Chris Clemente

Best Picture

Avatar dir. James Cameron Stars: Sam Worthington Sigourney Weaver Michelle Rodriguez

The Hurt Locker 2009 dir. Kathryn Bigelow Starring Jeremy Renner Anthony Mackie

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire dir. Lee Daniels Stars: Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe Mo’Nique

The Blind Side dir. John Lee Hancock Stars: Quinton Aaron Sandra Bullock Tim McGraw

District 9 dir. Neill Blomkamp Starring Sharlto Copley David James

INGLORIOUS BASTERDS dir. Quentin Tarantino Starring Brad Pitt Diane Kruger

UP dir. Pete Docter Bob Peterson Voices by: Edward Asner Christopher Plummer

Up in the Air dir. Jason Reitman Stars: George Clooney Vera Farmiga Anna Kendrick

An Education dir. Lone Scherfig Cast Carey Mulligan Olivia Williams

A Serious Man dir. Coen Brothers Cast Michael Stuhlbarg Richard Kind

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Normally I approach a new Tarantino film with caution because more often than not, due to his fame and talent, his movies are severely hyped in the months leading up to their release; they are promoted with so much zeal and accompanied by so many industry buzz-words that I usually end up being slightly disappointed with the final product. It was the case with Kill Bill 1-2 and Death Proof. For Inglourious Basterds, however, I purposefully avoided reading early reviews (it has been screening at various festivals since Cannes) so that I could go in with a fresh mind and the opportunity to truly judge it for myself.

In true Tarantino style, the movie is split up into chapters – five to be exact, which move the plot along extremely well. Most people who have only seen one or two trailers for this movie might be under the impression that it will focus on the Basterds and their attempts to accumulate Nazi scalps; fortunately this plot is only a fraction of the story, which relies on several otherkey characters (both good and bad) to carry the film

The main characters in this movie all bring special elements to the table. Firstly you have Lt. Aldo Raine, played by Brad Pitt, and his 8-man killing team, the Basterds. His guerilla group of Jewish-American soldiers prowls the French countryside, terrorizing various Nazi infantry groups. Tales of their unorthodox methods of killing quickly spread and reach Hitler, who becomes deeply concerned with their continued existence. Pitt’s character epitomizes the ‘good ‘ole’ Southern boy and reminded me of Butch Coolidge’s character from Pulp Fiction. Tarantino himself is from Tennessee and enjoys sprinkling a dash of southern flavor in his characters (Maynard from Pulp Fiction is another example).

Secondly there is Bridget von Hammersmark, played by Diane Kruger, who is a spy for the Allies. Kruger’s character draws many comparisons to Marlene Dietrich and, much like second female protagonist Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), exudes a calm and collected attitude while fulfilling the duties of her job. She collaborates with the Basterds on a special mission in Paris. Finally, there is the aforementioned Shoshanna. She is a young Parisian cinema owner who escaped the gruesome execution of her family. With shades of The Bride (from Kill Bill), Shoshanna is strong-willed and bent on revenge, with a deep-rooted hatred for everything that is German.

The revelation of the film, however, and one of the greatest performances that I have witnessed in my life comes courtesy of Christoph Waltz, who portrays Col. Hans Landa. Landa is known as the Jew Hunter, an extremely clever man whose calm demeanor and flawless etiquette garner him respect everywhere he goes. Waltz is a cunning line-reader who quickly reminded me of Col. Douglas Mortimer from Sergio Leone’s For A Few Dollars More, just another example of Tarantino’s admiration of spaghetti westerns. This performance is so pristine and unbelievable that Waltz truly earned his Best Actor Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Besides a fantastic cast, Inglourious Basterds is loaded with brilliant elements, such as a powerful score containing a fair share of Ennio Morricone, another spaghetti-western regular. Clocking in at 149 minutes, there isn’t a single dull moment in the entire film. The script is watertight and the pacing is flawless, unlike some of Tarantino’s previous efforts. With equal amounts of English, French, German and eye-talian, Tarantino has finally reached a new level in his writing that, to me, easily bests his previous work.

Inglourious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino’s seminal production. It’s a masterpiece containing the best elements from his previous films as well as some new ones. The hard work he has put into this movie and script in the past decade, honing it into the best film it can be, is evident. The hundreds of people in the Fantasia audience who saw this with me on Wednesday night at its Canadian premiere could not have summarized it any better when they enthusiastically applauded for several minutes following its end. You must not miss this when it comes out on August 21st.

Myles Dolphin

The unlucky numbered 13th edition of the Fantasia Film Festival turned out to be a lucky year after all. With it’s diverse line-up of high selection standards, the festival attracted more than 90 000 fans this year and saw 40% of its 195 screenings completely sold out.

With such eminent titles that had previously premiered at Cannes such as THIRST from South Korea’s Park Chan-wook, LASCARS from the French creative team of Emmanuel Klotz and Albert Pereira Lazaro and of course Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, and wonderful discoveries such as SANS DESSEIN from Quebec’s own Deadcat Films, Yang Ik-june’s BREATHLESS and Nicolas Alberny and Jean Mach’s 8th WONDERLAND, Fantasia has one again demonstrated the energy and variety of genre cinema. Of course, we can’t think back on this year’s festival without mentioning the extravagant Sion Sono’s LOVE EXPOSURE, the experimental À QUELLE HEURE LE TRAIN POUR NULLE PART from Robin Aubert, the metaphysical Kanji Nakajima’s THE CLONE RETURNS HOME, as well as several American indie films, to name a few Dominic Murphy’s WHITE LIGHTNIN’ and David Russo’s THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF LITTLE DIZZLE.
The special screening of INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS hosted by actor Eli Roth concluded this remarkable 13th edition brimming with such great moments as the  celebration of 100 years of Hong Kong cinema, the exciting midnight screening of Lee Demarbre’s SMASH CUT with Sasha Grey in attendance, and the well deserved bestowing of a Lifetime Achievement Award to José Mojica Marins (alias Coffin Joe).

Here is the list of the prizes handed out at this years Fantasia Film Festival.

Jury Prizes – Feature Films

Best Feature Film: BREATHLESS – Yang Ik-june
Jury Special Prize: LOVE EXPOSURE – Sion Sono
Best Male Performance: YANG IK-JUNE (Breathless)
Best Female Performance: HIKARI MITSUSHIMA (Love Exposure)
Best Director: DAVID RUSSO (The Immaculate Conception of Little
Dizzle)
Best Screenplay:  NICOLAS ALBERNY & JEAN MACH (8th Wonderland)
Best Cinematography: HIDEHO URATA  (The Clone Returns home)
Technical prize: IP MAN
Special mention for best Direction of Child Actors:  TOM SHANKLAND (The
Children)

Jury Prizes – First features

Best First Feature: WHITE LIGHTNIN’ – Dominic Murphy
Special mention: Debut performance of actor ELINE KUPPENS (Left Bank)

Jury Prizes – International Short Films

Best Live-Action Short Film: HOLD YOUR FIRE – Wes Benscoter
Best Animated Short: THE CONTROL MASTER – Run Wrake

Inglourious Basterds is Tarantino`s Pierrot Le Fou,his 8 1/2, a movie about cinema and quite possibly his most sophisticated entertaining and exhilarating film to date. Basterds won’t cater to a mainstream crowd and although it has every Tarantino trait that he could possibly include, none of those trademarks stand out – so much so that it won’t satisfy the majority of Quentin followers.At times it’s an ugly, vicious and angry film but for the most part it manages to balance in a good amount of dark comedy. Regardless this is a film that is going to fly over many people’s radar. The majority of people will hate it, misunderstand it and possibly even walk out – but ten or twenty years down the line, cinephiles will look back and remember the final line uttered by Brad Pitt: “I think this might be my masterpiece.” It may indeed be Tarantino’s.

Outside the World War 2 setting, and the fact that Tarantino’s film jumps back and forth between three languages, Basterds bears little resemblance to Enzo Castellari’s Italian original storyline.

The director deploys an assault of B-movie tricks, starting with spaghetti western flourishes and then accelerating into an old-fashioned wartime thriller, with a touch of French New Wave cinema. Tarantino paints a surreal revenge fantasy while reworking it with numerous conventions borrowed from other styles and breaking it into five chapters, much like Kill Bill and each are influenced by a different movie genre. The opening sequence (and best scene in any Tarantino film) sees “Jew hunter” Colonel Landa (Christoph Waltz) interrogating a French farmer (Denis Menochet) seeking to protect his three daughters and a family of Jewish neighbors who he helps hide in his basement. The second chapter, which introduces the Basterds, led by Tennessee born Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), is a western with World War II iconography. The third act, reminiscent of the French New Wave, introduces French actress Melanie Laurent as a Jew hiding in Paris while running an art house cinema. Chapter Four onward becomes your standard ’60s World War II flick, taking cues from The Guns of Navarone and The Dirty Dozen.

Quentin Tarantino’s self-indulgence is toned down here, and for the most part his characters don’t quite all sound alike, yet the dialogue spins a web of intrigue, and as always he packs his film with as many movie references as possible. Look out for a cameo by Casterelli, as well as Bo Svenson in the movie-within-the-movie (a Nazi propoganda film, directed by cast member and Hostel helmer Eli Roth). From Sam Fuller’s The Big Red One, to Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen and even Ernst Lubitsch’s To Be Or Not To Be, there are plenty of nods to past moviemakers, including Leni Riefenstahl, old UFA movies, Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Henri-Georges Clouzot (whose names are written on the theatre marquee), and even a nod to British wartime cinema.

Heavy on talking, and a bit light on the action, Basterds is the grindhouse version of Valkyrie. Its 152-minute running time races by, thanks to the long stretches of brilliant dialogue, his larger-than-life characters and spot-on performances. As per usual Tarantino has rounded up an ensemble cast, including Waltz, who not only steals the show, but is destined to go down as one of the all-time great villains and classic Tarantino characters. Waltz stands head and shoulders above the rest, adding just the right amount of levity, a wonderful and intentionally hammy performance which never overshadows his evil nature. Certainly anyone going to see Brad Pitt will be disappointed given his lack of screen time but with what little presence he has Pitt turns his best performance yet and surprisingly delivers the biggest laughs. Laurent follows in the footsteps of Pam Grier and Uma Thurman as the leading lady and hands in a pitch perfect performance. Like all of Tarantino’s previous films, the film is stuffed with memorable cameos and supporting roles, including the likes of Michael Fassbender (Hunger), Mike Myers and even some voice work by Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel.

Shot almost entirely at Babelsberg Studio outside Berlin, with brief location work in Paris, the film features some terrific production values across the board – everything from David Wasco’s rich production design and Anna Sheppard’s fine costumes to a soundtrack taken and inspired from Ennio Morricone. Tarantino eschews a traditional score, ranging eclectically from Dimitri Tiomkin’s “The Green Leaves of Summer” and “The Alamo” to eight selections from the Ennio Morricone library. In addition a David Bowie track makes it way into the film, producing the greatest genuine surprise. Returning once again as Quentin’s DOP is Robert Richardson, with his clear-eyed, beautifully framed lensing and Leone-like tracking shots. Wonderfully shot in a vivid and feverish palette, Richardson’s camera work could tell the story even if the film was put on mute. Mention must also be made of Sally Menke, Tarantino’s career-long collaborator, does an outstanding job with her sharply timed cuts.

The film’s climax has an image worth waiting a career for, one that evokes the timeless power of cinema – a force that Tarantino works to harness, at risk of alienating an action-hungry audience. Regardless, it’s a distinctive piece of American pop art and somewhat of a transition for the director. Inglourious Basterds is Tarantino’s war film but more importantly his love letter to cinema. Tarantino’s passion comes through in every frame and love him or hate him, he makes the movies he wants to make and enjoys every minute of it.

Ricky D

Originally Posted in Creative Loafing.

2009 is already halfway over, and the fall movie season (with all the originality and Oscar-bait it has to offer) is just around the corner. What follows is my list of the 25 films I’m most interested in seeing in the second half of 2009. Read all the way to the bottom for some honorable mentions and films that flat out didn’t make the cut, despite the big-name talent behind the production. (I’m looking at you Scorsese and Apatow.) Then let me know in the comments what you’re looking forward to seeing in the next six months.

Read on for the my 25 most anticipated films of the rest of 2009.

25) Big Fan (August 28)

I know the Sundance hit wasn’t praised for its production values, but The Wrestler scribe Robert D. Siegal looks like he has written another winner about a loser. Patton Oswalt plays a very big New York Giants fan who, though a misunderstanding, is beaten up by his favorite player. From there his life goes into emotional turmoil, and Oswalt is said to give a fearless dramatic performance.

24) Nine (November 27)

I’m a sucker for Musicals and anything Fellini so here we are with Nine. This is another in a series of film-to-stage-to-film adaptations: In this case the movie is Federico Fellini’s 1963 classic 8 ½, about a film director dealing with an artistic crisis and all the various woman in his life simultaneously. The cast consists of six Oscar winners (Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Sophia Loren, and acting God Daniel Day Lewis) and Fergie.

23) Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (TBA)

Touted as the “first Mumblecore musical” David Chazelle‘s debut feature has delighted audiences on the festival circuit. The film (shot on 16mm black and white) follows the lively romance of a jazz trumpeter and a tap-dancing beauty on the streets of Boston. The film looks like the perfect blending of old and new.

22) The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle (TBA)

Davis Russo’s feature film debut has turned heads at festival circuits all year. The film is about bizarre experiments involving janitors and deliciously addictive cookies. These cookies, as it turns out, cause strange visions, wild mood swings and some quasi-male pregnancies. The janitors band together as they become midwives for one another, each man giving birth to a small blue fish. Oh, what a beautiful synopsis.

Listen to podcast #135 for a full review

21) The Lovely Bones (December 11)

Peter Jackson’s long awaited adaptation of Alice Sebold’s novel is almost here. The story is about a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family and her killer from heaven, observing how their lives have changed. Jackson looks like he is returning to the kind of supernatural drama of Heavenly Creatures (my favorite film of his).

20) Ponyo (August 27)

It’s Hayao Miyazaki, so how could one not be excited. With this feature he has gone for a more old school look with a water color and pastel-like animation style and using as little CGI as possible. The story is a take off on The Little Mermaid, but this time it’s a goldfish princess who longs to be human.

19) The Princess and the Frog (December 11)

Disney’s long awaited return to hand drawn animation had me hooked five years ago when the project was announced. Featuring Disney’s first African-American princess, the film takes place in the beautifully detailed New Orleans’ French Quarter during the Jazz Age.

18) Agora (December 18)

Alejandro Amenabar‘s latest may have gotten mixed notices at Cannes, but I must say the film looks spectacular. This uncommonly high-minded epic set in Roman Egypt’s famed city of Alexandria concerns a slave who turns to the growing surge of Christianity to pursue freedom while falling helplessly in love with his master, famous atheist philosophy professor Hypatia (Rachel Weisz).

17) Life During Wartime (TBA)

Todd Solondz has always made polarizing films and dealt with the most taboo subjects. This film is said to be a loose sequel to his 1998 classic Happiness. Many of that film’s characters now inhabit what seems to be about a war-torn world. Unfortunately I don’t think Paris Hilton is in this one as was originally reported. But it should be interesting nonetheless.

16) Cold Souls (August 14)

Sophie Barthes debut feature has already been compared to the work of Charlie Kaufman. The wacky post-modern comedy is set in the not too distant future where corporations can extract human souls and sell them as commodities. The story centers on Paul Giamatti (playing himself) who decides to try the procedure to help him get into a soulless character for the stage. His plan backfires when he tries to retrieve his soul and learns it has been sold on the Russian black market.

15) The Road (October 16)

This post-apocalyptic tale looks depressing as hell, and I can’t wait. We could either have another Children of Men on our hands (which is good btw) or another Blindness (not so good). There is The Proposition director John Hillcoat helming the adaption of Cormac McCarthy‘s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel and starring Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce and Charlize Theron. I think were in good hands.

14) Where the Wild Things Are (October 16)

I would have put Spike Jonze‘ latest higher on the list if not for the current post-production hell it’s currently in. The trailers look spectacular, but the test screenings have been near-disasters and I’m a little worried on how the overall product is going come out. Will it pander too much to younger audiences or will it be a tedious art film? But we do have hipster novelist Dave Eggers involved, and the vocal talents are outstanding.

13) World’s Greatest Dad (August 21)

Robin Williams looks as if he could actually be good here. He plays a sad sack of a high school poetry teacher with an insufferable sex-crazed jackass of a son. But when a tragic event occurs, Williams’ character turns it into an opportunity to make his long-crushed dreams come true. Vulgar comedy extraordinaire Bob Goldthwait looks like he could have a crossover hit on his hands.

12) Beeswax (TBA)

Andrew Bujalski‘s follow up to 2005′s Mutual Appreciation was a hit at South by Southwest along with Joe Sawnberg‘s Alexander the Last. The film will follow the complicated lives and loves of two identical twin sisters, one of which is a paraplegic.

11) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (TBA)

In a bizarre choice of material, film-making icon Werner Herzog has made a remake (or sequel) to Abel Ferrara‘s Bad Lieutenant. This time out, Nicolas Cage stars as a crooked, drug-addicted cop whose life spins (somewhat hilariously) out of control. The film also stars Eva Mendes, Exhibit and Val Kilmer — and already feels like it could be a cult classic.

10) Thirst (July 31)

Oldboy auteur Chan-wook Park enters the lucrative world of the vampire genre with his latest film. The film follows a small town priest who, during a failed medical experiment, becomes a vampire. This, of course, leads him down the road to anguish and depravity — but he still struggles to maintain his humanity.

9) Broken Embraces (November 20)

Pedro Almodovar‘s latest looks like his most gorgeous film yet, and it’s lovely to see Penelope Cruz in an assortment of dazzling wigs. The film tells the story of a blind filmmaker (Lluís Homar) and how he lost not only his sight but love of his life (Cruz).

8 ) The Illusionist (TBA)

This is the new feature from France’s new animation king Sylvain Chomet, his first since the Oscar-nominated Triplets of Bellville. Another exciting element is the fact that the film’s screenplay was written over 30 years ago by the legendary comic filmmaker Jacques Tati. This means we may very well catch a glimpse of the iconic Monsieur Hulot once again (in animated form of course).

7) In the Loop (July 24, VOD: July 15)

Based off the British TV series The Thick of It, this comedy has been described as “Dr. Strangelove meets The Office.” The political farce centers on a British Secretary of State and his entourage trying to halt a war they may have accidentally started, through any means necessary. The reviews for this one have been enthusiastically positive.

Listen to podcast #141 for a full review

6) Humpday (in limited release now)

The Bromance to end all bromances. Lynn Shelton‘s latest was a sensation at Sundance with many critics citing it as the first Mumblecore film that could crossover into the mainstream. Two old buddies go to a party at a sex positive commune, get wasted and dare each other to enter a gay porn contest. The next morning the two find themselves unable to back down from their bet. But how is the wife of one of the guys going to take this turn of events?

Listen to podcast #141 for a full review

5) Antichrist (October 23)

I’m so up for the bat-shit craziness this film has to offer. Who doesn’t want to see a NC-17 horror film that looks like a perfume ad? Ok, maybe not as many as I think, but I’m there. What if I told you there is supposedly a talking fox and the mutilation of Willem Dafoe’s little man? Lars Von Trier‘s (or “the greatest director in the world” as he likes to call himself) film centers on a grieving couple who retreat to a mysterious cabin in the woods. Then some bad things happen.

4) The Hurt Locker (in limited release now)

What else can I say about this one? Kathryn Bigelow‘s film is the most universally acclaimed so far this year (along with Up) and the #1 art house event of the summer. We follow an elite Army bomb squad in a city in Iraq in brilliant uncompromising detail. Just watch this clip and you shall see what everyone is talking about.

3) The Tree of Life (TBA)

It’s still up in the air whether the film will be released this year or next, but I have my fingers crossed. Director Terrence Malick is notorious for his long post-productions, but any Malick film is a huge event. (This would be his fifth film of his 40 year career). The descriptions I’ve heard about this one are mind-blowing, and Malick has reportedly been planning this film for over 30 years. Life will follow the evolution of an 11 year old boy. The audience will see the world through his eyes, full of beauty and love and his visions of history. But as the boy gets older, he gets his first glimpses of death and sickness and parental conflict (Brad Pitt will play the father). The world then becomes a harsh unforgiving place. Sean Penn is will play the boy as a disillusioned adult yearning to find meaning in his life again. There will also supposedly be a time-line of the history of the world that goes back far enough to include the dinosaurs. Talk about ambitious!

2) Avatar (December 18)

James Cameron’s “cinema changing” film is so close. The buzz I’ve heard from all around has been uniform ally great. (Sample buzz: “Avatar will change movie industry forever. Thank you Jim” … “It’s nothing you can imagine, it’s real. Cameron made a new planet and took a cam there.” … “THIS WILL CHANGE MOVIES FOREVER. Trust me, it will.” All I can say is that the film stills are simply mind blowing.

1) Inglorious Basterds (August 21)

Well what did you expect? I’m a Quentin Tarantino fanatic (yes, I even loved Death Proof) so how can I not be excited? The lukewarm Cannes reception, mediocre trailers and the supposed reediting haven’t deterred me one bit. The complex “Nazi scalping” plot looks ingenious, and the international cast doesn’t look bad either: Brad Pitt, France’s Melanie Laurent, England’s Michael Fassbender, The Office‘s B.J. Novak, Diane Kruger, and even Mike Myers. Then there’s Germany’s Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger, and major Oscar contender Christopher Waltz.

Check out the review from the secret screening held at the Fantasia Film Festival in July

Now, I did leave off some notable films. Scorsese’s latest Shutter Island just does not look interesting to me, and Judd Apatow’s Funny People has a surprisingly unfunny trailer. (But I’ll see it anyway, simply for Leslie Mann.) I guess I just don’t know enough about the Coen brothers’ latest A Serious Man to get excited about it. For honorable mentions I would put Soderbergh’s The Informant!, Ricky Gervais’ The Invention of Lying (the trailer makes the film look to slight to me). And Richard Kelly may have actually made a film I give a shit about with The Box.

The New French trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds is quite an improvement for the American.  Mostly (in my opinion) because there is less Brad Pitt.  But the editing is sharper, it’s funnier and we get a better idea of the large scope of the story.  American audiences seem to be getting sold the action while the French are being sold the by the films dark sense of humor.  We get to see more of French actress Melanie Laurent who is said to be the films real star along with Christopher Waltz.  I’m a little more confident now about August 21st.

Looks like Tarantino isn’t the only filmmaker working on grindhouse Nazi war films. Director and horror fanatic Shaun Robert Smith is in development on his next feature, The Fourth Reich, a terrifying adventure built on the Nazi human experiments during the war.

Shaun’s runaway success of The Soldier, his 2007 award winning short attracted some attention from producers and a multi-million dollar budget. Sean Pertwee has  been confirmed to star as one of the main protagonists, and special effects legend Tom Savini will make a cameo.  He will play a Nazi, alongside Simon Bamford (Butterball in Hellraiser).

The young director has surrounded himself with an all star team of horror genre specialists. Included are members of the special effects team of the latest Rambo film and the acclaimed director of photography, Peter Hannan, (Monty Python’s Meaning of Life, Children of Men, and Withnail).

One of the most anticipated horror films of the year is making its Canadian premiere at Fantasia, after blowing minds at Sundance. Tommy Wirkola’s Dead Snow is promised to be a crowd pleaser for Fantasia’s hardcore movie-goers. The Norwegian Nazi zombies horror film follows a group of young, pop-culture savvy twenty-something’s who head out to a remote area of the snowy wilderness for a weekend getaway. You know it’s not sleepaway Camp when they cue the scary old man (the voice of doom) with the story about undead Germans left over from the war. With a sly sense of humor and a seemingly endless supply of fake blood and guts at his disposal, director and co-writer Tommy Wirkola turns Norway’s desolate snowy mountains into fertile territory for an all-in-good-fun battle between humans and the Nazi undead.

Deadsnow.com

Above is the new Italian poster for Inglorious Basterds, Award-winning director Quentin Tarantino takes inspiration from posters of Sergio Leone films of the 1960′s. It’s been more than a decade in the making and has undergone countless re-writes over the years, but after screening in Cannes, the result was more positive than negative with an unexpected to say the least: dialogue-heavy, action-life revenge drama. If the film is half as good as the poster above, than fans should be in for treat.

A new trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds makes it on to the web.  The film received a lukewarm reception at Cannes (some even considering it Tarantino’s worst film by far).  It currently getting a huge reedit with the Harvey Weinstein pressuring him to scrap at least 40 minutes from the original 2 hour 40 minute cut.  The trailer hints at a complex and potentially clever plot.  But unfortunately a lot of the intended laughs and “cool dialogue” fall completely flat (with Brad Pitt’s accent bordering on shrill).  It worries me a bit.  But let us hope Tarantino succeeds in the end and gives us a film that is at least worthy of his filmography.  Decide for yourself.     

]]> http://www.soundonsight.org/new-trailer-for-inglorious-basterds/feed/ 0 http://www.soundonsight.org/film-news-tarantino-and-von-trier-heading-back-to-the-cutting-room-floor-two-potential-masterpieces-in-one-week-and-buffy-heading-back-to-the-big-screen/ http://www.soundonsight.org/film-news-tarantino-and-von-trier-heading-back-to-the-cutting-room-floor-two-potential-masterpieces-in-one-week-and-buffy-heading-back-to-the-big-screen/#comments Thu, 28 May 2009 09:06:16 +0000 Anthony Nicholas http://www.soundonsight.org/?p=7598 [Read the Rest]]]>

Pixar’s Up and Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell are looking to be two of the years best reviewed films. Up currently has a 96% on the tomato meter with over 45reviews (If you consider the diatribe by Almond White a review). Drag Me to Hell has a 94% with 38 reviews.  Both appear to be exceptional examples of their genres.  They are made by filmmakers who care about quality not demographics. Here’s hoping that both films will be phenomenal box office successes.  I’m counting on them.  I’ve been too disappointed by the summer movie season for too long. (Yes, that includes you Star Trek)

It looks as though Quentin Tarantino will be marching back to the editing room for Inglorious Basterds. It’s clear to many that the film was rushed to meet his promised Cannes deadline. That explains the disjointed feeling during much of the film. There are even many sequences shot that but never assembled in time. So Tarantino may actually be adding new scenes that he thinks are missing to the already bloated 148 min running time. Maggie Chung’s part was also cut entirely from the Cannes version (making me very sad). So it looks like he has a lot of work ahead of him.  Let us hope he has been reading some of the film’s reviews and taking notes.  It still looks like there is potential for a masterpiece in there somewhere.

Lars von Trier’s Antichrist may be hitting the cutting room floor as well.  Why? To get an R rating?  From what I’ve read the film unapologetically charters deep into NC–17 territory. If the films purpose is meant to be as extreme as possible and shake you to your core, why not leave well enough alone. Americans can handle the same extremes as the French. I’m very iffy about this one.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer may soon return to the big screen but without the TV show’s creator Joss Whedon. (As you might tell, many fans are in a panic) This time around the film will be made by Fran Rubel Kuzui (the original film’s director) and her husband Kaz Kuzui. They plan to take the franchise toward a darker path and it will not tie in with the original TV show or the original film. This is yet another example of the almost frantic trend of re launching franchises.  You would think they could wait another five or six years to capture a younger audience unfamiliar with the show. Maybe they wanted to jump on the reboot bandwagon while it’s still the fashionable thing.

Anthony Nicholas

“Inglourious Basterds is great fun to watch, but the movie isn’t entirely engaging. And it is defiantly an art film, not a calculatedly mainstream entertainment. Tarantino throws you out of the movie with titles, chapter headings, snatches of music. You don’t jump into the world of the film in a participatory way; you watch it from a distance, appreciating the references and the masterful mise-en-scene. This is a film that will benefit from a second viewing. I can’t wait to see it again.” — Anne Thompson, Variety

“The film is by no means terrible — its running time of two hours and 32 minutes races by — but those things we think of as being Tarantino-esque, the long stretches of wickedly funny dialogue, the humor in the violence and outsized characters strutting across the screen, are largely missing.” Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter

“The film’s two hours and 40 minutes long, and could be shorn of an hour just by picking up the tempo … But I wouldn’t even call “Inglourious Basterds” minor Tarantino — it’s flat-out tiresome, and from a commercial perspective, incredibly dicey. If this is the pony the Weinstein Company has picked, well, bless ‘em, because it’s hard to see this one pulling in crowds once word gets around.” Alison Willmore, IFC

“There are some nice-ish performances but everything is just so boring. He should perhaps go back to making cheerfully inventive outrageous films like Kill Bill. Because Kill Adolf hasn’t worked out.” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian [UK]

“Basterds plays almost like an assembly edit, defiantly presented as-is, if for no other reason than because Quentin Can. The buzz around here contends that the Weinstein Company has enough riding on the success of this film that if it doesn’t rake it in at the box office — and all signs would point to it being a very tough sell — Quentin won’t be able to for much longer.” Karina Longworth, Spoutblog

Alejandro Jodorowsky’s new production, King Shot is set to start filming with Marilyn Manson, Nick Nolte, and Asia Argento on board to star. The film, Jodorowsky’s first production in nearly 20 years, has been described as a “metaphysical spaghetti western.” David Lynch is executive producing and Vilmos Zsigmond has been confirmed as cinematographer. According to The Hollywood Reporter “Marilyn Manson is touted to appear as a prophet in the Sin City-style film, which producer Eric Bassett said has enough sex and violence to guarantee an NC-17 rating.”

Micheal Moore’s upcoming and so far untitled documentary about the economic meltdown is set to be released on October 2, 2009 by Overture Films. The film has a correlation with his breakthrough documentary Roger & Me Released almost 20 years ago. Both films are about corporate greed, on the small scale and now on the grand scale. The official press release stated that will “explore the root causes of the global economic meltdown and take a comical look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what Moore has described as “the biggest robbery in the history of this country” – the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions”

Zach Braff is set to direct, star, and rewrite a comedy for Paramount Pictures, Swingles. Cameron Diaz had been attached to star with Braff in a supporting role. Variety reports that the story, film is based on a Duncan Birmingham spec, “centers around a bachelor who is dumped by his wingman and teams up with a sharp tongued woman he can’t stand in order to meet singles.” The film will mark Braff’s second directorial effort after 2004’s surprise indie hit Garden State. He is also the director of a segment in the upcoming film anthology “New York, I Love You.”

By Anthony Nicholas