Director : Quentin Tarantino

Writer(s) : Quentin Tarantino

Genre : Drama, Thriller, War

Cast : Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger, Gedeon Burkhard, Jacky Ido, B.J. Novak, Omar Doom, August Diehl, Denis Menochet, Sylvester Groth

Summary :

“Quentin Tarantino’s Masterpiece”

“Inglorious Basterds” just might be Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece. It’s a delirious re-imagining of World War II. A hypothetical “what if” story. Where last year’s “Valkyrie” was based in fact, Tarantino’s film is based in fantasy. It’s a visualization of a conversation most kids have when they first learn about Hitler and the Holocaust. If we were there and given the opportunity to kill Hitler ourselves, how would we do it? I’ve never heard anybody answer that question with as much detail and rich characterizations as Tarantino has done here.

In Tarantino’s version, all his characters are cinema-obsessed fans (like him) who contsantly discuss movies. There’s even a scene where a French cinema owner is polishing the letters on the theatre’s marquee. Tarantino’s mad love of cinema is evident in every frame. So it’s no surprise that Tarantino’s “kill Hitler” scenario involves having Hitler attend the premiere of a new German movie called “Nation’s Pride” in which the theatre is booby-trapped to explode and burn, killing all the highest-ranking officials of the Nazi party at once, effectively ending the war.

Among the conspirators trying to make this happen are a team of Nazi-killing Jews know as The Basterds headed by Brad Pitt in a weird but brilliant performance in which Pitt seems to be channeling Warren Oates. Also part of this team is a character known as “the bear Jew” who kills Nazis with a baseball bat! He is played by Eli Roth, the director of the torture-porn movie “Hostel”, and apparently the director of the movie within this movie, “Nation’s Pride,” the one having the premiere.

Diane Kruger turns in one of her best performances as a German movie star who is acting as a double-agent and is in on the theatre explosion plot. But in the film’s greatest performance is little-known Austrian actor Christoph Waltz as Nazi colonel Hans Landa, a detective for the SS known as “the Jew hunter” with a cold-as-ice interrogation technique. I can’t imagine Waltz not getting an Oscar for this performance. For that matter, the time may finally have arrived for Brad Pitt to win his Oscar. Pitt’s performance here is more than deserving.

Tarantino’s film is like “revenge therapy” for anyone who has ever fantasized about seeing the Nazi party brought to vigilante justice. It’s also a loving homage to cinema and some of the legendary filmmakers of its past. After previous Tarantino brilliance such as “Pulp Fiction” and “Kill Bill”, “Inglourious Basterds” is his crowning achievment.

With the August release of “Inglourious Basterds” we finally have a movie that 2009 can be remembered for.

DVD Double-Feature: To see the movie that influences the cinematic style of ‘Basterds’, check out Sergio Leone’s uncut 165-minute spaghetti-western epic “Once Upon A Time In The West.” Henry Fonda, as a cold-blooded killer, heads an all-star cast that includes Jason Robards, Charles Bronson and Claudia Cardinale. The film also contains a now-classic score by Ennio Morricone who also contributes music to ‘Basterds’.

Runtime : 153 min

Awards : Won Oscar. Another 56 wins & 54 nominations

Director : David Slade

Writer(s) : Stephenie Meyer (novel), Melissa Rosenberg (screenplay)

Genre : Fantasy, Horror, Romance, Thriller

Cast : Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Jackson Rathbone, Nikki Reed, Kellan Lutz, Elizabeth Reaser, Peter Facinelli, Gil Birmingham, Christian Serratos, Anna Kendrick, Dakota Fanning, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jodelle Ferland, Julia Jones, Michael Welch, Kirsten Prout, Cameron Bright, Sarah Clarke, BooBoo Stewart, Monique Ganderton, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Jack Huston, Justin Chon, Alex Meraz, Chaske Spencer, Daniel Cudmore, Kiowa Gordon, Leah Gibson, Tinsel Korey, Xavier Samuel, Charlie Bewley, Bronson Pelletier, Tyson Houseman, Ben Geldreich, Justin Rain

Summary : Bella Swan is reunited with the love of her life (and vampire), Edward Cullen. Her life is back to the way it was before the Cullens’ left, except for one major thing. Before Edward left, Bella had not considered Jacob Black (werewolf) her best friend, and she is in vain trying to make Edward and Jacob to make peace and be friends. She is torn between the love she feels for Edward, and the strong friendship between her and Jacob. Can she make them see sense, and can they be good too each other to keep from hurting Bella?And there’s new dangers lurking around in the corners, Seattle is stalked by massmurders beyond humanity. Who’s behond this, and what connection does it have with Bella?

Release Date : 30 June 2010

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Director : Martin Campbell

Writer(s) : Neal Purvis, Robert Wade

Genre : Action, Adventure, Thriller

Cast : Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini, Caterina Murino, Simon Abkarian, Isaach De Bankolé, Jesper Christensen, Ivana Milicevic, Tobias Menzies, Claudio Santamaria, Sebastien Foucan, Malcolm Sinclair

Summary : Actor Daniel Craig assumes the role formerly occupied by such screen greats as Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton to set out on the character’s very first 007 mission. James Bond has earned his “00″ status by masterfully executing a pair of death-defying professional assassinations. Now assigned the task of traveling to Madagascar to spy on notorious terrorist Mollaka (Sebastien Foucan) for his maiden voyage as a 007 agent, Bond boldly goes against MI6 policy to launch an independent investigation that finds him traversing the Bahamas in search of Mollaka’s notoriously elusive terror cell. Subsequently led into the company of the mysterious Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian) and his exotic girlfriend, Solange (Caterina Murino), Bond soon realizes that he is closer than ever to locating well-guarded terrorist financier Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), the man who has personally bankrolled some of the most prevalent terrorist organizations on the planet. When Bond learns that Le Chiffre is planning to partake in an upcoming high-stakes poker game to be played at Montenegro’s Le Casino Royale and use the winnings to establish his financial grip on the globe, M (Judi Dench) assigns beguiling agent Vesper (Eva Green) the task of watching over the fledgling agent as he plays against Le Chiffre in a covert attempt to destroy the nefarious gambler’s well-established monetary stronghold in the underworld once and for all. Bond will need more than his legendary gambling skills in order to win this dangerous game, though, and after allying himself with local MI6 field agent Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) and CIA operative Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), the endlessly suave super-spy puts on his poker face for a high-stakes game of cards in which the stakes are not measured in dollars, but human lives.

Director : Frank Capra

Writer(s) : Joseph Kesselring, Julius J. Epstein

Genre : Comedy, Thriller

Cast : Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Priscilla Lane, John Alexander, Jack Carson, John Ridgely, Edward McNamara, James Gleason, Grant Mitchell, Edward Everett Horton, Vaughan Glaser, Chester Clute

Summary : Arsenic and Old Lace is director Frank Capra’s spin on the classic Joseph Kesselring stage comedy, which concerns the sweet old Brewster sisters (Josephine Hull, Jean Adair), beloved in their genteel Brooklyn neighborhood for their many charitable acts. One charity which the ladies don’t advertise is their ongoing effort to permit lonely bachelors to die with smiles on their faces–by serving said bachelors elderberry wine spiked with arsenic. When the sisters’ drama-critic nephew Mortimer (Cary Grant) stumbles onto their secret, he is understandably put out–especially since he has just married the lovely Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane). Given the homicidal tendencies of his aunts, the sinister activities of his escaped-convict older brother Jonathan (Raymond Massey) and the disruptive behavior of younger brother Teddy (John Alexander)–who is convinced that he’s really Theodore Roosevelt, and runs around the house yelling “CHAAAAARGGGE”–Mortimer isn’t keen on starting a family with his new bride. “Insanity runs in my family,” he explains. “It practically gallops.” Further complications ensue when the murderous Jonathan Brewster arrives home, with his snivelling accomplice Dr. Einstein (Peter Lorre) in tow. When Jonathan learns that his darling aunts have killed twelve men, he is incensed–they’re challenging his own record of murders. Though the movie rights for Arsenic and Old Lace were set up so that the film could not be released until 1944, director Capra shot the film quickly and inexpensively in 1941, so that his family could subsist on his 100,000 salary while he was serving in World War II.

Director : Martin McDonagh

Writer(s) : Martin McDonagh

Genre : Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Cast : Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, Jérémie Renier, Thekla Reuten, Jordan Prentice, Zeljko Ivanek, Elizabeth Berrington, Rudy Blomme, Olivier Bonjour, Mark Donovan, Ann Elsley, Jean-Marc Favorin, Eric Godon

Summary : Having just carried out a particularly difficult hit in London, two hitmen seek shelter in Bruges, Belgium, only to find their views on life and death permanently altered by their interactions with the locals, the tourists, and a film crew. Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Ralph Fiennes star in an action comedy from director Martin McDonagh.