Tag Archive for 'Dark Comedy'

How to Watch: “Cyrus”

Published on June 22, 2010 in Movies and Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: .

by Robert Sims, Special to MovieKit.com
Step 1: Bone up on your Duplass Brothers. Watching The Puffy Chair, Baghead and Humpday will prime you for the first studio offering from mumblecore pioneers Jay and Mark Duplass if you are unfamiliar with their amusing dissections of relationships at their most intimate and awkward.

Step 2: Don’t worry if you hate the no-bucks, naturalistic aesthetic of mumblecore. Cyrus may unfold as a typical Duplass Brothers’ study in white middle-class American angst, but this time they’re working with a decent budget and a cast that features many familiar faces (John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill, and Catherine Keener). You certainly can’t accuse the Duplass Brothers of selling out just because they are working with Hollywood money, but do walk away from Cyrus with the sense that the Duplass Brothers are trying to mature as both filmmakers and storytellers. There’s nothing silly or inane driving the search for emotional truth, such as a serial killer on the loose or a challenge involving on-camera gay sex.

Step 3: Open your ears and listen. There isn’t a wasted word in Cyrus. Every conversation between the divorced Reilly and his new girlfriend, single mom Tomei, represents small but significant strides to make a long and lasting personal connection with another damage soul. While Reilly and Tomei engage in open and honest dialogue, you need to read between the lines whenever her man-childish adult son Hill chimes in. As Cyrus, Hill’s not too thrilled at the idea of his mom dating Reilly. While there’s nothing inappropriate about Hill’s feelings for his mom, it’s clear that Tomei never wanted to cut the umbilical cord between mother and son. Pretending to be receptive to Reilly’s presence, Hill works overtime to ruin this burgeoning romance out of the fear that he will lose his mother’s love. Things turn nasty, allowing the Duplass Brothers to put some delightfully vicious words in the mouths of the men fighting for Tomei’s affections.

Step 4: Expect the unexpected from a Superbad boy. The self-deprecating Hill’s usually employed by Judd Apatow to generate big laughs, but he rarely receives an opportunity to stretch as an actor. That might change following Cyrus. Hill seems quite comfortable assuming the role of a master manipulator unable to express his feelings in a sincere and constructive way. But Reilly gives as good as he gets. You know that “lost puppy dog” look Reilly wears? It works to his advantage in Cyrus — it helps us to feel great empathy for a man who’s desperate love, going to find himself at war with a live-at-home musician suffering from a severe case of arrested development. Throughout all this, though, Tomei maintains her poise and dignity. It’s a matter of time before Tomei gets hurt, and it’s painful to watch her choose between her son and a man who could possibly come to love.

Level of difficulty in watching Cyrus: The Duplass Brothers demand your undivided attention. Thanks to their sincere way with words and experience with examining distressed relationships, you will gladly give it to them.

How to Interview: “Barry Munday” Painful Loss

Published on May 29, 2010 in Interviews and Movies. 0 Comments Tags: .

By Robert Sims, Special to the MovieKit.com

At the end of Little Children, Patrick Wilson helps Jackie Earle Haley after his convicted child molester castrates himself in a bid to stop him from falling into his old ways. In Barry Munday, it’s Wilson who suffers a similar fate when he loses his testicles. The difference is, Barry Munday plays Wilson’s severe injury for laughs.

Director Chris D’Arienzo’s indie comedy, which received its world premiere at SXSW, follows the changes Wilson’s insufferable dickhead undergoes after his unfortunate accident. Chloe Sevigny and Judy Greer play the sisters — the former an admitted slut, the other a virgin — who help Wilson move forward with his life in comical fashion.

I spoke with Wilson, Sevigny, Greer and D’Arienzo following Barry Munday’s packed premiere about the comedy’s painful premise, the trust fostered on the set, and the cool cat that is Billy Dee William.

Step 1: Don’t get too attached to your manhood
Patrick Wilson: “It’s funny I’ve had a history of some kind of emasculation in movies. This was the first time it actually was quite literal. What I loved about it was you — once they established who he was — thought it was the most outlandish circumstance, but the coolest journey for a story essentially about this being about becoming a man, to have this completely stripped away, that was exciting.”

Step 2: Make your directorial debut with a story that speaks to you
Chris D’Arienzo: “The characters were really specific and human. They weren’t traditional movie romantic comedy characters. They were flawed and their flaws were like really naked. And I just really liked that. When I read it, there was a possibility there was a way to do this that was kind of in the spirit of comedies that I really love. Movies like Harold and Maude or The Graduate….”

Step 3: Assemble the coolest cast possible
D’Arienzo: “I never would have dreamed to have this cast. But when it actually became the process of casting, we just had a lot of fun with who is your dream person and start there. As far as like certain characters like Billy Dee [Williams’] character, Lonnie, and Jennifer for Chloe as Ginger’s sister, I felt like in those two instances I was like, Jennifer needs to be the coolest person in Ginger’s world just like Lonnie’s kind of the coolest person in Barry’s world. So I just kind of went for who I think are the coolest actors.”

Step 4: Then persuade Billy Dee Williams to play the coolest cat in the film
D’Arienzo: “We went to L’Ermitage [Bevery Hills Hotel to discuss the role]. Anytime I’m in that lobby…I only see rappers and NBA stars like all that time. And so hanging with Billy Dee was like hanging with the Pope. It was kind of fantastic. He doesn’t do a ton of movies now, but he’s such a fantastic actor and a wonderful guy and he was really sweet. And he was like, ‘So why did you think of me for this?’ And I said, ‘Well, I just think Lonnie needs to be the coolest guy in Barry’s universe, and I was trying to think who is the coolest guy in my universe. It’s Billy Dee’ And he just kind of looked at me and went, ‘And you’d be right.’ And we got really close actually, it was like really sweet. We would go have dinner all the time, it was just awesome. He’s a really, really wonderful guy.”

Step 5: Get in touch with your inner geek
Judy Greer: “Putting a character together from the outside in, it’s fast and easy. Once I’m not wearing makeup and I’m in like my clogs, which were my own clogs, and it was funny because on set, I actually remember, I forget who said it, ‘And then you have to wear those awful shoes.’ And I was like, ‘Those are mine.’”

Wilson: “Yeah, they’re really terrible. I would never wear these in my real life.”

Greer: “It was icing on the cake for Ginger. But it’s so easy, once you get those clothes on. And that’s true really for me, for all the characters, once I know what I’m wearing and what I look like, it starts to sort of come together. And then there’s walking stuff, and Ginger definitely doesn’t stand up very straight. I mean, those things. And then it all sort of comes together. And when she’s talking in the movie, when Ginger, when I talk about being ugly and what it feels like. When I was looking like that, I really felt that way. I felt angry at people who like, you know, going to Starbucks cut in front of me in line, or whatever, and I’m like, Really? I’m here, I’m a person that’s standing here.”

Step 6: Take the risk and go for laughs
Chloe Sevigny: “I think everybody involved and meeting Chris and talking about the film and what he wanted to do with it. And kind of his references to other films that he loved, the kind of movie that he wanted to make. I’ve never been in a comedy, a straight-up comedy before, so that of course attracted me to the project.”

Step 7: Take the risk and follow up your big-budget superhero saga with a small indie comedy
Wilson: “Until you’re like kind of super famous and can turn down all that stuff, I’m not in that situation. I’m lucky to have great support around me. And I love my agents. I think back to when I signed with them, nine years ago, it was always very creatively driven. It was not, ‘Look, let’s turn down this great role because I think you can get in this big budget movie.’ Because the reality is I’ve done some big-budget movies and they haven’t been as successful. But I never had one, ‘Oh, I don’t know if you should do this, let’s wait for something.’ Because that’s not me. And luckily they get that.””

Step 8: Watch the Watchmen weight
Wilson: “The first time I got the script, I was shooting Watchmen, so luckily it just sorta fit with this guy. We all know this type of guy — he’s still hanging onto the ’90s, when he thought he was cool when he hung out at the Bennigan’s after-dark bar. And you know, I also thought there was something incredibly cool about not being vain about it, and just actually the fact that you did get to see like a shower scene and a love scene and just have him still be doughy. So, I didn’t necessarily try to keep it on, but it wasn’t until after Barry Munday that I said, Alright, let me get back in shape. So it worked for this.”

Step 9: Trust your first-time directorGreer: “I’ve worked with lots of first-time directors, and he was so prepared. That was like what was really impressive to me. He had so much enthusiasm for the movie when I met with him. And he came to work with photographs and his shots for the day and he knew exactly what he wanted. Sometimes, I don’t know, directors aren’t really that prepared. You show up and you’re like, You’re getting this opportunity. Nobody gets to do this, and you won the lottery and you don’t know what you want to shoot today?”

Wilson: “The thing about film, too, you can come from such different backgrounds. Sometimes you’re a writer, sometimes you’ll work with a guy that’s done just a bunch of commercials or a guy that’s a DP, a choreographer, whatever it is. But at the end of the day, you really have to know visually what you want. It’s funny, and this is coming from the guy from the theater, but in a weird way, I don’t care if you give me these great acting notes, I want to know what you want to shoot because this is a director’s medium. This is not an actor’s; film is not an actor’s medium. He knew the style that he wanted. If you can hang on a scene, a comedic scene from one angle, for four minutes, if you can do that, you have to have supreme confidence in your script, in you, in your actors, in the situation, because you’re not telling people to laugh and then a quick cut to reaction. Now comedies have their place too, but for this style of comedy, it’s almost like a ’70s style of comedy, you have to trust the situation and luckily you’re given such a great base really for as quirky as it can be. This is a love story about two people who would never come together and how they worked around their very blatant, concrete differences and circumstances and really come together Chris, he just knew, because he’s just a humble guy and an enthusiastic guy, he’s like, ‘Actually, the way I want to shoot this, is like this.’ And just you gotta go with it. And it worked. And truthfully, a lot of times, when you only have a couple angles, producers, editors, everybody else when you get into the editing room, they all get scared, because it’s like, ‘Can we cut to something and put a sound cue in there and that’s gonna make people laugh?’ Just trust it. Trust it and let it sit.”

Step 9: Trust your cast to trust you
D’Arienzo: “It’s completely terrifying at times, but when you’re actually working — one of the things we wanted to do was do lots of masters and let scenes play out in one shot and you can only really do that if you have really great actors. So, once we were actually working and we were in this kind of structure and OK, we’re going to try this all out here in this one shot, then I was completely at ease because I didn’t have to worry. Everyone was just completely at the top of their game.”

Sevigny: “I have to say it was the calmest set I have ever been on. And one of the funniest. I mean, everybody was so relaxed. So mellow, and everybody got along. I was like, ‘What the hell is going on? Are we making a movie here? Shouldn’t there be tension? Shouldn’t people be screaming about getting the shot?’ We did really minimal takes and minimal set ups. It was really nice. It was really laid back.”

How to Watch: “Cop Out”

Published on February 26, 2010 in Movies and Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Step 1: Is it a Cop Out to make a throwback to the ’80s buddy cop comedy instead of doing something original? Maybe, but at least it’ll make you laugh out loud a few times.

Step 2: Tell me if you heard this one before: Two veteran NY cops, Jimmy Munroe (Bruce Willis) and Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan), who’ve been partners forever and who like to do the whole good cop/bad cop thing when they interrogate suspects, get chewed out by their boss and suspended for destroying property in a stake out/chase that goes awry. But that doesn’t stop them, oh no. They end up involved in catching a crazy, badass Mexican drug lord (Weeds‘ Guillermo Diaz) with the two other, more straight-and-narrow detectives (Kevin Pollack and Adam Brody), all while trying to recover a stolen baseball card worth thousands to Jimmy – his only means to pay for his daughter’s wedding.

Step 3: Realize it’s all too familiar – except for maybe that last part about Jimmy and his daughter’s wedding – so much so that you feel like you’ve actually gone back 25 years and stepped onto a set of Beverly Hills Cop or Lethal Weapon, with the bad ’80s techno soundtrack and everything. I’m sure this is all intentional on Kevin Smith’s part, who – for the first time in his career – is only the director for hire. Yet, even if he didn’t write it, Cop Out has Smith’s paw prints all over it, which in this case, is a good thing since Smith clearly loves the genre and pays outrageous homage to it.

Step 4: Laugh, if you want to. There are definitely some hilarious bits – many you’ve already seen in the trailer, but a few more you haven’t. The always good Willis plays it straight for the most part, while the often annoying Morgan spews his lines in a rapid fire, spittle-filled delivery. The two make an unusual pairing, without some of that deep-seated camaraderie of, say, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, but Willis and Morgan make it work as best they can. I’ve never been a huge fan of the 30 Rock star – and Cop Out doesn’t really change those sentiments – but I do give Morgan some credit for a few of the film’s laughs. I attribute most of my LOL moments, however, to Seann William Scott, who kills it as an irritating thief into Parkour. He steals every scene he is in.

Level of difficulty in watching Cop Out: Not too hard. While Cop Out certainly couldn’t be considered stellar entertainment, it also doesn’t pretend to be anything else but what it is: a sometimes riotous, mostly silly buddy cop flick.

How to Watch: “Youth in Revolt”

Published on January 9, 2010 in Movies and Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Step 1: What to say about Youth in Revolt? Well, it’s yet another coming-of-age tale with some familiar and recognizable quirks, but it’s also pretty damn amusing. Michael Cera puts another notch in his droll performance belt.

Step 2: Revolt, youth, revolt! Or, at the very least, get very cross with your parents once in awhile. That’s the general premise of C.D. Payne’s Youth in Revolt novels on which the film is based. We are introduced to one Nick Twisp (Cera), a teenager wise beyond his years. He has inattentive divorced parents, a depressive best friend, hates school – and has never been kissed by a girl. That all changes, however, when he meets Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday) while vacationing in a trailer park with mom (Jean Smart) and her boyfriend du jour. Sheeni is bright, beautiful but also a bit aloof and unattainable. She also has a thing for French bad boys. Nevertheless, Nick falls hard and while obstacles seem to keep them apart, Nick makes it his mission to be with Sheeni, at any cost – even creating a rebellious French, mustached alter ego named Francois to impress her. And Francois is indeed baaaaad …

Step 3: Stay offbeat. In the hands of director Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl, Chuck and Buck), Youth in Revolt comes off slightly more skewed than your typical coming-of-age story, which saves the film from becoming a cliche. Indeed, Arteta adds animated flourishes, clever voice over techniques and other quirky devices to tell screenwriter Gustin Nash’s adapted story and keeps the audience engaged. Of course, casting Michael Cera helps a bunch, too. Apparently, Cera is a huge fan of Payne’s books and was itching to play Nick Twisp, so that extra level of passion from the actor shines through. I mean, as much passion as the dry-witted Cera is able to muster up. So long as there are sardonic yet geeky teen roles out there to play, you’ve got Cera or Zombieland‘s Jesse Eisenberg to handle them with aplomb.

Step 4: Gather an equally hilarious supporting cast. Youth in Revolt sports some great supporting performances from the likes of Jean Smart as Nick’s slutty mom, Steve Buscemi as Nick’s beleagured dad, Justin Long as Sheeni’s mushroom-lovin’ brother, Mary Kay Place and M. Emmet Walsh as Sheeni’s bible-thumpin’ parents, Fred Willard as a wacky, bleeding-heart neighbor and Zach Galifianakis and Ray Liotta as the mom’s boyfriends. Good stuff.

Level of difficulty in watching Youth in Revolt: Easy as knocking over your cereal bowl at the family breakfast table as an act of rebellion.

How to Watch: “The Men Who Stare at Goats”

Published on November 8, 2009 in Movies and Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: .

clooney-staring-at-goatsStep 1: Take a wonderfully farcical premise based on fact and turn it into a mostly entertaining, sometimes sluggish film about Men playing preposterous war games – with their minds.

Step 2: Stare at a goat really hard to see if you can make it fall down dead. That’s just one of things Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) was trained to do when he joined the New Earth Army back in the day, a top-secret, experimental military unit in which soldiers became “Warrior Monks” and were taught to use psychic powers for warfare. But since the dismantling of the unit, the soldiers have scattered to the winds, including the New Earth Army’s founder Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) and of course, Cassady. That is, until a reporter named Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), looking for a big story, meets Cassady in the Middle East and finds out about this unique military operation. He then accompanies Cassady on a mind-boggling new mission to search for the missing Django. As wacky as it all sounds, it’s the real truth behind it that is hard to believe.

Step 3: If you can’t bring the goat down yourself, get George Clooney do it. The guy has been on an amazing roll lately. He voices the wily Mr. Fox in the upcoming stop-motion animated Fantastic Mr. Fox, stars in the Oscar baiter Up in the Air – and has a crazy old time in The Men Who Stare at men-who-stare-at-goats-spGoats, teaming up with his old friend and producing partner Grant Heslov, who makes this his directorial debut. It just seems like the actor is having the time of his life as Cassady, like when he makes clouds disperse, or when he does indeed stare at a goat. Bridges is also in fine form as the former war hero who goes all New Age-y and decides to apply some of his feel-good ideologies to military training, while Kevin Spacey plays Larry Hooper, the antithesis to Bridges’ Django, a trained Warrior Monk who takes his skills and uses them for more nefarious purposes. Only McGregor falters a bit, stuck playing the reactor, but he does have some hilarious moments with Clooney.

Step 4: Remember that the goat thing is actually true. Yep, Goats is inspired by journalist Jon Ronso’s bestselling book about a real, U.S. government-funded military operation – the First Earth Battalion – which developed methods of combat by only using the mind. Stranger things have happened in the name of progress, I suppose, but what a great premise for a movie. Problem is, while being hysterical through the first half, Goats loses its ironic edge towards the end, dragging it down a bit. One wonders what the Coen brothers, Clooney’s other best friends, would have done with it.

Level of difficulty in watching The Men Who Stare at Goats: Relatively easy. The title is just awesome enough; I’m seriously thinking about visiting a petting zoo soon …

How to FINALLY Get “Arrested Development” on the Big Screen

Published on September 29, 2009 in Movies and TV. 0 Comments Tags: .

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For the love of god, let’s put an end to all this and just get it going already. Rumors have been swirling for years, it seems like, about cult TV favorite Arrested Development getting a big-screen treatment. Will they? Won’t they? Not that I’m actually scooping anything, since there is an iMDB record and everything, but I did hear today that there is DEFINITELY an AD movie in the works.

At the press interviews for the delightful Whip It, co-star Alia Shawkat (AD‘s Maeby Funke, all grows up now) confirmed that creator Mitchell Hurwitz was busy typing his little fingers off to get a screenplay done and that they could be starting production soon. She hasn’t signed anything official yet, but she said the cast was asked if they were game and available, and everyone said, “Yeah!”

Thank god, now we can stop sweating it and imagine just how twisted a feature-length movie with the f’ed Bluths will be. Oh, and my cool interviews with Whip It‘s director Drew Barrymore, star Ellen Page and some other choice members of the cast — including the adorable Shawkat (who plays Page’s BFF in the film) — are coming up.


How to Watch: “Jennifer’s Body”

Published on September 19, 2009 in Movies. 0 Comments Tags: , .

megan-fox-jennifers-bodyStep 1: Enjoy some quirk with your blood splatter. While certainly not the most innovative of horror comedy flicks, Jennifer’s Body still has some pizazz, thanks to Diablo Cody’s pen.

Step 2: Bust that Body right. Seriously, if you’re a demon looking to possess someone, snagging Megan Fox’s bod has to be considered a major coup. She plays the title character, a small town high school sex kitten, who inexplicably is still BFF’s with her nerdy childhood pal Needy (Amanda Seyfried). They make it work, mostly because the insecure Jennifer can push the adoring Needy around. Needy also has a boyfriend, Chip (Johnny Simmons), which complicates matters. But things get really wonky when Jennifer takes off with a small-time rock band in their van for a little excitement one night, leaving Needy behind, and comes back possessed by a demon who craves human boy flesh. So now, what’s a girl to do when her best friend wants to snack on her boyfriend? Exact some tough love, that’s what.

Step 3: Realize Megan Fox is no Ellen Page. Juno‘s Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody can dish out the cool banter like it’s nobody’s business, but to make it really succeed, you need the right actress to deliver the goods. Fox does an OK job, but she’s not quite adept at zinging the lines with ease, like Page. Big Love‘s Seyfried could probably have done it better, but she is saddled with being the less quippy, more human of the two. The O.C.‘s Adam Brody stands out as the rock band’s callous lead singer, looking for a way to make it to the top and deciding sacrificing a virgin to Satan is the PERFECT solution. Also good is the impeccably brilliant J.K. Simmons, as a high-school teacher helping the kids cope with all the murder and mayhem.

jennifers_body_pic_10Step 4: Admire Cody’s gift for the gab. Jennifer’s Body reminds me of the 1988 Heathers, taking high school conventions and flipping them on their wild, murderous side, all while the cool kids talk the talk. But Cody is wasting her talents on the horror genre. While her Juno combines snark with a very sweet sensibility, Jennifer’s Body isn’t as successful, neither scary nor a comment on social norms. Blame could also be on its director Karyn Kusama’s lack of experience, having done just a few things before, such as Girlfight. Still, I can see where the appeal might come in, what with Fox’s smoky hotness and lesbian tendencies in the film. In fact, in the theater with me at 10:45 am were mostly young 20-something males. And me. What does that mean?

Level of difficulty in watching Jennifer’s Body: Not half bad. Let’s just say, it’s infinitely better than watching Sorority Row.

How Rob Zombie Does Animation

Published on September 6, 2009 in Movies. 0 Comments Tags: , .

As only Rob Zombie can — with lots of sexy babes, lots of blood, big-ass guns, the Devil, and a superhero named El Superbeasto. Here’s the R-rated trailer to his newest endeavor, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto:

I asked Rob Zombie if he’d ever think about doing a comedy and THIS is what he comes up with. Gotta love the dreadlock-ed one.

How to “Stare at Goats”

Published on August 30, 2009 in Movies. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Verrry carefully and with strong intent because goats are tricky. I blogged awhile ago about George Clooney’s next movie The Men Who Stare at Goats and what a great title it was, with any number of scenarios it could denote. Well, here’s the trailer — and it certainly looks entirely intriguing and hilarious, don’t you think?

How to Watch: “Inglourious Basterds”

Published on August 21, 2009 in Movies. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

basterds1Step 1: Revel in the Glourious-ness that is Inglourious Basterds, writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s marvelously skewed take on WWII.

Step 2: Rewrite history. Ah, if only Tarantino’s little fable about killing Nazis were the way it actually happened. In QT’s head, there’s a group of Jewish-American soldiers – lead by one Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), aka Aldo the Apache – who are dropped into occupied France and begin systematically wiping out every known Nazi in the territory. They are dubbed the Inglourious Basterds – and they scare the crap out of Hitler. Meanwhile, Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent), a Jew who had to watch the execution of her entire family, lives undercover as a Parisian theater owner. She hatches her own plan for revenge when Hitler’s second-in-command, Joseph Goebbels (Sylvester Groth), decides he wants to premiere his latest propaganda film at her theater – with all high-ranking officers of the Third Reich in attendance, including the Fuhrer himself. Shosanna’s plan soon coincides with the Basterds’ next terrorist act – and it’s spectacular.

Step 3: Always admire Tarantino’s casting choices. The auteur loves to either discover new talent (Reservoir Dog‘s Steve Buscemi), reacquaint audiences with character actors he has always loved (Jackie Brown‘s Pam Grier or Kill Bill‘s David Carradine) or boost a big-name actor’s career that has stalled (Pulp Fiction‘s John Travolta and Bruce Willis or Kill Bill‘s Uma Thurman). But with basterdsABBasterds, he goes one step further and introduces American audiences to an array of wonderful European actors, including French actress Laurent, as the wounded Shosanna, and Austrian actor Christoph Waltz [pictured], as the sadistic yet highly intellectual SS Col. Hans Landa. But of course, everyone is going to associate Basterds with Brad Pitt, who turns in yet another quirky and hilarious performance as the Nazi hunter with a thick Tennessee accent. “We’re in the Nat-zi killing business and business is booming!” Gotta love him for continually stepping outside the box.

Step 4: Also gotta love a Tarantino set piece. He has really perfected combining stark violence with mood-building music, stylized camera shots – and most importantly, thought-provoking dialogue. Boy, does Quentin like it when his characters make speeches. Some have criticized him for his overindulgence, but I’ve always found it fascinating – from Samuel L. Jackson’s soliloquy in Pulp Fiction to David Carradine’s diatribe in Kill Bill, Vol. 2 to the girls in Death Proof talking about taking a test drive in a 1970 Dodge Challenger, the same car from Vanishing Point. I mean, Tarantino has got a whole MESS of crap — film related and otherwise – trapped in that fervent brain of his that he feels ultimately compelled to pay homage to. In Basterds, it’s WWII stuff (especially the 1978 Italian film Inglorious Bastards), German cinema, big Jews with bats and much more.

Level of difficulty in watching Inglourious Basterds: Easy as bashing in a Nazi’s head. OK, maybe that’s not as easy for some, but Tarantino sure makes it look that way.