Movie reviews

This is a very entertaining futuristic science fiction movie, that has one of the best trailers out there purely for its suspense.

It stars Bruce Willis (Die Hard) as James Cole who has been placed in a psychiatric ward, lead by Kathryn Railly played by the lovely Madeleine Stowe (We were soldiers), in the same ward is Jeffrey Goines played charismatically by Brad Pitt, he simply steals the show in every scene he is in.

Cole tells an unbelieving Kathryn that he is from the future where there are no animals, and a plague has wiped out most of humanity, and his mission is to prevent the first occurrence of the virus that lead to the plague.

However he is constantly taken back to the future for a progress report, which disorientates his thoughts and mindset. It turns out he is a prisoner in the future, and doing this mission will guarantee a pardon.

It seems there are problems sending him back to the correct time line to continue his mission; after being debriefed on how progress on the mission is going. When sent back, in some cases he is several years out of sync with the proposed date he is supposed to be in, with one occurrence landing him in the trenches of the First World War where he is unfortunately shot in the leg.

Of course Kathryn doesn't believe a word he says, and sees him as an advanced delusional schizophrenic, until she happens to look through an archive book of the First World War, and sees a clear picture of James in it, she also happens to have the bullet from World War One in his leg removed and analysed, and she confronts him as to how he came to have a bullet from World War One in his leg.

At this point she begins to believe him, and although James wishes for it not to be true, and that he is still a psychiatric patient (since he prefers this timeline) in a world without a plague, realises he must continue his mission of preventing the plague that has wiped out most of humanity. It becomes a desperate race against time for James and Kathryn to find who is responsible for the plague, the only clue they have to go on is a sect called the Twelve Monkeys that may or may not be responsible for setting off the first instance of the plague.

Labels: 12 Monkeys, Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, drama, fantasy, film review, film reviews, films, Madeleine Stowe, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, science fiction, suspense

This is a very strange, often hilarious, alternate scenario of the Second World War. Focusing on the events surrounding a few individuals who aim to bring down the Third Reich, it is directed by Quentin Tarantino of Pulp Fiction notoriety, so don't be surprised if our protagonists are a little sadistic.

It stars Brad Pitt as Lieutenant Aldo Raine, who leads a team of Jewish-Americans, in occupied France launching hit and run missions, that have managed to make them all legendary with the Nazis as the Inglourious Basterds. Their antics have reached the ears of Hitler himself played by Martin Wuttke. He particularly wants to meet one hapless soldier who was let go as an example when his squad was unfortunate enough to encounter them.

We meet the main antagonist Colonel Hans Landa played superbly by Christopher Waltz (Goldeneye) as a Nazi detective nicknamed "the Jew hunter" for his ability to find stowaways.

He and his soldiers approach a farm run by Perrier LaPadite (played by Denis Menochet) and his three daughters, as typical with Quentin Tarantino films, the suspense builds up during the conversations, with a seemingly ordinary and pleasant conversation that after a short while makes the audience realise the stage is being set, and something ominous is about to happen; possibly to Perrier or his family.

During his conversation Perrier eventually gives in and reveals to Hans that there are Jews hidden under the basement, whereby he orders his men to shoot into the basement, however one of the girls hidden in the basement, Shosanna Dreyfus played by the lovely Melanie Laurent, escapes.

We meet her four years later, as she runs a cinema under an assumed name of course, where much to her frustration she is being chased romantically by a German officer Private Frederick Zoller played by Daniel Bruhl, who is instantly recognised wherever he goes for killing several hundred Allied soldiers as a sniper, the audience will no doubt feel a little sorry for the romantic soldier as since we are privy to the secrets Shohannah carries, we can understand immediately that he has a mountain to climb to stand a chance of any romance. He has gotten so much praise that Hitler's number one in command Goebbels, played by Sylvester Groth has made a film about him, starring Private Zoller as himself, and Goebbels after meeting Shosannah wants the venue for their premiere of this movie in her cinema, but not after she bumps into Colonel Hans, responsible for executing her family some four years earlier, fortunately for her he doesn't seem to recognise her, but she and the audience are in two minds if this is a ploy, as when she ran away from the farm she assumed he didn't see her face.

The Inglourious Basterds hear about the cinema event, as well as a British agent Lieutenant Archie Hicox played magnificently by Michael Fassbander (300, Hex), along with a double agent Bridget Von Hammersmark played by the gorgeous Diane Kruger (National Treasure) intend on causing a large amount of casualties during the premiere, that could possibly end the war.

The versatility of the actors in moving from German to English to French and Italian is impressive.

It is a typical Quentin Tarantino movie, lots of blood, and gore that is amusing but thoroughly enjoyable at the same time.

Labels: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, drama, film review, film reviews, films, Inglourious Basterds, Melanie Laurent, Michael Fassbender, Mike Myers, Movie Review, Movie Reviews, movies, Quentin Tarantino, Second World War