3. Whip it: Just to get it out of the way, yes, this is Drew Barrymore's directorial debut. Synopsis: Coming-of-age roller derby movie with Ellen Page. The reviews are "generally favorable" but seem all over the board when you read them. There are plenty of plot flaws in the movie and the makeout scene in the pool is too much (i.e. too cheesy). The movie overall does have a certain energy but it also has a certain predictability. I'm sort of so-so on the film.
4. Inglorious Basterds: synopsis - In this Quentin Tarantino film, various parties take advantage of a Nazi movie premier in a bid to try to end WWII. The film had some wit and I actually enjoyed Brad Pitt's Tennessee accent and attitude. I don't know that it is Best Picture worthy, one of the awards for which it was nominated, but I certainly did enjoy the different, if sillier, take on World War II. I will note that, as a fan of good sound, this film had excellent sound. From the scrape of a fork on a plate of strudel to a hand on a rifle's trigger in a bar fight, the sounds were crisp. Some of the music selections were a bit bothersome. At least one song was a song used in Tarantino's Kill Bill and I'm not sure one of the modern-era songs worked.
A sentence in a review in The New Yorker struck me, "'Inglourious Basterds' is not boring, but it’s ridiculous and appallingly insensitive—a Louisville Slugger applied to the head of anyone who has ever taken the Nazis, the war, or the Resistance seriously." Understandably and justifiably most movies made about World War II are serious. The slightly different (read silly) slant on this movie was appealing to me.
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