Inglourious Basterds
Quentin Tarantino’s latest film takes us to France during World War II to follow a group of Jewish-American soldiers led by Brad Pitt known to the Germans as “The Basterds.” The purpose of this elite band of soldiers is to strike fear into the hearts of the Germans by scalping and brutally murdering any German soldiers they come across. When the British send in one of their operatives to join the Basterds, their mission has a new objective; one that could end the war.
I loved the opening scene and first chapter to this movie. Even though it was a horrific scene about the Germans looking for Jews being hidden by a family in France, it was the pace of the scene that kind of throws you off. The deliberate nature of the dialogue and the slow pace at which the scene goes, puts you on edge wondering when something is going to happen. The end of the scene shows a side of the German SS officer you wouldn’t expect to see during World War II. Perhaps it was an allusion to what happens at the end of the movie, where two of those characters in the opening scene are brought together.
The music that was selected for Inglourious Basterds was brilliantly picked. Opening the movie with Fur Elise by Beethoven was especially a favorite music selection of mine as I, like Alex, the young narrator from A Clockwork Orange, am a fan of Beethoven. Every musical selection just seemed to fit each scene perfectly, as well as the work of the camera angles and movements of the camera.
There may or may not have been a lot of symbolism in this movie. I never know, because English class was always such a bore for me. Who knows if the authors of the novels we read in school actually intended for certain events to specific items were put in there for a certain reason? Anyway, the end of the movie gives us what could have been some symbolism of a woman in red, a certain film clip going up in a fiery blaze, with the woman cackling. I always take notice when there is a woman in red. Thank you to The Matrix.
Inglourious Basterds was definitely in my top five movies of the summer. Quentin Tarantino is a brilliant director and knows how to keep you engaged in the story. If you have never seen a Tarantino film before, I suggest you brace yourself for a little over-the-top violence and brutality in some scenes. Two scenes in particular where it seemed a little unwarranted. That is Tarantino’s style, so you have to expect that.
Make Money Searching the Web
Not too long ago, I came across the search and win website called Swagbucks. I had heard about sites that you can run web searches on that earn you money, but I was always skeptical of them. I even tried one site, but it was just too tedious and the payout was way too high. When I saw how many sites used Swagbucks to be redeemed for related prizes, I knew it had to be legit and decided to give it a shot.
The main way to earn Swagbucks is of course to search the web. Their search engine is powered by both Google and Ask engines, so you know you’re going to be getting the results that you are looking for, instead of some random hodgepodge from a search engine they designed themselves. Every time you perform a search, you have a chance to win Swagbucks usually in the amount of 1-3 per search.
Other ways to win include shopping at website that they are affiliated with and trading in items you don’t need or want anymore. You earn a certain percentage of Swagbucks for every dollar that you spend at select retailers. Earning that way can really start to add up quickly and you’ll find yourself with a nice stash to be redeemed for some pretty cool prizes. You can also trade in your old cell phones and other electronics for a specified amount. That old cell phone that was just lying around can go to good use after all!
So far I have redeemed my Swagbucks for three prizes. Two have been Cal Ripken Jr. trading cards and one is a Nolan Ryan trading card. I’m looking to revive my childhood and get back into collecting baseball cards again. I have a video of me opening up my first prize on YouTube with my other two winnings coming soon.
If you want a way to make a little extra on the side while at work or even when you’re online at home, I think Swagbucks is a decent way to do so. Check it out for yourself below.
The Ghostbusters Movie You Play
One of the movie series I have always loved since childhood is Ghostbusters. Over the past few years we’ve heard of a new Ghostbusters movie possibly coming out that was on, then off, then on, then finally off. What they came out with instead was the Ghostbusters video game. You mean I get to be a Ghostbuster? The proton pack wearing, fire pole sliding kid inside me is jumping for joy! Pictures of that little guy coming soon.
You play the role of a new recruit and latest addition to the Ghostbusters team. All of the dialogue comes from the main characters and supporting cast, while your character stays silent and absorbs what the team is saying. The dialogue is great; Peter is still the same pathological flirt, and Ray and Egon are still as nerdy as ever, while Winston is the one who puts the big picture together. There are some pretty good lines in the game that will make you laugh a few times, although at some points they seem to talk a little too much when they should be working to finish the job.
Training how to trap a ghost and the first actual mission of the game are two very familiar scenarios that are sure make you grin from ear to ear as I was. The controls for wrangling and trapping a ghost are pretty fun to use. You actually have to struggle to get those little buggers in there. There is of course the slime gun made popular in Ghostbusters 2, as well as two new additions to the proton pack that you learn about later in the game. I love me some Boson Collider!
It was a very excellent game to play. I enjoyed it pretty much all the way through. If you are still a fan of the Ghostbusters and watch it every now and then, you should buy this game or rent it from your nearest store or Gamefly. Who ya gonna call?
Evicting District 9
Last night we saw Peter Jackson’s latest production District 9. The movie has a documentary feel to it which I think makes it one of the better movies I’ve seen this year since it is strays from the normal movie format. Several interviews start off the movie with people describing the events of the aliens’ arrival as well as how they feel about the alien presence. Most of the interviewees dislike the aliens and want them to go home, which is what the aliens want as well. The government and major corporation of the area, on the other hand, want to keep the aliens here to profit from the sales of alien weaponry – if only they could figure out how it works.
The bipedal, bug-like aliens arrived on Earth aboard what seemed to be either a mothership or a giant life raft. Wikus, the main character, is a goofy fellow in charge of evicting the aliens from the slums of District 9 and moving them to an area that is cleaner and more controlled. He really seems to enjoy his job, especially finding illegal weapons and goods that the aliens have been hoarding. When he discovers an unknown alien artifact, his life changes and finds himself on the opposite side of the eviction helping the aliens.
This movie captured the nature of humanity when we are faced with something we are afraid of or don’t understand. We respond with hatred and prejudice. I liked how this was presented with aliens as the discriminated race instead of humans, even though we all know this has happened and unfortunately still happens today amongst us.
I thought the graphics were incredible, especially how real the aliens looked. This movie had great concepts for aliens, weapons, and technology. It simply looked beautifully done. Having a giant mechanized suite with a gravity weapon and lightning cannons would be awesome!
Real American Heroes – G.I. Joe
I didn’t have very high expectations for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Initially, I was excited when I heard another one of my favorite cartoons when I was growing up was going to be made into a movie. Truthfully, my inner child was thrilled, especially when you hear “knowing is half the battle” and “yo Joe!”, but the adult side of me wasn’t all that satisfied with a live-action G.I. Joe.
For most of the movie I felt like I was an observer in a big game of Halo. Every action scene had somebody getting shot in the head, hit in the eye with a dart, or getting their head blown off. It was pretty much a non-stop action ride that keeps your eyes latched onto the screen, because there is so much happening that if you blink you might miss something. That’s a good thing for most people, but I felt like too much was happening and wanted to see what else was going on around the explosions. Maybe that’s why they used so many slow-motion shots.
Even with slow-motion shots you would expect the computer animation to look smooth and realistic. Most of the time, it wasn’t the case. The big chase scene seemed like the timing was off with objects being thrown everywhere unnecessarily, and under the G.I. Joe headquarters in the middle of the desert was glaringly obvious that it was done on a blue screen. It was funny though that Brendan Fraser made a cameo in a movie that had the actor who played The Mummy.
The accelerator suits were a cool concept. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like it was something that was in the physical realm. Who wouldn’t want to have a gatling gun on their wrist like Barrett from Final Fantasy VII? Training the new recruits who got to use those suits could have been left out of the final cut. It was a good waste of about fifteen to twenty minutes.
There were also too many flashbacks to set up the story. Those flashbacks could have been used to help the plot of the next movie. Instead, they flashed back at least four times with six or seven different characters involved only to kill off one of them that could have made a series better with an ongoing feud.
Just like in Transformers 2, The Rise of Cobra uses a lot of product placement. Luckily for these “sponsors” this movie wasn’t as terrible as the former. General Hawk came riding in, looking all tough like he was from the Hell’s Angels on one of those Spyders that look like inverted tricycles. You can also see the huge logos of Cisco Networks and Norton Internet Security placed strategically on the screen.
If you want non-stop action with a throwback to your childhood days (especially if you grew up in the 80s), you should take a night to see G.I. Joe. Just don’t expect to learn a valuable lesson after the movie.
What do you think, American Heroes or American Zeroes?