Talking Pictures

“Inglorious Basterds” is one of the year’s best films. Quentin Tarantino does a fantastic job in re-writing history in this deftly entertaining and highly stylized WWII comedy-drama.

The film follows the exploits of the “Basterds,” a group of highly specialized American and Allied soldiers. Led by Brad Pitt, their one job in the war is to kill Nazis. And they do such a good job of it that the Nazi’s tremble at the mere mention of the “Basterds.”

Their story is only one of several subplots in the film. There is the story of a Jewish refugee (Mélanie Laurent) who escapes the Nazi’s as a child but ends up the owner of a popular movie theater in Paris.

And the story of a beautiful actress, played by Diane Kruger, who happens to be a double agent for the Allies. All of these plots eventually come together in one of filmdom’s most rewarding climatic scenes.

“Inglorious Basterds” is simply a must see film. It gets an A and is rated R for strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality.

District 9 is everything last year’s “Cloverfield” should have been. This is an in-your-face documentary-style film that uses its low budget to enhance its special effects.

And because of its low budget, the film actually makes full use of its actors and terrain much better than it would if it had hundreds of millions of dollars to work with. Sometimes I think having the big budgets makes good filmmakers lazy.

District 9 is one of those “you’ll have to experience it” films that comes along once every few years. Non sci-fi fans will probably not be coaxed into seeing it, but if they do they can expect a surprisingly rich and rewarding time at the movies.

District 9 is one of the better films released this year and deserves an A-. It’s rated R for bloody violence and pervasive language.

The Goods stars Jeremy Piven as Dan Ready, a high pressure used car liquidator hired to rejuvenate a failing car dealership.

The film is a throwback to Robert Zemekis’ 1980 film “Used Cars.”

But despite being a retread, “The Goods” does offer up some pretty funny moments here and there and Piven really does a fine job in this erratic uneven comedy.

“The Goods: Live Hard. Sell Hard” gets a C+ and is rated R for sexual content, nudity, pervasive language and drug material.