Quick Reviews (Oscar edition): The Hurt Locker, A Serious Man

This week I finally completed my mission of seeing all ten Oscar Best Picture nominees. I had to settle for watching "A Serious Man" at home on pay-per-view because it wasn't in any theaters, but I got the full movie experience (so to speak) from "The Hurt Locker."

Breaking my usual format, let me say right up front that my grade for both films is a B-minus. What was interesting was that they got to that destination from different directions. "The Hurt Locker" follows a U.S. Army bomb squad as it defuses explosive devices in Iraq in 2004, but it doesn't really tell a focused story. We see a series of incidents in which the unit is working, and an on-screen caption of how many days remain in their current tour of duty, and some off-duty activity. The sergeant who physically works on the bombs (Jeremy Renner, Oscar Best Actor nominee) gets most of the attention because of his unorthodox ways of working that the other members of his unit feel are too risky. It was tense at times, but sort of meanders along, and it ends sort of as it begins.

There is a tale to be told in "A Serious Man," a dark comedy written, directed and produced by the Coen brothers. In 1967 in suburban Minneapolis, the life of college professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is unraveling. At work, a student complains about a failing grade and leaves behind a cash bribe, and the student's father follows it up with a threat to sue if Larry doesn't take the bribe and change his son's grade. Larry's up for tenure but someone's sent anonymous letters to the school that may be a problem. At home, his wife wants a divorce so she can be with a widowed family friend, his son's about to complete his bar mitzvah but he secretly smokes pot, his daughter seems to be stealing money from his wallet...the problems keep piling up. Larry seeks answers from three different rabbis, but for varying reasons none are able or willing to provide solace. This tale was much more engrossing than "The Hurt Locker," and the use of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody To Love" was creative, but the end was jarring, a real "WTF?" kind of ending.

So, now that I've seen all ten nominees, this would be my Best Picture ballot (the new rules ask that voters rank the nominees from 1 to 10, and a formula using those rankings is applied if one film doesn't win a majority of first-place votes) if I had one:

1. Up In The Air
2. Precious
3. Up
4. District 9
5. An Education
6. Inglourious Basterds
7. The Blind Side
8. A Serious Man
9. The Hurt Locker
10. Avatar

Quick Review: Inglourious Basterds

I don't know if I can do "Inglourious Basterds" justice. I'm not up to speed on all of Quentin Tarantino's films, and all of the things that have influenced him, but it seems like he throws every one of his influences -- other films, music, whatever -- into this movie somewhere, and to me it's kind of jarring. If he refined it, making a film that's an homage to one style or one theme, it would be more focused. It's hard for me to explain, not being a film scholar or a professional critic. At times I thought it was amazing, and there were other times I just found myself saying, "What the f...?" There's a brilliant performance from Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa, the SS officer known as the "Jew Hunter." I wasn't so crazy about Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine, leader of the Inglourious Basterds, the squad of Jewish-American soldiers in Nazi-occupied France with one goal that is put simply by Raine: "We're in the killin' Nazi business." They do so very violently (so beware if you're squeamish). The premiere of a German propaganda film becomes a chance to take out the entire Nazi leadership, with both the Basterds and a Jewish woman who once escaped Landa's grasp making plans.

If you're a Tarantino fan you'll probably love it. If you really hate his work, you won't want to see it. I'm in the middle, having only seen some of his work and liking some ("Pulp Fiction") more than others ("Grindhouse"). So... My grade: B.