... And I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.

(I'll spare you the obligatory Richard Gere joke.)

It’s no secret that I’m a huge admirer of Quentin Tarantino’s films, to the point where I generally avoid the subject in public – lest I come off as some kind of obsessive drooling fanboy who tosses aside all critical objectivity every time someone says word one about QT.

But, since the teaser trailer for Tarantino’s latest, the Dirty Dozen-style WWII adventure Inglourious Basterds, was released earlier this week, please allow me to toss aside all critical objectivity and come off as some kind of obsessive drooling fanboy for just a moment:

OMFG I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!




Okay, rational Nick is back now. And rational Nick remembers that he found QT’s last film, the half of Grindhouse known as Death Proof, deeply disappointing on a whole lot of levels (not so Robert Rodriguez’s half, the delightfully disgusting zombie epic Planet Terror, which I loved). So even a guy like me has to take the hype for Inglourious Basterds with a grain of salt, despite how exciting this well-put-together teaser trailer may be. I’m not saying that QT has lost his mojo or anything – heck, a lot of folks really liked Death Proof – but the war-film genre is untested territory for him, and already there’s been a low rumble of complaining from fans on the web who aren’t quite buying Brad Pitt’s “I want my scalps” bit from the trailer.

But I’m confident that Tarantino will surprise us all once again with Basterds, just as he did with the Kill Bills – a pair of films I wasn’t entirely sold on when I first read about them, but have come to appreciate just as much as all his others.

A few assorted things about the trailer:

1. This flick looks violent. Like, seriously violent. I know over-the-top bloodletting has been a staple of QT’s cinema from the grue-spattered opening of Reservoir Dogs onward, but something in this trailer makes me think that Inglourious Basterds is going to significantly up the ante even for him. Aside from Pitt’s character’s “disemboweled, dismembered, and disfigured” speech – which elicits a sick little smile from co-star Eli Roth – we also get a baseball-bat-to-the-head bit that’s tough enough to watch even in TV-sanitized form, a character charging through a building with minigun blazing, a guy with a swastika carved into his forehead (yowch!), and so on. Some will argue that stylishly horrific violence is all QT had going for him in the first place, but I strongly disagree – and I hope that this film offsets its nastiness with humor, intelligence, and personality just as skillfully as his earlier films did.

2. The teaser trailer offers only a few quick glimpses of Melanie Laurent’s character, a Jewish girl who has fled from the Nazis, even though her role is supposedly a pretty big piece of the overall story. I’m really interested to see what Tarantino does with this character, since it seems as if she appeared rather late in Basterds’ very, very long development cycle. If anybody can successfully shoehorn a hard-boiled heroine into an otherwise testosterone-drenched Dirty Dozen/Magnificent Seven-type setup, it’s Tarantino, and his knack for crafting memorable female characters (The Bride, Jackie Brown, Mia Wallace, etc.) bodes well for Laurent’s contribution to the film.

3. That Hitler thing at the end is really, really corny. If that’s the payoff to something, I hope whatever it is is very well set up.

Another year over, another few hundred movies sat through, and yet, still no definitive opinions from this blogger on which ones I’ll be most excited to see again. You might ask, what gives, Nick? Have you lost your desire to weigh in on what’s good and what sucks? Did you suddenly decide that year-end Top 10 lists are beneath you? Were you so overwhelmed by the warm and fuzzy glow of Slumdog Millionaire that all other movies ceased to have any meaning to you?

The answer to all those questions is no (and for the record, I thought Slumdog was entertaining but a little overrated). The simple reason I haven’t made a ten-best list yet is that I still haven’t been able to see a few films that I think have a good chance of making it – namely, Gran Torino, The Wrestler, and Revolutionary Road – and I’d hate to have to leave them out just so I could be on time with my list. And, trust me, folks, I certainly would have caught those movies already if not for the studios’ unfair and patently ridiculous awards-season “limited release” strategy explained in this New York Times story. But, rather than continue my complaining, I’m just going to look forward to seeing some new work from three of my favorite filmmakers as it finally makes its way to Connecticut theaters in the next few weeks.

And then, it’s time to make a list that few people want and nobody needs, but I’m going to have a freaking awesome time putting together. Looking forward to it already.

We're a little more than a month away from the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and after a few days of poring over this year's slate of selected films, I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think there are going to be some really incredible movies playing at Park City this year, as there always are. But based on the vague and oddly nondescipt descriptions offered by the fest's organizers, I really can't tell at this point which are going to be world-changing and which are going to be as generic and yawn-inspiring as the one-sentence blurbs I've been reading about them. And since I unfortunately won't be attending Sundance (unless some kind soul would be generous enough to toss a press pass my way), I guess I'll have to wait until the early reviews come out to see what films might be worth the effort when they inevitably get bought and distributed.

In any case, here are a few of the ones that sound appealing to me:

Adventureland

The "official" description: "the story of a college grad who gets a job at an amusement park."

My take: Written and directed by Superbad's Greg Mottola, this raunchy, very retro-looking coming-of-age comedy is going to be one of the funniest films of 2009. You simply can't go wrong with Bill Hader, Kristin Wiig, and Ryan Reynolds playing supporting roles, and Mottola's obviously got the chops to do this kind of old-fashioned R-rated comedy right. Plus, you've got to factor in the nostalgia factor -- the film is semiautobiographical, based on Mottola's experiences working at a theme park as a teenager.




Moon

The "official" description: "about the adversity faced by an astronaut (Sam Rockwell) about to return to Earth after three years on the moon."

My take: Not much is known about this U.K.-produced sci-fi film from first-time feature director Duncan Jones, but with reliable Rockwell in the lead, you've got to expect something pretty interesting. Judging by the poster, Moon looks like the kind of cold, creepy sci-fi that I absolutely love - Danny Boyle's Sunshine is one of my favorite films of the last few years - and I'm fascinated by the idea of Kevin Spacey providing the voice for Rockwell's robot co-star. Jones's dad, by the way, is David Bowie - and while being the son of the guy who dreamed up Major Tom doesn't necessarily qualify someone to direct a movie about a spaced-out astronaut, it sure as hell couldn't hurt.

The Missing Person

The "official" description: "a detective genre piece about a private investigator tailing a man on a train who turns out to be someone presumed dead in the 9/11 attacks."

My take: Post-9/11 noir, eh? Sounds good to me. I'm not familiar with writer/director Noah Buschel (he's got one other indie feature under his belt), but The Missing Person's premise is intriguing and certainly promises more than just a run-of-the-mill P.I. tale. Michael Shannon, so great in William Friedkin's Bug, stars.

Black Dynamite

The "official" description: "a high-camp blaxploitation send-up about '70s 'legend' Black Dynamite taking on 'the Man.'"

My take: This trailer is awesome in more ways than I can count.

Darren Aronofsky is one of my favorite filmmakers in the world, but even I balked a year or so ago when I heard that his next film would be the story of an aging professional wrestler.

I mean, sure, Requiem For a Dream wasn’t really groundbreaking in terms of its subject matter, either, but the theme of drug addiction allowed Aronofsky to let loose with some truly striking and surreal visual ideas – and the film turned out to be a masterpiece. But how, I wondered, could the spandex ‘n suplex crowd possibly hold any appeal for such a visionary filmmaker, especially since his last movie (2006’s glorious metaphysical sci-fi drama The Fountain) was essentially a huge-scale meditation on the nature of human existence itself?

Well, whatever drove Aronofsky to make The Wrestler, the trailer is now out, and let me just say one thing: it looks great (you can view it in beautiful HD here at Apple.com). Yes, it’s a much less ambitious movie than The Fountain, and no, the visuals probably aren’t going to blow anyone out of their seats, but the drama, humor, and most importantly, humanity on display within the few short minutes of the trailer lead me to believe that all those glowing early reviews weren’t just hype – this might end up being the best film of 2008. I mean, heck, Aronofsky’s pulled off some pretty amazing cinematic feats before, but actually making notorious sleazeball Mickey Rourke seem like a sweet, warmhearted guy? That takes a filmmaker of very, very significant talent.

So when this film finally comes out next month, I’ll be there. And when Aronofsky announces that his next movie will be about an aging roller derby queen (played by Rourke’s ex, Carre Otis) who straps on her skates for one last bone-crushing ride around the rink, I’ll be looking forward to it from the get-go.

One of the most promising-looking movies that you probably won’t get to see in theaters this fall is the indie dramedy Humboldt County, the feature debut of writing/directing duo Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs.

I checked out the trailer (here it is over at Apple.com) knowing little about the film, and was very impressed with what I saw – everything from the cinematography to the performances look to be pretty spot-on in this small-scale but seemingly heartfelt tale of a mentally burned-out med student (Jeremy Strong) who winds up in an off-the-grid California community of tightly-knit medicinal marijuana growers. Director Peter Bogdanovich, a guy I always love to see in front of the camera, plays Strong’s hard-nosed doctor father; the talented but not exactly name-brand supporting cast also includes Fairuza Balk, Frances Fisher, and Brad Dourif.

According to the directors’ blog, the film is slated for a select-cities release on September 26 that will probably bypass our area entirely, although it will be available to HDNet subscribers in “exclusive airings” starting on September 1.

Yes, Humboldt County does seem to have a familiar, Garden State-ish ring to it, but something about this movie – and, no, it’s not the pot-related plot – seems pretty special, and I hope it makes its way to our corner of the world before too long.

Here’s a low-res look at the trailer, though the HD version at Apple does the film’s gorgeous visuals a lot more justice:

In the buzzed-about comedy Hamlet 2, out in limited release this week, a frustrated drama teacher (played by Steve Coogan) motivates his students and shocks the censors by producing a politically incorrect musical “sequel” to Shakespeare’s Hamlet in which Hillary Clinton and Jesus Christ are both supporting characters.
Of course, Shakespeare having lived and died long before copyright law was established, his works certainly can be freely adapted by anybody willing to take a crack at them – and while some folks, like Orson Welles and Kenneth Branagh, have taken pride in staying true to the Bard’s vision in their adaptations, plenty of others have dared to take some gutsy and occasionally dazzling liberties with the plays everybody knows and loves. In honor of Hamlet 2’s not-quite-reverent approach to the greatest tragedy of all time, here are a few films that really pushed the envelope in bringing Shakespeare to the screen – being something of a nonconformist himself, I think he would have enjoyed them a lot.

O (2001)

Shakespeare’s Othello revolves around jealousy, prejudice and back-stabbing, and where can one possibly find more of that stuff than in high school? Still, while transferring the story to a modern teenage setting might have been a no-brainer, Tim Blake Nelson’s O goes the extra step to be a compelling drama rather than just another gimmicky modernization.
Mekhi Phifer – in one of his best performances to date – stars as basketball phenom Odin James, the only black student at a prestigious private school who’s driven by duplicitous teammate Hugo (Josh Hartnett) into suspecting his girlfriend Desi (Julia Stiles) is cheating on him. Things, of course, get tragic and violent from there.
A powerful and surprisingly unsparing adaptation – it was shelved for several years after the Columbine tragedy – O is a terrific reminder of how relevant many of Shakespeare’s themes still are, and of how effectively they can be spun into contemporary narratives in the right hands.

Tromeo & Juliet (1996)
Leave it to the lovable sleazeballs at Troma Studios to turn the most famous romantic tragedy ever written into an orgy of blood, boobs, and body piercing that makes the Leo DiCaprio version look as tame as children’s theater.
That’s not to say that Tromeo & Juliet, one of Troma’s most ambitious and well-received low-budget productions, completely throws the text out the window – characters actually speak in verse, though it’s liberally sprinkled with cuss words – but somehow I doubt that the Globe Theatre ever featured mutated cow creatures or softcore lesbian action on its stage. Narrated by Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmeister (an awesome touch), Tromeo and Juliet finds its lovestruck title characters (played by Will Keenan and Jane Jensen) caught in the midst of a war between rival porn-producing families in an urban crap-hole setting, soundtracked by the likes of Wesley Willis and the Ass Ponys.
The film launched the career of its writer, James Gunn, who’d go on to script the surprisingly decent Dawn of the Dead remake and his later directorial debut, the underappreciated horror/comedy masterpiece Slither.

Macbeth (1971)

Unlike the 2001 Sundance favorite Scotland, Pa., which stages Macbeth in a 1970s-era fast-food restaurant, or the John Turturro cult item Men of Respect, which translates it into a mafia movie, Roman Polanski’s take on one of the Bard’s best-known tragedies is actually pretty faithful to the source material. It nevertheless makes this list by being so bloody, gritty and atmospheric that it plays more like an artsy, big-budget grindhouse flick than a stately Shakespearian drama.
Wild-eyed British actor Jon Finch plays the title role in this U.S./U.K. coproduction, which contains a memorably sympathetic portrayal of Lady Macbeth (Francesca Annis) and an exceedingly bleak tone that many critics saw as Polanski’s reaction to the murder of his wife Sharon Tate by the Manson family. As dark and cold as its rocky Welsh settings, the film is one of the most “realistic” screen versions of the story I’ve ever seen, though it also contains some decidedly trippy sequences – particularly those involving the story’s infamous coven of witches. The sound effect that accompanies Macbeth’s hallucinations in the famous “is this a dagger I see before me” scene is worth the price of admission alone.

Titus (1999)

Broadway director Julie Taymor made her feature film debut with this visually stunning adaptation of Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare’s first and most notorious play – a charming tale of rape, murder, and torture that seems more like the work of the Hills Have Eyes folks than it does the guy who penned A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Rather than going for a straight-up retelling or modernization of the sensationalistic story, however, Taymor opts for a wildly stylistic, almost avant-garde approach to the material, creating a jaw-dropping hybrid of past and present, fantasy and reality in which motorcycles coexist with chariots, flashbacks are presented in music video-like style, and toy soldiers transform into actual Roman warriors. Anthony Hopkins, playing the title role, heads a terrific cast that also includes Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers; the ace production design, inspired by everything from ancient Rome to WWII Italy to Rat Pack-era Las Vegas, is handled by Fellini’s go-to guy Dante Ferretti.
This is a nearly three-hour movie, based on one of the most unpleasant stories ever written, but trust me – you won’t be able to take your eyes off of it for the duration.

Normally here in Movie Match I’m all about looking back on films you might have missed, but this week – it being the unofficial start of summer movie season and all – I thought, just this once, it might be more fun to look forward.

I’ll tell you exactly what I’m looking forward to: the awesome-looking comic book adaptation Iron Man, which finally arrives in theaters tomorrow after tantalizing fanboys like myself for the better part of a year with its Robert Downey Jr. wisecracks and cooler-than-Transformers-looking robo-slugfest action scenes. Early reviews – even some of the more negative ones -- have pegged this film as a surefire start to a lucrative new franchise, and that’s probably a good thing for comics-to-screen fans. Why? Because Hollywood lately seems to have exhausted all the superheroes your mom might be familiar with (Spider-man, Batman, Hulk, that blue tights guy, et al) and is soon going to have to rely on lesser-known comics properties like Iron Man to keep butts in the seats. That may actually end up being a positive, since it frees filmmakers up from having to pay lip service to the well-worn origin stories and character traits of the heroes everybody already knows and allows them to cut loose with unique and original visions of less-famous characters, like Guillermo Del Toro did with his Hellboy series. I’m not saying all second-tier superhero flicks are necessarily worth catching (Elektra, anyone?), but here are just a few of the ones coming out in the next year or so that should give the genre a shot in the arm.

Wanted
This eye-popping adaptation of Mark Millar and J.G Jones’s comics miniseries is sure to be one of this summer’s hot tickets – if the film can live up to one of the coolest trailers I’ve seen in a while, that is. The story of an average office drone (James McAvoy) who discovers that his murdered father belonged to a super-secret, superpowered band of assassins who now want to recruit him, Wanted promises over-the-top action by the truckload, as energetically directed by Timur Bekmambetov – the guy behind the stylish (if not entirely coherent) Night Watch trilogy. The cast is a big asset here, with Angelina Jolie stepping into familiar bad-girl territory as the veteran hit-woman who shows McAvoy the ropes; co-stars Morgan Freeman, Common, and Terence Stamp should give the flick a big boost, too. You can catch it starting June 27 – if your local multiplex is willing to pull a few screens away from The Dark Knight, that is.

Punisher: War Zone
2004’s Punisher movie, starring Thomas Jane as vengeance-driven antihero Frank Castle, was not one of the better adaptations out there, but the film’s impressive dvd business and the character’s enduring popularity still paved the way for a sequel that’s set to drop this fall. Jane’s out as Castle this time – “creative differences,” so he’s said – so Ray Stevenson of TV’s Rome will be taking his place as the new Punisher, with 300’s Dominic West joining the franchise as disfigured villain Jigsaw. The film is reportedly darker, bloodier, and more in the spirit of the “adult” Punisher comics than the somewhat sanitized (but still pretty violent) 2004 film, and director Lexi Alexander’s rough and critically acclaimed soccer flick Green Street Hooligans proved that she’s definitely got a handle on this type of testosterone-soaked material. The tentative release date is December 5.

The Spirit
The solo directorial debut of comics guru Frank Miller, The Spirit takes a character created by late comics guru Will Eisner and throws him into a very cool-looking live-action/animation hybrid a la Robert Rodriguez’s Miller adaptation Sin City. Relative newcomer Gabriel Macht plays the title role, a dedicated cop who’s resurrected as a darkness-dwelling crimefighter who has a way with the ladies and a Batman-like bond with the city where he does his bidding. Samuel L. Jackson handles villain duties as The Octopus, while a rather amazing lineup of female costars – Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, Jaime King, and Paz Vega – play the many women in The Spirit’s life, both good and evil. The film releases January of next year, but to whet your appetite you can check out the short but very promising teaser trailer at the film’s official site, http://www.mycityscreams.com/.

Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam
This one’s still in the scripting stages, but actually, that has a lot to do with why I’m so excited about it. A take on the not-exactly-well-known Captain Marvel saga, this clunkily titled adaptation (expect that to get shortened by the time it’s actually done) comes to us from super-scribe John August, best known for working with Tim Burton on films like Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and my favorite, Big Fish. Since the Cap’s story is one of the cornier ones in the comics universe – Billy Batson is a teenager who becomes the superpowered Captain Marvel when he utters the magical word “Shazam!” – you can expect August to have some tongue-in-cheek fun with the adaptation; this sure as hell ain’t gonna be Batman Begins, but I think a more lighthearted, campy, self-aware kind of superhero movie could be a blast if done right. No word yet on when we’ll get to find out, but the film does already have a director (comedy guy Peter Segal) and a lead villain: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who’s agreed to play the Cap’s nemesis, Black Adam.

I'll admit, there's probably at least one movie-related news item per day -- and usually quite a few more than one -- that gets my film-geek blood racing, but every once in a while one little scrap stands out that really floats my proverbial boat.

Today, it's the news -- via JoBlo.com and Collider -- that Shane Black has a new film in the works, his first since 2005's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I wouldn't hesitate to put Kiss Kiss up there with some of my favorite films of all time, and unlike most of the other flicks on that list (say, Taxi Driver or LoTR: Fellowship of the Ring), it's one that's not too depressing and/or long to watch multiple times in the same week, night, or whatever. The film, if you haven't yet seen it, is a comedic neo-noir that plants its feet firmly on the comedy side of things, paying loving tribute to "serious" private eye movies throughout -- and also, to a lesser but no less amusing extent, skewering the ever-loving crap out of Hollywood phoniness (which Black surely knew first-hand as the young, in-demand screenwriter of such action classics as Lethal Weapon and The Long Kiss Goodnight). Black's dialogue is some of the sharpest and funniest I've ever heard in a movie, and Robert Downey, Jr. is perfectly cast as the thief-turned-actor-turned-detective who carries us along through Black's self-reflexive, endlessly witty string of twists, double-crosses, and, uh, severed finger gags.

So, um, where were we? Oh right, Black's new movie. Well, actually, there isn't much to report on it as of yet, but what I do know is this: it's going to be called The Nice Guys, it'll be produced by long-time Black supporter Joel Silver, and -- best of all -- it's reportedly going to be another "detective story." I know lightning doesn't always strike twice with these things, but hey... it seems like Black has all his ducks in a row so far. Personally, I'm extremely happy that he's even getting the chance to give this genre another shot, since Kiss Kiss absolutely (and quite undeservingly) tanked at the box office. Here's hoping moviegoers will catch on this time around.
And, because I just couldn't end this post without it, here is just one of my favorite scenes from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, featuring Downey and Michelle Monaghan. Did I mention I freakin' love this movie?

Post-apocalyptic action movies may not be as trendy now as they were in the 80s — I guess that's one of the downsides of the Cold War being over — but every once in a while a filmmaker comes along and reminds us of how cool Mad Max and all its many imitators could be.

This time around, it's Neil Marshall, director of The Descent, who'll be unleashing his end-of-civilization thiller Doomsday on March 14. The trailer is up now at Yahoo! Movies — you can check it out here — and, from the looks of it, this one's taking a decidedly old-school approach to the post-apoc genre, tattooed psycho-punks and all.

I have faith that Marshall, who whipped up some very well-orchestrated scares in The Descent, will knock this one out of the park. Still, the trailer seems a little scattered thematically, recalling both the grim, super-serious, politically inclined approach of most recent post-apoc movies (Children of Men, 28 Weeks Later) and the comic book thrills offered by Escape From New York, the Resident Evil series, etc. If Marshall can successfully combine the two angles, as George Miller did so successfully in The Road Warrior (also an obvious influence here), then Doomsday could very well end up being a genre classic.

Plus, Bob Hoskins and Malcolm McDowell — you just can't go wrong with those guys.