Quick Thoughts: World War Z, Only God Forgives, Monsters University

I surprised myself last week by dragging my lazy ass to a staggering THREE preview screenings last week, none of which I had to review... But thought I'd share a few quick words here if anyone cares to read.

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World War Z - It's not as bad as the negative pre-release press (ballooning budget, last minute rewrites) would have you believe, but meh, it's nowhere near as good as you want it to be either. I haven't read Max Brooks' zombie apocalypse novel which it's based on, but word is that Marc Forster's adaptation removes everything remotely interesting in favour of making a dumb, blockbuster action-centric thriller.

The decision to keep carnage off the screen where possible to get a PG-13 rating is crippling and laughable: there's a scene where a character whose hand has just been chopped off is bandaged up with not a drop of blood in sight. You really expect us -- adults -- to buy this? There are a few suspenseful moments, and I was moderately entertained in the moment, but as the film limped to its disappointingly scaled-down climax, I started to care less and less until walking out of the film feeling unsatisfied. World War Z opens on Thursday, and if you hate 3D, I recommend that you do not see it in its worthless 3D state.

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Only God Forgives - I was surprised at how quick this got a screening here.. within a couple weeks of its booing at Cannes! It's not getting boos from me though, but nearly a week since seeing it I'm still yet to be able to formulate a coherent thought about it. Any Ryan Gosling fans casually heading along to see their favourite hunky Drive star act tough and cool will probably be in for a deeply unpleasant time at the movies: Nicolas Winding Refn's ultra-stylized neon-splashed noir, set in the sordid underbelly of Thailand, unfolds with the blood-curdling, unsettling tenor of a horror movie rather than your traditional crime drama.

Gosling's performance, all smoldering glances, is even more pared-down than in Drive; how many pages of dialogue did he have to remember, like two? Maybe less. If you don't mind pure style, visuals and atmosphere over plot and everything else, Refn's film might seduce you. Dig that Alejandro Jodorowsky dedication in the credits. Only God Forgives opens August 1st.

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Monsters University - I for one would prefer if Pixar stuck to new stories instead of cashing on their existing franchises, but when it's as expertly conceived as this Monsters Inc. prequel, it's hard to complain. University definitely has a Pixar-by-numbers feel, as opposed to say, Toy Story 3 - but it's also another a smart, funny and visually dazzling demonstration of what they do best. Monsters University is out in theatres July 11.

The Best Impressions You'll See Today

The dude's good..
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The Good, the Bad & the Inglourious

The initial word wasn't too promising. When Quentin Tarantino's epic WWII flick Inglourious Basterds premiered in Cannes back in May, the response from critics was kinda lukewarm. Now on general release - and post-editorial tweaking - the critics are still divided, but it's definitely getting way more praise than before. I caught the film yesterday afternoon, and found it on the whole, terrific. While he's yet to repeat something on the level of the Reservoir Dogs/Pulp Fiction one-two punch (how can he?) or the quiet restraint and maturity of Jackie Brown (still his best IMHO), this big, bold, audacious movie is a notch above Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 and Death Proof in terms of his artistic progression.

There remains plenty of gleeful, geeky ol' QT adolescence on display, but generally it isn't as gratuitous this time round. All the movie references and in-jokes - from German director Pabst to Italo B-movie genre hack Antonio Margheriti - do serve their purpose to drive the plot forward and aren't solely there to flaunt his encyclopaedic knowledge of cinema. And maybe more so than any other film of his career, his film obsession manifests itself within the narrative in a most literal way that's thrillingly inspired, indulgent and insane at the same time.

If there's one thing Tarantino's proven to be particularly deft at, it's destroying our expectations, or at least destabilising the traditional movie-going experience. The trailer sells Basterds as a gung-ho, action-packed WWII movie. It's not. It's a freakin' art movie, with lotsa subtitles and protracted scenes of nothing but talking, and more talking - but the talk is truly fantastic: poetic, rich, zingy and peppered with lines that act like little time bombs waiting to detonate. It also appears Brad Pitt is leading the action, but he pops in and out throughout, in a manner that's not what you'd normally associate with a lead actor. There's nothing quite normal about the film. But it is some of the most fun I've had in a theatre in a while.

Christoph Waltz's performance? Scene-stealing joy. The third chapter with Melanie Laurent's character, her theatre, meeting Daniel Bruhl, etc? Really magic stuff, Tarantino working on another level - maybe my favourite portion of the film. The opening farm sequence and the "celebrity head" sequence in a basement bar? Shit my pants. Ok, it's not all perfect: I cringed every time Pitt was on-screen doing his OTT redneck schtick. In fact, I cringed whenever ANY of the American cast were on-screen (Eli Roth! Gah!); is the great divide in quality/style of acting between the Euros and the Yanks an intentional thing? And the ending seems a bit rushed to allow any sort of lingering emotion to sink in - pity since there's a death in the climax that's a real shocker and quite heartbreaking.

There's so much in this film; so much that is great, and so much that is squandered greatness. But such is Tarantino. As long as he's got final cut (which is what? as long as he's with the Weinsteins?), he's going to continue to confound, irritate and entertain us with these crazy, personal art films that look like genre exercises but are not.

Trailer: Inglourious Basterds

The new international trailer for Quentin Tarantino's defiantly mispelled WWII flick Inglourious Basterds has hit the web, and it looks fab, though it may be a misleading representation of the film itself. This trailer reveals much more varied footage than previously seen - including some neat cinema scenes (which apparently play a huge part) - and makes it look like a rollicking good ol' men-on-a-mish adventure in the vein of The Dirty Dozen. But online chatter since its lukewarm Cannes debut indicates the film's actually more dialogue than action (not that surprising really, since dialogue's always been QT's thing). Anne Thompson of Variety noted on her blog that Basterds is "an art film, not a calculatedly mainstream entertainment", while the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw said in his one-star review that "everything is just so boring". My love affair with Tarantino ended a while back, but I must admit that this trailer got me a little excited: