Repulsion: 3.5 Stars

**I know it seems that I like almost ever movie I watch, but I swear I just know what I like. I'm also not paid for this, so I don't go see every new release. I rarely watch random movies that I don't think I will like, or which receive bad reviews, unless recommended by a trusted friend (although Teresa failed me on The House Bunny) or has an element I know I'm a sucker for (ie: vampires).

Plot: (taken from Criterion's website) Roman Polanski followed up Knife in the Water with this controversial, chilling tale of psychosis. Catherine Deneuve is Carol, a fragile, frigid young beauty cracking up in her London flat when left alone by her vacationing sister. Repulsion is one of cinema’s most shocking psychological thrillers.

I definitely agree with the last sentence of the summary above. Repulsion is surprisingly shocking especially when taken into context of when it was released. We even learn in the supplements that a soft-core pornography distributor looking for a break released the film. While it does desire to repulse us, the film doesn't completely turn the viewer off with it's imagery, but rather pulls us into Carol's mind with a slow build up of tension.

Repulsion can definitely be categorized as an art house film. It is not a title that you're just going to decide to watch again on a Saturday afternoon because it's oh so fun to watch. While it is a bit stuffy at times, Polanski does an excellent job with pacing. He lets this woman slowly unravel in front of you, turning up the tension, the disturbing imagery and pace as the film marches on.

For those who want everything spelled out in black and white (no pun intended) you'll be disappointed with this one. There are subtle hints at time for the reasoning behind Carol's madness, no explanation is ever given, and no background about the character is given either. All we know is that she has a sister, that sister is having an affair with a married man, there is a young gentleman trying to court Carol, and she has a family. The how long's, the why's and the who's are never divulged. That is the point though; your reaction to the events has a lot to do with the meaning of the work. Polanski works with a lot of textures and food imagery to get his point across and even in black and white the nauseating feeling still gets across effectively. I'm sure many papers have been written about the themes of love, sex, subconscious, sensuality, and female oppression etc., found in the film. However, that's not what I'm here for.

Repulsion is a very solid film, and I was happy to discover how much I enjoyed it. I've been catching up on a lot of classics lately, only to find their greatness hasn’t seemed to stand the test of time in my eyes. It isn't the greatest, and it's more of an artistic exercise than anything else, but should definitely be seen by any fan of Polanski or psychological "thrillers" to see where some modern films get their inspiration.

Inglourious Basterds: 4 Stars

Plot: During WWI in Nazi occupied France, a young Jewish girl escapes the brutal assassination of Nazi Col. Hans Landa. Concurrently, a top secret squad called the "Inglourious Basterds" are on a quest to kills as many Nazi's as possible. Three years later the paths of all three cross in a plot to take down all of he high ranking Nazi officials, including Hitler himself, in one fell swoop.

Inglourious Basterds is an excellent film and it's a hell of a lot of fun to boot.

Quentin Tarantino is a diehard movie buff full of, arguably, useless knowledge. He uses this information as inspiration and the foundation for his films, especially Inglourious Basterds. First, the film borrows its name from a 1978 Italian War movie (set during the same time, but with a different plot and correct spelling). Second, one can't help reminisce about The Dirty Dozen while viewing this group of ragtag soldiers. Finally, it opens with a very spaghetti western-esque score, credit sequence and initial scene. In addition to that, there are so many self-realization cinema moments that had me laughing out loud. I don't want to spoil anything, but this is just another reason why his films are so fun to watch for any fan of the medium.

The filmmakers (I chose that word wisely as Tarantino uses the same editor for all his movies, and editing is a far under-appreciated task in the movie industry. I feel this Oscar award should be just as important as directing) have created a World War II dramedy, including campy edits, bursts of ultra-violence and Oscar worthy performances all while staying balanced as a whole. That's not easy to do. The story at the core of the film, which links all of the characters together, could exist in a completely separate film as a successful drama. Basterds could have easily become a caricature of itself with no soul, as the trailer suggests, but Tarantino steers clear of this and constructs a main character that viewers can really connect with and most importantly root for.

Keep an eye on Christoph Waltz during award season. His performance as Col. Hans Landa is unforgettable. He is evil, maniacal, scary and funny all while not being too cartoonish. The casting directors for Tarantino always seem to find great foreign actors for his films that turn in dynamite performances as well. French actress Melanie Laurent as Shoshanna Dreyfus is understated and elegant and almost steals the film without you knowing it.

I'd also like to take this review as an opportunity to discuss the most frequent negative feedback that Tarantino receives, which is the argument that he is all style over substance. I'd just like to say there is nothing wrong with being all style over substance, but I also think his films have more substance that people give him credit for. All of his major works from Jackie Brown through Inglourious Basterds feature empowered female protagonists, and while not all of them are very deep, that fact alone is significant for the history of cinema and will be studied in future film classes.

So to summarize, go see Inglourious Basterds as soon as possible. Its fun, tense, action packed, well crafted/acted and a joy to watch. Oh, and don't be turned off by it's run time, it flew by faster than a lot of one hundred minute dramas out there.