Surrogates

Surrogates is the new sci-fi thriller starring Bruce Willis who plays an FBI agent in a near future world where crime is low and almost everyone uses an android like replica of themselves to do the daily functions of life including their job. Real people lay around at home in an easy chair or their bed with a headset on, while their “surrogate” goes out into the real world. Things turn ugly when real people start being killed with a special weapon that attacks the surrogate’s neural system.

The story wasn’t bad, but I thought the premise of the film was the best part. Imagine reclining safely at home while a younger looking robot version of yourself travels about doing your job, grocery shopping, picking up the kids, etc.

Surrogates has decent character development, interesting characters, and a little forced drama, but with the interesting premise it is definitely worth checking out. Bruce’s young surrogate’s hair seems to channel the blonde hair cut from The Jackel (also a good movie!) but it was neat to see a young Bruce Willis back on the big screen. Lay back, put your headset on, and send your android to the theater to check out Surrogates!

Whiteout

I love Kate Beckinsale. (Kind of a no-brainer huh?). Her Underworld films are awesome. So I was hyped to see her latest movie, Whiteout. From the trailer it looked like a suspenseful thrill ride. Unfortunately only about thirty minutes of the hour and forty-five minute film qualify as a thriller. The first fifteen minutes and the last fifteen minutes. The other hour and fifteen minutes of the script is filled with boring character exposition and hokey flashbacks. Not even old Tom Skerrit’s doctor character can warm up this cold story. His character’s seems rather bored himself in his scenes.

In addition, the cinematography is bland and uninteresting and plain flat. Almost like looking at the storyboards of a comic book. The editing is bad as well. Choppy and scene skipping to the point you never are sure where or when the scene is taking place. (sort of like this review!)

Well I have ripped the movie to pieces without even telling you, the dear reader, what the premise of the movie is. It takes place at a science base at the South Pole in Antarctica. A U.S. Marshal (Kate Beckinsale) is posted there as she attempts to hide from her past. We learn she is about to leave for the “winter” when a body is suddenly discovered on the ice. This begins a series of investigations and close calls with the killer.


It is a typical whodoneit murder mystery which you easily figure out before the reveal at the end. As you may have guessed, I recommend you catch Whiteout on cable when you are stuck inside this winter and no one to play Monopoly with.

Inglourious Basterds

I was expecting a 1967 Dirty Dozen remake, but really that was only a part of the story. The other part was about a young Jewish girl whose family had been slaughtered by the Nazis.

The story begins in German-occupied France, where Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Shosanna escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema.

Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemy as "The Basterds," Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich. The two stories are intertwined when they meet at Shosanna's theater where the German high command is coming to view the lastest German film.

The movie is rife with interesting characters and a decent, typical Quentin Tarantino story and bloodshed.
If you are a fan of his movies, then you won't be dissappointed. Check out Inglourious Basterds!