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"Death In Love"

Writer/director Boaz Yakin examines the effects of the descendants of those who survived the Nazi concentration camps in “Death In Love”.  A then young Jewish woman (Jacqueline Bisset) manages to live through her excruciating stretch in a Nazi concentration camp by seducing the doctor who carried out experiments on the prisoners.

She moves to New York and starts a family. Years later, her two grown sons become casualties of her desperate past. Her eldest son works at a deceitful modeling agency that benefits from the dreams of fame seekers. His charming young co-worker helps him to realize that he must embrace change in order to survive. In the meantime, the extremely unsettled mother and her younger son have are in a compulsive, co-dependent cycle that endangers them both. Rated R. Opens July 17.

Popularity: unranked [?]

I have to admit, there have not been a whole lot of World War 2 movies coming out these days.  I guess that whole “greatest generation” buzz just kinda wore off in the face of a depression that’s looking like it’ll make the thirties look like the nineties.  This is why I was actually pretty happy to find a copy of great war movie Defiance, featuring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber.

Craig and Shreiber play the Bielski brothers, a pair of Jews who witnessed the complete destruction of their hometown at the hands of the Germans.  At least they looked like Germans–they seemed to be wearing the right uniform.  But anyway, following the slaughter of all they knew and loved, these simple farmers became freedom fighters, escaping into the woods around their houses, picking up strays as they went.  Eventually, the steadily growing collective built a camp in the woods with shelter for its residence, food storage and dispersal, and even fighting positions.  Sure, there was infighting and privation and sacrifice and everything else, but by and large, they got along well.  In fact, given the state of a lot of OTHER Jews in Europe at the time they were doing pretty nicely indeed.  But of course, this couldn’t last, and eventually the Germans grew tired of the Bielski group’s constant raids and sabotages and killing of German soldiery, so they launched all out war, eventually sending an entire division in a time when every man Hitler could muster was being either thrown at the Russians or at the Americans.

And I’ll be honest with you, this is a GREAT movie.  It’s got a huge runtime by today’s standards—just over two hours in fact—but you will almost barely notice it go by.  There is not a dull moment in this, whether they’re building their camp or blasting Nazis or running from same, there’s always something interesting going on here.

It’s a downright inspirational piece, as people in the midst of a horrible situation grapple with the very worst parts of their humanity, facing greed and rage and the craving for revenge, and yet at the same time, they also struggle to reaffirm their humanity in a time when they’re hunted like animals.

I love how this movie can switch so rapidly and so seamlessly between the most tender feelings humanity can muster for each other and the sheer blinding rage of hatred and warfare and bloodshead.  The dichotomy is just amazing, and watching this is like a blistering mix of themes and flavors all at once, that combines to make a whole far, far greater than the sum of its parts.

We need more movies like Defiance.  We need more characters willing to stand in the breach the way these characters do and willing to face down all the horrors that modern man can generate.  We need a little more uplifting in our movies…but just a little more.  It’s the kind of thing that’s so very easy to overdo.  Maybe Defiance didn’t, but it wouldn’t be hard for anyone else to do it.  It wouldn’t have been that hard for even Defiance itself to overdo it.  But it didn’t, and that’s the great news for all of us.

Basically, Defiance is an amazing movie with top-notch performances, a great cast, and a plotline so uplifting it’s a wonder there isn’t a hole in my ceiling right now just from watching this thing.  It’s definitely worth your time to see this.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Dead Snow is a ticklish horror movie. I posted the original trailer some time ago when I found it on Twitch. If you want to compare trailers, click here for the original.  Dead Snow has a unique way to depict the Nazi era — the Inglourious Basterds would’ve had a field day in this movie.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Viggo Mortensen stars with Jason Isaacs in Good.  The film is a simple one about the Nazi movement in Germany. John Halder is a good, decent individual with family problems. A German literature professor in the 1930s, Halder explores his personal circumstances in a novel advocating compassionate euthanasia. When the book is unexpectedly enlisted by powerful political figures in support of government propaganda, Halder finds his career rising in an optimistic current of nationalism and prosperity.

The movie opens this weekend with Defiance, another Nazi film as well.  Some may think too many movies are being made about Nazi, Hitler and the Holocaust. I beg to differ because it was a terrible past that needs to be told again. An informative book to read about the truth behind Hitler’s motive is “Psychiatrists: The Men Behind Hitler. “

Popularity: unranked [?]

The final trailer for United Artists’ Valkyrie will premiere on Yahoo! Movies around 8pm PST on Thursday, October 30th. In the meantime, Screenhead was sent new production stills and widget that are just too awesome not to share.

Reviews from sneaks have been very positive.  I look forward to seeing this film by Brian Singer who also directed X-men, Superman Returns and The Usual Suspects. My only concern is that the title Valkyrie may not be understood by the public, and thus not know that the film is based on a true story.

Popularity: 1% [?]