Ad Astra - To the Stars & Back, NOT a Space Odyssey

The first half of the film, I thought, was well made. A little bit of a slow burn but visually very good and it felt like it was building up to something big. While some shots like the rovers though, were amazing, there was a weird dichotomy in the sets.  The ships and space walks were fantastic but the buildings on the moon and Mars felt like a mix of plain concrete walkways and cheap, nailed together boards and office furniture. 

That aside, I was enjoying the film for the first 2/3s and could see almost Kubrick type elements building to a confrontation and possible psychological break down. 

Unfortunately, the end was a fizzle. No real confrontation or explaination. No really answered questions, no dire threat. And an uneventful return home. In the end, what felt like it could have been a great film, in the style of 2001 a Space Odyssey,  ended up being mediocre at best. 

The Fun of Being a Basterd

So, tonight I went and saw Inglourious Basterds with its quirky cast and even stranger spelling. It ended up being a different film to what I was expecting but, in a lot of ways, it seemed almost subdued for a Tarantino flick. I did enjoy it, though.

While the trailer makes it seem like quite a comedic film, and it really does have its amusing moments, the film is a bit more serious than it first appears. The Inglourious Basterds that are Brad Pitt's character's crack team of Jewish Americans are out to get back a bit of their own by killing Nazi's and keeping count by taking their scalps. By being on Pitt's team, they each owe him 100 Nazi scalps or to die trying. I did like the choice of a baseball bat as a preferred weapon by one of the Basterds, known as The Bear Jew.

Meanwhile, there is also the story of a French Jewish girl who survives the massacre of her family and ends up running a Paris cinema. She would also like to get her own back, especially on a Colonel Landa, the quirky detective SS officer known as The Jew Hunter and who was responsible for the death of her family. Taking out as many of the Gestapo's best and brightest becomes her goal when an opportunity falls into her lap.

In all, it was an entertaining film full of interesting characters, a few odd scenarios, some humor and some great gore effects. All set against a background of a slightly AU WW2. Though it doesn't state it's based on an events in any way, I do hope that no one tries to think this is a documentary in any way. Maybe more of a mockumentary or 'If Only' kind of scenario.

Watch it, enjoy it, though if you miss it in the cinemas and have to rent it, you'll probably get just as much enjoyment out of it.