Pete's weekend roundup: Tarantino is back in all his pulpy glory

Quentin Tarantino is back with a deliciously pulpy WW2 thriller, but that does not mean you shouldn't see District 9.

I had a chance to see Quentin Tarantino's eagerly awaited WW2 epic Inglourious Basterds last week and was pretty much blown away by its cinematic power. The movie stars Brad Pitt and a fantastic European cast of actors, most notably Austrian Christoph Waltz as a Nazi Sherlock Holmes. Playing fast and loose with the real events of WW2, which will undoubtedly offend many viewers, Tarantino offers up his pulpy brand of art house genre film—and completely changes the end of the war in the most audacious ways. The film is like a 2.5 hour Swiss watch, with tension building scenes timed to perfection. Not for everyone, but if you loved Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown...or for that matter, Raiders of the Lost Ark or the Dirty Dozen, it's a must see. Inglourious Basterds opens in wide release today.

Another tension-building masterpiece is showing on Friday, August 21 at the Paramont Theatre in Oakland. That would be Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1954 thriller Rear Window, starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly. All tickets are just $5.

Two more summer movies are on my must-see list. District 9 is an original and thrilling sci-fi flick, a loose metaphor for South African apartheid and global immigration issues. And In the Blood, is a brillian, pitch-black comedy about the behind-the-scenes build up to an unnecessary US-led war in the Middle East, with lots of support from the British government. Its not a documentary, but feels authentic enough. Good stuff.

Posted at 07:16 PM in Pete's Popcorn Picks | Permalink