“Inglourious Basterds”
***1/2
An inventive, outrageous film of the year, a Hebrew revenge fantasy in which Jewish commandos bring World War II to an abrupt end by targeting the German high command. The misspelled “basterds” of the title are a unit of Jewish GIs recruited by taskmaster Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) for a special job. They’ll parachute into Europe and terrorize the enemy by killing without mercy and scalping the dead. R. 2 hours, 32 minutes.
Robert W. Butler, McClatchy Newspapers
“Taking Woodstock”
****
Comedy Central’s Demetri Martin plays Elliot Tiber, the guy who offered his parents’ ramshackle motel to a bunch of longhairs (and their attorneys) for a little gathering called Woodstock. In Ang Lee’s anthropological comedy, Elliot observes more than he participates and the gently celebratory vies with Borscht Belt shtick. Amusing turn: Liev Schreiber as an uncompromising, cross-dressing former Marine. Breakout performance: Jonathan Groff as concert promoter Michael Lang. R. 2 hours. Lisa Kennedy
“The Hangover”
****
Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis work well off one another as decidely different groomsmen who awake to a trashed villa at Caesars Palace with no memory of the night before and no groom (Justin Bartha). So it’s not the leads who are the problem with this bachelor-party-gone-awry outing. And Todd Phillips of “Old School” fame directs with visual flair. (Though let’s vote the slo-mo shot of a gang walking toward the camera off the island for a spell.) But for all its over- the-top antics — a baby, a tiger, a chicken, oh my — the script feels predictable in its drive to offend. R. 1 hour, 45 minutes. Lisa Kennedy
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