Inglourious Basterds Proves It: We Love Our Nazi Movies!
Achtung! Quentin Tarantino had his biggest weekend opening with Nazi-killin' epic Inglourious Basterds: $37.6M. Did opening weekend hijinks by the Weinsteins help? Or is it just that America loves them some Nazi movies? I think we love Nazis in movies! Nikki Finke quotes one studio executive as noting: "The Weinsteins live to fight another day." I say, slow your roll: this is the first weekend, and it ain't gonna save the company single-handedly. Next week, Inglourious will have to compete with Taking Woodstock and The Final Destination (supposedly the final Final Destination movie). Horror films make for stiff box office competition, and Taking Woodstock might - might - chip away at hip young contingents who'd balk at violence. But: hot damn! Nazis - and especially Nazi killin' - do pretty okay at both the box office and at awards season. Let's take a look back at the history of Nazis at the box office, shall we? Possible spoilers ahoy, and by no means is this list definitive. Help us with the ones we missed in the comments. Inglourious Basterds, 2009, Dir. Quentin Tarantino Nazi Evil Factor: 6/10. Typical Nazis: they go around goosestepping and hating everything but other than Christoph Waltz's character - who just plays evil so well - they're nothing too special, and Hitler is portrayed as an idiot with the temperament of a twelve year-old. Box Office Performance: N/A In the long run, who knows? But! $37.6M in the first weekend for a Tarantino film ain't bad. Awards Season Power: N/A No telling at this point. But this year, there are ten - count 'em, ten - slots in the Best Picture category. Even a nomination could bolster its chances, and dollars to donuts, you can bet the Weinsteins are going to fight a brutal campaign to get this thing looked at. Legacy: N/A Again, yet to be seen. Could be the ultimate Nazi revenge epic (especially compared to Valkyrie, in which not enough Nazis are killed by a sissy, emo, eye-patched Tom Cruise). American History X, 1998, Dir. Tony Kaye Nazi Evil Factor: B+. Real, because they're contemporary, and we know they exist, and they're taking our innocent youth with them. They come in all shapes, and sizes, but only one color: white, and angry. They are scary and you probably live near some and don't know it. Also, Ed Norton, we love him! He's so angry looking! Box Office Performance: C+. Around $24M worldwide, with a great life on DVD. For a film budgeted at $10M with Norton being the most bankable actor, not half bad. Awards Season Power: D-. Incredibly overlooked. Norton got a nomination for Best Actor from the Academy, but it didn't take home any major awards. Legacy: B. Kaye wanted to have name removed from the final cut of the film, but critics mostly loved it. Since then, cult status. Still a favorite of basic DVD collections, college dorms, race relations classes everywhere. Maybe the best look at contemporary Nazism to this day. And #50 on the IMDB Top #250. The Reader, 2008, Dir. Stephen Daldry... MORE >>
In England, They Jail CyberBullies
England's now prosecuting vile teenage asshats torturing peers on social networking sites. The first one? Meet Keeley Houghton, who's going to Britain's version of Juvie for three months, after harassing contemporaries on Facebook. Who is she and what'd she do? Houghton, who was also given a five-year restraining order in which she can't see, contact, or even speak about her victim on social networking sites after her detention, sounds like your typical teenage asshole. She started harassing Emily Moore when they were both 14 at school, and continued as time went on. Things got worse after Houghton got on Facebook. The breaking point came when Houghton actually threatened to kill Moore, via her status update: "Keeley is going to murder the bitch. She is an actress. What a f***ing liberty. Emily F***head Moore." When authorities questioned her about it, she used the old "I was drunk" excuse. Turns out she wrote it at 4PM, and the status stayed up for 24 hours. Cut to the court scene, when we learn about the character of Houghton, now 18, who showed up to an expected sentencing of community service for the story's unexpected denouement: Cocky Houghton arrived at court laughing and chatting with about a dozen male and female supporters. But there were gasps and tears from the gaggle when she was sentenced. Unemployed Houghton sobbed as she was taken away to spend three months in a young offenders' institution after admitting harassment. Even better is the fire-and-brimstone Houghton's sentencing judge, Bruce Morgan, gave her: "Since Emily Moore was 14 you have waged compelling threats and violent abuse towards her. Bullies are, by their nature, cowards - in school and society. The evil, odious effects of being bullied stay with you for life. On this day you did an act of gratuitous nastiness to satisfy your own twisted nature." Basically, yes. In the history of precedent for this kind of thing, this is what comes after Elizabeth Thrasher, who was the first person charged with harassment on the internet under a law passed after the Lori Drew incident, in which the mother of a bully caused the suicide of fellow teenager Megan Meier. Thrasher was charged, Drew was indicted, and then had her verdict overturned. Whether or not Houghton will have to serve out her entire sentence is worth wondering. How hard will countries invested in policing things like this enforce these kinds of offenses against others? Even murkier is the question of what constitutes harassment, which will continue to be cloudy for a while. Is it punishable if you @ someone something terrible on Twitter? Or reblog someone on Tumblr? Or write on a blog? If anything's clearing up, though, it's the intent of judicial systems who're no longer standing idly by complaints and allegations of this kind of thing. They're going to continue to set precedence in order to define the new frontier of harassment - and the legality of certain communications - from here on out. MORE >>
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