Inglourious Basterds ****

"Inglourious Basterds" is glorious film making. But don't expect history from Quentin Tarantino's tribute to World War II movies. Instead, expect emotional truth, a lush '40s look, tense life and death scenes of well-crafted dialog, a self-conscious tribute to movies, trademark Tarantino violence, and a story whose pieces fit together like film over sprocket wheels leading to an explosive, revenge fantasy cathartic climax.

Performances are also glorious. Brad Pitt is a standout as the leader of a band of Jewish commandos operating, and terrorizing Nazis, behind enemy lines. Melanie Laurant captivates as a young theater owner with a past who concocts an unbelievable plot. But the standout performance is from Christoph Waltz, whose chilling, insightful, and deadly polyglot German investigator Col. Hans Landa already has many fans calling for an Oscar.

Tarantino has a well-deserved hit here. The great writing and directing are his, and he merits the accolades sure to come.

Rated R. 153 minutes. Quentin Tarantino - Director / Writer, Lawrence Bender - Producer, Robert Richardson - Cinematographer, David Wasco - Production Designer, Sally Menke - Editor. Produced by Universal Pictures. Distributed by The Weinstein Company.

Principal actors: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Til Schweiger, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Mike Myers, Cloris Leachman, and Samuel L. Jackson.

District 9 ****

You might not expect an alien invasion movie to deal with important topics like apartheid, immigration, and the military industrial complex, yet that, surprisingly, is what happens in what might seem to be just another empty-headed summer action flick.

Because "District 9" is an alien invasion movie like no other. These aliens are not conquerors but refugees, marooned on earth 20 years ago when their spaceship settled in the sky above Johannesburg. Eventually ferried to a settlement camp below their spaceship, more than a million of them live in a special district where they live in regimented squalor, both supported and preyed upon by humans. Now the government wants the land of District 9, and has started the process of notifying them of an impending relocation to a new district on less valuable land.

Told in a cinema-verite documentary style, "District 9" shows us a completely imagined world in a gritty, grubby way, and follows the head of the relocation project, an affable bureaucrat named Wikus Van De Merwe, superbly played by Sharlto Copley. Wikus gets in over his head soon enough, and the film turns into an exciting chase movie.

Special effects are so good they don't look like special effects. Direction and screenplay, by Neill Blomkamp, heretofore an animator, is skillful and visceral. Some credit for the quality of "District 9," with a first time feature director and largely unknown principal actors, must surely go to producer Peter ("Lord of the Rings") Jackson.

"District 9" satisfies on many levels and will surprise and reward any viewer who pays attention.

Rated R. 112 minutes. Neill Blomkamp - Director / Writer (screenplay), Terri Tatchell - Writer (screenplay), Peter Jackson - Producer, Trent Opaloch - Cinematographer, Clinton Shorter - Composer, Philip Ivey - Production Designer, Julian Clarke - Editor.

Principal actors: Sharlto Copley and David James.

Julie & Julia ***

"Julie & Julia," the true stories of two women separated by 50 years and the Atlantic Ocean, but united in a love for food and a desire to make something more of their lives, is a tasty, funny, satisfying double portion serving of delightful movie making. Julie is Julie Powell, played by Amy Adams, who embarks on a year's assignment to cook and blog her way through Julia Child's classic, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." And Julia, superbly played by Meryl Streep, is of course the iconic Julia Child in France. Directed and written by Nora Ephron from Child's posthumously published autobiography, "My Life in France," and Powell's eponymous account of her year, the movie jumps back and forth from 50's France to today's New York.

There are interesting parallels as well as contrasts in the two worlds. The two women each find a way to transcend their roles, and to use cooking as a means to get there. They both have wonderfully supportive husbands, which, of course, we're not used to seeing in the movies. I guess it's just too boring to see happy couples on screen - where's the drama in that? Stanley Tucci as Paul Child and Chris Messina as Eric Powell turn in fine performances.

The period settings in France have a classic Hollywood patina, and Streep is invariably luminous playing the almost rollicking Child. The scenes in New York, on the other hand, are in a cramped 900 square foot walk-up above a pizza store, so the atmosphere is more gritty than glamour. Julie does have her meltdown moments, but keeps plugging away admirably. She's a different person with different challenges than Julia, and her story is not going to be as riveting, but for me the story rang true and did not drag.

I dare say this will be the big women's movie of the summer (if you don't count "The Proposal"), but husbands and boyfriends with an interest in cooking and/or who do not arrive hungry will have as much fun as they had at showier, but much less meaty escapist fare.

Rated PG-13. 123 minutes. Nora Ephron - Director / Writer (screenplay) / Producer, Julie Powell - Writer (book "Julie & Julia"), Julia Child - Writer (book "My Life in France"), Alex Prud'homme - Writer (book "My Life in France"), Laurence Mark - Producer, Amy Robinson - Producer, Eric Steel - Producer, Stephen Goldblatt - Cinematographer, Alexandre Desplat - Composer, Mark Ricker - Production Designer, Richard Marks - Editor.

Principal actors: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina, and Linda Emond.

Funny People ***

A friendless comedian with a terminal illness is not your usual Judd Apatow subject, nor your usual Adam Sandler vehicle. But it is an interesting, and yes, at times really funny character study of George Simmons, famous funny man (who seems a lot like Adam Sandler) and the relationship he strikes up with a young joke writer and comedian, Ira Wright, trying to break into the business, winningly played by Seth Rogen.

Ira, who sleeps on a friend's sofa, is dazzled by Simmons' lifestyle: the big house for one, the private jet, the easy conquests. But change is coming, as his illness leads Simmons to look up old friends, family, girlfriend. Throughout the journey Ira is there as the all-purpose assistant as well as writer. Ira's roommates and attempts at dating provide a contrast to Simmons, as well as an echo, one imagines, of his early days.

Both men have a lot to learn, and together they seem to help each other, until a reunion with the one who got away (Leslie Mann) opens a rift. These dramatic situations have to be developed, I know, but it takes a bit too long to get there, and the movie almost grinds to a halt in the last half hour. Ultimately the movie delivers. It's a darker message than the fairy tale endings of "Knocked Up" and "The 40 Year Old Virgin," and it's Sandler's best work in years, but it would have been better with about 15 fewer minutes.

Rated R. 146 minutes. Judd Apatow - Director / Writer / Producer, Barry Mendel - Producer, Clayton Townsend - Producer, Janusz Kaminski - Cinematographer, Michael Andrews - Composer, Jason Schwartzman - Composer, Jefferson Sage - Production Designer, Craig Alpert - Editor, Brent White - Editor. Produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Principal actors: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, and Jason Schwartzman.

Wild Ocean ***

Every year, in a migration still incompletely understood, millions upon millions of sardines form themselves into shoals of bait for all the sea's predators off the Wild Coast of South Africa. There are millions of Cape Gannets diving from the skys, pods of 3000 dolphins, many species of shark, African Penguins, Cape Fur Seals, and Humpback Whales drawn to the feast. It's a spectacular show captured for the IMAX screen in this wildly-entertaining, beautiful documentary with a terrific score. Recently named the Earthwatch Movie of the Year for 2009, it's a celebration of nature and a rebuke to what we have done to deplete the oceans elsewhere. Take the whole family.

Not rated. 45 minutes. Luke Cresswell - Director / Writer (writer), Steve McNicholas - Director / Writer (writer), Don Kempf - Producer, Steve Kempf - Producer, David Jon Marks - Producer, D.J. Roller - Cinematographer, Reed Smoot - Cinematographer. Produced and distributed by Giant Screen Films.

(500) Days of Summer ****

Fresh, funny, intelligent, and cleverly constructed, "(500) Days of Summer" tells the story of the 500 day romance between Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel). Make that infatuation of Tom, would-be architect, present day greeting card writer, with Summer, free spirit and assistant to the boss, because the romance, for Summer, was over long before it was for Tom.

Insistently non-linear, the movie gives us moments from the 500 days, all helpfully labeled by day number, in a thematic, dramatic, even didactic, order. It's been said that "500 Days" is a coming-of-age story masquerading as a romantic comedy, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives us all the pleasure and pain in another of his standout performances. And its nice to see Zooey Deschanel dating someone her own age. Currently in limited (only 85 theaters) release, it's playing now at the Mayan here in Denver.

Rated PG-13. 95 minutes. Marc Webb - Director, Scott Neustadter - Writer, Michael H. Weber - Writer, Mason Novick - Producer, Jessica Tuchinsky - Producer, Mark Waters - Producer, Steven J. Wolfe - Producer, Eric Steelberg - Cinematographer, Mychael Danna - Composer, Rob Simonsen - Composer, Laura Fox - Production Designer, Alan Edward Bell - Editor. Produced by Watermark and distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Principal actors: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Clark Gregg, Minka Kelly, Rachel Boston, Matthew Gray Gublert, and Chloe Moretz.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ****

Harry Potter 6 is everything fans have come to expect. With the young characters aging, experiencing the first pangs of infatuation, becoming more independent, and the first death of a main character, the tale moves into a darker and decidedly more adult phase.

Everyone acquits themselves admirably, especially ... the ... deliciously ... clipped ... Alan Rickman as Professor Snape, who in this film confirms our worst fears about him. Jim Broadbent turns in a fine performance as Professor Slughorn, who is key to discovering the history and vital secret of Voldemort. David Yates is back as director, and "The Half-Blood Prince" is just as well-directed as "The Order of the Phoenix."

Special effects are again spectacular, and well worth seeing in IMAX, which opens with an extended sequence in 3D. The budget was reportedly 250 million dollars, two-thirds more than any other Harry Potter, and it looks like money well spent.

Rated PG. 153 minutes. David Yates - Director, Steve Kloves - Writer (screenplay), J.K. Rowling - Writer (novel), David Barron - Producer, David Heyman - Producer, Bruno Delbonnel - Cinematographer, Nicholas Hooper - Composer, Stuart Craig - Production Designer, Mark Day - Editor. Produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Principal actors: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters, David Thewlis, and Jim Broadbent.