Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" receives 10 nominations???

Yep. Broadcast Film Critics Association's 15th Annual Critic's Choice Movie Awards. Among the notable nominations, the only one I feel it deserved was Best Supporting Actor (Christoph Waltz). The movie was not good. By contrast, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced its nominations for the Golden Globes. "Basterds" received 4 - including Waltz. You can read my review of it here.

The scene above was at the start of the flick and is one of the two best scenes in the movie. Unfortunately, I could only find this snippet.

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"TGIF! presents..."Hold Tight" by "Hold Tight" by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch!

From the disappointing Quentin Tarantino flick, Deathproof. This song is one of the few bright spots in QT'S snorer - that, along with Kurt Russell and the fact that every girl riding in this car dies.

This video is in tribute to Colton...you remember the little boy I lived with in Culver City? Whenever his mother wanted to go play bingo, Colton would have a fit and I'd egg him on by playing this song and dancing around the house. He never wanted this mother to do anything without him. I love this song.

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Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" is a Jew's wet dream.

I keep describing the movie that way but if you saw it, you'd agree. And I don't mean any disrespect to Jewish people...just see the movie. You'll say, "you're right - it is a Jew's wet dream". It's supposed to be.

Went to see it Monday night with Donovan. The shot above is from the opening scene - one of the two best scenes in the movie. The other one was the scene in the tavern in a basement. Both were excellent. Donovan enjoyed the movie more than I did, though he had some issues as I did. "Tonally inconsistent"...his choice of words. I agree. Brad Pitt's character seemed like he should be in a different movie - his character, the leader of the Inglourious Basterds, was more caricature than anything. The Italian cinema scene with Pitt and two of the Basterds? Same thing - different movie. The Jewish soldiers that comprise the Basterds had no depth whatsoever, save for Pitt and Til Schweiger, whose character is a disgruntled German soldier the Basterds recruit to fight on their side. I felt mislead. I thought this was a film about the Basterds and it wasn't. It was a film that had a couple plot points interwoven and the Basterds were a part of that. If you're going because you're thinking, "Dirty Dozen" - don't. It's doesn't hold a candle to that movie.

Christoph Waltz (pictured above, right) is by far the strongest character. He'll get nominated for something. Eli Roth, who played the Basterd, "The Bear" (the guy holding the bat in the trailer) - again, there's hardly any depth to any of those guys. That's all Roth does. I can't believe they paid him for what I'm assuming was an extraordinary amount of money. B.J. Novak sucks in everything I've seen him act in ("The Office"). I seriously wanna punch him. The female leads are both strong.

I love war movies. I love blood and guts. Normally I'd say if you saw the trailer on TV...that's your movie. But those two scenes I mentioned earlier are worth seeing. They're about 20 minutes each. So 40 minutes for $11.75 a ticket? B-. Maybe.

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"Jo Bob" is still Walking Tall - and he gave me a buck.

So I was having a conversation with our head of acquisitions outside our offices Tuesday when I noticed this very tall, "heap of a man" with his dog across the street near Winchell's Donuts talking on his cell. He looks our way; I look his way and I immediately yell out, "Hey - you're the actor...Bo...Hopkins. No - Svenson. Bo Svenson!"

Yep. It's Bo. He comes over and we shoot the shit and I tell him that when I lived in Bel Air, singer/actor Mac Davis was my neighbor (he still lives there) and Mac and Bo starred with Nick Nolte in the classic football flick, North Dallas Forty, in 1979. People forget about actors as the years go by. Not me - it's an obsession of mine to scour the Internet to find out where a certain actor disappeared to, what they look like now and if they're still in the business. Bo still acts - apparently Quentin Tarantino remembered him and found him relevant enough to cast him in Kill Bill 2.

Very congenial, pleasant man to talk to. Great stories. I did some research on Svenson's career (Wikipedia stuff mostly) - if you're interested.

(WAIT! There's more on Bo.)

Above: Bo's business card I snagged from my co-worker.

Why did Bo give me a buck? That's between Bo and I.

Anyway, Svenson was born in Sweden - his father was a personal driver, athlete, and bodyguard for the King of Sweden. He emigrated to the United States in 1958, served in the U.S. Marine Corps, then pursued a Ph.D. in metaphysics and attended UCLA.

Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1976" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 28, Bo is considered among the tallest leading men of all time, at 6' 5" being an inch taller than John Wayne and two inches shorter than 6' 7" fellow soldier-turned-actor James Arness.

Svenson's most memorable roles are The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), Walking Tall Part II (1975), Final Chapter: Walking Tall (1977), North Dallas Forty (1979), The Delta Force (1986) and Solitude Point (1998) and has appeared in several films with his friend Fred Williamson. Svenson is an accomplished athlete and has competed in world championships, Olympic selections and international competition in judo, yachting, track, ice hockey and auto racing (NASCAR, PRO-SCCA and F1A). He was television's highest-paid actor for his reprisal of Buford Pusser in the television series "Walking Tall" (1981) - Johnny Carson being the personality who made more.

Check out this recent Variety article about the DVD release of the WWII cult classic "Inglorious Bastards" with Fred Williamson and Bo. It's a "spaghetti WWII" flick and Quentin Tarantino is involved in writing and directing something of a remake. Watch a trailer for the original movie with brief commentary by Quentin. It's reminiscent of "The Dirty Dozen" and "The Great Escape".

Above: Bo with David Carradine at the Kill Bill 2 premier.

Although he's best known as an actor, Bo's also an accomplished writer, director and producer. He hosts PBS Television's "The Di Palma Forum at UNLV" (1999) and is a sought-after speaker and seminarian. Chairman of the Board and CEO of Motion Picture Group of America from 1984-1995, Bo is president of MagicQuest, a Hollywood-based international motion picture and television development, production, distribution and branded advertainment company.

While he has received numerous awards and nominations for his body of work, he especially values the Italian Institute of Art Award of Merit, the American Culture Foundation Man of the Year Award, Italy's Legione Garibaldina Ruole D'Onore, the NAACP Image Award, the Academy of Science Fiction and Fantasy Golden Scroll Award, and the Hollywood Women's Press Club Golden Apple.

If you're curious to learn more about Bo, go to his website: http://www.bosvenson.com/

One last thing about Bo I don't think he'd mind me sharing with you - he's been married to the same woman for 41 years. Imagine that - in Hollywood no less.

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"There will be bloooooddd!"

I just like to say that. I've been doing it a lot. I think - no, I know my fellow employees think I'm a tad strange.

Need to go see that movie. Speaking of flicks, watch for my review of Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. I know it's not a recent movie but I just watched it again on cable and it brought back all those knots in my stomach from seeing it in a movie theater the first time around.

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