Tarantino smart to move back to his classic style in 'Basterds'

Inglourious Basterds has no real focal point. It is an implausible series of coincidences searching for a climax. Brad Pitt is Lt. Aldo Raine, who leads a group of Jewish volunteers in an underground war in World War II Nazi-occupied Europe. They terrorize and kill Nazis. Their story is tenuously linked to those of other characters and they all end in an encounter with a nasty, opportunistic Nazi, Christoph Waltz's Col. Hans Landa.

Though extremely violent in spots, the history-altering Inglourious Basterds is as irresistible as the title is misspelled. There are three reasons. One and two are award-worthy performances from Pitt and Waltz. Few actors do goofy better than Pitt. His eyes light up and he has to practically swallow his tongue to keep from laughing as he delivers lines for his purposely over-written character.

In feigned Eddie Haskell politeness and using rubbery facial expressions and obnoxious twitches and ticks, a dangerous Waltz dances through the film and may prove to be the best Tarantino villain of all time. Third is Tarantino. You hate to put him in a box and define what he does as a style. His is unlimited in a limited, predictable sort of way. Throw a dozen outrageous characters at the screen and stick them in equally shocking plots and subplots and see what sticks. Early in the career everything stuck. Pummeled by critics over his cheesy effort in Grindhouse and the decent but sometimes disappointing Kill Bill one and two, Tarantino has gone back to his roots and ripped pages from his Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs playbook.

Good move. Shorts

Kids find boogers and farts irresistible. Shorts doesn't have farts but does have a booger monster from one flicked into a germ-generating machine by Nose Noseworthy. Combine that with villainous Mr. Black, whose do-everything techno gadgets that are combination phone, iPod, can opener, etc. looks like Legos and a wishing rock that turns crocodiles into walking monsters and -- but I get ahead of myself.

So does Shorts. It bounces all over the place outlining the outlandish adventures of Toe Thompson and buddies Loogie, Laser and Nose and their nemeses Helvitica and Cole Black. Shorts takes shots at how kids view the world. The playground pecking order of life at school, best buddies, mom and dad (Jon Cryer and Leslie Mann), clueless and glued to careers and cell phones, their awful boss done with silken slime by James Spader, obnoxious older sisters and adventures that only kids can have.

Parents: Beg your kids to let you go with them.

X Games 3D: The Movie

The 3-D effects of the ESPN- produced documentary are eye-popping. A contest of wills between three contestants of the extreme skateboarding Slam event and some of the motorcycle footage of last year's X Games boggle the mind and provide some heavy drama and are worth the price of a ticket. But not much else does. Time we'd rather spend catching the almost nonmortal contestants pushing the envelope of physics is wasted on rambling dialogue from participants raving about themselves and each other.

◗ For an expanded review or to comment on these movies, go to Mr. Movie's blog at tricityherald.com/arts/mrmovie.