4 WWII Nazi dvd's to start 2010

Hello and welcome.. I hope to use this space to share opinions on music , film , and TV. Lets start with some recent dvds. I spent New years weekend immersed in Nazi movies (that should lose 30% of you) within 72 hours I saw Defiance, Valkerie, The Countertfeiters ,and Inglorious Basterds
All four films are based on true stories. ( lets work with a 5 star system).
Valkerie(**1/2)Starring Tom Cruise, Kenneth Brannagh,Terrance Stamp.Director: Bryan Singer Tom Cruise looks good as Tom Cruise in this Hollywood action package of the plot to kill Hitler . Great to view on the stationary bike or treadmill but I really need a few nazi's to dislike and all I get are nice nazis who hate their boss...Hell I know plenty of New Yorkers who hate their boss.... but this plot could have been plugged into a western.
Defiance ( ****) Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber , Jamie Bell Director : Edward Zwick. My personal interest in the topic gets clouded here. My father, a native of Bialystok Poland lost his mother and sister in the concentration camps and this true story takes place in Belorus not 75 miles from where he was raised. It was filmed in Poland as Belorus is a hostile dictatorship today. The forrest is a stones throw from where the story took place. Blue collar non-religious Jews leading and saving the very neighbors that looked down on them before the war. A sobering view of the human condition. The special features are a must. They are even more moving than the film. The children of the Bielski brothers tell the story of how the film was made with the aid of survivors. An implausable story of survival , yet true. Very well cast.
The Counterfeiters ( *****) Quite possibly the most extraordinary film I've ever seen on the topic of the holocaust. A true story, filmed in Austria and Germany in little over 30 days. The review on the cover says that it : "Turns Schindler's List on its head." I thought this pretentious until I viewed the film. The special features are incredible. 90 year old survivor Adolph Burger ,one of the films two prime protagonists, has spent the last 65 years lecturing and publishing throughout Europe on the events of the day. The fact that it is a German /Austrian film makes it all the more compelling. The director Stefan Ruzowitsky,admits that it was not well recieved in Germany but did banner business in England and won the 2007 Academy Award for Foreign film in the US. He also admits that both of his Grandfathers were Nazis and that makes the film all the more meaningful. The humanity of his candor might serve to heal if not explain.
Inglorious Basterds ( ** 1/2) Brad Pitt directed by Quentin
Great cartoon. Tarrentino gets to live out an old comic book. Great villain, colorful, bloody, time tripping music. Tarrentino opens the film with Green leaves Of Summer ,last used for the theme to John Wayne's The Alamo in 1960 and David Bowie's, Putting Out Fires With Gasoline is absolutely Teutonic. Thanks to Mikey Colvin for reminding me of the fourth film in my holiday quartet. In my rush to write the first draft of this review I actually suceeded in blocking out the blockbuster. I won't begrudge the fact that this one cost me $18 while the others cost four or five , but this is the one that everyone is talking about and that's wrong
OK ..so now I can lighten up.... coming up next..the lost Larry David film.....