Inglourious Basterds

[Strider]

Inglourious Basterds

http://www.collider.com/wp-content/image-base/Movies/I/Inglourious_Basterds/Movie_Posters/Inglourious%20Basterds%20movie%20poster%20Brad%20P itt.jpg

Synopsis

The film begins in German-occupied France, where Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa, a.k.a. “The Jew Hunter” (Christoph Waltz). Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema.

Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish-American soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemy as "The Basterds," Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich. Fates converge under a cinema marquee, where Shosanna is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own. ---© Weinstein Co. and Universal Pictures


http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1200615/photo_125_hires.jpg

Director
Quentin Tarantino

Writer
Quentin Tarantino

Starring
Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, Gedeon Burkhard, Jacky Ido, B.J. Novak, Omar Doom, August Diehl, Sylvester Groth, Martin Wuttke & Mike Myers.

MPAA
Rated R for Strong Graphic Violence, Language and Brief Sexuality

Genre
War

Studio
Universal

Release Date
August 21st, 2009 (wide)

Running Length
2 hours 33 minutes

Website
http://www.inglouriousbasterds-movie.com/



http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1200615/photo_143_hires.jpg


http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1200615/photo_80_hires.jpg

Thoughts

At the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, I was very fortunate to attend a special advance screening of Inglourious Basterds, and I thought the film was a fucking blast. It’s unlike anything Tarantino has done before, but it still retains Tarantino’s trademark style. Furthermore, I hope everyone who sees this film is blown away by Christoph Waltz’s brilliant performance; he steals the show from everyone, including Brad Pitt. Whether you love it or hate it, you’ve never seen a war film quite like this.

I simply cannot wait to see it again in a sold-out theater on opening weekend.

Schmoes, speak!


http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1200615/photo_149_hires.jpg

My apologies for posting this thread a day early. I couldn't wait. ;)

Strider

[bigred760]

This movie cannot arrive soon enough. Have been waiting for this thing since I first heard about it.

[Bourne101]

I don’t know if I have ever anticipated a film as much as I have Inglourious Basterds. Quentin Tarantino is one of my favourite directors and ever since he first mentioned that he was going to make this film (which was several years ago) I have been eager with anticipation. It’s finally here, and I honestly cannot wait another second to see it.

[Natty]

Just looked up the UK release date and found out it is released in two days time!!!

Can't friggin wait.

[Smarmy Douche]

Looks meh.

I'll wait for the DVD.

[Tweek]

I'm soooo looking forward to this.



My apologies for posting this thread a day early. I couldn't wait. ;)

Strider

Ha. Today is fine. If you had opened it yesterday, however... I was expecting someone to try and open one last week.haha

[Tweek]

I don’t know if I have ever anticipated a film as much as I have Inglourious Basterds. Quentin Tarantino is one of my favourite directors and ever since he first mentioned that he was going to make this film (which was several years ago) I have been eager with anticipation. It’s finally here, and I honestly cannot wait another second to see it.

Heh, I know right? He talked about going to production on it quite a bit. When it finally happened I didn't believe it.

[DrJellyfingers]

he's talked about making a WWII guys on a mission movie since at least 1998. i never thought we were gonna see the day. i don't usually go to movies on opening night but this may have to be done.

[QUENTIN]

So, I wasn't particularly interested in this after the trailer I found to be lackluster and the first 60 pages of the script left me unimpressed and disappointed that QT may be resting on his laurels.

Now, I have to admit I'm a little more excited about it because I recently moved to Austin and joined the Austin Film Society, so I got to purchase a ticket to see the film in 2 days with Tarantino in attendance for a pre-movie dinner, screening, and Q&A afterwards. http://www.originalalamo.com/show.aspx?id=6590 . Regardless of what I end of thinking of the movie, it's an experience I'll cherish I'm sure.

I'll let ya'll know what I thought of the movie and what Tarantino has to say to my question about character-driven vs meta-movie reference films and what he has in store for the future.

Is "OMG you're my screenname! What was in the briefcase???" a good opener you think?

[APzombie]

Is "OMG you're my screenname! What was in the briefcase???" a good opener you think?

haha, wouldn't have it any other way, lucky basterd.

I think the marketing for this movie absolutely sucks, but i actually really dug the script, i can't wait to check it out.

[Reigh Kaufman]

Now, I have to admit I'm a little more excited about it because I recently moved to Austin and joined the Austin Film Society, so I got to purchase a ticket to see the film in 2 days with Tarantino in attendance for a pre-movie dinner, screening, and Q&A afterwards. http://www.originalalamo.com/show.aspx?id=6590

I'll let ya'll know what I thought of the movie and what Tarantino has to say to my question about character-driven vs meta-movie reference films and what he has in store for the future.

Is "OMG you're my screenname! What was in the briefcase???" a good opener you think?

Enjoy every second.

:)

[Bourne101]

QUENTIN, you are one lucky fuck. Enjoy!

[Cop No. 633]

So, I wasn't particularly interested in this after the trailer I found to be lackluster and the first 60 pages of the script left me unimpressed and disappointed that QT may be resting on his laurels.

Now, I have to admit I'm a little more excited about it because I recently moved to Austin and joined the Austin Film Society, so I got to purchase a ticket to see the film in 2 days with Tarantino in attendance for a pre-movie dinner, screening, and Q&A afterwards. http://www.originalalamo.com/show.aspx?id=6590

I'll let ya'll know what I thought of the movie and what Tarantino has to say to my question about character-driven vs meta-movie reference films and what he has in store for the future.

Is "OMG you're my screenname! What was in the briefcase???" a good opener you think?

Quentin, talk about your foot fetish and QT will listen to anything you have to say after that. Have a good time. QT always comes off like an entertaining host.

[Jig Saw 123]

Looks pretty good. I have a feeling this will be one of those films that is overrated and seen as great in the eyes of fans of Tarantino's work, while regular movie goers will probably not like it.

[ilovemovies]

Looks awesome. I don't think it'll be on the level of Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs. But I'm hoping it does reach the level of awesomeness that is Kill Bill Vol. 1.

[LordSimen]

I hope it's not on level with Pulp Fiction- As great as that movie is, it's Tarantino's weakest film! I'm hopin' it surpasses Pulp Fiction just like the rest of his filmography has already done. :D

[ilovemovies]

I thought Death Proof was Tarantino's worst movie. Infact, it's the only movie of his that I actually didn't like.

[Bahs]

Im dropping everything to see this opening night. definitely my most anticipated movie since The Dark Knight, mabye even more!
I rarely smoke weed, but when i do, its usually before i go see a movie i have been anticipating. Will be doing that for this.

Also, Death Proof has grown on me tremendously since i first saw it with GRINDHOUSE. i always thought Planet Terror overshadowed it, but i gave it a few close re watches and i actually almost like it better than Dogs. Its got a great plot, and the dialogue, which i know some people deem excessive, is actually some of his most realistic. i especially like the whole scene at the bar, where the guys are trying to get with the girls, and Stuntman Mike is just stalking the whole time. Lots of things going on at once, i loved it.


I feel Inglorious Basterds will be kinda like that(lots of things going on) especially near the end in the theater, but on a much bigger scale!

[Lazy Boy]

I'm interested, yet also keeping expectations in check.

[Pentangeli]

I'll catch it from a**o. The trailer looks silly. I've heard Tarantino used scores from other films, which will piss me off, as it did with Kill Bill. Pitt seems to be in one of his irritating performances, which is sad considering his talents (Jesse James, Kalifornia). And I can't bear the sight of Kruger's cum filled face. I could have just saved my self the time and wrote: I will not pay to see this, or anything else associated with Eli Roth.

[Reigh Kaufman]

And I can't bear the sight of Kruger's cum filled face.

How you view the world...it must be so dark, hateful and desolate.

Sickening. Sad. Kinda pyschotic.

For what it is worth, Kruger seems to occupy her role as an actress in this movie quite well.

As a human being, this bitch deserves to be mouth-raped repeatedly or slapped or taught a brutal fucking lesson because I don't like her or she doesn't appeal to me or her accent is funny or whatever reason you can think of. Women are vermin.

:rolleyes:

You are a Christian, right?

[Pentangeli]

How you view the world...it must be so dark, hateful and desolate.

Sickening. Sad. Kinda pyschotic.

For what it is worth, Kruger seems to occupy her role as an actress in this movie quite well.

As a human being, this bitch deserves to be mouth-raped repeatedly or slapped or taught a brutal fucking lesson because I don't like her or she doesn't appeal to me or her accent is funny or whatever reason you can think of. Women are vermin.

:rolleyes:

You are a Christian, right?

You seem too sensitive for this website. You'll read far worse on here.

I was alluding to her being a casting couch slut. I have no idea why you're banging on about mouth rape, or brutal lessons, or women being vermin. Scary stuff, indeed.

No, i'm not a Christian, or member of any other organized religion. There are some parts of Christian values I like, such as Jesus taking on the corrupt Rabbis. Though I find organized Christianity to be the antithesis of what Jesus was teaching, and infact its more like what he was teaching against.

[Reigh Kaufman]

You seem too sensitive for this website. You'll read far worse on here.

I was alluding to her being a casting couch slut. I have no idea why you're banging on about mouth rape, or brutal lessons, or women being vermin. Scary stuff, indeed.

No, i'm not a Christian, or member of any other organized religion. There are some parts of Christian values I like, such as Jesus taking on the corrupt Rabbis. Though I find organized Christianity to be the antithesis of what Jesus was teaching, and infact its more like what he was teaching against.

Very sleepy. Going to bed. Highlighted my favourite part. No contradictions here.

Nighty-night.

ANNOUNCER: If you are also too tired, order the Petangeli box-set: 'Homos and Why I Hate 'em' and 'Bitches, Leave' out now in paperback at all good bookstores.

[Pentangeli]

ANNOUNCER: If you are also too tired, order the Petangeli box-set: 'Homos and Why I Hate 'em' and 'Bitches, Leave' out now in paperback at all good bookstores.
You're being silly. We'll put that down to tiredness. You go have a lie down. Mind the bed bugs don't bite.

[Reigh Kaufman]

You're being silly. We'll put that down to tiredness. You go have a lie down. Mind the bed bugs don't bite.

Ok, Paul the Apostle.

Still be here tomorrow?

[QUENTIN]

And I can't bear the sight of Kruger's cum filled face.

You proclaim that this actress: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1208167/, recipient of an award at Cannes and star of a new film by a world-renowned auteur, has a "cum filled face." If anything, her features seem bony, not distorted and gelatinous. Can you explain or justify your assertion that her face is "cum filled"? Why make such a statement? What does that satisfy?

[QUENTIN]

I was alluding to her being a casting couch slut.

What is your basis for this? Do you have evidence that this actress has prostituted herself?

[Smarmy Douche]

I was alluding to her being a casting couch slut. I have no idea why you're banging on about mouth rape, or brutal lessons, or women being vermin. Scary stuff, indeed.

I too judge people I don't know based on thin rumors and hearsay. I'm on the interweb, woot woot!

[APzombie]

What's wrong with Kruger? Though initially the rumor of Natasha Kinski for the role exited me, i'm not sad it ended up in Kruger's hands. I think shes a pretty good actress.

[echo_bravo]

No, i'm not a Christian, or member of any other organized religion. There are some parts of Christian values I like, such as Jesus taking on the corrupt Rabbis. Though I find organized Christianity to be the antithesis of what Jesus was teaching, and infact its more like what he was teaching against.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d162/Navy86/batman.jpg

[ilovemovies]

James Berardinelli is very picky with what he gives 4 stars. And he just revealed in his twitter page that he gave this movie 4 stars, the first of the year too. So MAYBE this MIGHT actually be up there with Resevoir Dogs afterall?

[Bourne101]

Wow, Berardinelli (one of my favorite critics) rarely gives four star reviews. He also wasn't really all that big on Kill Bill and seemed to only mildly enjoy Death Proof. He hasn't given a four star rating to a Tarantino film since Pulp Fiction. Great news.

[Strider]

James Berardinelli is very picky with what he gives 4 stars. And he just revealed in his twitter page that he gave this movie 4 stars, the first of the year too. So MAYBE this MIGHT actually be up there with Resevoir Dogs afterall?

Really? Wow. Berardinelli doesn't hand out four stars very often.

Anyway...

Personally, I think Inglourious Basterds is up there with Reservoir Dogs. And I think it's better than Pulp Fiction as well. The only Tarantino films I rank above Basterds are RD and Kill Bill. After I rewatch Basterds, I may change my mind, and rank it higher.

Strider

[DaMovieMan]

Wow Berardinelli never gives out 4 star reviews!

Sorry guys, had to say it :p

Looking forward to this A LOT. I've been following it ever since he started blabbing about it after Jackie Brown and I can't believe it's actually here.

I'm gonna be there opening weekend fo'shizzles.

QUENTIN: I hope you enjoy the film and I'm really curious about what Tarantino will answer to that character-based vs. movie-reference question.

[Pentangeli]

recipient of an award at Cannes...star of a new film by a world-renowned auteur...Why make such a statement? What does that satisfy?

She won a lesser award at Cannes! And Pia Zadora won a lesser award at the Golden Globe Awards. Is Pia Zadora a good actress too?

Star of a film...like Marilyn Monroe was the star of many, and worked with numerous auteurs. Do you believe Monroe was lying about her own exploitation on the casting couch?

Why make a statement? to explain, as one of a few reasons, why I don't wish to spend money on this film.

What does it satisfy? the ability to express said reason.

What is your basis for this? Do you have evidence that this actress has prostituted herself?
I have many contacts in the film industry, including noteworthy producers and other such luminaries. Its common knowledge that Kruger has been on the casting couch. Evidence? other than reliable informants, no, no documented evidence or empirical knowledge of it.

[Reigh Kaufman]

I have many contacts in the film industry, including noteworthy producers and other such luminaries. Its common knowledge that Kruger has been on the casting couch. Evidence? other than reliable informants, no, no documented evidence or empirical knowledge of it.

Sure. Me, too. However, my sources say the exact opposite and they include studio heads and a world famous politician whose name rhymes with Oshmama.

I have no way to prove this, you'll just have to take my word for it.

[Pentangeli]

Sure. Me, too. However, my sources say the exact opposite and they include studio heads and a world famous politician whose name rhymes with Oshmama.

I have no way to prove this, you'll just have to take my word for it.

I've been asked why I believe Kruger to have auditioned on the casting couch. I haven't attempted to convince you to share this belief.

[Brendan M.]

I have many contacts in the film industry, including noteworthy producers and other such luminaries. Its common knowledge that Kruger has been on the casting couch. Evidence? other than reliable informants, no, no documented evidence or empirical knowledge of it.


I have a goose that lays golden eggs and a John Holmes sized dildo that wishes he was a real flesh and blood penis.

[DaMovieMan]

Who the fuck gives a shit how Kruger got the role? Kinski would of fit better probably but she looks to be great in it!

[Abbie Normal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/32415263#32415263

Has a prequel partly written? Interesting

Is it just me or does Quentin look like he is morphing as time goes by?

[DaMovieMan]

lol...'the squirrel's got a gun so watch it'. Ahhh the innocence of the Today Show hehe.

As far as prequel is concerned, i doubt it unless IB makes a hellava lot of money and the studio turns on the pressure. Most likely it's like the Whole Bloody Affair DVD....never gonna happen.

[Sigur509]

I just bought my midnight showing ticket.

SO excited.

[Natty]

Is the notion that Diane Kruger uses the casting couch really that impossible guys?

2 more days!!!

[Tweek]

I haven't seen enough of Kruger's work. There was Wicker Park and part of Troy that I saw before I walked out.

Anyway, stop with this casting couch nonsense. It's not relevant and will only throw the thread offtrack.

I thought Death Proof was Tarantino's worst movie. Infact, it's the only movie of his that I actually didn't like.
It's a tie between that and...Reservoir Dogs for me. [hides]


I have a goose that lays golden eggs and a John Holmes sized dildo that wishes he was a real flesh and blood penis.

Ha. I'm putting that in my profile here. If you have any objections, I won't.

[Brendan M.]

Ha. I'm putting that in my profile here. If you have any objections, I won't.

Hmm.... It might seem a little weird out of context.


Now excuse me, I got a casting couch to go to.

[LordSimen]

Uhh, Tarantino's never cast anyone in a role that he wasn't sure they could pull off so honestly it doesn't matter to me how she got her role and honestly you have no way of knowin' unless you're her, so it shouldn't matter to you either. All you got is "Oh, I got contacts!" Who cares? My father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate tells me John Cleese masturbates to Sesame Street. Honest!

[Pentangeli]

Uhh, Tarantino's never cast anyone in a role that he wasn't sure they could pull off so honestly it doesn't matter to me how she got her role and honestly you have no way of knowin' unless you're her, so it shouldn't matter to you either. All you got is "Oh, I got contacts!" Who cares? My father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate tells me John Cleese masturbates to Sesame Street. Honest!

Oh, come now, Simen, you're being juvenile and silly. As I said to Reigh, I haven't attempted to convince anyone. Believe what you want.

[Smarmy Douche]

I'm guessing I'm the only one's whose favorite Tarantino film is Death Proof?

Reservoir Dogs is too minimal. Pulp Fiction has whole chunks that bore me to tears. Jackie Brown bores me to tears. Kill Bill is entertaining but lacks creative depth.

Death Proof isn't perfect, nor is it a really great film, but it's second half is easily some of my favorite cinema of 2007, and the first half isn't nearly as grueling as some would claim it to be. It's not heart-pounding stuff, but it's totally necessary, setting up Kurt Russell as the ultimate badass, and then turning him into the world's biggest pussy the moment the tables turn on him. And that transition is perfect and one of only truly brilliant things QT has done. Not to mention it has arguably the best soundtrack of his films.

[Brendan M.]

Pentangeli's just jealous because it wasn't his couch.

[ilovemovies]

but it's second half is easily some of my favorite cinema of 2007

The second half is exactly why I didn't like the movie. I just the entire second half was stupid.

[Smarmy Douche]

The second half is exactly why I didn't like the movie. I just the entire second half was stupid.

Well, I think the entirety of 24 is pretty blatantly stupid, so we're probably just on opposite sides of the taste spectrum.

[LordSimen]

I loved Death Proof when it first came out. I love it more the more I see it. I wouldn't say it's my favorite Tarantino directed film, that goes to Reservoir Dogs, but I would say that it's easily tied with Kill Bill (the whole bloody thing) as my second favorite Tarantino film.

[Squid Vicious]

I'll be in Toronto seeing a Pearl Jam concert on the 21st. It's just as well, because from what I've seen so far, Inglorious Basterds looks incredibly lame. Brad Pitt's dialogue in particular sounds atrocious. I'll probably see it at some point, but I'm in no rush, especially considering that Death Proof was the first Tarantino movie that I really disliked and Basterds doesn't look like much of an improvement.

[Exodus82]

I rarely smoke weed, but when i do, its usually before i go see a movie i have been anticipating. Will be doing that for this.


Why? That's pretty much the only situation in which I don't smoke weed.

[DaMovieMan]

Why? That's pretty much the only situation in which I don't smoke weed.

Exactly, why haze out something you've been waiting to see for so long?

I can't believe it's in muthafuckin' less than a week. WHAT??!!? Finally for fuck's sake!

[Reigh Kaufman]

Exactly, why haze out something you've been waiting to see for so long?

I can't believe it's in muthafuckin' less than a week. WHAT??!!? Finally for fuck's sake!

A week, eh? Must be me that has tickets to see it this afternoon...

:D

[Bourne101]

A week, eh? Must be me that has tickets to see it this afternoon...

:D

WHAT! You lucky basterd! :p

[Tweek]

WHAT! You lucky basterd! :p

I see what you did there. ;)

[Natty]

Just saw it, frickin awesome as expected. Expanded thoughts in the what film did everyone watch/review thread.

[DaMovieMan]

A week, eh? Must be me that has tickets to see it this afternoon...

:D

How was it Reigh?

Your opinion is very important :D

[BadCoverVersion]

A week, eh? Must be me that has tickets to see it this afternoon...

:D

It's weird but it seems to have been showing in Manchester (England, England) for the past 3 days or so.

Are we getting films sooner these days?

I personally think it looks bloody atrocious and so we didn't go to see it last night. We watched Mesrine: Killer Instinct and cheered on a couple of violent sociopaths played by the enigmatic Vincent Casell and lovely Mr. Gerard Depardieu.

[bill graham]

Does anyone know who has the american dvd rights?

Universal or the Weinstein company?

[Bourne101]

Does anyone know who has the american dvd rights?

Universal or the Weinstein company?

I think The Weinstein Company. I think Universal has the rights to overseas sales. I could be wrong, but I thought I heard that somewhere.

[Sigur509]

I just have to say something along the lines of 3DAYS!!

[Abbie Normal]

What is the length of this movie? Anyone know yet?

[Bourne101]

153 minutes

[Bourne101]

I'll let ya'll know what I thought of the movie and what Tarantino has to say to my question about character-driven vs meta-movie reference films and what he has in store for the future.

How was it?

[MisterTwister]

Uninterested in this one, especially with Brad Pitt as the lead. I do not like him as an actor what-so-ever. It also doesn't look all that.

I'll check it out on DVD, though.

[Fancyclaps]

I'm looking forward to this, but I'm afraid at the same time. I hope it isn't too talky like some people have said. I like Tarantino's writing usually, but I hope he's not too in love with his own writing that he can't bring himself to edit out long boring bits of talky talky.

[Strider]

I'm looking forward to this, but I'm afraid at the same time. I hope it isn't too talky like some people have said. I like Tarantino's writing usually, but I hope he's not too in love with his own writing that he can't bring himself to edit out long boring bits of talky talky.

I hate to disappoint you, but Inglourious Basterds is very "talky." The film is HEAVY on the dialogue and light on the action. I realize this will bother some, but it didn't bother me one bit, because I love QT's dialogue.

The dialogue is one of the many reasons why Basterds is such a great, kick-ass picture.

Strider

[Natty]

Are we getting films sooner these days?

It certainly seems like it. Transformers 2 came out over here a week before it did in USA as well.

However we still have to wait till October for Up. :(

[Reigh Kaufman]

I hate to disappoint you, but Inglourious Basterds is very "talky." The film is HEAVY on the dialogue and light on the action. I realize this will bother some, but it didn't bother me one bit, because I love QT's dialogue.

The dialogue is one of the many reasons why Basterds is such a great, kick-ass picture.

Strider

Yup. However the dialogue is sparky, funny and, at times, sinister. The action works better as a result of it.

Very quotable.

[dellamorte dellamore]

It's weird but it seems to have been showing in Manchester (England, England) for the past 3 days or so.

Are we getting films sooner these days?

I personally think it looks bloody atrocious and so we didn't go to see it last night. We watched Mesrine: Killer Instinct and cheered on a couple of violent sociopaths played by the enigmatic Vincent Casell and lovely Mr. Gerard Depardieu.

Pitt , pretty boy American actor ( i use that term loosely ) married to a Maxim crowd actress ( i use that term loosely also ) , that somehow gets by on his good looks not talent .

Casell , awesome multifaceted actor with more talent in his big toe than Pitt has in his whole body . He has a hotter wife also , although she may be somewhat deficient in the acting category ;)

I would say you made the right choice , IB looks dreadful

[ilovemovies]

Pitt is awesome. He's given so many great performances in so many great movies.

Angelina Jolie and Monica Bellucci are about in equal in looks and sexiness IMO.

[Mr.HyDe807]

Pitt , pretty boy American actor ( i use that term loosely ) married to a Maxim crowd actress ( i use that term loosely also ) , that somehow gets by on his good looks not talent .


Yes, that's the reason I really enjoyed his performances of Seven and Fight Club. His good looks, not the performance.

[MightyCelestial]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/32415263#32415263

Has a prequel partly written? Interesting

Is it just me or does Quentin look like he is morphing as time goes by?
His facial features seem to be evolving into the same as those of Wayland Flowers' Madam.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5L213Ip_Dg4/SaQ4InXlDiI/AAAAAAAADJg/rKWKAjzuPBI/s320/Madame+wayland+flowers.jpg

[QUENTIN]

How was it?

Sorry, I was without internet over the weekend and have been doing grad school orientation since then so I haven't gotten back to this. I still don't really have the time to go into it as much as I'd like to, but I can offer my overall opinion on the movie and some highlights from the event.

First, the movie (SPOILER FREE):

I liked it more than I thought I would, in part because the 60 pages I read of the script cover the least-interesting part of the movie, which generally gets better as it goes along and comes to a great climax.

My main issue with the picture is one I picked up on in the script and do feel is prevalent in the picture: It's too talky in places where the dialogue isn't very engaging. Basically, there are a lot of scenes in the movie where characters are hiding something or in disguise, so they have polite chit-chat with Nazi characters about very trivial things. There is an undercurrent of tension running through these scenes, that who they are or what they're hiding could be discovered, but to me that element of tension was not strong enough to justify the excessive lengths of the scenes or the dialogue that, tension or not, is so frankly uninteresting. In the opening scene, there's a lot of formality and talk of milk for like 5 solid minutes before things go anywhere, in another scene discussion of pastries and the food at a restaurant goes on much longer than it needs to and is basically filler dialogue, and in the movie's worst scene a bar game is shown in its entirety not once but twice with relative little purpose or importance. Similarly, the entire scene in Britain with Mike Meyers, parodic or satirical as it may be intended, is basically just a boring and cliche scene of lots of blatant exposition that I feel could have been severely cut. It's not just that the movie is light on action and heavy on dialogue, but that in many scenes the dialogue seems to be basically just spinning its wheels.

That said, most of those scenes, particularly the worst one in the basement pub, eventually do lead somewhere interesting and in fact the ultimate development of that scene leads to my favorite in the picture, one of the best Mexican stand-offs Tarantino has done that serves as a reminder that as cartoonish and caricatured as most Tarantino characters have become, he can still occasionally write the great real human beings.

Also on the plus side, as the plot moves along the developments increasingly get more engaging and suspenseful and the movie gets generally much more entertaining. During its last hour or so, I wouldn't say there's a bad moment or a scene wasted and I absolutely loved the denouement. The scenes with the Basterds are a lot of fun, if cartoonish, and their antics provide effective comic relief, regardless of how thinly they're drawn and how little we actually see of them. The Shoshanna story line was not as compelling as I'd expected, things mostly seem to fall into her lap and the actress is credible without being anything special or extraordinary, and her relationships were very unclear to me (she's in love with the projectionist...I guess? This is said a couple times but never really shown, demonstrated, or focused on) and the lengths to which Zoller goes to to woo her I never really understood, but once she starts to enact her plan things pick up on that front considerably.

The best aspects of the film overall are Tarantino's direction and visual style, which is masterful in the best sequences and saves even some of the more tepid ones from total failure or disinterest and the much-renowned performance of Christopher Waltz as Hans Landa. By far the most intriguing, captivating, and entertaining character in the story, he's brought to brilliant life by Waltz in a performance that dances between broadness and enormous restraint and contains enough brief and spontaneous outbursts to keep you on the edge of your seat. He is sinister, cunning, ruthless, and the revelation of his final plan for self-preservation was a narrative highpoint, even if he was ultimately too trusting. He's the best antagonist Tarantino has come up with since Ordell Robie and he's a delight to behold. The rest of the acting is generally effective if ordinary, as most of the other characters are thinly-drawn and basically caricatures, Pitt especially, but they make the most of that, playing them to the hilt and making them at least fun to watch.

In general, I'd call the movie an overall success with the reservation that it could have been trimmed by 40-45 minutes and retained or increased its power and that it's fairly "light" for a man capable of such incredible work. Some of the dialogue is quotable or memorable, but they're mostly throwaway one-liners, not finely-crafted and expertly-delivered monologues for which Tarantino is so revered. The action, when it comes, is well-handled and a few of the sequences genuinely awesome, I just wish they'd been more cohesively structured together as it sometimes feels like Tarantino is telling several disparate stories rather than weaving them well, until the final act arrives to tie things together.

Overall, I think I'd give it a 7-8/10, it's a little hard to rate the movie now because the experience of watching it in the Nazi flag-adorned Drafthouse with a bunch of fans and great German food and beer with Tarantino a few rows from me was so much fun that it's kind of hard to separate from the film itself. I feel like I'll have to see it again on its own terms to more fairly evaluate it as a whole. Needless to say, I had a blast and would recommend it.

Now, for the event:

Some highlights from the Q&A (***SOME KEY SPOILERS***):

-D.W. Grifith Nuremberg trials versus Leni Reifenstahl –-Tarantino was asked about propaganda films in relation to the picture, with ends with a screening of a Nazi propaganda film and how he feels about Leni Riefenstahl. He said he thinks D.W. Grifith is much more responsible for detrimental propaganda, and noted that crosses burning was a Grifith invention. Tarantino got very passionate and angry in his comment and said Grifith caused the resurgence of the KKK so all the people who died from that, he’s responsible for. He argued that Triumph of The Will is well-made but often boring with lots of speeches, but that Olympia is one of the best movies he’s seen, and though she’s an anti-semite who he said you can’t trust at all, she shot Jesse Owen sympathetically and was an incredible visual talent who is in fact his favorite female director. He said if Grifith were held to the standards of the Nuremberg trials, he'd be executed, but that Riefenstahl was tried at Nuremberg and found not guilty.

-Writer’s write --Tarantino was asked about his progression from being a filmmaker whose movies features almost exclusively men and appealed to fanboys to having so many strong female characters and how he wrote women. He answered basically that "writer's write" and can conjure up any character and write from their POV, so he does a lot of strong female roles, because he’s not just writing himself (which I found funny given his tendency to write everyone as really long-winded, hyper-verbose and slang-ridden, his speaking style)

-The scene of Shoshanna dying is his favorite in the movie, it’s the “consummation” of a love affair between her and Frederick
(MAJOR SPOILER, HIGHLIGHT TO READ)
-It was almost a TV show --The movie was almost a 12-part miniseries on HBO, then QT had dinner with Luc Besson who told him he was one of the few people who made him excited to go to the CINEMA, so he didn’t want him doing TV. With that, something Tarantino said was the kind of thing once you hear, "you can’t unhear", instead of sitting down to write it as a miniseries as he had plotted out, marked up, and prepped for, he tried one last time to make it into a movie and that’s how IB the film finally came about.

-The beginning of the movie was written years ago, the rest is new --10 years ago he had the first two chapters ready pretty much as is, but everything after that is the new storyline he came up with on his final attempt, prompted by Besson's comment.

-Tom Tykwer was the German translator for the dialogue, not just some random German speaker

-It almost got delayed years for no Landa --Tarantino was ready to call off production and not make the movie because he couldn’t find a Hans Landa. Despite many top Hollywood actors (he didn't name names) angling for the role, Tarantino was insistent that it be played by a German actor and couldn't find anyone right for the part. "Without Landa, I can't do the movie" so he announced to much of his arranged cast and crew that he'd be shutting down production. Then in the last week of casting Waltz came in and nailed it and they continued with production.

-Danny Trejo --Danny Trejo was there in the audience and told me they’re trying to make Machete, with Rodriguez producing. Danny is really, really short (5’5”?) which surprised me

-Eli, Pitt, and QT would sit around in-character all day for day after day and hang out, mess with PAs, etc as their characters. Tarantino said it was a joy to see these characters he'd been imaging for years fully realized both in the film and outside it in the several months they spent making it. Roth said it was awesome because it gave him an excuse to be a total asshole as long as he kept up with a Boston accent.

-Tarantino was pressured a little to make the movie all in English, but never budged. He said if Schindler’s List were made today, Spielberg would have had to do it in Polish and German because of the "uncompromising nature" of IB in this respect.

-When Morricone couldn’t do the music because of the Cannes deadline, though Tarantino said it was a shame he didn’t get the chance to work with him, it ultimately didn’t matter because he wasn’t going to do much original music anyway but reworkings of his old film themes. Though he worked with RZA and Robert Rodriguez on the scores of KB, those were in very limited capacities and really he does his own music on films just based on his record collection, would rather work with a music editor than a composer.

-IB has a connection to True romance, Donny Donowitz, Eli Roth’s character, is the father of Lee Donowitz, the movie producer in True Romance.

Tarantino was kind of defensive in some of his answers when questions were even mildly critical, so I decided not to ask him about his shift towards films built around collages of homages rather than character-driven work that tipped its hat to older films. Instead, I asked him how the filmmaking landscape has changed in the 17 years since Dogs and how much easier and harder in different respects it has become to make films. (People were filming the event and if this is online or comes out, I'm the bearded kid in the Obey shirt Tarantino refers to as "Obey"). Also, I was kind of surprised at what a total dork Tarantino is in person. I knew he was a mile-a-minute speaking film geek, but he is really nervous in front of a crowd, even a crowd of nothing but his fans, and makes bad jokes, is loud and obnoxious, and generally seems really uncomfortable and awkward, way moreso than I'd realized based on interviews and appearances.

The coolest part of the night was that I got some one-on-one face time with QT to shake the man's hand and introduce myself and ask his advice for a kid who "went to films and to film school" on the best way aspiring filmmakers can break into the biz these days. He and Roth both said basically, it'll take a few years at least and in that time you'll find out whether it's what you really want to do. If it's not, if you can do anything else, go do that, they said, but if it's your one and only passion than just never give up. Tarantino said MBFB was a fiasco he never finished and Reservoir Dogs took years for anyone to pay attention to, but that once he got it in the right hands (Harvey Keitel's) it was basically a done deal and the rest is history. Roth said he wrote Cabin Fever in 1995 and sent it to every major and minor studio every 6 months for 7 years before someone finally offered to give him $50,000 to make it and once he had one investor, others felt safer giving him money and he found a team of dentists to finance it and the rest is also history. It was simultaneously encouraging (if you persist and have the talent and drive, you'll eventually make it) and discouraging (this will almost certainly take many years during which you'll be poor and filled with self-doubt) and though nothing I hadn't really heard before, very much appreciated their honesty and willingness to try to help a kid out.

So, the experience was really awesome and I plan to see the movie again when I get the chance, removed from the frills and thrills of the event, but in the end I was pleasantly surprised.

[Bourne101]

Glad to hear you enjoyed both the movie and the event.

[Natty]

Thanks for sharing Quentin.

[unspoken]

Does anyone know who has the american dvd rights?

Universal or the Weinstein company?

I think The Weinstein Company. I think Universal has the rights to overseas sales. I could be wrong, but I thought I heard that somewhere.

Actually, from what I've read, Weinstein Co is very hard up for cash (they've hired a financial restructuring firm to help them out recently and talk is that if IB tanks, they're close to finished if not completely finished). Some places are saying that they gave up the video rights for extra cash for P+A to push IB as much as possible.

This was written in June, don't know if it's entirely accurate or if it only applies to the Blu-Ray:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/The_Weinstein_Company/Disc_Announcements/Weinstein_Financial_Woes_Affects_Inglourious_Baste rds_Blu-ray/2900

[overwatch]

OMFG I read up the top of Quentin's sumary (spoiler free) and scroll through to see a big fucking spoiler about a character. Fuck, and I was only 12 hours away from seeing this and it was spoiled. So close but so fucking far.

[Natty]

OMFG I read up the top of Quentin's sumary (spoiler free) and scroll through to see a big fucking spoiler about a character. Fuck, and I was only 12 hours away from seeing this and it was spoiled. So close but so fucking far.

I know how you feel. I've scrolled through threads and found spoilers when I'm trying to avoid them. I was watching GMTV a couple of weeks ago (a breakfast-time talk/news show) and one of the actors was being interviewed, for some reason the interviewer felt the need to give away a MAJOR spoiler and I was like "What the hell! Why did you have to say that!?! :mad:".

Still, didn't ruin the experience. :)

[Venus Venusia]

I'm still trying to decide whether or not to walk 4 miles in the heat just to get to a theater to see this.

[QUENTIN]

OMFG I read up the top of Quentin's sumary (spoiler free) and scroll through to see a big fucking spoiler about a character. Fuck, and I was only 12 hours away from seeing this and it was spoiled. So close but so fucking far.

Sorry man, I separated the review part (spoiler free) from the Q&A part where I warned of spoilers, but I've now bolded the spoiler warning and required highlighting for that line so this doesn't happen to anyone else.

That does suck, but don't worry, it shouldn't ruin the experience as the how and when is still a mystery and there are a lot of surprises left in the movie. Sorry that happened, but hope you enjoy regardless.

[Brendan M.]

I only really know of one spoiler in this movie, and at this point I guess it doesn't matter anymore because from all the interviews I've seen with Tarantino and the cast, the press keeps bringing it up.

[APzombie]

QUENTIN, gotta say man, i am extremely jealous but am incredibly grateful for your in depth review and coverage of the event. Thank you!!!

[Bahs]

Your a lucky duck QUENTIN! i enjoyed reading your write-up. but let me know if some online footage of the event comes out, i would like to see it.

[dellamorte dellamore]

I'm still trying to decide whether or not to walk 4 miles in the heat just to get to a theater to see this.

I meant ask before why you don't ride a bike there . You said you walked 4 miles to see D9 , just get a cheap one at a garage sale and your'e on your way . It's still a trek but much more enjoyable :)

[Bourne101]

I'm still trying to decide whether or not to walk 4 miles in the heat just to get to a theater to see this.

Do it.

[dellamorte dellamore]

I think Quentin's review will be the best one i read . No hype , no bashing , just an honest critique of what he witnessed .

It's what i thought it may be , too long , thinly constructed characters , a meandering plot that is brought together in the end .

I'm not saying it won't be entertaining but Qt is given way too much clout most times , whoever hires him gives him free reign to indulge his flights of fancy . If someone would have reigned him in , they would have realized 153 minutes is best suited for Dvd , at least considering the subject matter .

If it tanks , or even underperforms and doesn't make a decent profit , Qt's creative freedom days are coming to an end . If it makes some decent money and keeps the Weinsteins afloat , i expect to see hi make a 4 hour movie about two people sitting at a table talking about movies or whatever .

I'm not hating on it , but if writer's write , they must also realize people use the restroom , like they do , Qt lacks the ability to edit himself , he goes off on narrative tangents .

All i know is , Besson and Tykwer had something to do with the creation of this ( in varying degrees according to Quentin ), i'm sold right there .

Great writeup Quentin

[overwatch]

i loved it, the downside isn't that it's long, it's that there are several scenes and subplots that are somewhat useless because the characters die aka a romance that doesn't go anywhere. And toward the end there are some choices made by a character that i don't understand. But when the movie finished I was really satisfied. It was really great.

[QUENTIN]

Thanks for the thanks dudes, happy to share.

Ebert was cagey about how he felt about the film after its Cannes screening, but today he offers a 4-star review of the film:


Inglourious Basterds (http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090819/REVIEWS/908199995)

****/****
August 19, 2009

by Rober Ebert

Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” is a big, bold, audacious war movie that will annoy some, startle others and demonstrate once again that he’s the real thing, a director of quixotic delights. For starters (and at this late stage after the premiere in May at Cannes, I don’t believe I’m spoiling anything), he provides World War II with a much-needed alternative ending. For once the basterds get what’s coming to them.

From the title, ripped off from a 1978 B-movie, to the Western sound of the Ennio Morricone opening music to the key location, a movie theater, the film embeds Tarantino’s love of the movies. The deep, rich colors of 35mm film provide tactile pleasure. A character at the beginning and end, not seen in between, brings the story full circle. The “basterds” themselves, savage fighters dropped behind Nazi lines, are an unmistakable nod to the Dirty Dozen.

And above all, there are three iconic characters, drawn broadly and with love: the Hero, the Nazi and the Girl. These three, played by Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz and Melanie Laurent, are seen with that Tarantino knack of taking a character and making it a Character, definitive, larger than life, approaching satire in its intensity but not — quite — going that far. Let’s say they feel bigger than most of the people we meet in movies.

The story begins in Nazi-occupied France, early in the war, when the cruel, droll Nazi Col. Hans Landa (Waltz) arrives at an isolated dairy farm where he believes the farmer (Denis Menochet) is hiding Jews. He’s right, and a young woman named Shosanna (Melanie Laurent) flees into the woods. It is for this scene, and his performance throughout the movie, that Christoph Waltz deserves an Oscar nomination to go with his best actor award from Cannes. He creates a character unlike any Nazi — indeed, anyone at all — I’ve seen in a movie: evil, sardonic, ironic, mannered, absurd.

The Hero is Brad Pitt, as Lt. Aldo Raine, leader of the Basterds. Tarantino probably wants us to hear “Aldo Ray,” star of countless war films and B pictures. Raine is played by Pitt as a broad caricature of a hard-talking Southern boy who wants each of his men to bring him 100 Nazi scalps. For years, his band improbably survives in France and massacres Nazis, and can turn out in formal eveningwear at a moment’s notice. Pitt’s version of Italian is worthy of a Marx brother.

The Girl is Shosanna, played by Laurent as a curvy siren with red lipstick and, at the film’s end, a slinky red dress. Tarantino photographs her with the absorption of a fetishist, with closeups of shoes, lips, a facial veil and details of body and dress. You can’t tell me he hasn’t seen the work of the Scottish artist Jack Vettriano, and his noir paintings of the cigarette-smoking ladies in red.

Shosanna calculatingly flirts with Frederick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl), a Nazi war hero and now movie star; he persuades Joseph Goebbels to hold the premiere of his new war film in her theater. This sets up a plot that includes Tarantino breaking several rules in order to provide documentary footage about how flammable nitrate film prints are.

A Tarantino film resists categorization. “Inglourious Basterds” is no more about war than “Pulp Fiction” is about — what the hell is it about? Of course nothing in the movie is possible, except that it’s so bloody entertaining. His actors don’t chew the scenery, but they lick it. He’s a master at bringing performances as far as they can go toward iconographic exaggeration.

After I saw “Inglourious Basterds” at Cannes, although I was writing a daily blog, I resisted giving an immediate opinion about it. I knew Tarantino had made a considerable film, but I wanted it to settle, and to see it again. I’m glad I did. Like a lot of real movies, you relish it more the next time. Immediately after “Pulp Fiction” played at Cannes, QT asked me what I thought. “It’s either the best film of the year or the worst film,” I said. I hardly knew what the hell had happened to me. The answer was: the best film. Tarantino films have a way of growing on you. It’s not enough to see them once.

Which has further encouraged me to see the film again. I don't believe the flaws will suddenly become positives, but he's right that every Tarantino film demands more than one viewing to fully appreciate.

[QUENTIN]

Reelviews' James Berardinelli, who so rarely gives out 4-star reviews that his last one was The Dark Knight and this is only one of four since 2005, also chimes in with a perfect score review:


Inglourious Basterds (http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=1774)

ACTION/WAR:

United States, 2009

U.S. Release Date:

2009-08-21

Running Length:

2:33

MPAA Classification:

R (Violence, Profanity, Sexual Situations)

Theatrical Aspect Ratio:

2:35:1

Cast:

Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, B.J. Novak, Omar Doom

Director:

Quentin Tarantino

Screenplay:

Quentin Tarantino

Cinematography:

Robert Richardson

U.S. Distributor:

The Weinstein Company

Subtitles:

none

With Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino has made his best movie since Pulp Fiction. He has also made what could arguably be considered the most audacious World War II movie of all-time. If you think there are rules for this sort of motion picture, guess again. And it's not just that Tarantino is using the spaghetti western as his template; it's that the sheer unpredictability of where all this is going makes it compelling from beginning to end. Even the film's occasional artistic flourishes (such as chapter titles and out-of-period music pieces) work within the context of what Tarantino is trying to accomplish. This is clearly an attempt by the director to expand his range and step outside of the comfort zone in which he has worked for the majority of his career.

Tarantino brings to Inglourious Basterds his not inconsiderable knowledge of films. The movie is awash in references - some subtle, some obvious - that run the gamut from D-grade exploitation flicks to A-list classics. This is not, as has been reported in some places, a remake of the 1978 feature The Inglorious Bastards, although the title is an homage. Reportedly, some of Tarantino's nascent versions of the screenplay used elements of the earlier film, but those are mostly gone in the final edition. This is pretty much 100% Tarantino, which could be good or bad, depending on your opinion of the man's work.

The plot follows two stories and, expectedly, brings them together at the end. In the first chapter, we are introduced to Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), a French Jew hiding with her family under the floorboards of a dairy farmer's house. The farmer is visited by the outwardly charming SS Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), who has earned the nickname "The Jew Hunter." Unlike the average movie Nazi, this guy is smart - Sherlock Holmes smart. He quickly deduces that the farmer is harboring fugitives and has his men open fire at the floor. Shosanna is the only one to escape the massacre. She flees to Paris where, when the movie catches up with her later on, she is running a movie theater under an assumed name.

The other story follows the adventures of Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and his merry group of American "Basterds." They have parachuted into France behind enemy lines and are wreaking havoc. Their goal: kill Nazis. They don't take prisoners; they take scalps. They have become so infamous that even Hitler knows about them. Churchill and the British high command send in one of their own, Lt. Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender), with a plan. New intelligence indicates that nearly the entire German upper echelon will be at a small theater in Paris for the premiere of a new propaganda film. The goal is to blow up the theater and kill as many of Hitler's top men as possible. To facilitate this, the Basterds will make contact with a double agent, German actress Bridget von Hammersmart (Diane Kruger). She will get them close enough to plant the bomb. Of course, the theater in question is the one owned by Shosanna.

Tarantino loves dialogue and, between taut, brutal action sequences, there's a lot of talking. The conversations aren't as elliptical as some of those in the director's previous efforts, but there are some intriguing moments - a Nazi providing a detailed comparison between Jew-hunting and rat-hunting, a 20 questions-like guessing game with the answer of "King Kong," and a reverse Cinderella encounter in which having a foot to fit the shoe is not a good thing. (Tarantino gets his trademark foot fetish shot in this scene.) There is a point to the talk, however, that goes beyond the filmmaker showing off his skill with words. All these scenes precede instances of sudden, violent action and the threat of bloodshed is heavy in the air. With every sentence, the tension mounts. Tarantino uses these sequences to prime the audience, teasing them until the suspense is nearly unbearable, then releasing it in one explosive burst.

Watching Inglourious Basterds, I was reminded of Paul Verhoeven's Black Book and Bryan Singer's Valkyrie, both of which contain themes and ideas that are echoed here. This is no Schindler's List. It's not about nobility or sacrifice. It's about the dirty, bloody side of war. Yes, there's heroism, but a lot is hidden away in order for those who receive medals to retain a patina of valor. Inglourious Basterds is suffused with dark humor - so much so that it's tempting to label it an action/comedy. There are laugh-out-loud moments, and not one guffaw is the result of something unintentional. This is nothing new for Tarantino, who has always interwoven humor with violence, but its incorporation here, amidst some of his bleakest material, is refreshingly unsettling.

Most Tarantino films feature at least one high-profile actor in a major role and, in this case, it's Brad Pitt. From his opening speech about the mission - one that recalls monologues from The Dirty Dozen and Patton - Pitt is clearly in character. His capabilities as an actor are often overlooked because of his high-profile off-screen image, but he takes chances and rarely gives a bad performance. (It's no coincidence he's liked by the Coen Brothers and Soderbergh.) As Raine, he's in top form, getting most of the best lines and generating a lot of the humor. The role is unlikely to garner Pitt an Oscar nomination, but it will be remembered.

Pitt's co-lead (although they never share the screen) is French actress Melanie Laurent, with whose body of work I am unfamiliar. She stands out - good looks and good acting. The character is nicely written, indicating that any previous problems Tarantino may have had with penning strong female characters were corrected in Kill Bill. She's from the same mold as Black Book's lead - as deadly as she is attractive, and ruthless beneath the seemingly unprepossessing exterior. Diane Kruger is the only other woman with a significant role in Inglourious Basterds, but Laurent is more memorable.

Christoph Waltz won an acting award at Cannes for his portrayal of Landa the Jew Hunter, and it's one of those deliciously twisted roles designed to unsettle audiences. He's like the lion who curls up at your feet and purrs as you stroke it, then suddenly jumps up and rips off your arm. It's a charismatic portrayal that shows how insidious evil can be. Perhaps that's unfair - Landa is not so much evil as he is coldly logical, amoral, and opportunistic. The character is a formidable adversary; Waltz is a formidable thespian.

There's a little stunt casting involved, although not as much as there might have been had scheduling conflicts not kept Adam Sandler from appearing. The role he was to play went to Eli Roth. It's interesting that the director of the "torture porn" Hostel movies should appear as a soldier who loves to beat Nazis to a pulp with a baseball bat while everyone around cheers. ("It's the closest thing we have to a movie," comments Raine at one point.) The only one who sticks out like a sore thumb is Mike Myers (playing a British general). He's not very good and he's not sufficiently camouflaged to avoid calling attention to himself.

Inglourious Basterds isn't as fresh and freewheeling as Pulp Fiction, but Tarantino is now an established director and a known quantity. That he is able to successfully pull off some of what he does in this movie is a testimony to his skill at both writing and directing. Yes - he borrows heavily and shamelessly from other movies, but it's in the unique fusion of those sources and styles that he achieves his success. Despite having so many antecedents, Inglourious Basterds quickly carves out its own niche. The running length is a gaudy 153 minutes, yet the film moves so smoothly and the moving parts come together so cleanly that the time passes easily. This is the movie I have been awaiting since Pulp Fiction. It's one hell of an enjoyable ride into the nightmare that was Nazi-occupied France, and thinking you know how it all ends doesn't make it so.

[Lazy Boy]

To complete the trifecta of four star reviews, here's one from my favorite critic on the internets, Walter Chaw:

http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/screenreviews/inglouriousbasterds.htm

There are two stars in Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino and Christoph Waltz), the one to be expected, the other a shoo-in for Oscar consideration in what's easily the most mesmerizing, commanding performance I've seen in any film this year. The opening sequence, in which Waltz's SS Col. Hans Landa interrogates a French dairy farmer as to the whereabouts of a Jewish family that's gone missing, is, how to say this, perfect, but unlike the other perfect sequences of 2009 (the prologue of Up, the main titles of Watchmen), Inglourious Basterds matches this exceptional moment with another as Landa has a little confection with a rare survivor of his attentions, Shosanna (a stunning Mélanie Laurent); then another as German actress Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) does her best to cover for her three suspicious pals in an underground speakeasy; then another with Landa again as he asks von Hammersmark to put her foot in his lap. At first glance two separate films that only fit together roughly, if at all, it becomes clear during Inglourious Basterds' final chapter, as the ghostly image of a beautiful woman cackles in the smoke above a burning auditorium ("This is the face of Jewish vengeance!"), that this is Tarantino no longer making something new and strange out of his obsessive movie-love, but something dangerous and risky about the ethics of vengeance and the shifting ground beneath moral quagmires we thought we'd put to bed. What better conflict than the last popular war to stage a conversation about whether or not the only reason the winners weren't held accountable for their atrocities is that they were the winners.

The sense that there are indelible scars from any conflagration on either side is literalized in redneck Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt, honouring his namesake Aldo Ray's snarling performance in The Green Berets) and his practice of carving swastikas, Charlie Manson-like, into the Nazis he frees to tell the tale of his titular band of guerrilla commandos. (There's a fascinating moment--a throwaway line, really--where they're self-identified as terrorists, something quantified in their suicide-bombing plan.) It comes complete with a feeling that no one gets out of war completely alive, that the deals we made with the devil at the end of WWII are no better or worse than the ones we strike with our devils on a daily basis. Tarantino makes time, too, to discuss the importance of film in the cinema-savvy flirtation between moviehouse proprietor Shosanna and dashing German war hero Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl)--how film is the definitive historical archive of the twentieth century, where poetry and correspondence served that purpose in The Great War. (Indeed, there's not much difference in the medias when the movie looks and acts like this one.) The self-awareness of this picture arrives in the form of Tarantino's coded reflection, at length, about how film, because of its privileged position in our culture, provides the most eloquent expression of a society's attitudes, its past, and most especially its present. Destined to be misunderstood as Tarantino's WWII movie, Inglourious Basterds is his movie about war as seen from a Trench-rat's "Neverendian" perspective. The idea popular along the Western front circa 1917 that the carnage people are capable of inflicting on one another is limitless and unbounded proves true in 2009 as we continue to find ourselves--as Americans, as Israelis, as Africans, as Arabs--entrenched in untenable situations in wars of attrition.

Alive with curiosity and the moral streak evident in Tarantino's work since Jackie Brown (sanctified in his ferociously moral Kill Bill pictures), Inglourious Basterds presents, in vignette after vignette, complex, thorny tête-à-têtes punctuated by explosions of unusually cathartic violence. Tarantino promises a Dirty Dozen-variety of atrocity only to disappoint repeatedly with ruminations on the nature of identity. The heroes and villains of Inglourious Basterds are flipped constantly throughout the piece; Shosanna's victory is pyrrhic at best (ditto Landa's, and Raine's); and unlike any number of modern, feted wartime melodramas (particularly Spielberg's WWII trilogy of Empire of the Sun, Schindler's List, and Saving Private Ryan), there is no epilogue where righteous lines are redrawn once the fog of war has lifted. There's no post-mortem to the events of this picture, just the film's most intimate and graphic moment of bloodletting, perpetrated against the character we hate the most--and yet it makes us cringe. Pointless to talk overmuch about how terrible Eli Roth is in the film--better to consider that his casting serves as tart commentary on the stark divide between Tarantino's genre morality plays and, really, anyone else's. It's a film that demands active viewership, inspires conversations, and forms a beautiful diptych with Neill Blomkamp's District 9 that's interested in the essential inescapable reality of what happens when people consecrate their intolerance in nationalism. Inglourious Basterds is a war film about war. That's rarer than you think.

[Tweek]

I'm still trying to decide whether or not to walk 4 miles in the heat just to get to a theater to see this.
You don't have public transportation?

[Bourne101]

Wow, this went from having completely mixed reviews to being one of the best reviewed films of the year. It's now at 87% on RT with 90% from top critics. It has also received multiple four star reviews from some of the best critics.

Tomorrow night cannot come soon enough!

[Mr.HyDe807]

I was gonna go to the midnight showing, but my brother can't go, so I'm going tomorrow afternoon.

Bring it on!

[sbunn10]

I'm going tomorrow afternoon as well, I can't wait! And excuse me for piling on the thanks, but great write-up Quentin.

[FireCaptain4]

Quentin, like sbunn my thanks is long overdue. However, that write-up was splendid. I've always wanted to attend a big event/screening/Q&A like that.

Ebert's review... :cool:

[Bahs]

heading out tomorrow night after my classes! my anticipation has reached its limit.

[Hucksta G]

I had a blast although some scenes were a tad talky the time flew for me.

10/10

[franky4fingerz]

just got back. DAMN is all I can say. Ive never been more tense during a movie. I cant wait to see it again. Brad Pitt, jesus.
10/10 best movie of the year hands-down.

[Kevin Smith fan]

Just got out of the midnight showing. Maybe if QT weren't so busy trying to be Sergio Leone this could have been something really special. Instead its just really amusing. Not bad at all though, just could have been more.

85/100

[SkyNet]

my god... just.. my god!

Insanely good flick... dialog befitting a Tarantino flick (i bought the screenplay a few hours prior to seeing the flick and cant wait to sit down to read it)

great bits of comedy...long stretches of Tarantino brand dialog and EXCELLENT bits of violence!

Everything i expected for the past 10 years i have been hearing of this flick!

[Digifruitella]

Good film. Trademark 'tino.

[Sigur509]

The film: amazing. I just got back, but i fucking loved it.

Got to see the inception and avatar trailer. Best midnight crowd I've ever been too.

Seeing it again this weekend.

10/10

[Strider]

I would've gone to a midnight screeening last night, but I had other plans. However, I'll be seeing the film again tonight with friends.

I seriously can't wait!

Anyway...

I'm happy to hear that the schmoes who attended midnight screenings enjoyed/liked/loved the film. ;)

Strider

[Strider]

By the way, has anyone bought the soundtrack yet? I haven't. But everything I heard in the film was fantastic.

Every QT film soundtrack is fucking groovy.

Strider

[MightyCelestial]

The Basterds take no prisoners because they are not in the prisoner taking business.
They're in the Natzi Killing business.
And business is abooming.
On a scale of 1 to 10,
I give this movie a "9! 9! 9! 9! 9! 9! 9!"

[Ayestrain]

I was gonna take a pass on this in the theater, but my friend called with a ticket to a midnight screening. I can certainly say I'm glad I took him up on it--this is a bold, rousing flick. It's good to see so many things still signature-Tarantino in it, even as he seems to break into new directorial ground (for him) with it.

QT still has it, I'm pleased to say. Good stuff, very impressive movie.

[Smiert Spionam]

Caught the midnight premiere last night. By far one of the worst movie theatre experieces I've ever had. The crowd at my screen was SO FUCKING STUPID. They laughed their asses off at EVERYTHING, even if it wasn't funny and wasn't intended to be funny. They clapped EVERY SINGLE TIME there was the slightest bit of violence. And moreso, half the people around me and my friends, talked through the whole goddamn thing. It was awful. Had my friend not driven me there, I would have walked out after the first half hour I was so annoyed. Did anyone else have an experience like this? I don't think I'll ever go to a Tarantino film with the general public ever again. Though the crowd was mostly my age demographic, it was populated with immature, douchebag frat boys and their hot, yet very stupid, girlfriends. :mad:

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/1382/inglouriousbasterds2009f.jpg

Anyway, because of the shitty circumstances of my viewing, I don't feel like I could give the best review to Basterds as I'd really like to watch it again without all the distractions. I will say though that it was fun, but it was somewhat of a mess of a film. It felt like we got some pieces of a much larger story, as I'm sure the original script is much longer, and because of this, we don't really get to know any of our characters at all. They appear when they're necessary to the plot, but that's it. I felt like, most the time, the characters of Basterds, especially "the Basterds" themselves, where in on a joke amongst themselves that we, the audience, weren't privileged to. Also, the randomness of certain things that seemed like they were just thrown in there for poignant Tarantino-ness (the Chapter titles, the Narrator, the name cards etc). But I dunno.... as I said, I really need to see this again, but experience aside, that doesn't change my slight disappointment with this film. I expected to see so much more.... :(

At present, 7/10. Not QT's worst work, but definitely not his best.

P.S. And they didn't even play that Inception teaser trailer that was supposed to be during the previews. WTF?!!!!

[Lazy Boy]

By the way, has anyone bought the soundtrack yet? I haven't. But everything I heard in the film was fantastic.

Every QT film soundtrack is fucking groovy.

Strider

Haven't seen it yet (tonight!), but listened to the 'track on my iPod yesterday. I love the continued use of Morricone, can already imagine certain scenes going well with them...though "Cat People" by Bowie could throw me off. I've already read about the scene over which that plays, though. All in all a well chosen album -- good, good vibrations.

[Phenia Films]

Cant wait to miss it!!
the most overrated director of all time Mr Pretentious himself Q.Tarentino :eek:

Bring on (back) John Carpenter
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff202/joebarbarisi/carpenter.jpg


go away Tarentino:mad:

[overwatch]

Cant wait to miss it!!
the most overrated director of all time Mr Pretentious himself Q.Tarentino :eek:

Bring on (back) John Carpenter
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff202/joebarbarisi/carpenter.jpg


go away Tarentino:mad:

Yeah let's all go watch Ghosts of Mars........ wait, fuck that.

[Smiert Spionam]

Cant wait to miss it!!
the most overrated director of all time Mr Pretentious himself Q.Tarentino :eek:

Bring on (back) John Carpenter, go away Tarentino:mad:

John Carpenter hasn't made a good movie since the fucking 80's. If you wanna discuss him and his shitty work, move along to the General Discussion forum, noob, and take your amateur opinion with you.

[Sigur509]

I guess it just depends. My theater, obviously full of QT fans, ate the film up. People were cheering, yelling, clapping, really getting into it. But it did not seem to take away from the film, it made it more enjoyable to me.


SPOILERS??


The first scene when Sam Jackson starts talking, right at the freeze frame of one of the characters, people went nuts.

When Brad Pitt was talking on the phone at the end, and we all slowly realized it was Harvey Keitels voice, EVERYONE started cheering. I started hearing people yelling out THE WOLF! It was loud, but fucking fun. I enjoyed every minute of it.

[Smiert Spionam]

SPOILERS??


When Brad Pitt was talking on the phone at the end, and we all slowly realized it was Harvey Keitels voice, EVERYONE started cheering. I started hearing people yelling out THE WOLF! It was loud, but fucking fun. I enjoyed every minute of it.

See, that's the difference: you were in an audience full of real QT fans. The assholes I saw it with had no idea what to appreciate and were grasping at anything, just laughing waaaay to fuckin' hard at anything remotely amusing. And I'm sure none of them realized it was Keitel, 'cuz it was dead silent at that part...

[Sigur509]

I see.

In that case, I would find it annoying also.

I swear, in the 400+ people at my showing, at least 100 I saw wearing Pulp Fiction shirts. We all played a QT trivia game before the movie started, and you had to anwser by yelling out IM A BASTERD!

Amazing experience.

[Smiert Spionam]

Wow, that sounds awesome.
Jealous much :(

[FireCaptain4]

No Inception trailer at my viewing this morning either. I'm also jealous of Sigur, there was only a few people at my showing.

I'm going to a different theater in Dallas with some friends this afternoon to see the film again, hopefully it'll make for a more awesome experience.

[Canto]

This movie was great, it was classic Tarantino right from the start, the credits and the music and the dialogue and everything. Christoph Waltz deserves a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, he was awesome. 9/10

I knew there was a trailer that was supposed to be attached to it, but I didn't get an Inception trailer either.

Reservoir Dogs (9.5/10)
Pulp Fiction (10/10)
Jackie Brown (7/10)
Kill Bill (9/10)
Death Proof (7/10)

[MidnightAngel]

Is it even better than Death Proof? I wonder if Inglorious Basterds would become a huge hit at the box office...should Tarantino direct a sequel only this time beating the japs?

[Ayestrain]

No bad experiences at my viewing, amazingly..the crowd seemed genuinely into it, undoubtedly a bunch of QT/film freaks, who got all the references.

I did have this big dude sitting right next to me who COULD NOT stop fidgeting, and really got animated in his seat whenever there was a big shootout sequence--that was pretty annoying for awhile because it felt like he was shaking the whole row whenever he moved. I always seem to end up right next to ppl. like that in a crowded theater.

It's always like a big party seeing a QT movie with like-minded fans.

[bankholdup]

.

[Danger^Cart]

Seeing this tonight. I'm sure everyone is holding their breath in anticipation of my thoughts. Hold tight, guys, hold tight.

[echo_bravo]

I liked this film HOWEVER there were some WTF moments in it.

1) What in the hell was up with the Samuel L Jackson voiceover??!?!:confused:
It was completely unnessacery and out of place. Its not a big deal because it wasnt used that much at all but it was stupid.

2) Was that a David Bowie song I heard when the Jewish/French girl was getting ready??:confused:
Again, completely unnessacery and out of place.


Overall, I wasnt bored for a minute. Waltz was fantastic as the smooth talking scumbag and stole the show.
Pitt's Italian was funny too.

Despite the minor flaws, I had a great time.

8/10

[Reigh Kaufman]

It's about time you people watched this film. We've been waiting for a week to discuss it.

My big quibble:

Where was the French New Wave sequence? It would have worked perfectly in the film. The nods Quentin made were pretty fucking obscure (L'enfer? The joke was not lost on me, but that's just obtuse - so a French New Wave black and white sequence, whilst no doubt over-indulgent, would have slotted in fine.

I liked the sequence the way it was filmed, but...it was a nice nod to his heroes (QT owes Godard more than anyone) in the original script.

Ah, well...

[Ayestrain]

^ I avoided reading the script ahead of time, though I started to. I wanted to watch it fresh. Wonder if they'll be much added back in on DVD?

Off-topic: it's pretty astounding that the Weinsteins let a cut this long into theaters. I guess they still have a Quentin-boosting rep to maintain (few other directors they would make that concession for). Incidentally, this didn't feel like an ass-busting 2 and half hours in the slightest--it flows amazingly well.



2) Was that a David Bowie song I heard when the Jewish/French girl was getting ready??:confused:
Again, completely unnessacery and out of place.

I thought the scene worked overall--she's sexy and slinky and out for revenge and the Bowie song embodies it, nothing more. QT used Morricone in the opening, which was a better fit--but again, it was a piece of music that was created long after the supposed era of the film.

[Scarface98.9]

I saw the film last night during the midnight screening and had a blast. See a midnight screening whenever you can since the people there are the ones who REALLY wanna see it and makes it so much easier to have a good time.

I loved the film despite some headscratching moments. Despite how good Christopher Waltz is as the Jew Hunter, the opening scene seemed to go on forever. It was a good scene and some stuff was necessary for his character but it felt like it could've been trimmed to make room for more of the movie.

Also, there's always a scene in a Tarantino movie where the pace dies and we're subjected to an overly long dialogue scene. That one was the big "here's the plan" scene with Mike Myers. He never ever shows up in the rest of the movie and it was just awkward overall. There could've been an incredibly better way of condensing the scene or transposing it into another scene.

That being said...

I loooooved the movie

[LordSimen]

Fuckin' hell, just when you start to forget why you love a man so much, he releases another flick that kicks your ass just like all his others. Rock on Tarantino, Basterds is gold. 10/10

[Mr.HyDe807]

I'm seeing this in a hour with my brother! I can't fucking wait!

[Bourne101]

http://l.yimg.com/k/omg/us/img/a1/6a/4178_6573251400.jpg?y=660&x=616&q=75&n=0&sig=6XnaOOuI033tiWU.diVUgg--
"I think this just might be my masterpiece," -Lt. Aldo Raine

Inglourious Basterds - 10/10

WOW. After years of anticipation Inglourious Basterds has finally arrived, and boy did it live up to every ounce of anticipation. Not too many films can honestly do that, and it was an even tougher task with this film because it's probably the most I have ever anticipated a film. It is vintage Tarantino. Filled with a great story, phenomenal performances, humor, violence and one of the greatest climaxes I have seen in recent memory, Inglourious Basterds reassures me of why I go to the movies.

In terms of plot, we essentially have five chapters divided amongst a clan of soldiers called The Basterds, a Jew hunting Nazi detective, a girl who has fled to Paris after her family is murdered by Nazis, and a whole bunch of other characters who get caught in the mix. Like Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, the chapter aspect works perfectly. Each chapter is like its own short film, but they all flow so smoothly together that it just makes one epic film. The first chapter really gears things up and is one of the best scenes Tarantino has ever done. The amount of intensity in that scene is just insane. Besides the moment when Landa pulls out a massive pipe, the entire audience was in complete silence, absorbed in the beautiful filmmaking and sheer intensity before their eyes. The second chapter is really brilliant, introducing us to the Basterds in a scene that is funny, intense and extremely violent. The third chapter may actually be my favorite (though they are all good). The intensity builds, Shosanna is overwhelmed by a bunch of well-known Nazis, and eventually comes face to face with the man responsible for her parents deaths, Col. Hans Landa. There is one line in that scene that refers back to the first chapter that is just fucking stellar and completely cinematic. The fourth chapter is almost like a mini-Reservoir Dogs. You know it's not going to end well, yet the intensity just builds and builds and BUILDS until it explodes in violent fashion. Some people may find the film to be slow, but the feeling I got from myself and the audience was that the slow moments were not really slow at all, but rather intensity building moments that were as absorbing as the violent climaxes that follow. The final chapter is the definition of perfection, the reason we go to movies. The stage is set for a climax of epic proportions, and again it builds until that climax. Immediately following the climax we have the final scene, one that is intense, funny and very clever. The final line and shot of the film are absolutely perfect and ultimately sum up the entire film itself.

As for the acting, an Oscar nomination or two is definitely in order. Brad Pitt seems to be getting the short end of the stick next to Cristoph Waltz, but Pitt is the fucking man in this movie. He has great one liners, great screen presence and completely owns his performance. The accent was great as well. Mélanie Laurent also gives a great performance. Not only is she absolutely gorgeous, but she's also a great actress. I hope to see her in some other films in the near future. Eli Roth is great in the second chapter, and also the final chapter. He's perfect for the role of The Bear Jew. Diane Kruger is very good in this and the scene after she gets shot was brilliant. Til Schweiger is a fucking badass in this movie. Everyone in the audience seemed to love his character and when that guitar noise is heard after he does something badass, everyone laughed and cheered. Other solid minor performances include Michael Fassbender, Daniel Brühl, Sylvester Groth, Martin Wuttke, Denis Menochet, Christian Berkel, Samm Levine, Omar Doom and yes, even Mike Myers. But the man of the hour, the show stealer, is most definitely Christoph Waltz who is absolutely fantastic. An Oscar nomination (and most likely win) is guaranteed. His ability to go from a completely polite and nice character to a completely evil and crazy motherfucker is simply mind blowing. Great performances all around.

Biggest props of all must go to Quentin Tarantino. One of the greatest directors working today. His unique style is evident in the film, but he really takes it to another level here. I wouldn't say it's better than Pulp Fiction (multiple viewings of Basterds would be needed to even come close to even considering that), but I can confidently say that it is my second favorite film that Tarantino has made. Yes, better than Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown and Kill Bill, all of which I loved the hell out of. From his insane ability to direct set pieces, to his use of music, to the little quirks that he adds to the film, Tarantino proves yet again why he's such a great director. This is probably his best looking film to date. Each shot is absolutely stunning. The film also flows so beautifully, mixing humor, violence and intensity to absolute perfection. There are homages galore as Tarantino always has, but Inglourious Basterds is truly his own. There is not another film quite like it. The screenplay (which I have read) is also brilliant. Not only is the story great and brilliantly structured, but the dialogue is just perfect. Not as consistently funny as Pulp Fiction's dialogue (though the dialogue is often funny), but it is almost as clever, interesting and absorbing as the dialogue in Pulp Fiction. Very narratively sound dialogue as well. It all leads to something, or refers back to something that is important. Just brilliant direction and writing. Kudos Tarantino, you've done it again.

So overall, Inglourious Basterds is just an excellent film. It's very cinematic, has plenty of action, humor and great dialogue, is very well-acted and has many interesting characters. Each chapter is completely absorbing and had me on the edge of my seat. The use of music is also wonderful, with plenty of great Morricone tracks throughout. There really is nothing quite like Inglourious Basterds. Not only is it the best film of the summer, not only is it the best film of the year, but it is also one of the best films of the decade and is my second personal favorite of Tarantino's. If you're a fan of Tarantino, you'll love it, but even if you're not, definitely give it a chance because it just might take you by surprise. It's not really like anything he has ever done. This is definitely going to be nominated for some Oscars, and will probably take home a few. I cannot wait to see it again.

[Tweek]

All I can say: I really enjoyed it. There were a couple of scenes that felt a bit too long but I think the whole thing was paced a lot better than Death Proof. It lived up to the hype for me. I'd been anticipating it since around '03.

[Bourne101]

For those who are interested, Tarantino is on Charlie Rose tonight.

[Danger^Cart]

I really hope the Murder by Death track "Comin' Home," used in the full length trailer, is the exit music. I'll find out in a few hours.

Making this post absolutely pointless.

[drc5145]

Just got back from it. Fantastic. I thought it was pretty damn good. For me, it ran a little too long but otherwise, just about every aspect of the movie was great.

9/10

[Smarmy Douche]

I poo-pooed this initially, but my night was falling apart, so I dove into the multiplex and took a chance, and I'm glad I did.

This is probably Tarantino's best screenplay. That being said, it wasn't really outstanding. It reaffirms what I've always thought that Tarantino is a much better director than he is a writer. Both this and Death Proof have proven that. While this is another genre picture for Tarantino, with mostly thin characters, watching this film, and thinking about his films, makes it clear that while his abilities as a writer have remained mostly the same, his prowess with a camera, his ability to direct, has grown with each film.

But I don't mean to piss on Tarantino the writer. He was in a good way when he wrote this one. Maybe it's the product of ten years of good ideas, good lines compiled into one script, but while it is a superfluous genre piece, it's a hell of an entertaining one.

It's a fun time at the movies.

[athf1980]

5/5

this was quite the entertaing movie. good times at movies

[ToRontoRon]

Christoph Waltz = Oscar Winner


And I can see from others in this thread that I'm not alone in thinking this. He absolutely stole the show for me.

Perfect casting by QT there.

[dfd3657]

What a wonderful film. It was slow to start, but it went out with a bang (literally). The cast was absolutely wonderful, and I'm going to have to chime in with everyone else and say that Christoph Waltz was absolutely amazing. And it couldn't have ended any more perfect. When Pitt said his last line, all I was thinking was "Please let it end here; it's perfect" and BAM! The credits start.

Still don't know where it ranks among Tarantino's other films for me, but it's definitely a solid 9/10. It would've been more enjoyable if it weren't for that god damn crying baby in the audience. First Watchmen, now this. And both R-rated films.

[overwatch]

SPOILERS!
Question: Why did Landa kill von Hammersmark? We're led to believe it was because she was a traitor, but then we find out that Landa is also a turncoat...So what's the purpose of killing her if he is, essentially, in the same boat?

My guess is, it's so that Landa, after he is freed from all punishment, can take credit for killing Hitler. But, playing devil's advocate to myself here, how could he prove he was the one, since there were still two other plots?

Or (maybe more logically), did he strangle her because she had even attempted to have a plot, which could have spoiled his plans?

END OF SPOILERS!

Dude I've been thinking about this ever since I saw it, I don't understand either.

[dfd3657]

SPOILERS!
Question: Why did Landa kill von Hammersmark? We're led to believe it was because she was a traitor, but then we find out that Landa is also a turncoat...So what's the purpose of killing her if he is, essentially, in the same boat?

My guess is, it's so that Landa, after he is freed from all punishment, can take credit for killing Hitler. But, playing devil's advocate to myself here, how could he prove he was the one, since there were still two other plots?

Or (maybe more logically), did he strangle her because she had even attempted to have a plot, which could have spoiled his plans?

END OF SPOILERS!

*SPOILERS*


He wasn't a turncoat in the fullest sense; the only part of his whole "plan" that he said over the two-wave radio was the part about placing the dynamite in Hitler's booth. It seems to me that he pretty much thought up the idea on the spot and decided to run with it and use it as a way to get all of the glory for winning the war. When he killed von Hammersmark, I doubt he knew the full details of their plot.



*END SPOILERS*

[overwatch]

Spoilers



Ah so he killed Von Hammersmark (assuming she's dead anyway, I bet there are people out there who do the whole "maybe she's just inconcious thing", but she would have been killed in the explosion anyway) and then took out Brad Pitt AND THEN he took the explosives and put them in Hitlers booth right?


end of spoilers

[therealjohng]

Harvey Keitel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lazy Boy]

^^
I thought that was his voice.


2) Was that a David Bowie song I heard when the Jewish/French girl was getting ready??:confused:
Again, completely unnessacery and out of place.

"Putting Out the Fire" by Bowie -- it's from the 1982 movie version of Cat People.

And it's no coincidence that Melanie Laurent bares more than a striking resemblance to Nastassja Kinski.

Pretty fun movie -- too tired to put up a review. Well directed, but some scenes went on a little long, from the beginning of the Shosanna chapter to the German card game in the basement.

[Mr.HyDe807]

Well, it's 2:22 am, and I just got back from another awesome film from the great Quentin Tarantino, Inglorious Basterds. It's his own unique take on World War 2, a time and place that many famous movie directors, from Spielberg to Eastwood, have delve into. Yet, when it comes to Tarantino, you know he will have his certain spin on the material.

The movie sort of has the Pulp fiction feel, though all characters involved are part of one bigger picture. The movie follows Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), with his group of Jewish American soldiers, known as the Basterds, to infiltrate the German occupation and, as Aldo Raine simply puts it, "killin Nazis". Pitt defintiely gets into the groove of Raine's gruff and enthusiastic demeanor, and chews the scenery like a champ. His team are then part of a mission with infiltrating a premiere of a movie, with explosives of course, that will have just about all of the commanding officers of the Nazi party, including Adolf Hitler. They are led by a German double agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger), a famous movie actress in Germany. There is also another story within this mission that concerns a history between the movie theater owner Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) and a Nazi commander known as "The Jew Hunter", Col. Hans Landa (Christopher Waltz), but it's better to watch it on screen rather than spoiling in this review.

Now, I must relay this to people, if you are expecting some good ol' fashion action within in this movie, then you'll be disappointed. Also, if you don't like the majority of movies involving subtitles, you will also be disappointed. Tarantino keeps the conflict throughout the movie with some suspenseful sequences, laced with some lengthy dialogue, and while it can take it's toll a certain points, it's still a solid Tarantino script.

The rest of the actors are definitely on the ball with Pitt as well, one who goes leaps and bounds ahead of Pitt is Christopher Waltz as Col. Hans Landa. From the opening sequence, he plays "The Jew Hunter" with such despicable ferocity, yet with a dash of elegance, that's it is just a mesmerizing performance. He defintiely should get an Oscar when all is said and done. Diane Kruger is solid as the German actress playing dobule agent, Eli Roth is a hoot as one of the Basterd soldiers known as "The Bear Jew", and Til Til Schweiger is a badass as a rogue German solider who joins up with the Basterds.

There isn't much of a soundtrack for different songs from Quentin's usual chocie of music, but it's great and the use of one David Bowie song was a good choice for me. The directing is also excellent, excelling with what certain sequences are about to dish out, and making it all the more perfect.

Overall, it was a pretty damn good Tarantino, probably my 3rd favorite below Kill Bill, and above Death Proof. If your a fan of Tarantino, there's no question that you should at least check this out, but if your newcomer, I would tread lightly with you don't like movies that a bit dialogue heavy, as well as with subtitles.

9/10

[Danger^Cart]

It'll take subsequent viewings to affirm, but I'm fairly certain this is my favorite QT flick. Maybe I'm just a bit high off it at the moment, but one thing is for certain...


FUCKING GENIUS.

10/10

I don't have a problem with the exit music, but I maintain my earlier hopes that the Murder by Death track would walk me out. It may just be because I'm hopelessly in love with the entire album, but I think it would have fit perfectly.

[Lat er al]

First of all, I'd like to say I love Death Proof. I'd say Jackie Brown is QT's weakest but still good.

Saw Inglorious Basterds last night, was excellent. As usual the music in the film was awesome and was just such a fun watch.

[therealjohng]

I can't believe people (and I'm not saying just some people here, I mean everywhere I read) are saying that the tavern scene went on too long. That scene is amazing. It's so well paced and the tension Tarantino builds is extraordinary. So surprised. He's so good at using irony and humor to build towards violence. And the tavern scene is no exception.

[Bourne101]

According to early estimates, Inglourious Basterds made $14 million on Friday.

[detective mills]

I can't believe people (and I'm not saying just some people here, I mean everywhere I read) are saying that the tavern scene went on too long. That scene is amazing. It's so well paced and the tension Tarantino builds is extraordinary. So surprised. He's so good at using irony and humor to build towards violence. And the tavern scene is no exception.

I completely agree. It was one of my favorite scenes in the movie. You just feel the big finale to that scene coming from the beginning. It was very well-paced in my opinion, but I could sense people getting restless around me. I loved every second of it though.

The movie was a 9/10 for me. Makes me remember why I love QT.

[Strider]

Inglourious Basterds - 9/10 or ****1/2/***** stars

I don't want to say too much about Quentin Tarantino's sixth feature, Inglourious Basterds, because I think movie-goers, film buffs and QT fans should watch this film with the least amount of information humanly possible. You won't get any spoilers from me. In a nutshell, Inglourious Basterds is a blast from its amazing opening sequence, which slowly builds up into something intense, to its insane, wholly satisfying conclusion, and it's also one of Tarantino's best cinematic efforts.

Releasing this film during the summer is a great move, because Inglourious Basterds, despite its graphic violence and moments of darkness, is the kind of film viewers will want to enjoy with a large bucket of popcorn and an ice-cold drink. I suppose I'm saying that Inglourious Basterds is a Tarantino-style "popcorn flick" -- and it is. One could argue Tarantino already made a "popcorn flick" with Death Proof, his half of the awesome, criminally overlooked Grindhouse, but his latest is far more entertaining and vastly superior.

Inglourious Basterds is Tarantino's take on World War II and the war genre, and it's outrageous, hilarious, violent, and utterly fantastical. Furthermore, it's unlike anything Tarantino's done before, but it still retains his trademark style, which should please his rabid fanbase. With that being said, I must issue a warning to those who plan to see the film: don't expect an orgy of action sequences, because they're few and far between. What you can expect is an orgy of dialogue, which should be great news for those who appreciate and love Tarantino's dialogue. After watching Inglourious Basterds, I've finally decided that there's no other director or scriptwriter that can write dialogue as brilliantly, cool, and memorable as Tarantino himself.

Like most of Tarantino's pictures, Inglourious Basterds is an ensemble piece, and everyone delivers solid performances (including Eli Roth, who's surprisingly effective and amusing as one of the Jewish soldiers, nicknamed "The Bear Jew," thirsty for Nazi blood), but it's Christoph Waltz who steals the show from lead actor, top-billed Brad Pitt (he's great and obviously having a lot of fun here) and the entire cast as Hans Landa, a.k.a. "The Jew Hunter," a sinister, psychotic, yet super-intelligent, charming, shockingly polite Nazi Colonel. Waltz is simply terrific, and if the Academy doesn't reward his work with a Best Supporting Actor nomination, it will be a crime. Along with Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, Uma Thurman and David Carradine in Kill Bill, and Tim Roth in Reservoir Dogs among others, Waltz delivers one the best performances featured in a Tarantino film.

Inglourious Basterds runs a little over 2 1/2 hours in length, but I never once felt the length, mostly because I was having so much fun -- in fact, the time flew by fast. Inglourious Basterds isn't a film for everyone, but here's a question I must pose to you: what Tarantino film is for everyone? I sincerely hope Inglourious Basterds is well-received by a healthy number of movie-goers, film buffs and QT fans alike, because it's worth your time and money. In conclusion, to hell with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and every other summer film, because the real cinematic event of the summer has finally arrived.

Strider

[Strider]

1) What in the hell was up with the Samuel L Jackson voiceover??!?!:confused:
It was completely unnessacery and out of place. Its not a big deal because it wasnt used that much at all but it was stupid.

2) Was that a David Bowie song I heard when the Jewish/French girl was getting ready??:confused:
Again, completely unnessacery and out of place

Both of these moments are out of place...but in a good way. I have to disagree. I thought the Samuel L. Jackson voice-over was cool, and I loved QT's use of David Bowie's "Cat People (Putting Out the Fire)" in the scene where Shosanna is getting dolled up and preparing herself for revenge. I'm a Bowie fan, so feel free to call me biased about your second (minor) complaint. I really thought the song worked with that particular scene, though. It's little moments like these that not only enhance Inglourious Basterds but also remind me why I dig QT's cinematic style so much. That's just me.

Strider

[Strider]

I can't believe people (and I'm not saying just some people here, I mean everywhere I read) are saying that the tavern scene went on too long. That scene is amazing. It's so well paced and the tension Tarantino builds is extraordinary. So surprised. He's so good at using irony and humor to build towards violence. And the tavern scene is no exception.

I couldn't agree more. However, the tavern scene isn't the only scene in Inglourious Basterds where QT showcases his amazing skill to slowly build up tension and then transform it into something intense. What about the opening sequence? Truly brilliant. My heart was beating fast during that particular sequence. And it made me sweat too. I almost felt like the farmer. ;)

Strider

[overwatch]

I think that there was too much tension in both the tavern scene and the finale while they were at the screening. I was just about having a heart attack during the end when Shosanna kept looking at the screen. Everytime I looked I was like "And now her movie will come in. No wait, NOW. No...wait..." It just kept building and building and it was almost too much to bare.

[Sigur509]

I couldn't agree more. However, the tavern scene isn't the only scene in Inglourious Basterds where QT showcases his amazing skill to slowly build up tension and then transform it into something intense. What about the opening sequence? Truly brilliant. My heart was beating fast during that particular sequence. And it made me sweat too. I almost felt like the farmer. ;)

Strider



How about the close up of Shosanna before Hans orders her the milk?

Damn, I try and find things I didn't enjoy about the film......I CANT!

[drc5145]

By the way I think one of the best/coolest/eerie shots of the film is during...


SPOILERS



During the ending, the place is coming down in the inferno, there was so much smoke building up inside that you could still see Shoshanna's film playing and see her face but in a twisted proportion because of the smoke, which acted as an indirect screen. I hope I'm explaining it correctly but I thought that was a brilliant shot and somewhat creepy.


END SPOILERS

[dellamorte dellamore]

According to early estimates, Inglourious Basterds made $14 million on Friday.

About what i thought it would do . Let's see if it's frontloaded , even if it is , should hit 30 plus . Wonder if 30-35 mil would be considered a success for this film , at least for an opening weekend

[Bourne101]

About what i thought it would do . Let's see if it's frontloaded , even if it is , should hit 30 plus . Wonder if 30-35 mil would be considered a success for this film , at least for an opening weekend

I think it will be frontloaded, at least a bit, but anywhere over $30 million opening will be great for it. Hell, I imagine the Weinstein's were expecting and would have been happy with mid-high 20s. It's also doing quite well overseas.

[Danger^Cart]

I actually wish there were more modern music tracks in this. The film itself is so quirky and grounded in some parallel universe it felt completely natural and really elevated the scene.

[Bahs]

all i gotta say is i just absolultly LOVED IT
10/10
i loved all the classic Tarantino touches. The Basterds were entertaining to watch, even more so Hans Landa. And Melanie Laurent was gorgous! there are just too many awesome scenes to comprehend. this deserves rewatches.

[dfd3657]

I couldn't agree more. However, the tavern scene isn't the only scene in Inglourious Basterds where QT showcases his amazing skill to slowly build up tension and then transform it into something intense. What about the opening sequence? Truly brilliant. My heart was beating fast during that particular sequence. And it made me sweat too. I almost felt like the farmer. ;)

Strider

The tavern scene was by far my favorite scene in the movie. The build up of tension was perfect.

[SweetEnLow]

Going to see this in an hour and a half. Can't wait!!!!!

[jz68]

Not a horrible movie but far from QT's best work. There are stretches in the movie that are just flat out boring and we needed at least a couple more scenes with the Basterds to keep things entertaining. I'm putting this on the same level as Jackie Brown and Death Proof.

6 out of 10

[Tweek]

Man, I want to go watch it again. :(

[detective mills]

Not a horrible movie but far from QT's best work. There are stretches in the movie that are just flat out boring and we needed at least a couple more scenes with the Basterds to keep things entertaining. I'm putting this on the same level as Jackie Brown and Death Proof.

6 out of 10

Death Proof I can understand, but Jackie Brown is one of his best movies.

[franky4fingerz]

anyone else find it funny that Q.T and Robert Rod released their 1st movie since grindhouse on the same day?

[jackson13]

All I'm gonna say is this:

Eli Roth, I forgive you for everything you've ever done.

[FireCaptain4]

Does anyone else think that Christoph Waltz somewhat resembels Daniel Day-Lewis? Physically, I think they look simular. Plus, Waltz seems to be amazingly talented much like DDL and both make for great villains. Maybe I'm alone on this.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk202/TheDeadMayTasteBad/PalmAwardCeremonyPhotocall2009Canne.jpghttp://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk202/TheDeadMayTasteBad/daniel_day_lewis_5095051.jpg

Waltz is a year older than Lewis, though, so I guess it's Lewis that resembles Waltz (:confused:).

[blknge89]

*smiling and then I shrug* that's my review and it's the best I can do, it's a mixed opinion from me.

[FireCaptain4]

So, can well all just start re-evaluating our Tarantino lists now? I'm interested to see how each and every one of you stacks up his resume now. I think IB is one of Tarantino's absolute best.

Pulp Fiction -- 10/10
Reservior Dogs -- 10/10
Inglorious Bastards -- 9.5/10
Kill Bill (Vol. 1&2 complete) -- 9/10
Jackie Brown -- 8/10
Death Proof -- 7/10

[2sdaychicken]

Is there a .gif of Hitler's face being obliterated yet? I'm suprised I haven't seen one.

[Sigur509]

Pulp Fiction - 10/10
Inglorious Bastards - 10/10
Kill Bill - 10/10
Reservior Dogs - 9/10
Jackie Brown - 8/10
Death Proof - 8/10

[sbunn10]

Reservoir Dogs - 10/10
Inglourious Basterds - 10/10
Pulp Fiction - 9.5/10
Kill Bill - 7/10

I actually haven't seen Kill Bill Vol II, Jackie Brown, or all of Death Proof.

[Strider]

1. Kill Bill - 9/10
2. Inglourious Basterds - 9/10
3. Reservoir Dogs - 9/10
4. Pulp Fiction - 8/10
5. Jackie Brown - 7/10
6. Death Proof - 7/10

This list may change after I re-watch QT's other films, all of which I haven't seen in a long time -- said list will suffice until then.

Strider

[Lazy Boy]

1. Jackie Brown - 9/10
2. Pulp Fiction - 9/10
3. Kill Bill Vol. 1 - 9/10
4. Inglourious Basterds - 8/10
5. Death Proof - 8/10
6. Kill Bill Vol. 2 - 8/10
7. Reservoir Dogs - 7/10

Only Dogs has really gotten less and less watchable for me.

[Strider]

Fantastic avatar, Lazy...utterly fantastic. ;)

Strider

[Lazy Boy]

Fantastic avatar, Lazy...utterly fantastic. ;)

Strider

Thank you!
Danke!
Merci!
Grazie!

[LordSimen]

6. Pulp Fiction
5. Jackie Brown
4. Inglorious Basterds
3. Death Proof
2. Kill Bill (I always watch them together)
1. Reservoir Dogs

All 10/10's. 1 is, obviously, the best.

[mick621]

Very entertaining. This film makes me so proud for Quentin Tarantino, but I must say Christoph Waltz was solid (should get an acting Oscar nomination) and I enjoyed Brad Pitt's performance, I can see this film as a potential Oscar contender. 9/10

So my top Tarantino films (Pulp Fiction is one of my all-time favorite films):

1. Pulp Fiction - 10/10
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1 - 10/10
3. Kill Bill Vol. 2 - 9/10
4. Inglourious Basterds - 9/10
5. Jackie Brown - 8/10
6. Reservoir Dogs - 8/10
7. Death Proof - 7/10

[Danger^Cart]

Even better with a second viewing. It flows amazingly well for such a dialogue heavy film, and the setting and characters are about as rich as you're likely to find.

This really is QT's masterwork.

[athf1980]

i have only seen a few of his movies.

1.pulp fiction-5/5
2. IB-5/5
3. reservoir dogs-4/5
4. kill bill part 1-4/5

the rest i have not seen

[CharlieBrooster]

I have to say, I thought this was a bad film. Not merely adequate, not merely dissapointing... but bad. Each scene, when taken purely by itself, had moments that were entertaining and, at times, even powerful, but the film as a whole was disjointed, addled, and altogether incomplete. As a collection of interesting ideas and well-made short films, it's a success; as wholly congruous narrative, I thought it failed.

[Derrida]

I loved it more than I'd expected - I loved the way Tarantino used the dialogue to crank up the tension in each scene. The intro, the tavern scene, the scene between Landa and Shosanna - all perfectly paced, nerve wrecking scenes.

But the main reason I want to see it again is down to Christoph Waltz's performance as Hans Landa. I fully agree with Tarantino when he says Landa is his greatest creation. Landa is like Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty in the same person. Just watch Landa's reaction when von Hammersmark tells him how she injured her foot - pure brilliance!

The audience here in Gothenburg loved it, I heard absolutely no sighs or groans at all during the "talky" bits, everyone seems to be immersed in the film. And the film got a rapturous applause (Swedes don't normally applaud films in the cinema)!

A definite 9/10 for me upon first viewing.

[unspoken]

I can't see where the Weinsteins would have cut 40-45 minutes from this thing. Some people felt like the scene in the farmer's house and the bar were too long, but I thought they were great for building suspense. Maybe a few minutes could have been hacked from the restaurant scene with the discussion of changing the venue for the screening and the Mike Myers part, but those only equal out to about 7-8 minutes in cuts at best.

It's still not Pulp Fiction for me, but nonetheless, a fantastic effort from QT once again.

9/10.

[unspoken]

*SPOILERS*


He wasn't a turncoat in the fullest sense; the only part of his whole "plan" that he said over the two-wave radio was the part about placing the dynamite in Hitler's booth. It seems to me that he pretty much thought up the idea on the spot and decided to run with it and use it as a way to get all of the glory for winning the war. When he killed von Hammersmark, I doubt he knew the full details of their plot.

*END SPOILERS*


****SPOILERS****


There are precursors that indicate that he didn't ever fully support the Nazis that take place in the opening scene. When Shosanna is running, he has his pistol drawn and an easy shot to take her out. He doesn't take it. Also, he tells the story of the Austrian Nazi leader who hates his nickname, but he claims to love his (later reverses this story with Raine and BJ Novak's character in his arrest). Another is his analogy of the Jews being like rats, in that they're hated even though they never did anything to you.

****END SPOILERS****


I think it's one of those ambiguous things Tarantino likes to throw in (such as the "what's in the briefcase" gag in Pulp) that can be debated forever. And it's not the only one that exists in Basterds either.

[Cop No. 633]

By far the most entertaining film of the summer for me. QT has become probably the best director working in action films today. He generates suspense better than the rest. The film flies by with such a great pace. He's really outdone himself on this one. I'd place it higher than Kill Bill or Death Proof or Jackie Brown. Mr. Tarantino is the man I'm relying on for entertaining films. He crafts them like the classics. I'm glad there's a filmmaker who can still make films for pure pleasure and do them right without insulting the audience's intelligence.

[Ayestrain]

My list goes something like:

1 Reservoir Dogs - 10/10
2 Pulp Fiction - 10/10
3 Inglorious Bastards - 9/10
4 Kill Bill Vol. 1 - 9/10
5 Kill Bill Vol. 2 - 9/10
6 Death Proof - 7/10
7 Jackie Brown - 7/10 (been a long while, probably time to reappraise that one; gets a 7 for now)

[Bourne101]

After seeing Inglourious Basterds...

1. Pulp Fiction- 10/10
2. Inglourious Basterds- 10/10
3. Kill Bill- 10/10
4. Reservoir Dogs- 10/10
5. Jackie Brown- 10/10
6. Death Proof- 7/10

Pulp Fiction is his ultimate masterpiece, while Inglourious Basterds is his second best. Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs are basically interchangeable in the 3rd and 4th spots. Jackie Brown has grown on me (as all of Tarantino's films do), but I still need to see it a few more times before deciding if it deserves a higher rank among Tarantino's films. Death Proof is obviously his weakest effort IMO, but is still pretty good and entertaining. We must remember that he made it as part of a Grindhouse feature so it's not as if he was intending for it to be some Academy Award winning epic.

[ilovemovies]

SPOILERS!














Chapters 1,2 and 3 were fantastic but unfortunately, I have a lot of problems with chapters 4 and 5.

Chapter 4 is too long. The bar scene just goes on and on and on.

Chapter 5 is more entertaining but actually be even more problematic and the more I think about, the less I like it.

Chapter 5 does a lot of damage to nearly every single character in the movie.

The basterds are badass but they are actually pretty dumb. The only reason their plan ends up succeeding is because Landa decides to betray Hitler and his country.

Shoshanna is such a great character and the actress is fantastic but she ends up having such a lousy, crappy death.

And then there is Landa. In chapters 1 and 3, Landa is such a great, intimidating character. So cool and charismatic. He is a great character. And they almost completely ruin him in the final chapter. He just ends up being not nearly as interesting to me. I was very disappointed with what they did to him in the end of the movie. I did love the final scene between him and Aldo Raines at the end. That was a great final scene. I especially loved Pitt's last line.


In the end, I was entertained and there are moments of greatness. Especially during the first half. And even in the problemetic final third, there are still some great stuff such as the shot of Shoshanna's face on the movie theater screen as the theater is burning.

7/10


And my ranking and ratings for all of Tarantino's movies:

1. Pulp Fiction - 10/10
2. Reservoir Dogs - 9/10
3. Kill Bill Vol. 1 - 8/10
4. Kill Bill Vol. 2 - 7/10
5. Inglourious Basterds - 7/10
6. Death Proof - 5/10


Jackie Brown could go higher upon a rewatch though.

[Katsumoto]

01. Pulp Fiction - 10/10
02. Jackie Brown - 9/10
03. Inglorious Basterds - 9/10
04. Kill Bill Vol. 2 - 9/10
05. Kill Bill Vol. 1 - 9/10
06. Reservoir Dogs - 9/10
07. Death Proof - 7/10

[overwatch]

The basterds are badass but they are actually pretty dumb.

I don't think anyone would disagree with you there.

[Derrida]

What happened to Samm Levine's character? He just disappeared from the movie...

[Strider]

SPOILERS!

















Shoshanna is such a great character and the actress is fantastic but she ends up having such a lousy, crappy death.

And then there is Landa. In chapters 1 and 3, Landa is such a great, intimidating character. So cool and charismatic. He is a great character. And they almost completely ruin him in the final chapter. He just ends up being not nearly as interesting to me. I was very disappointed with what they did to him in the end of the movie. I did love the final scene between him and Aldo Raines at the end. That was a great final scene. I especially loved Pitt's last line.

I couldn't (respectfully) disagree more, ILM. Shosanna's death is far from "lousy" or "crappy." Personally, I think it's a powerful moment, full of drama and beauty, and the wonderful Morricone music that plays over it and the slow-motion shot of Shosanna being shot and falling to the floor, with blood pouring out of her body works incredibly well. QT shot that scene pefectly.

As for Hans Landa, I think he continues to become more and more fascinating as the film progresses. He shows so many different sides of himself. He's sometimes polite, sometimes charming, sometimes cold-blooded, sometimes sinister, sometimes psychotic, sometimes funny, and always a serious, extremely intelligent detective. The character never bored me, and I loved what QT did with him towards the end -- it was quite effective. Landa only transforms into a stronger character, not weaker.

Strider

[ilovemovies]

SPOILERS!






In the begining of the movie, Landa compares a Jew to a rat but in the end he's ends up being a rat himself. I don't know. I just thought he was this charismatic and intimidating presence. A really great villian. And in the end, he was really just a weasel IMO.

I admit, I was kind of hoping that Shoshanna would get her revenge for her family. I thought that might be where the movie was heading especially after the scene where she is talking to him in the restaraunt. I was kind of disappointed that that didn't happen. I still really didn't care for her death.

[Strider]

SPOILERS!






In the begining of the movie, Landa compares a Jew to a rat but in the end he's ends up being a rat himself. I don't know. I just thought he was this charismatic and intimidating presence. A really great villian. And in the end, he was really just a weasel IMO.

I admit, I was kind of hoping that Shoshanna would get her revenge for her family. I thought that might be where the movie was heading especially after the scene where she is talking to him in the restaraunt. I was kind of disappointed that that didn't happen. I still really didn't care for her death.

I actually loved that Landa turned into a weasel at the end. I wasn't expecting him to do that at all -- totally unpredictable. Attempting to make a deal with the Americans and save his own ass showed that he really wasn't a loyal, die-hard follower of Hitler or supporter of The Third Reich. And he wasn't willing to die for the cause either (i.e., he was a coward too). If he was none of this, he would've picked up the phone during his conversation with Aldo Raine and Utivich and informed Hitler and the Nazis of their plans.

While Shosanna may have been killed, that doesn't mean her quest for revenge was unsuccessful. She did succeed, but she simply wasn't alive to see it. If not for her actions and ideas (as well Landa deciding not to pick up the phone and make that call), the Basterds' plan never would've worked. The way I see it, she got her revenge against the Nazis for the murder of her family.

Strider

[bigred760]

Absolutely loved this movie. I was hooked into every scene, whether it was a conversation scene or scenes with the Basterds being the Basterds. The sequences where there's simply talking going on are particularly tense because they're all of a Nazi (or Nazis) talking to anti-Nazis. The tension is so high in all of them, you're just waiting to see how they conclude and each scene does not disappoint. The movie starts off with such a scene with the movie's main villain, Col. Landa, interrogating a Frenchman who's hiding Jews. There's another scene where some of the Basterds, disguised as Nazis, get caught up with some celebrating Nazis and a member of the S.S. who is very suspicious of them. If QT lost some of his touch with conversation sequences in Death Proof, he returned to form in Inglorious Basterds.

And then there are the scenes with title characters. They are very fun to watch, whether it's Brad Pitt with his accent leading the group, or the group themselves doing what they enjoy doing . . . killin' Nazis. You get to meet a few of them, and they really are some colorful characters.

The storyline mixes a little revenge story in with the story of the Basterds. The two don't actually intertwine that much, except for one of the characters - the villain. But Tarantino mixes them well in that they both have the same objective, and it does make for one awesome conclusion to the movie. I really enjoyed the film, and I cannot wait to see it again.

9/10

[bigred760]

I actually loved that Landa turned into a weasel at the end. I wasn't expecting him to do that at all -- totally unpredictable. Attempting to make a deal with the Americans and save his own ass showed that he really wasn't a loyal, die-hard follower of Hitler or supporter of The Third Reich. And he wasn't willing to die for the cause either (i.e., he was a coward too). If he was none of this, he would've picked up the phone during his conversation with Aldo Raine and Utivich and informed Hitler and the Nazis of their plans.

I also liked that part of the movie. He's comparing Jews to rats at the beginning of the movie, and he turns out to be a rat himself at the end. Hypocritical of him, yes, but not surprising.

While Shosanna may have been killed, that doesn't mean her quest for revenge was unsuccessful. She did succeed, but she simply wasn't alive to see it. If not for her actions and ideas (as well Landa deciding not to pick up the phone and make that call), the Basterds' plan never would've worked. The way I see it, she got her revenge against the Nazis for the murder of her family.

Yeah, she got her revenge . . . her plan did work. Hell, it probably worked out better than she planned, thanks to the Basterds being there too, and Landa doing what he did.

[ilovemovies]

SPOILERS!




I should clarify something. When I said that I was disappointed that Shoshanna didn't get her revenge, I meant on Landa. Not on the nazis. I thought the movie was heading in a direction that would end with a confrontation between the two and was kind of disappointed that that didn't happen. Especially after the restaraunt scene.

[Strider]

SPOILERS!




I should clarify something. When I said that I was disappointed that Shoshanna didn't get her revenge, I meant on Landa. Not on the nazis. I thought the movie was heading in a direction that would end with a confrontation between the two and was kind of disappointed that that didn't happen. Especially after the restaraunt scene.

You make a good point. After the restaurant scene, Shosanna and Landa never confronted each other again. There's a part of me that wishes that happened in the film, but there's another part of me that thinks it wouldn't have worked. Throughout the film, Shosanna seems more concerned about taking down Hitler and the Nazis than Landa. Landa, after all, is only one man, one Nazi Colonel. I doubt she would've been satisfied with extracting her revenge for the murder of her family merely on Landa.

Strider

[bigred760]

SPOILERS!




I should clarify something. When I said that I was disappointed that Shoshanna didn't get her revenge, I meant on Landa. Not on the nazis. I thought the movie was heading in a direction that would end with a confrontation between the two and was kind of disappointed that that didn't happen. Especially after the restaraunt scene.

I also was expecting another confrontation between the two at the end. It didn't disappoint me that there wasn't (especially since he got what was coming to him anyway), but I'm thinking she was expecting him to be in the theater anyway and she would've gotten her revenge on him that way.

[Strider]

It didn't disappoint me that there wasn't (especially since he got what was coming to him anyway), but I'm thinking she was expecting him to be in the theater anyway and she would've gotten her revenge on him that way.

Good point...

Shosanna most likely thought about that and expected Landa to attend the screening during the development of her revenge plan.

Strider

[blknge89]

Pulp Fiction- near perfect movie, going to round it up here 100/100
Death Proof- 94/100
Kill Bill Vol 2- 94/100
Reservoir Dogs- 85/100
Inglorious Basterds- 70/100
Kill Bill Vol 1- 65/100

[NuclearMisfit]

If QT lost some of his touch with conversation sequences in Death Proof, he returned to form in Inglorious Basterds.


I don't think hes returned to form yet from Death Proof in regards to conversation pieces however thats understandable in a movie like Inglorious Basterds.

My only complaint is not being able to spend more time with the Basterds themselves some of the later chapters could have been shaved down a bit in the conversation department and the introduction of useless ass characters also I didnt like the under use of Til Schweiger's Hugo Stiglitz who was a great character and it seemed like they kept making him out to be some kinda Nazi killing legendary badass and they never follow through with it.

It was good to hear part of the Kill Bill Soundtrack again.

[Beard_of_Meat]

By the way I think one of the best/coolest/eerie shots of the film is during...


SPOILERS



During the ending, the place is coming down in the inferno, there was so much smoke building up inside that you could still see Shoshanna's film playing and see her face but in a twisted proportion because of the smoke, which acted as an indirect screen. I hope I'm explaining it correctly but I thought that was a brilliant shot and somewhat creepy.


END SPOILERS

I thought that that was an awesome shot as well...I just saw this film last night and I already want to see it again...Inglourious Basterds is easily the best film I have seen this summer

[NuclearMisfit]

I thought that that was an awesome shot as well...I just saw this film last night and I already want to see it again...Inglourious Basterds is easily the best film I have seen this summer

I loved that part too very eerie.

After the fire started I wondered what happened to Marcel.

[ToRontoRon]

I loved that part too very eerie.

After the fire started I wondered what happened to Marcel.


I'm pretty sure it was intended to be a kamikazee mission. That's why there are tears in their eyes as Shoshanna and Marcel say goodbye to each other before he goes to block off the exits. They know they won't see each other again.

[anakinsrise]

Quentin Tarantino's multi-angled revenge film Inglourious Basterds is his best work since 1994's Pulp Fiction .Its well acted,suspensful,humourous,and at times a psychological.
Yes it has Tarantino's signature scenes of violence,but i felt the violence was definitely toned down ,especially when you compare it to Tarantino's Kill Bill films.
The opening scene on a farm in France is a stunner,not because there's tons of action but its the intensity and quiet calm between Colonel Hans “The Jew Hunter” Landa (Christoph Waltz) and farmer Perrier LaPadite (Denis Menochet).Landa toys with his prey,with words of praise,and then pounces letting Lapadite know he's in total control of the situation.Christoph Waltz will definitely get nominated for a few awards this year,his character is sadistic,conceited,and ultimately delusional.
Tarantino once again presents strong female characters.Shosanna Dreyfus beautifully played by Mélanie Laurent is vulnerable but strong and determined,nothing will avert her from her goal of revenge.
Now last but not least The Inglourious Basterds.Brad Pitt looks like he had tons of fun portraying their leader Lt. Aldo Raine,with his Tennessee accent,and unflinching persona,its a strong and funny performance.
Sgt. Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth) who well lets just say he doesnt hit baseballs with his bat Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger) - A Rogue Nazi who killed 13 members of the Gestapo and earned the Basterds’ respect.
This is where the film dissapoints me for a bit because some of the backstory of the Basterds is left out (which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival)and would have definitely added to the film.My only other complaint is the pacing of the film and a cameo that was a bit unecessary.
This is a highly entertaining work from QT im in high anticipation for the DVD
scale of 1-10 a 8 1/2

[anakinsrise]

SPOILER QUESTION SPOILER QUESTION SPOILER QUESTION




Does anyone else think that Landa knew who Shosanna was when they sat down for streudel? I ask because at the end of the film he was so delusional thinking he was a hero,and maybe by sparing her a second time ,he once again fancied himself a hero.

[ilovemovies]

SPOILER QUESTION SPOILER QUESTION SPOILER QUESTION




Does anyone else think that Landa knew who Shosanna was when they sat down for streudel? I ask because at the end of the film he was so delusional thinking he was a hero,and maybe by sparing her a second time ,he once again fancied himself a hero.


Him ordering her milk would almost seem to indicate that.

[Bahs]

i guess ill do my list too

PF- 10/10 (see favorite movie)
IB- 10/10 (thats right, second best. just too many awesome scenes to count. i can tell this is going to be like pulp and just get better and better on every rewatch)
KB2- 10/10
RD- 9.5/10
KB1- 9/10
JB- 9/10
DP- 8.5/10

IB SPOILERS!
who jumped out the window of the cinema after the bombs blow it up?

[therealjohng]

Wasn't that the guy riding the bike as he passed the cinema?

[bigred760]

Him ordering her milk would almost seem to indicate that.

I don't know if that was indication of him knowing who she was, or just QT throwing a little suspense in there for the audience.

[c_los]

By far the most entertaining film of the summer for me. QT has become probably the best director working in action films today. He generates suspense better than the rest. The film flies by with such a great pace. He's really outdone himself on this one. I'd place it higher than Kill Bill or Death Proof or Jackie Brown. Mr. Tarantino is the man I'm relying on for entertaining films. He crafts them like the classics. I'm glad there's a filmmaker who can still make films for pure pleasure and do them right without insulting the audience's intelligence.

Totally agree. I wouldn't say QT works on action films though, they're in a genre of their own.

[poopontheshoes7]

Fuck I can't get this out of my head! Need. To. See. It. Again.

[poguesfan]

Welcome back Mr. Tarantino, because I have fucking missed you. Following the extremely overrated Kill Bill saga, coupled with the utterly miserable Death Proof, I for one was shaking my head in disappointment for QT. Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, True Romance (scripted), Natural Born Killers (scripted,) Killing Zoe (executive produced,) and hell even Jackie Brown are some of the best films of the 1990s, not to mention several of these films are in my all time favorite list. It seemed that after QT's last two missteps he seemed to have lost the spark that made all of his films; whether scripted or directed, unique, I proud to report that Inglorious Basterds reclaims that lost magic. From the opening sequence on the French farm to the last frame (don't want to give aways too many spoilers,) I was in fucking heaven. Can we say Oscar for Brad Pitt; he gives one the best performances of his career, also Christoph Waltz's is utterly creepy, charming, and brutal as Colonel Hans Lando, another truly breathtaking performance, an Oscar nod to this gentleman as well, should be acknowledged. I won't go too into the plot, I fucking hate spoilers once again, but this film is the best Tarantino film since Pulp Fiction, it is that fucking good. Fuck the reports of people, calling this film overlong, (man the attention spans of most people are fucking pathetic,) this film has it all comedy, action, black humor, and also the typical delightful and colorful Tarantino dialogue, that we have come to love.

10/10: hands down the best film of the year so far, and with the year half over, it looks like this one will still be on the top of my list.

[drc5145]

Fuck I can't get this out of my head! Need. To. See. It. Again.

Just did. :D

I got out to see it at a 12:00 screening at the Uptown theater here in DC and tt was fantastic. I went by myself, which isn't something I usually ever do (I prefer going with at least 1 more person) but since today was a slow day and I had a huge itch to see it again, I went for it. I don't regret it a damn bit. :) The movie actually felt FASTER because I had seen it already, strangely. Still made for an awesome experience.

I'm really torn as to whether Basterds or Watchmen is my favorite of 09. Those are the only 2 movies I've felt compelled to see again on my own this year, for good reason.

[ToRontoRon]

I don't know if that was indication of him knowing who she was, or just QT throwing a little suspense in there for the audience.


I really think that was his way of telling her he knew who she was. Also, the end of their conversation when he mentions that he had one more question for her, then paused, and said he couldn't remember what it was, to me at least makes it seem as though he definitely knew her true identity.

[Cop No. 633]

Totally agree. I wouldn't say QT works on action films though, they're in a genre of their own.

Well, he's clearly had room to put action in his last three films so I would definitely say he directs action. And he does it better than most directors out there. That's all I'm saying. He does it better than people who put ten times as many action scenes in their movies.

[sbunn10]

Well, he's clearly had room to put action in his last three films so I would definitely say he directs action. And he does it better than most directors out there. That's all I'm saying. He does it better than people who put ten times as many action scenes in their movies.

I agree. They may not be two straight hours of mindless action, but they are action films. They are just well-crafted and take the time to establish real characters before thrusting them into a shootout.

[Danger^Cart]

Yeah, let's have Shosanna shoot Landa before muttering some crappy line. Let's just close out every movie as safely and generic as possible. That's the fucking ticket.

Jesus fuck.

[Reigh Kaufman]

Yeah, let's have Shosanna shoot Landa before muttering some crappy line.

"I beat you...Hans down, muthafucka!

[Strider]

I really think that was his way of telling her he knew who she was. Also, the end of their conversation when he mentions that he had one more question for her, then paused, and said he couldn't remember what it was, to me at least makes it seem as though he definitely knew her true identity.

The milk line plus the somewhat long pause also made me think that Landa knew exactly that "Emmanuel" was actually Shosanna. Not to mention that Landa is far too intelligent to not figure this out. Sparing Shosanna's life once again is another example of Landa not being a die-hard follower of Hitler or supporter of The Third Reich. If he was, he would've killed her. In addition, anakinsrise makes a good point about Landa thinking -- in a fucked-up way, of course -- of himself as a hero, which, in my opinion, is a good enough explanation for letting Shosanna go a second time.

Strider

[Cop No. 633]

"I beat you...Hans down, muthafucka!

Nice one. On a side note, that movie made me want some strudel. Hans down!

On another side note, about the scene with the strudel. How could Landa know who she was if he only saw her running from afar? He never saw Shoshanna's face. I think people misconstrue the milk line to being the give away, but it's probable that she looks very young so the proper drink to have would be milk while the adult has coffee.

[LordSimen]

Saying that the Basterds themselves aren't intelligent is kinda redundant if you ask me. They already told us that with the damn title of the movie.

[ElderPredator]

An absolutely incredible fucking movie!

The dialogue, relationships and sheer carnage were incredible and I thank Quentin once again for his best work since Pulp Fiction. Christopher Waltz deserves a Supporting Actor nomination and IB in general deserves a Best Picture nod as well.

10/10

[Strider]

Yeah, let's have Shosanna shoot Landa before muttering some crappy line. Let's just close out every movie as safely and generic as possible. That's the fucking ticket.

Jesus fuck.

Totally agree. This is why I believe Shosanna getting her revenge on Landa wouldn't have worked in the film -- it would've been terribly predictable, and, as you said, safe and generic...and rather ho-hum as well. Furthermore, Shosanna, thoroughout the film, seems more concerned with bringing down Hitler and the Nazis instead of Landa, one man, one Nazi Colonel.

Besides, I'm sure Shosanna expected Landa to attend the screening.

"I beat you...Hans down, muthafucka!

I take back everything I said above. This would've been so awesome! :D ;)

Strider

[NuclearMisfit]

You know it was invigorating to walk up to the ticket counter and ask for The Bastards....

[ElderPredator]

Totally agree. This is why I believe Shosanna getting her revenge on Landa wouldn't have worked in the film -- it would've been terribly predictable, and, as you said, safe and generic...and rather ho-hum as well. Furthermore, Shosanna, thoroughout the film, seems more concerned with bringing down Hitler and the Nazis instead of Landa, one man, one Nazi Colonel.

Besides, I'm sure Shosanna expected Landa to attend the screening.

Strider

SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!


Shosanna's death in the film truly made my heart sink. She succeeded yet it cost her own life.


END OF SPOILER! END OF SPOILER!

[Fancyclaps]

I don't think Landa knew who Shoshanna/Emmanuelle was. It was three years ago and he never got a look at her face or heard her voice. There's virtuall no way he could know they were the same person. I think the milk line was put there for the audience.

I loved the movie, and the scene where the Basterds were trying to speak Italian was one of the funniest movie scenes I've seen. I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard; on that note every scene involving Aldo was hilarious (I love Pitt).

I would give it a 8.5/10 though. I feel like 10-15 minutes should have been cut somewhere, and then I probably would consider it one of my favorite movies ever.

The Mike Myers scene sucked so hard and it came at a bad spot, and it went on for like 6 minutes. He should have changed that up a bit.

[ElderPredator]

The Mike Myers scene sucked so hard and it came at a bad spot, and it went on for like 6 minutes. He should have changed that up a bit.

I thought this scene was great and Myers played it perfectly. I also pissed myself laughing with the "Italian" bit with Brad. He was hilarious throughout the entire movie.

[Danger^Cart]

I think it could use 5-10 minutes. There were a few super quick cuts where you could tell the footage extended, like after Landa leaves the table and Shosanna breaks down (remarkable bit of acting there, btw). I think Laurent was so effective there I just wanted to see more of it. There were a couple of other instances, but they escape me at the moment.

It's perfectly plausible that Landa knew who she was, but not because he recognized her, which is a pretty ridiculous thought. Rather, we know he's this super hardcore man-hunter, so it's safe to assume he never gave up looking for Shosanna, and more likely than not tracked her down during the three year period, though why he'd let her live her life is beyond me, and kind of ruins that theory.

I don't think he knew who she was. The milk thing was just a strange coincidence that nearly crippled Shosanna, and the long pause was him asserting control over the conversation, like ordering Shosanna's drink in the first place.

[MidnightAngel]

Glad that the movie became #1 at the box office this weekend .Will there be a sequel to Inglourious Basterds this time against the japs? Memo to Tarantino...forget the Faster Pussycat Kill Kill remake! With Death Proof is enough.

[creekin111]

Sergio Leone, John Ford, Robert Aldrich among other references to name off the top of my head. Mike Myers was an intriguing casting choice. Amazing script. To general audiences, if you can take a lot of subtitles go see it. To those who can understand the film's logic and QT's style its an amazing film from today's standards.

[Fancyclaps]

I thought this scene was great and Myers played it perfectly. I also pissed myself laughing with the "Italian" bit with Brad. He was hilarious throughout the entire movie.

I agree Myers was good.


SPOILERS

But Hiccox dies in the very next scene...why spend so much time setting him up? The scene just came at a very bad time, right after Chapter 3...the weakest chapter that mainly just pushed the story along through dialogue (the only really good part was the Hans-Shoshanna part).

[overwatch]

I agree Myers was good.


SPOILERS

But Hiccox dies in the very next scene...why spend so much time setting him up? The scene just came at a very bad time, right after Chapter 3...the weakest chapter that mainly just pushed the story along through dialogue (the only really good part was the Hans-Shoshanna part). Maybe it was a scene that once Tarantino wrote he couldn't get rid of, anything with more Michael Fassbender in it is clearly a good thing. But it also shed some light on the bomb plot at the movie premiere and it explained that Bridget Von Hammersmark was working for the Allies.

[Digifruitella]

I think one of the highlights for me was the whole bar sequence. How it's set up and builds up and up and up, and then comes this ridiculously fast 10 second shootout with the most insane camerawork/edits. Classic Tarantino style. The final sequence is just beautiful. With Shoshanna's face being projected up on the smoke laughing. Eerie and badass.

[creekin111]

Mike Myers is the highest ranking Allied officer we see in the film if I'm not mistaken. QT, ";)"

[Lazy Boy]

*some spoilers*


Was it me, or during the explosion near the end, and we see a burning body leap out of a window, did I hear the Stuntman Mike scream from Death Proof?

[drc5145]

Something that has been dwelling on me...what's your favorite scene from the movie?

While the opening scene and the chapter with the Basterds' intro is great...

SPOILERS


Everything from the moment Marcel lights up the pile of film to Aldo's end line is amazing. The way everything culminates with the theater turning into the 8th level of hell in an instant, Donny and Omar gunning down Hitler, Goebbles and the rest of the Nazis, Shohanna's face and laughter, The explosion Raine's decision to kill the sergeant and mark Landa...Just about everything was fantastic. There's something about the ending to this movie that not only felt satisfying but felt absolutely perfectly fitting as well.


END SPOILERS


Do any of you guys have something different in that "Favorite scene" area?

[MightyCelestial]

Something that has been dwelling on me...what's your favorite scene from the movie?

While the opening scene and the chapter with the Basterds' intro is great...

SPOILERS


Everything from the moment Marcel lights up the pile of film to Aldo's end line is amazing. The way everything culminates with the theater turning into the 8th level of hell in an instant, Donny and Omar gunning down Hitler, Goebbles and the rest of the Nazis, Shohanna's face and laughter, The explosion Raine's decision to kill the sergeant and mark Landa...Just about everything was fantastic. There's something about the ending to this movie that not only felt satisfying but felt absolutely perfectly fitting as well.


END SPOILERS


MORE SPOILERS

The distorted face of Shosanna in the smoke was a nice touch to the nightmarish victory. It was the film's statement of "burn in hell", practically in a literal sense.
Also,
in most of these types of movies, the final mission almost never achieves it's full fruition. In this one however, just when it seems like both plans are about to veer off course,
in the end, each one ends up achieving their respective, yet similiar, ultimate goals in a chaotic conflagration that was probably better than either side could've expected.

END MORE SPOILERS

[Danger^Cart]

I've given it a hell of a lot of thought, and I like Chapter 2 the best. The humor, the almost surreal nature, the brutality of it...

Really hard decision though. Every chapter is brilliant.

I know what you mean about that last line, though. I think Pitt's last line is one for the books. Both nights I left with a big shit-eating grin on my face, primarily because of it.

[ToRontoRon]

It's perfectly plausible that Landa knew who she was, but not because he recognized her, which is a pretty ridiculous thought. Rather, we know he's this super hardcore man-hunter, so it's safe to assume he never gave up looking for Shosanna, and more likely than not tracked her down during the three year period, though why he'd let her live her life is beyond me, and kind of ruins that theory.



This is what I was thinking. That over the three years or so, he tracked her down. He knew her age, approximate height, etc. Then he sees this young girl own the cinema shortly after the murders. He looks into this aunt that allegedly left her theatre for her and realizes something is fishy about the documents, or that one of her siblings is one of the people his men murdered in the opening scene of the movie... Or however he goes about finding this out.

As for why he would let her live, perhaps he was just biding his time a bit. He knew she owned the theatre and wasn't going anywhere. He could get her at any time, and he's definitely a man who enjoys a cat-and-mouse kind of game. In the first scene, he could have just strolled in and blasted the home away, but he didn't. Even though he was quite sure the family was hiding out there. He also knew that the actress was lying about her leg injury, and I'm pretty sure he had pieced together that the Basterds weren't genuine "I-talians". However, he continued to play along as though he didn't.

Also, as for why he let her live, the same question can be asked regarding why he didn't shoot her in the opening scene. He was a hunter who loved the thrill of the chase.


I'll have to see it again, but after one viewing I felt very strongly that he knew exactly who she was the whole time during that scene. I too was wondering why he'd allow the premiere to happen knowing this, until his ultimate plan was revealed that he wanted Hitler and Co. to be killed.

[Lazy Boy]

Something that has been dwelling on me...what's your favorite scene from the movie?

*spoilers*


The restaurant confrontation between Shosanna and Landa. Absolutely brilliant, with Waltz bringing the menace over from the first chapter. Friendly affability, the mood changes, the temperature drops, and a chilling pallor sets in on his face. Great use of a film score (from The Entity) that homages QT's own Kill Bill, with the Bride and "Ironside" blaring upon close contact with the enemy (or enemies).

The milk, of course, intentionally or not, is a blow at her already weakened stance, barely covered up in front of him. Top it off with the cream (not kosher) and the delightful chomping Waltz gives to his pastry; he chews up the scene, but doesn't spit her out. He leaves her to hold on for...just...a bit...longer, and then come the emotional floodgates, opening up to reveal tears. I wish her reaction was a little more than a couple of seconds.

It's a sure better way to finish the scene than what was in the script -- Shosanna leaves a piss puddle underneath the table and drops her cigarette into it. Glad that Tarantino had the proper sense of mind.

[Danger^Cart]

He didn't want Hitler and company killed until the greater opportunity presented itself, much later. He knew from inspecting the bar that Von Hammersmark was working with the Basterds, but he didn't know what they were doing until he removed the dynamite from Aldo's leg, at which point he very quickly formulated his plan.

Assuming he knew Shosanna's identity, and knew her intentions (though how the hell could he?) what possible motivation would he have to let her kill his chain of command, of which he was in high favor? He's an opportunist, not a crusader.

He didn't know her identity. He was toying with her at the restaurant, just like he was toying with the farmer, because that's what he does, and that's what he enjoys.

[creekin111]

***spoilers***

Every great film needs at least 2 great scenes. Two off the top of my head.
The First scene.
Jew Bear bat scene.
Bar scene, poor Max.
Only bad part/idea is the lack of foresight on the part of the German Colonel at the end.

[Danger^Cart]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned (myself included) how awesome the guy who played Major Hellstorm was. He really rocked that fuckin' scene.

[Derrida]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned (myself included) how awesome the guy who played Major Hellstorm was. He really rocked that fuckin' scene.


No you are right, that actor was excellent too. God this film was so incredibly well-cast, Quentin sure knows how to pick them!

[Sigur509]

Am I alone in thinking there should have been more Eli Roth? More Basterds would have been great, but I loved him as Donny.

And I loved every moment Diane Kruger was on screen. She was perfect.

[overwatch]

Yeah we hardly got to know Donny, more screentime from him would have been good.

My favourite scene was probably the tavern scene. Michael Fassbender was awesome.