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| Movie Review: Inglourious Basterds Alternate Title: If Only
Story: Writer and director Quentin
Tarantino is back in fine form. This is definitely his best
film since Pulp Fiction. You can say all you want about Tarantino,
but he sure knows how to make a movie. This film has style, wit, beauty,
fine dialogue (might be a bit talky for some), revenge that includes
lots of violence, suspense, great music and above all - is vastly entertaining. The movie opens in 1941 Nazi-occupied France.
The Jew Hunter, Hans Landa methodically is tracking down Jews
that are being hidden by French sympathizers. Without giving much away,
Shoshanna, a young Jew escapes his grasp. Fast forward to 1944 and we
meet American G.I., Aldo Raine and his gang of eight Jewish Nazi killers
who have been dropped behind enemy lines and are ambushing, killing
and scalping any Nazis they meet. The story follows two plot lines (the escaped
Jewess, now operating a movie theater in Paris and the gang of eight)
that will, of course, meet head on for a very satisfying conclusion.
In between we get long passages of dialogue that test our patience.
Wait it out and these passages do not disappoint. Tarantino's film is an homage, as he often employs,
to movies of yore. We see flashes of spaghetti westerns, old war movies
and more. Go for the style and buzz and leave the theater
with a smile on your face thinking as I did - if only it were true. Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOMKloOEKcU
Acting: Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine has all of the
best lines. His character almost crosses the line into caricature -
but he pulls it off. Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa
is pefection. Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus
was wonderful to watch and I am sure we will be seeing her in more Hollywood
films soon. Michael Fassbender as Britsh Lt. Archie
Hicox was Uber- strong. Diane Kruger as spy, Bridget
von Hammersmark hit her mark. The entire ensemble cast was terrific
including: Daniel Brühl, Eli Roth, Denis Menochet, Sylvester
Groth, Mike Myers and Rod Taylor.
Trivia: This film, like all Tarantino films is loaded
with trivia. About thirty years ago, Enzo G. Castellari
directed Quel maledetto treno blindato. The
English translation is The Inglorious Bastards. From
Entertainment Weekly comes this trivia jackpot post. (http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/08/19/inglourious-basterds-playing-spot-the-tarantino-reference/):
*Brad Pitt’s Nazi-hunting lieutenant character is named Aldo Raine
— a combination of one of Tarantino’s favorite actors Aldo
Ray (The Green Berets) and Maj. Charles Rain, the name of the character
William Devane plays in the brutal 1977 Vietnam-vet revenge movie Rolling
Thunder. *As usual, Tarantino’s film is divided into chapters.
The first is titled “Once Upon a Time in Nazi-occupied France.”
Of course, this is an homage to Italian directing god Sergio Leone’s
epic westerns, most obviously 1968’s Once Upon a Time in the West.
And if it wasn’t clear enough, Tarantino borrows several music
cues from Leone’s go-to composer Ennio Morricone for the Basterds
sountrack. *As we noted earlier with the name Jackie Brown, Tarantino
likes to have fun with his characters’ names. And in Basterds,
he’s up to his usual tricks. For example, the actor Til Schweiger
plays a German sergeant who defects over to Pitt’s team of Nazi-hunting
Jewish GIs. His name is Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz, which is also the name of
a Mexican action and exploitation star from the ’70s (Tintorera).
And then there is Mike Myers’ smallish role as a British general
named Ed Fenech, which is a nice little riff on the name of ’70s
Italian movie starlet/sex symbol Edwige Fenech, who starred in some
of the best giallo thrillers of the era.
Predilection: I like Quentin Tarantino and I like
revenge films.
Critters: A French poodle and some cows.
Food: Strudel and whipped cream.
Sex Spectrum: None
Soundtrack: Tarantino's skill also includes using
out of period music to highlight his point of view. David Bowie’s
goth-rock ballad, ‘Cat People (Putting out Fire)’ ignites
the final scenes. The soundtrack contains the following tracks: Opening Titles: Most people might not notice but the
opening titles have more than six different fonts. The five chapters
in the films also have different fonts. I imagine that this is also
one of Tarantino's salutes to his favorite movie fonts.
Visual Art: Tarantino's attention to period detail
was wonderful.
Theater Audience: About 50 other patrons.
Sappy Factor: 0
Quirky Meter: 0
Squirm Scale: Some might squirm at the violence but
I did not.
Drift Factor: I did look at my watch a few times during
the more talky passages.
Predictability Level: High
Tissue Usage: 0
Oscar Worthy: Yes
Big Screen or Rental: Big screen for sure.
Length: Clocks in at a hefty two and a half hours.
LOBO HOWLS: 9 |