I've been mulling over last night's screening I, along with Kendall, Jules, Tom, and Joe (otherwise known as the A-Team) attended of Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds.
I'll be quick with this one as i don't feel fully equipped with the right adjectives to properly describe how entertained i was.
For my money, not only the best film of the year thus far, but the more i think of it, it is becoming my favourite Tarantino flick.
The film is driven by it's wealth of characters, all are a blast to watch play on screen. From the blood thirsty Basterds, to the chip cheerio Brits, and the various ugly Nazi dogs there's a lot here to enjoy.
For a second there nearing the end i thought maybe the film was going into excess with its anger and then you remember "oh wait, they're Nazis... fuck em'."
Tarantino perfectly balances scenes rife with cartoon violence and humour with scenes wrought with tension and Oscar worthy performances. The stand out performance comes from Christoph Waltz who plays Nazi Col. Hans Landa aka "The Jew Hunter", who steals every scene he's in.
The ad campaign for the film is quite the opposite of what the film is. The ads would make you think that the film looks like a fun action romp where Nazis get massacred for a good hour and a half. After the opening scene of the film, which runs almost 20 minutes, that sees Col. Landa talking to a French diary farmer under the suspicion that he is harboring Jews you realize that you are in fact watching a FILM. More a drama than an action film, the film itself is compromised mostly of long scenes. i would say there's maybe 10 scenes in the whole film. All of which are exercises in stress, you wait biting your fingernails waiting for every scene to explode. The tension mounting higher and higher to a crescendo the likes only a master director like Tarantino (that's right, he is a master) can provide.If you can, see this at the cinema DO IT. It's definitely worth it.
oh... and Brad Pitt was ok.
9 comments:
yes, yes, and yes - i couldn't agree more. even though the film was 2.5 hours, i never found it to be dragging or overly long. a superb, masterful work, and when brad pitt sits admiring his work on landa at the very end and says "this just might be my masterpiece", you can't help but feel you've just seen tarantino's. i'm going again on thursday.
i.b. is a movie so in love with cinema and cinema's power, and it was truly a joy you watch, cathartic and restorative. you put everything i felt very eloquently, and then some. i think i speak for us all when i say a very hearty "welcome back kris".
Great Post Kris! Nicely written and informative.
Just a quick clarification though ...Kendall is actually on a higher ranking team than the rest of you.
S
I agree, the more I think about it the more this is becoming my favorite Tarantino.
I too thought this was going to be an action-packed, Nazi-killing movie based on the adds. And then during the first scene I thought, this might actually be a more dramatic movie than I thought. But when Londa busts out that giant pipe I knew it was going to be more than just a drama, more than just an action movie, and more than just a comedy. All around just so massively entertaining.
And thanks Scott, for the high-ranking comment. Does that mean I should be making more $$ than them too?
here's an intriguing review (though not one with which i agree) from the nyt's manohla dargis:
http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/movies/21inglourious.html?8dpc
certainly worth a read...
now that's one very spoiler heavy review if i've ever read one.
just got back from seeing a solid hour and a half of this after getting out of a District 9 screening tonight and running to the IB screening next door. My, do i love this flick.
What makes the film great to me, as i said before, is its rich tapestry of characters. Some my be worse actors than others (Eli Roth) but all are memorable. They are all characters that could only exist in the world of cinema. Sure they're all unrealistic but that's because they're all built from the ground up on cliche and stereotypes all burrowed from a the golden age of cinema.
I disagree with the reviewer that Tarantino's other films has hereos to match the villians. I frankly have never felt that way. Madsen's Mr. Blonde from Resrvior Dogs is miles ahead of everyone else in that picture.
David Carridine steals the Kill Bill films away from Uma Thurman just within his ten minute prescence during the climax of those films.
Col. Landa's rival is the entire group of Basterds, only they're not nearly as good actors as Waltz.
Fucking loved this film. Again again!
Just watched the trailers again and I agree they do miss the point a bit. I really enjoyed the surprise of actually how funny it was and there was much more going on than the single premise setup in the trailer. The guy as Landa is absolute gold it just has to be a future classic this one. Man, the more I think about it.... Man! For me QT hasn't been this good since Pulp Fiction. Absolute must see though every review I read tries to pick at it, unsuccesfully. Always hating on Quentin, 'kin bellends.
I think I would have enjoyed this film more if Quentin Tarantino hadn't made it. I must admit that I've been wanting to see Hitler's face pulverized for some time now. I loved the racial jokes.
I'll qualify that comment.
Hype is great for getting people in the seats, but there is the balancing act. Can it live up to it, and should it have to? I couldn't help asking this throughout the screening, but often I sided favorably as subtitles were used and non-Hollywood actors gave the best performances.
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