Inglourious Basterds

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Inglourious Basterds
Topic Started: Aug 21 2009, 09:37 PM (367 Views)
Laughing Gravy	Aug 21 2009, 09:37 PM Post #1
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,069 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	An octet of extremely violent Nazi-fighting Jews led by a nutty but effective Tennessee woodsman sneak into Occupied France to kill and dismember as many Germans as they can lay their hands on; their nemesis is a Jew-hunting SS Colonel who is very, very good at what he does. The wild card is a beautiful young woman who runs a cinema in Paris; when Goebbels and the Nazi high brass plan a war film's premiere there, the factions all come together for a night of terror. I think this is my favorite Quentin Tarantino picture; history wouldn't make a good enough story for his picture, so he makes up a new World War II. There are two highly suspenseful set pieces; the first, with the SS Colonel (Christoph Waltz, who steals the picture) interrogating a French farmer who's hidden a family of Jews under his kitchen floor, is worthy of Hitchcock; the second, a meeting between the Basterds and a British double-agent in a basement filled with drunken Nazis, is almost as good. The hero of the film is Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine (a joke we movie buffs will get; in fact there's a LOT of movie jokes in here), and Mélanie Laurent and Diane Kruger are helpful and very beautiful ladies. Hilmar Eichhorn is Emil Jannings. Highly entertaining picture, although very bloody and violent. The audience loved it.



Ignatz Ratzkywatzky	Aug 22 2009, 01:52 PM Post #2
Charter Member Posts: 749 Group: Members Member #28 Joined: September 5, 2005	I just got back from the picture, and it's the most fun I've had at the movies this year. I'll be interested to see how most audiences react to it, because it isn't the film that you come to expect from the trailers. It is slow moving at times, but in the best possible way (like a Sergio Leone Western); and Brad Pitt and his group are really supporting characters in the film. Then again, there really isn't a lead character in the movie. It is structured more like an epic novel, which is more about the world it creates than it is about any one character. Like many Tarantino movies, the new film is as much about the movies as it is about the story it is telling. Film lovers are bound to enjoy references to Max Linder, Emil Jannings, and G.W. Pabst; will likely recognize music lifted from THE ALAMO, CAT PEOPLE, and various Spaghetti Westerns; and will relish the fact that nitrate film itself plays a major role in the plot. Also, keep a sharp eye out for Rod Taylor. If you don't like Tarantino, you may still want to give this film a try. Apart from a few comic flourishes, it is the most restrained film Quentin has made since JACKIE BROWN. Sure, the movie is bad history, but it is also great fun.
	Read reviews, news, and features from the world of soused cinema at "Booze Movies: The 100 Proof Film Guide." http://boozemovies.com/


panzer the great & terrible	Aug 27 2009, 10:18 AM Post #3
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,326 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	I'm convinced. Great fun is what I like.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


panzer the great & terrible	Sep 3 2009, 03:35 PM Post #4
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,326 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	This unique suspense fantasy knocked our socks off. We never sit through the end credits unless we like the film, and this time we sat there, dumb, even through the MPAA rating, not wanting to leave. I don't want to drag out all the superlatives, but will say that except for Pulp Fiction (which wasn't superbly directed but had a fine script) I wasn't a large Tarantino fan until now. Without question Inglourious is a masterful film by a master scriptwriter who has somehow become a master director, and if you know old movies it's a rare treat. There are visual references to Griffith, Hitchcock (twice), and even John Ford, to name three, all done so seamlessly that you'd still appreciate the scenes as storytelling if you'd never seen a single classic film. Still, the visual quotes do deepen your understanding. The quote from The Searchers made me understand that the villain was like Ethan, and where he was headed, which made me enjoy him even more. The quote from The Birth of A Nation, before an assasination, opened up a big can of irony, not like anything I've seen before in a movie. Another thing I like is that the violence is sudden, but ends suddenly too, which I much prefer to the long bone-crunching sessions in Reservoir Dogs and Death Proof. If you tell me Tarantino's been watching Fritz Lang I won't be shocked. Another thing I love is Christoph Waltz's career-making portrayal of a man as charming as he is dreadful -- Gravy's right, he makes the picture, finding the right pitch for a character who defines edgy. Besides the namechecks Mr. R. cites, Chaplin and Henri-Georges Clouzot come up, Chaplin for The Kid and Clouzot for Le Corbeau (if you know about the making of Le Corbeau, certain Basterds scenes resonate weirdly). Series fans will like a reference to The Saint in New York, even though I dunno why it's there except maybe to show the heroine reads English. Five stars on the Panzometer. Best picture so far this year, and this is a good year. Unless something odd happens, Waltz is a shoo-in for Best Supporting. A major return to form for Tarantino -- Kill Bill was so perfect that it bored me, and Death Proof failed with the public though I thought it got something new going -- but I betcha this film's worldwide grosses will be healthy and prolonged. The word of mouth here on my particular planet is unusually good. Look for this to do well on DVD too -- I'll buy it, and I NEVER buy DVDs of recent movies. Don't wait to watch it at home though -- like No Country for Old Men, you need the big screen experience to get the full flavor. It won't be as suspenseful in your living room, trust me it won't: no matter how huge your TV or what the salesman said, your "home theater" isn't a real theater. If you've been avoiding Tarantino because you think his characters are puppets who talk like him, be assured there's nothing like that here. The French Jewish girl and her Franco-African lover are well-drawn, dignified people who don't chatter. You'll like them. I didn't even recognize Rod Taylor and had to read the end credits to find out who he was. Tarantino's best-directed film and I agree with Gravy, his best. I also agree that there are scenes worthy of Hitchcock, and I don't say things like that. My mind still swarms with the movie's images (did I mention it's beautifully and digitally photographed?). For a movie lover, this beautiful thing is a bottle of fine wine: no, a case. At least a case. I'll enjoy many repeat visits, starting next week. Now tell me the truth, did you ever hear me rave so over a new movie? No, and you may never again. If Tarantino makes another great picture next year, it'll be, "Ho hum, another Tarantino masterpiece." But when somebody completely surprises me and gets it perfect for the first time ever, attention, attention must be paid. This is how I felt when I first saw The Godfather, Jules and Jim, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. When somebody you already like does something surpassing your wildest hopes, well hell, ain't that a grand and glorious feeling? God bless you, Quentin Tarantino. May you make more like this, and with supreme luck someday surpass it! Even if you don't, you are now one of my pantheon directors. You heard me. Move that boy up three notches. Put him up 'ere next to Preston Sturges. Edited by panzer the great & terrible, Sep 7 2009, 07:06 PM.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


maldor	Sep 4 2009, 06:46 PM Post #5
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 49 Group: Members Member #179 Joined: February 28, 2007	This is one of the years best movies a great piece of entertainment.



Sgt King	Sep 6 2009, 09:41 PM Post #6
Charter Member Posts: 371 Group: Members Member #29 Joined: September 5, 2005	Saw this last Sunday night with my son in Los Angeles at the Vista Theater on Sunset Drive. Tarantino signed the main poster in the lobby with something like, "Hope you enjoy this movie at my favorite theater - The Vista! Quentin Tarantino" The inside of this theater is a knockout. It's a very cozy, old style 1930's small theater with Egyptian art deco with very cool statues and lots of different shades of red spotlighted all over! A perfect movie lovers interior and outside markee! As for the film, I gave it ***. Good story, actors, sets and locations but I think Quentin is a little too impressed with his own writing. Like the bar scene in Death Proof with Kurt Russel, this basement bar dialog just drags on too long as it does in a couple other places. I want my movies to move and straight talking scenes much over 5 minutes are enough for me. Of course there are exceptions like "The Godfather" or "It Happened One Night" but I feel "Inglorious Bastards" could have been tightened up by 15 or 20 minutes.



panzer the great & terrible	Sep 7 2009, 06:28 PM Post #7
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,326 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	Couldn't disagree more. I was on the edge of my seat in the basement bar scene -- but a.) I went at noon, and b.) what the hey, that's what makes a horse race. No two people see the same movie the same way. If they did, The Alligator People would top the AFI 100 list as it deserves to. No 5 minute talking scenes in THAT baby! The Vista is indeed a cool theater. I saw The Corpse Bride there with my son a few years back. And hi, Sarge. I finally watched SOS Iceberg last night and LOVED it! (What was I thinking to put it off so long?) Anyway, thanks a million for a real treat. Obviously I need to get a movie-burning 'puter. Edited by panzer the great & terrible, Sep 7 2009, 07:26 PM.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


Sgt King	Sep 7 2009, 08:35 PM Post #8
Charter Member Posts: 371 Group: Members Member #29 Joined: September 5, 2005	Hi Paul, Glad to see you touting "The Alligator People" so greatly. I do not care a whole lot for it but man do I love it when someone really loves a bad movie this much. Maybe I should give it another try. What do you like about it so much. I think "Monolith Monsters" (Universal, 1957) is a 4 star classic and I'm probably the only one that does. Saw it at the drive-in about 1960 and never forgot it! Now I have a god copy of it. If anyone hasn't seen it, give it a try and please critique it back here with likes or dislikes. Glad you liked SOS Iceberg. Isn't that a great little adventure film? I tried to give you, Gravy and Pa some of rarest favorites, not necessarily the greatest movies. I wonder what Pa and Grave thought of the films. I know "So, This Is Africa" was one. Which is such a rare film with over-the-top camp humor, sexual references and just plain unbelieveable in all departments . . . well, I HAD to include it. What else did I make for you? I think it was 3 or 4 films.



panzer the great & terrible	Sep 8 2009, 12:17 PM Post #9
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,326 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	Sarge, I kind of have my tongue in my cheek when I beat the drums for The Alligator People. No sane person would call it a good movie, but it's so far over the top that I love it from the moment Beverly Garland sits down on the crate that's cearly labeled "CAUTION: RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS," a fine example of director Roy Del Ruth's sardonic sense of humor. Lon Chaney Jr. spends the whole movie ripping off huge chunks of scenery and wolfing them down. What is it about him anyway? He's in a remarkable number of memorable films. I share your fondness for The Monolith Monsters. Everybody acts so serious and the peril itself is so darn hard to swallow. The DVD you gave me had the Anna May Wong picture Daughter of Shanghai, Cliffhangers: Adventures from the Thrill Factory, Hot Shorts: 4 serial spoofs, and V. 2 of The Adventures of Champion( which I had never even heard of but is really fun) as well as SOS Iceberg. I'd never seen any of 'em so it was and is a rare treat: please accept my belated but heartfelt thanks for them and for the Xeroxes I treasure. Anna May gets viewed pretty often: she was such a hottie! I ordered Shanghai Express from Amazon UK to get another taste of her, um, talents, and found it a wonderful movie (though I hated it when first I saw it 50 years ago), so I run the two as a double feature. My sweety, the Grand Duchess, usually attends though she doesn't often watch black and white except Roman Holiday, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Sabrina, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, anything with Judy Holliday and I Remember Mama: all excellent pictures. When we first met I asked my standard girl-shopping question -- I'm such a nerd -- what's her favorite movie: she said The Day the Earth Stood Still. Good answer! We're still together. But I digress as usual. Why does the mind, as it grows old, wander so freely? Back to Chaney. Do we agree he wasn't a great actor? Then why was his stint in Of Mice and Men one of the great movie performances? Is it easy to play that kind of role? Wouldn't be for me. An unusual man, and a survivor compared to his pop, whose brilliance has always eluded me. It's one thing Gravy and I butt heads about. Lon Jr., the poor sap, went thru elementary and high school with the first name 'Creighton.' That wasn't easy. I dropped 'Jonathan' for John, but what could he do? Call himself Phantom Jr.?
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


Laughing Gravy	Sep 9 2009, 08:31 AM Post #10
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,069 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Chaney, Jr. has long been a fave of mine. I could write a lot about him - if I had more time. Suffice to say, the guy's resume includes High Noon, Not as a Stranger, and The Defiant Ones, too. Everybody who worked with him seemed to love him - with the exception of Martin Kosleck, who lived long enough (mid-1990s) to give a lot of interviews with fan magazines slamming Chaney. Well, the hell with ya Marty - who remembers YOU these days? I don't note any special 2-disc editions of The Flesh Eaters coming out, bud.



mort bakaprevski	Sep 9 2009, 08:58 AM Post #11
Soony Roony! Posts: 1,430 Group: Members Member #73 Joined: January 1, 2006	Laughing Gravy Sep 9 2009, 08:31 AM Everybody who worked with him seemed to love him - with the exception of Martin Kosleck.... Evelyn Ankers wasn't very fond of him!!
	“You’ve got to take the bitter with the sour.”


panzer the great & terrible	Sep 9 2009, 09:33 AM Post #12
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,326 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	Yeah, but who's Evelyn Ankers today? Everybody knows Chaney. Even if Spider Baby was all he ever did, he'd be immortal. I also loved him in Son of Dracula, a film that's never gotten its props, mostly, I suspect, because the fanboys want their Draculas skinny. But if you think about it, if there really were vampires they'd look more like ticks than like Bela Lugosi. Hey, I'm not trying to be disgusting, just realistic.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


Don Diego	Sep 9 2009, 09:59 AM Post #13
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 12,024 Group: Members Member #18 Joined: September 4, 2005	When Chaney was filming LAST of the MOHICANS TV show my schools gym teacher workes as a huron extra and was able to get a picture with him and Chaney for the yearbook. The only negative comment he made was that Chaney would drink while working.



panzer the great & terrible	Sep 9 2009, 01:38 PM Post #14
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,326 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	Yeah, he did that for many years. A lot of people have commented on it. Of course, it wasn't as unusual in those days as it is now that drinking carries a stigma.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


mort bakaprevski	Sep 9 2009, 02:16 PM Post #15
Soony Roony! Posts: 1,430 Group: Members Member #73 Joined: January 1, 2006	panzer the great & terrible Sep 9 2009, 09:33 AM Yeah, but who's Evelyn Ankers today? S-o-o-o-o-o-o-o, your credibility is only as good as your name recognition is today.... or somethin'????? panzer I also loved him in Son of Dracula, I liked him far better than I liked Carradine. Of course SOD was probably the first Universal horror movie I ever saw (at the Yost Theatre in Santa Ana; a Realart re-release double featured with BLACK FRIDAY). A lot of the fan boys love to laff at his delivery of the line "I, too, thought I heard something in the basement." & his pronunciation of "decadent." BFD!!!
	“You’ve got to take the bitter with the sour.”


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