INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Post-Release

Nice review. And just in time too. I won't be able to see this film until it opens next week... but the other thread is nothing but an argument.

Not quite, that subsided to overwhelming praise for the film from those who had seen it but now we have somewhere to get spoilerific about it.

Excellent review, Devin. Couldn't agree more, although I'd be inclined to add and extra .5 onto this score. I loved it that much.

Spoiler warning? I suppose I might as well. I'm glad I'm not the only one to get a demented charge from that gloriously explosive finale in the cinema. When I saw it, the theater was stunned silent (other than a girl in front ducking down and squeeling at all the violence), I don't think people were ever expecting Tarantino to go there but I was on board 100%. He just kept piling it on, first the fire (and what an amazing build up with the giant face), then Eli Roth and co bust through the door with machine guns blazing (I love how Tarantino lingered on the shots of Hitler being blasted to pieces, it's the wish fulfilment of several generations being played out in glorious detail) and then as if that wasn't enough we get the dynamite blasting! Just a wonderful sequence that should have more than satiated any audience members thirst for violence

Waltz and Laurent blew me away, Pitt amused me to no end, Roth surprised the hell out of me but I've got to throw some extra love towards Michael Fassbender. I can't imagine that scene in the tavern working nearly as well had Simon Pegg kept the role. I think Fassbender nailed the tone of the scene perfectly, he had a control and confidence which benefitted the scene, whereas I feel Pegg's presence would feel a little more bumbling which would make his character's big mistake feel less of a surprise. And I also happened to love Fassbender's Leslie Phillips-like accent.

It's pretty amazing how Tarantino seemingly stumbled across this cast (I believe Waltz wasn't his first choice for Landa as well) but they all turned out to be brilliant choices. It's like the stars alligned for this production.

I completely agree with your take on Fassbender, Weasels - I thought he was terrific as Hicox. According to Tarantino, though, the actor is channelling George Sanders. (When I said I thought I heard some David Niven, he said "No, better! George Sanders!")

And Devin's review is bang-on in numerous ways. Good work.

Oh I can definitely see that, I think it might have been the 'tache he was sporting at the start that made me think of Phillips.

I've been telling people every since I read the script when it leaked, it's QT's comeback...best since Pulp. Now people are getting it.

cf. all those numpties out there who think this film is directly competing with Stallone's Expendables.

But isn't that sort of how the film is being promoted?

Exactly. You're seriously going to blame people who've seen the trailer for thinking that's what the movie's going to be like?

The trailer makes Pitt and co look prominent, sure, but the way they're selling it makes it look more like a violent black comedy than an action epic.

I agree with everything you said, Dev. So glad people are coming out to support this one, because it really is the most entertaining film I've seen this year. And even better, its actually about something.

I think the key to this film is how deftly Tarantino handles the tone. There were parts of Kill Bill and nearly all of Death Proof, where his dialogue ran away with itslef and you had characters reciting thoughts on Tarantino's behalf. Here he's actually letting the characters speak. And he's doing a high-wire act with tension and levity the whole way through.

Key to this are two prime examples, I think. Firstly, Mike Myers. There is absolutely no reason in the world that his inclusion and performance in that five-minute scene shouldn't derail the whole film. And he is completely comical ("Our plan - blow up the basket") in his delivery of the information setting up the remainder of the film. But given what has gone before and what follows, it works.

The other example is Shosanna's death. That's a painful moment, cos we're on board with this character, we want her (and her lover) to succeed and I actually jumped out of my seat when Bruhl shot her. The scene is played perhaps a little melodramatically, but dramatically nonetheless. And just when it seems like this might turn into a failed mission... cut to Eli Roth with another hilarious line delivery. It puts a smile right back on your face. And we're right back into the action.

The whole film is like this, balancing humour, warmth and wit with tension, violence and tragedy.

A great film. One which I was worried for given the turnaround time, my dislike of Death Proof and parts of Kill Bill 2 and the lukewarm feeling the trailers were giving me. Me and my two companions to the cinema this weekend all said we could have walked straight into the next screening and watched it all over again.

Welcome back, Quentin.

(And I agree, Fassbender was brilliant (reminded me a bit of Damian Lewis) and I can't imagine what the scene in the tavern - my favourite - would have been like had it been Pegg in the role)

Excellent review. Devin's comparing the dialogue to martial arts is what really sold me on the film; while the trailers have been great (for me, at least), I also know trailers are so many times no indication of what the film is really like.

It was a very "cinematic" demise, which was entirely appropriate given the circumstances.

I was actually a little disheartened when Shosanna shot Zoller like that, because Tarantino and Brühl had done such a wonderful job building this almost defiantly likeable character*. Even his aggressive, diva-like turn moments before didn't do a great deal to deter my fondness for the character. I knew he'd fucked up and sealed his fate in that moment, but I still felt a slight pang of regret knowing that Shosanna was 100% justified in gunning him down to ensure her mission went ahead as planned. Yet that didn't stop me feeling a little conflicted, in that I would have been ok seeing Zoller escape.

That, however, would be a pussy way of doing things and Tarantino's grand finale is nothing but big brass balls.

* Anyone who hasn't seen the film yet, who tends to criticize Tarantino's characterization based on previous (non-Jackie Brown) work, should take note that he made NAZIS into compelling, fully fleshed out characters. That takes skill as a writer and a director, and you definitely need a great cast to pull it off.

GREat review, dugg.

First off, I just want to say, I will not be discussing this film. This particular film bothers me on levels both personal and political, so I will just avoid the topic entirely less I get frustrated and angrying trying to explain my positon.

I will simply ask this:

"Ballsy, brash and utterly committed to the revolutionary power of cinema, Inglourious Basterds is a completely remarkable film."

What does that mean? Specifically, "utterly committed to the revolutionary power of cinema". what does that mean?

What is the revolutionary power of cinema? How is the film "utterly committed" to tha tpower? what is a film that is less than utterly committed?
reading that sentence, it seems like devin is saying the film is committed to starting a revolution, though that cant be it. i am sure there is somthing i am missing.

Did you even read the rest of the review?

If you don't want to discuss the film then why are you eve here discussing a review you haven't even read? Devin is pretty explicit about what he means.

I remember first hearing about this project in the 90's. To think I'll finally be watching it this friday...

It's her troll-fu. The less responses she gets, the better the chance she goes away.

One question: do you think there was a significance to re-using a music cue from Kill Bill vol. 1?

One other thing that I thought was a wink-wink moment and actually turned out to be important to the way the scene (and indeed the film) played out was the use of English in that opening scene.

Landa says something to the effect of "I have exhausted my French, but I understand you speak English - may we continue in English?" I thought this was similar to the changeover in tongues from something like The Hunt for Red October or Valkyrie. Then it turned out to be an important way of trapping the Jews under the floorboards AND it allowed the potentially subtitlephobic audience into the film, wherein maybe 50% of the dialogue thereafter would be subtitled.

That and Avatar. Weird that we'll see both in not-too-terribly long especially after imagining how they would be based on the comments from QT and Cameron over the years.

There can be only one explaination for this: Kate is pro-Nazi.

...I just realized I sealed my own doom by saying this. A lamp post will fall on me or I'll something. I'm gonna get Final Destination-ed. Fuck.

On critics thinking the last line is a "bit much"... certain reviewers (call them "Cannes critics") seem to think that it's their job to police director's egos. A lot of them are just itching to blow the whistle when a filmmaker seems in any way cocky. I don't get that. Of course they're egomaniacs! Here are people who think that their personal vision is so remarkable that it requires millions of other people's money to pull off! Who the Hell do they think they are? Directors likes QT and von Trier wear their pride on their sleeve and that just pisses off so many critics. It colors the reviews.

A lot of my favorite filmmakers are arrogant, childish brats but it doesn't matter. Only the films do.

"I think I made my masterpiece."

Quentin, you just might have.

I think that line prevented five stars from Empire.

Given some of the films they've given the 5 to in recent years, this seems outrageous.

Is it just me, or was Kate pretty much saying that "Avatar" would have this very same effect, in some other thread?

I'm assuming that since QT did not blow $100 million on VFX alone, then she has no interest.

About critics saying the film de-humanised the Nazi's I think where they might be coming from is the way we see the body's get scalped, and on the one hand it's a horrible thing to do, but on the other hand you sort of cheer it, which some might say we're meant to cheer it because they're Nazi's, but I tend to think if we do cheer it, it's because Brad Pitt's charisma puts you on his side. And maybe people don't want to cop to that, because charisma = a pass on the scalping of humans is a kind of an unsettling place to be.

Thought the movie was blast, myself.

Spoilers here obviously.

Saw it this morning, loved it. There's so much here I could talk about. When the script reviews came out someone said it was 'The Dirty Dozen' meets 'Cinema Paradiso' and I think they're about right.

I do have some qualms, though they are minor. I think the Basterds are somewhat underwritten, and Sam Levine literally vanishes from the film (He's seen in the trailer wielding a massive gun but the scene isn't in the film). Though Roth easily has the worst lines in the film he totally sold me with his face at the end, and I think knowing his backstory (He was a Barber in Boston who got all the Jews to write the names of people they loved in his Bat - Oh and he hated the Nazi's for making him a killer) helps sell his performance.

All this talk of Simon Pegg though, wouldn't it have been Tim Roth in the film had he not been committed to 'Lie To Me'? I assumed that's why Pegg was then cast. But I agree that he wouldn't have commanded that scene as well as Fassbender did.

QT gets plaudits for his use of language, but visually he can't be undersold too. I think the moment where the screen has burned down, but Shoshanna's face is still barely visible amongst all the smoke, surrounded by fire is one of the best visuals I've seen in a long long time.

Wonderful film.

Just saw tonight, and liked it as much as others in this thread.

I'm stuck by just how old-fashioned Tarantino's style's getting. The camerawork has the languid feel of a seventies film, or even sixties- the Hitchcock comparisons are pretty apt. The whole thing's so beautifully restrained (matching Jackie Brown) that the finale is even more effective when it finally lets loose.
Probably unlikely to topple Pulp Fiction as my favourite Tarantino, but it's certainly his best in a while.

Didn't expect this much praise after the lukewarm Cannes reviews. Very VERY good to hear. Can't wait to watch it now. How serious is the tone?

I think Devin's review says everything about this movie that needs to be said. It was truly AWESOME. And I definitely think that, as stated at the end, this might just be his masterpiece.

I can only agree with Devin and most other people in this thread.

He just may have made hist masterpiece indeed.

I haven´t had such a good time at the movies in ages. This one surpassed even the raw energy at the Drag Me To Hell screening. The cast is just terrific. Waltz can´t get enough praise. I even loved Pitt´s accent. It is so over the top but Pitt sells it. The layers of Laurents performance is so intense and layered. And I wasn´t even aware of how many great German actors QT has cast. Aside from Cameos galore of familiar faces Brühl and Diel might be the finest actors of their generation.

The amazing thing about this movie is that it works like gangbusters in the first place. Because it shouldn´t. Tonally it is all over the place but it gels together into greatness. Like someone else said this movie is the perfect balance between nail-baiting tension, humor, tragedy. Even the 80´s video montage works perfectly for all intents and purposes even though it shouldn´t. Meyers works altough his scene shouldn´t. Glorious!

I can't really say anything that hasn't already been said better by Devin and everyone else, but I loved it. My heart was pumping a mile a minute all the way through.

I was particularly struck by how funny the movie was. Pitt speaking Italian had the entire theater falling out of their chairs.

It went over like gangbusters with the packed crowd. Especially anything with Stiglitz. Schweiger plays it so well. The cast is almost perfect across the board though, even if the majority of the basterds get short changed. The fact that Samm Levine's character just disappears after the vet scene is going to bug me forever.

I am extremely tired, but I am enjoying a remarkable post-Basterds buzz. This movie was absolutely everything I was hoping for. It gave me everything I wanted and much much more.

Our screening got off to a rocky start with the credits and first 2 minutes of the opening scene in stark silence thanks to the lack of soundtrack. Thankfully they rewound it with an apology and we were on our merry way.

I'm rather clumsy when it comes to summarizing my feelings on a film freshly seen, and 4 a.m. doesn't help much. It was an amazing film and lived up to the ink spilled in it's favor. I agree with the review that Landa really is the driving force of the story- he seems to only let the two parties so he'll have a means to escape from the Nazi's inevitable defeat. Waltz deserves all the accolades coming his way, just an endlessly unnerving and fascinating character. I'm intrigued that by the end he's quick to dismiss his nickname when he relishes it during the opening. Just trying to save face for what's to come I suppose.

I hope this does business so Tarantino can be afforded the freedom that permits him to make these, after the experiment of Death Proof this felt more weighty then anything else he's done this decade. And he didn't even need two films to do it.

I enjoyed this strange, indulgent movie very much.

The image of Shosanna's hazy, laughing face among the flames is utterly haunting and cathartic and is one of those spine-tingling moments that you know will sit in your cinematic memory forever.

Probably the most striking image I've seen this year.

Quite an acerbic review from Peter Bradshaw who I usually quite like and agree with. Let me guess, he's missing the point?

I'm really happy to see more good word coming in about this movie, I'm going to see it again tomorrow night and I'll be taking people with me. Can't wait to share the ingloury with others.

Loved Schweiger, especially in the tavern scene (no surprise since everyone shone in that scene). He looked like a pitbull barely being held on by a leash, the self-control it took for him not to stab Hellstrom in the skull every time he touched him... hilarious.

That shot was iconic, but the whole scene leading up to that was amazing as well. I particularly loved the sudden transition from Zoller's face to Shosanna's, such a powerful presence and her every inflection carried real anger, real weight. I haven't seen that many Nazis crap their pants in unison since Belloq opened the ark of the covenant.

http://www.people.com/people/article...299404,00.html

now i have not seen inglorious bastards, because i think it looks a little silly. not saying that to slam the film, i am pointing it out to point out how silly brad pitts quote looks in that context. the tom cruise film was taught and tense, not the best movie ever, but i enjoyed it for what it was and liked that it managed to make the assassination plot interesting dispite knowing how it all ended up.

Kate, people here don't like you, but Devin has asked them to behave. I think people are trying to. If you want to have a discussion about a movie you haven't seen, please put said comments in the pre-release thread.

oh ok, sure. was just putting up a link to an article that quotes brad pitt on the subject of another ww2 film. i'll go post it in pre release though thanks. if youre a mod can you delete my post in the post release thread?

Well, for all the silliness you see in the film, Inglourious Basterds is probably the most taut and tense movie of the year.

As an aside: Mr. Beaks over at AICN has a fantastic little interview with Christoph Waltz.

I don't get the return to form stuff, but I love everything he's done. Perhaps this is the most mainstream thing he's done in a while, but Kill Bill was about just as mainstream. I want a spin-off movie with Michael Bacall and Samm Levine called The Littlest Basterds, since they apparently fell asleep and missed Chapter five.

I would like to see a slasher film in which Till Schweiger wakes up in a Nazi morgue and proceeds to kill his way through the remaining Nazi forces ala The Shape.

Just saw an AM showing of this. Loved it. The audience I saw it with loved it to, and there were a surprising number of people in the theater for an 11am showing.

Waltz needs an Oscar for what he's done. He deserves it completely. Watching his character was like watching a spider wearing a human's skin. He was simultaneously compelling and repugnant.

I also dug the narration from Samuel L Jackson.

Fucking fantastic. Waltz was too good. Pitt was hilarious and really good.

Took a long-ass lunch and went and saw it at 1. Great, great stuff, and Pitt's reveal of his Italian accent is one of the best laughs I've heard from a crowd in quite awhile.

That was 'Mickey the Pikey'-levels of awesome.

Pitt's character was great every time he opened his mouth. Half his dialog was badass, the other half was hilarious.