Posted on 08/20/2009 8:48:45 PM PDT by JSDude1
I wish my brave, tough Holocaust survivor grandfather, Isaac, was alive to see “Inglourious Basterds.”
He would love it even more than I did. So would my dad. And they would be cheering and laughing along with me.
Because the movie debuts at Midnight screenings tonight, I am posting this review early, and you’ll note that I was entirely wrong in my expectations for this movie when I first wrote about it, back in February. The movie is riveting. It’s fun and serious at the same time.
It’s not usual that I praise a Quentin Tarantino film or a flick starring Brad Pitt. I’m not a big fan of either. But “Inglourious Basterds” is either the exception to the rule or a new beginning (probably the former, at least in the case of Pitt, who is very good here). After two-and-a-half hours of this fantastic movie, I didn’t want it to end. I wanted more. So well done, so interesting, exciting, and suspenseful, it flew by. Like “The Departed (read my review),” it’s a well-wrapped treasure, with new delights at each uncovered layer. And a few puzzles, some of which aren’t answered but are designed to make you think.
I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this movie.
(Excerpt) Read more at debbieschlussel.com ...
The husband & I have a movie and dinner date tomorrow - this is the movie we are going to see. I will post my review.
I saw District 9. Its not great, but solidly good.
Kill Bill is taking a beating here, but I liked I and II as well.
It’s all about Uma, and I’m fine with that.
Grindhouse was one the worst movies I’v seen. I understood what QT was trying to do but there’s a reason why it flopped big time. I felt sorry for Kurt Russell but the following flick after QT’s by Rodriguez was far worse.
Not sure why people dump on Pitt- he’s a good actor and Tarantino is an amazing director. It’s good to see someone get the amount of freedom he has. He writes his own stuff, gets the actors he wants. Directs it the way he wants. Running time what he wants. This is what pisses off some of the professional movie critics about him I think- he’s transcended the ‘production-release-review’ process. People decide to go see his movies without the critics’ involvement.
It was not possible to commit war crimes on Nazis.
I did see The Odessa File years ago. Sounds like it’s time to rent it again. I remember liking it when it when it came out.
And a good actor.
Exactly.
I don’t want to go into spoiler mode. But the climax... Man, that image really did it for me. I was like ‘f-— yeah! get some baby!’.
Yes, I saw that and thought it was excellent - it also goes by the title of "Zwartboek". I believe that one of the male leads was in another movie I really enjoyed called "The Lives of Others" - again, a foreign language film set in post-Soviet occupied East Germany. It's tremendous and absolutely worth a rent if you haven't seen it.
Probably the same reason I enjoyed “Defiance.”
My favorite movie of the decade. The other great East German-related movie is "Goodbye, Lenin."
Compared to someone like Russell Crowe, Bale, Oldman or Guy Pearce - Pitt is a lousy actor. He is also a mega lib.
Uma had a lot of input on those films; it's obvious that Tarentino didn't write or approve that dialogue alone. His touch is definitely there, though (any movie that borrows a piece of the White Lightning soundtrack can't be all bad).
I agree that most of Grindhouse was abysmal, but the segment with Kurt Russell and the homage to Vanishing Point isn't too bad. At least you can tell it's Quentin's work.
"The Lives of Others" was another excellent movie! I keep telling my kids they have to rent it. Especially in these times. Sounds like we have similar taste!
Agree with everything you've said - especially the part about the captioning and "Snatch" - except for the your dislike of Kill Bill. I don't think it's Tarantino at his finest, but it wasn't horrible. Jackie Brown one of the most underrated movies of the last dozen or so years. Grindhouse was bad and it's companion piece - name escapes me - was even worse.
The wife and I actually watched "Meet Joe Black" just this past weekend - it too gets a little better with time and Pitt wasn't bad in that either.
Yes, the oldies are the goodies./Just Asking - seoul62......
The guy that plays Frederick Zoller in Inglourious Basterds is the same guy who played the role of the son in Good-bye Lenin. The whole time I was watching the film I was thinking ‘now where have I seen this guy before?’
He’s pretty good. Tarantino accomplished something eerie with his character. I need to see the film again to put my finger on what it was.
I've wanted to see that for a while, but none of my local video stores carry it. I'm going to have to join Netflix to see it, and a few others I want to catch.
My wife and I are both foreign language film fanatics. I know, it sounds haughty, but it's really for practical purposes. American actors are so incredibly overexposed, it becomes difficult to suspend reality and imagine them in the roles their portraying. No matter who Brad Pitt plays, he's still Brad Pitt to me. But, a guy like Sebastian Koch (from Lives of Others) absolutely inhabits his roles and doesn't bring any personal baggage with him. It makes for a much more enjoyable experience.
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