Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discussion

[Aragorn]

During World War II a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.

Roger Ebert gives the movie FOUR STARS.

 

[John Clark]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

At first I thought this was a remake, but apparently they just (almost) share the same name.

I saw Inglorious yesterday, but will be going to see this one at weekend

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

A Tarantino film resists categorization. “Inglourious Basterds” is no more about war than “Pulp Fiction” is about — what the hell is it about?

I love Ebert.

 

[Shaytan]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

I've seen it 2 hours ago. It's not a war film, it's a Tarentino film and it's...euh...it's not my favorite Tarantino movie but I definitively like it. It's...no, I've no words, you have to watch it


Edit : after a few hours, I'm starting to think that I should have voted for "excellent" instead of "above average". The film is truly entertaining.

 

[Harvey]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

I'm looking forward to this. It's truly polarized reviewers--Ebert gave it 4 stars, but my local reviewer gave it 1 out of 5. We'll see where the truth lies...

 

[Pindar]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

The trailers put me off somewhat but the film is fantastic I loved it.

Some of the actors are truly great.

All the parts played by actors of the correct nationality and all the French and German is subtitled.

Even thought the film is way over the top the characters make it feel very real.

I will definitely be buying it when it comes out.

 

[The Evil Dead]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

Can't wait to see this, catching the late show tonight.

 

[Shaytan]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

Some of the actors are truly great.

Christoph Waltz who played the Nazi (colonel Landa) won the award for best actor in Cannes and he truly deserved it.

 

[Daedalus12]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

Excellent! Can't see any other movie from 2009 topping this one. The 3 hours in the theater went by too fast. I was hoping for more stories at the end there. Now that I speak a few bits of French (my gf is french) I think I was able to enjoy it even more.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

I voted Above Average, but I really meant Good. I really enjoyed it, although it wasn't what I expected, although I suppose I should have. My dad seemed to have enjoyed it too, which I wouldn't have expected.

 

[Aragorn]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

Does this quote from Brad Pitt make sense to anyone?


As far as Brad Pitt is concerned, his new film “Inglourious Basterds” is the be all and end all of Nazi movies.

“The second World War could still deliver more stories and films, but I believe that Quentin [Tarantino, director] put a cover on that pot. With ‘Basterds,’ everything that can be said to this genre has been said,” Pitt tells the German magazine Stern. “The film destroys every symbol. The work is done, end of story.”

As for another WWII Hitler assassination movie with a famous Hollywood star, he says there is no comparison. When the Stern reporter mentioned Tom Cruise's recent turn in a film about a real plot to kill Hitler, Pitt simply said, “It was a ridiculous movie.”

 

[Admiral2]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

This movie was fantastic! My absolute favorite performance was Christoph Waltz's polite-to-a-fault Nazi officer. Second favorite was Pitt's Aldo Raine.

And, Pitt was wrong about "Valkyrie."

It wasn't ridiculous. It was just terminally boring. Two and a half solid hours of Tom Cruise stumping around trying to be a one-eyed, one-legged flying purple Nazi traitor knowing in advance that his efforts meant jack was a waste of good theater dollars.

"Basterds" makes Valkyrie look like Hogun's Heroes.

Excellent all over the place!

 

[Aragorn]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

^ Sounds to me like you're dead set against the saying: "It's not what a movie is about that makes it good or bad, but how it goes about being told." I hope you stayed away from Titanic, Thirteen Days, Apollo 13, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and anything else based on history or set in history since you already know the ending.

 

[Shaytan]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

Does this quote from Brad Pitt make sense to anyone?


As far as Brad Pitt is concerned, his new film “Inglourious Basterds” is the be all and end all of Nazi movies.

Actually yes, once you've seen scalped Nazi, there is nothing to add on the suject

 

[InklingStar]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

As for another WWII Hitler assassination movie with a famous Hollywood star, he says there is no comparison. When the Stern reporter mentioned Tom Cruise's recent turn in a film about a real plot to kill Hitler, Pitt simply said, “It was a ridiculous movie.”

Interestingly enough, "Valkyire" is based on a true story of failure, while "Basterds" is a fictional tale of revenge.

Note: I have not seen either movie.

 

[Harvey]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

Pitt has a valid point when speaking on the genre, although I don't think the World War II genre will be done after this film. Merely on hold for a while, similar to westerns in the wake of Blazing Saddles.

Speaking on Inglourious Basterds (Somebody explain to me Quentin Tarantino's choice of misspellings--a way to get out of a copyright battle with the film this one is so often mistaken for remaking, perhaps?) I thought the film was very good, although I'll need to give it some extra time to properly digest. Though it bears the title in reference to the unit led by Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), I thought it was curious that most of the 'Basterds' as they're called were not given much time to develop. Samm Levine is such an atypical choice for the role he's in, but he has so little screen time that it doesn't really matter.

Ah, what the hell, I'll call it excellent, a return to form by Tarantino after the boring Death Proof. But I can see how people could have so diverse an opinion on this as has developed amongst critics.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

When Tarantino mentioned wanting to make the ulitmate WW2 special mission movie years ago, I had hopes it would be interesting.

Inglorious Basterds is interesting, but it's not the movie I thought he was gonna make. It's not really a Dirty Dozen satire/homage, or a Where Eagles Dare with more dark humor. In that I am a tad disappointed, I would've been interested in an ultra-violent guy movie of sorts. Here Taratino is mostly interested in what leads up to brutal violence (ala Sergio Leone), not lots of action scenes. But it is enjoyable, even if parts of it seem like World War 2 as told by a 12-year old kid who got a C in history (the narrated parts were too silly IMHO), and the Spaghetti western-esque music wore out it's welcome since Kill Bill 2 (it's just distracting here, I thought. And shit, after Pirates of the Caribbean 3 did it....it's not that KEWL anymore).

There's the thing. Tarantino is really just a b-movie devotee making films he enjoys. And they often seem to be dark comedies at heart or perhaps dark dramadies...if there is such a thing. One moment it's brilliant acting, the next is pure cheese (Pitt is cheddar in this movie).

That's why I think the Valkyrie comparision is unfair (assuming Pitt was even serious). That was a World War 2 drama that mostly sticks to history. Inglorious Basterds IS Hogan's Heroes, if Hogan's Heroes were made by...well...Quentin Tarantino. And whether that's a bad thing is entirely up to the viewer.

Also, what's with old people seeing these graphic period movies? I guess they think it's set in the past it will be like old movies? The wife of the guy in front of me couldn't stand the graphic violence, uh...has she seen a Tarantino movie before? Did her hubby drag her to it? But what about the 4 couples who walked in late? I recall an older couple walking out of The Black Dahlia (early on, when they showed the corpse, not it when it was past obvious it sucked).

Also, I found it amusing that I heard someone buying a ticket say "one for that Brad Pitt movie". Say the title, man! SAY IT! OH-OHHHHH!

Above Average. It was ridiculous as hell at times, but entertaining.

 

[Thrall]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

Meh. I liked it better the first time when it was called The Dirty Dozen. This is basically just yet another typical Tarantino film. Uber-cool Anti-hero thugs saying lots of cool things to disguise lack of plot, character development, and action. Except without his usual 70's chic. He is literally the most self-indulgent writer in Hollywood. There is no one more in love with his own dialogue then QT. Sure, it's really GOOD dialogue. But there's too much of a good thing though. It drags this movie down the same way it dragged Death Proof down. If you edit out all of his pointless dialogue, the movie would only be 45 minutes long.

I'm also not a big fan of showing US troops during WW2 as a bunch of glorified thugs. Not because I'm opposed to it necessarily. But because it's so cliche and predictable on the part of Tarantino. It's literally impossible for him to write any character as a hero. And not because I'm a big hero worshiper necessarily. But because it would be something different and not the same old shit we've seen a thousand times before from him.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

Does this quote from Brad Pitt make sense to anyone?


As far as Brad Pitt is concerned, his new film “Inglourious Basterds” is the be all and end all of Nazi movies.

Actually yes, once you've seen scalped Nazi, there is nothing to add on the suject

There would be that.

But it is enjoyable, even if parts of it seem like World War 2 as told by a 12-year old kid who got a C in history (the narrated parts were too silly IMHO), and the Spaghetti western-esque music wore out it's welcome since Kill Bill 2 (it's just distracting here, I thought. And shit, after Pirates of the Caribbean 3 did it....it's not that KEWL anymore).

This is also true, both the good and bad of it.

I gave this movie an Above Average. It's fun. It's utter bullshit. It doesn't quite deserve the mass of critic love it seems to be getting. But as guilty indulgences made of fun and bullshit go, it beats the hell out of 300.

 

[Admiral2]

Re: Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt) Grading/Discus

^ Sounds to me like you're dead set against the saying: "It's not what a movie is about that makes it good or bad, but how it goes about being told."

Actually, my opinion holds to that saying perfectly. Valkyrie was a movie based on a true story told in the most dull way possible. Basterds is absoulte bullshit told in an exciting and entertaining manner.

I hope you stayed away from Titanic,

Saw it. Another two and so hours I'll never get back.

Thirteen Days,

Saw it. Fantastic telling of an important event.

Apollo 13,

One of my favorite movies ever

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Never had the pleasure

and anything else based on history or set in history since you already know the ending.

Again, the history was only part of it. The rest was: It. Was. Boring.