Film - Inglourious Basterds

Some people absolutely love Quentin Tarantino, and I'm one of them. Bring on the long, drawn-out conversations filled with quirky quips, the awesome soundtracks, the chapter titles, and the grab-bag of surprises including drawing on the screen and sudden narration. That's his bag, and God Bless Him. It'll take a while for me to decide if Tarantino's latest WWII Jewish Revenge Fantasy is my favorite of his films, but I'm thinking it just may be. Read on for my discussion of this awesome movie.





Going into this movie, I thought it was going to focus solely on a gang of unruly American soldiers, looking to give the Nazi's a taste of their own merciless medicine. That certainly is an enjoyable part of it. Brad Pitt's Aldo Raine, may be a caricature but if you're not smiling as he basketball pivots to the camera explaining his scalp quota, there's something sad about you. There's also plenty to like about the "Bear Jew" and the pleasing presence of B.J. Novak. Novak is great on television, but that bizarre face with its lop-sided Dali-esque melting eyes shines extra-bright on the big screen.

However, the Basterds are only a part of this movie. The other half is focused on the story of Shoshana - and that's actually where the movie begins. Shoshana is played brilliantly by a beautiful french actress Mélanie Laurent, however, the true stand-out performance is that of Austrian actor, Christoph Waltz. Waltz plays the uber-villian, Col. Hans Landa, who comes across a lot scarier than Hitler or Goebbels. When he strikes up a conversation, people freeze and sweat. He's the Jew Hunter, and he's gonna getcha. Waltz won the award for Best Actor at Cannes and I wouldn't be surprised at all if his name comes up at Oscar time.

Thank goodness for Tarantino. He writes and directs in such a way that I find both funny, kitschy, and brilliant. At two and a half hours long, I was suspecting some points of serious drag, but I never found them. Truly a new favorite for me!

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