Inglourious Basterds

Ahhhh - finally we got to see it! :) Inglourious Basterds on a Wednesday afternoon. Very thin crowd - just the way we like it!

This movie not only was hyped beyond comprehension but much anticipated for so long because of our son who works for the media group in LA that does the advertising for the Weinstein Company. He has been doing his job well because this is all we have heard about for a long time. Everyone involved is very pleased at the outrageous success of this movie at the box office so far!

I had the feeling I was going to be drummed out of the human race if I don't absolutely love this thing.... so going in with that kind of pressure..... Let me start with the facts - we both love Quentin Tarantino films usually. Love them. We both tend to dislike Brad Pitt (exception - Fight Club). We both dislike Nazi war movies. Several strikes against it already, I would say.

Now the surprise - we loved Brad Pitt in this movie. Loved every line he uttered and the way he uttered them. His character, Aldo Raine, is just wonderfully vivid and colorful and he steals each scene. He is matched only by the incredible and outstanding performance of German actor Christoph Waltz, who plays Nazi Col. Hans Landa. My bet is on an Oscar for Christoph Waltz.

The story is one of war and a band of Americans called the Basterds who go after Nazis and try to terrorize and drum up more respect for themselves by actually scalping those that they kill. The scalping scenes are gruesome. There is quite a bit of blood and violence but not nearly as much as a typical Tarantino film, oddly enough since this is basically a war movie.

I felt a wandering in the script as we move off of the Basterds and into other side stories. There are many shifts between different languages - English, German, Italian, French, and LOTS of subtitles. I had no idea of that. The subtitles are annoyingly in yellow font and are sometimes lost against a light background of the scene. Earthdad has some vision problems and had a terrible time reading the subtitles. Some I read to him and I think alot he just missed.

Several scenes really drag, or are milked, or are just played with, depending on your point of view. The direction is beautiful and elegant but many times it's elegant to the point of sort of showing off how elegant it can be, and adds nothing to the story.

B.J. Novak ('The Office') and Mike Myers ('Austin Powers') are in this, and frankly they stuck out like a sore thumb. Especially Mike Myers. They each took me out of the scene, which could have been fairly believable, and seemed strange as I watched these comedic actors in these dramatic roles.

All of these negative points said, this IS a great (both in length and content) Tarantino production. Fun to watch Brad Pitt's parts, interesting how history gets totally rewritten, but not one of the Tarantino movies that I'll watch over and over again like Pulp Fiction or Kill Bill. One time was enough. It gets a fabulous '4' rating from us, even with the drawbacks and slow parts.

We were happy to be greeted by Super-Manager Shane who offered kind words about my poor broken foot that I hobbled in on. Always great to see him - everything else was in place and moving along nicely, even on a slow weekday. Popcorn fresh and hot (and delish with sprinkle cheese and real butter) and we even got a free refill - can't remember the last time that happened! We're normally not so hungry but hey, we missed lunch and it's a long movie (2.5 hours!) :) Getting away in the afternoon on a weekday is the absolute best way to see a big blockbuster!