that actually sounds like a pretty good movie.

I just got back from seeing this film too, and I loved it

Can’t wait to see this. =)

I liked it.

Sweet comic collection by the way.

Sounds like the perfect movie for me :-) Seeing it the coming week. Knowing the script I always disliked the fact that the trailers made it look like a stupid violent action movie…although I like some comic-of-the-top-style^^

I hope the german sync isn’t too bad…btw, they put out the swastika from the title down here o_0

Censorship on swastikas are really silly… ^^ You can’t have nazis without them… Well.. Actually you can but that is just silly.. =P

This sounds great. Had it beend a film by any other director, and had I only seen the trailer, I don’t think I would have wanted to see the rest of the movie. Since it’s Tarantion, I was going to see it, but I wasn’t really expecting that much based on the trailer…

When I first saw the trailer me and my friend at the same time went ‘That is awesome.’ So I was really hoping that the movie would be good if not brilliant. But I kept getting mixed reviews for it. While Empire and Total Film gave it 4/5 and called it an entertaining flick, others lambasted it as the worst movie at Cannes. So I didn’t know what to think. That was until the SpoonyOne let his radience shine upon it and gave the answer I had searched for. Amen.

just got back from watching the movie too and your right the first and last 30-40 minutes is the best so yea it is a good movie that even I would refer a friend too.Keep up the great work Spoony I’ll be sure to donate next month too!

Great review,gave me a nice overview.
I seriously hope this movie won’t incite any hatred towards germans,god knows we get enough of that with every Call Of Duty game out there,haha.
I agree with you Spoony on the fact that Europeans speak at the very least 2 languages,i in fact speak 4.
Comes with the territory i suppose.

Honestly, i wasn’t to impressed by the film but that is perhaps because it wasn’t what i was expecting. I didn’t quite understand the reason in introducing these cool key characters then having them killing like 2 scenes after. Aaaand yeah with the inspector guy who im SURe had a Sherlock Holmes pipe at the start, he was very good with his multiple languages. I did notice how everyone seemed to pick up on the British guys accent which makes everyone look like an inspector, though again my opinion.

Awesome review Spoony ;)

“You might see a comic-booky fad when it comes to these WW2 films”

Like that little indie film someone is making… what was it called…. Captain something….

Nice review Spoony. I especially like the placement of ‘Enemy Ace’ in the background.

I can’t help notice that your shirt matches the colour of the wall… trying to blend in?

I just watched this movie yesterday in german. (I’m from austria) And i was kind of suprised when spoony said that they acutally talked german in this movie in the english version. I thought that except for the french and italien it would all be in english.

But anyway i loved this movie and i especially loved how this movie took its time to build up its scenes and raise the tension to a point where you almost couldn’t bear it anymore.

Nevertheless i also thought the scene at the tavern may took a litle bit too long, but all in all it was definetely the best movie i’ve seen this year.

Oh and by the way, i’v hated Til Schweigers character.

I saw a trailer for the movie when I was in the theater for another movie, and right there I decided I had to see it! And you dont seem to messed up by it as much as Transformers 2. So ill go and see it.

By the way, I dont know how it works in other countrys, but here in Holland in school kids learn Dutch English German and French. :)

It’s great to hear a real review. Not just some hyped up commend from someone who would have loved the movie even if he hadnt seen it. This is why I value your opinion about movies. Its honest.
And yeah. If you live in europe, you gotta learn at least englisch. So a person speaking at least 2 languages is more than common.
Anyway, thank you for your thoughts

Just talked with a few friends who saw it, and they also were very impressed.

Save for one of them, though, they aren’t the sort of guys who are cool with subtitles–but none of them mentioned that as an issue. So…who knows, maybe you see [u]Pan’s Labyrinth[/u] or [u]Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon[/u] a few times, you get cured of subtitlephobia.

I’m amazed to see so many german/ austrian Spoony fans around here. And I like it. He deserves the recognition!

@topic: I wasn’t sure, if I wanted to see this film or not – mostly because of the low-budget-action-flick-marketing. But after seeing this review I’m quite intrigued… especially to see if Christoph Waltz’s performance is as good as everyone says. Because he’s definitely one of the better actors around here. Til Schweiger is not… plain and simple.

I am going to see this movie tonight. Now I am dying to! I study in a history department and I was told, get ready for what is a play up of the old WWII propaganda films. So I was ready to see this, and what you described is pretty much what I want to see. The last few years have produced some AMAZING films on the war (Flag of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, which is possibly one of my favourite films of all time.). It’ll be fun to see a film that plays more on the mindset of the times, rather than just the historically accurate. Which may sound odd coming from someone who studies history, but the psychology of the times are as important as the actual facts. I think QT knew this, and wanted to see how the audience would react. So now I am REALLY looking forward to this! Thank You Spoony!

I respect Spoony’s opinion and applaud him for picking up on the single good thing about the movies, Landha.

That said, it SUCKS BIG. It’s a complete bait-n-switch, but more importantly it’s a farcical mess and hate mongering. Not all German’s were Nazi, but you wouldn’t know that from this film. The way many Basterds disappear is nonsense. The talking, as Spoony noted, is way too long. We did not need that bar scene in real-time.

Had it been called Shosanna, and focused more on her story, I probably would have liked it. At least that way we wouldn’t have spent half the film with inconsequential subplots.

Naturally, my video and written reviews are in the link on my name.

Nice review, I think I should go see the movie.

Avoiding subtitled movies is just ridicolous. Only proper reason to prefer dubbing is if you’re a child or have a bad sight i.e. unable to read subtitles. With subtitles you never need to suffer from bad voiceovers or delays, as a talk show can be subtitled in 2 days with only minor mistakes on translating phrases from time to time.

Though because most movies and series are in english those problems apply more to non-english countries. I’ve heard of some small European country which insists dubbing everything although there’s almost literally one guy doing the voices. Also I have heard in Italy same guy does Homer Simpson and Al Pacino (but at least they have consistency in actors voices). In Sweden they tried dubbed Simspons for a while before they went back to subtitling due to angry feedback. And for what I have heard when in Finland they tried one week of dubbed Bold and the Beautiful it was plain hilarious.

Watching the review, I didn’t know the movie dialogue was in several languages as opposed to being in English-only. I’m planning to watch this movie soon, and being a Tarantino fan, I’m expecting a lot of good out of it; and this review has certainly fueled my expectations. =)

I thought it was a great movie and that it was actually pretty funny in some parts.

Hey Spoony.

I thought I would just let you know that Verhoeven kind of made his own version of “The Inglorious Basterds” in 2006, which is entitled “Black Book” and is many ways “The Inglorious Basterds” without the basterds and with the Jewish woman seeking vengeance for the slaughter of her family as the main protagonist and heroine. I highly recommend it, even though it is in Dutch (though I know you have no problems with foreign films). It also treats the Germans considerably less stereotypically.

You can see the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIklvGsU7bM

As I live in Denmark the Basterds have yet to open here but I look forward to seeing it. I think it’s the kind of movie that will appeal and your review only enhanced that sense so thank you kindly.

Yeah I think the first english speaking role woman spoony was thinking about is Valentina Gorlino from hot shots. She was really bad.

so they pulled a Bridge to Terbithia on us did they. Smartass QT getting my hopes up

i loved the film. i am from austria, but still watched the original version, because i like it more that way. anyhow, i just had to laugh so hard, when brad pitt hat his extremely thick american accent as he spoke italian, even though moments before he said that he would be the best one out of his crew.

i don’t recall that much action, but i was entertained all the time, and had to laugh at many times, so that was definetly worth the 8.50€ i paid.

I agree with spoony when he said there werent enough of the bastards or their backstories. However I had the most fun at the movies ive had in a while. The begining was strong the middle kinda slow and then they had one of the best climaxes ive seen in a movie. The Nazi officer was great and I actually think they used Brad Pitts accent to their advantage. However back to the bastards I was hoping to lean more about them like the Bear Jew I would have liked to learn when and why he joined the bastards and the same for the rest of them.

I only need to know one thing: How much Roth is in the movie? I don’t want to watch it if he’s gotten his shit all over it, even if doesn’t sound like he has. I can’t fathom why Tarantino has such a hard-on for him (or guest directing, for that matter).

Great review and big fan of Quentin Tarantino’s body of work. I don’t think I would be disappointing the lack of action or violence of the movie because that’s how Kill Bill Vol 1 and 2 were. The first was more action packed and the second was more metaphorical or spiritual and both were great. Yeah I get that Spoony was surprised that Christoph Waltz spoke 4 languages in the movie whilst most Americans have big problems learning a foreign languages. You still got to have in vision that the guy is an actor and is in his best interest to know as many languages as he can to get a more wider recognition as an artist. At a moment in my life when I had allot of exercise from School and TV knew basic French, German, English, Italian, Portuguese and some Japanese. Now I only use English because it has such a mass influence in media. Italian, German and French I can only understand but not speak. So in the end Spoony shouldn’t feel amazed that the actor mastered all those languages because it’s all a matter of expertise and priorities. Oh and I think there were other movies that sent us that message that when you see the Bad guys killing someone you are booing them and when the good guys horribly kill them you are rooting for them. A good example would be The Last House on the Left.

and because i forgot:
Christoph Waltz speaks the four mentioned languages ( the ones that he uses in the movie ) fluenty in real live, so the fact that he acts very well while using those is not that unusual for him.

Saw it and loved it. I was promised lots of Nazis being killed in interesting ways and I was not disappointed.

Meh. Tarantino’s a hack. Can’t stand him as a human being, let alone as a filmmaker, and I use the term incredibly loosely. A retarded rhesus monkey with Down’s Syndrome could produce shit of a higher quality.

I loved this movie also. Great cartoonish style. Dragged a bit in the middle but the ending made up for it.

But not all the Germans were protrayed as being evil. The sniper was actually almost physically ill after seeing what he had done on tape. He showed a lot of remorse.

Interesting…I just might go see this movie.

In response to:
“You might see a comic-booky fad when it comes to these WW2 films”

You all may find this interesting:
http://www.ironsky.net/

I’ve been following ‘Iron Sky’ for over a year, I really hope it gets finished soon.
I’m glad that Inglourious Basterds is nothing like ‘Kill Bill’
Anyway, thanks for the ‘glorious’ review
(Okay, that’s a bad pun…)

Hmmm a QT movie with some thought and development. sounds like a good movie and based on what I’m reading I think I’m going to go see it cause I really hated the kill bill movies but love almost everything else QT has made.

I liked it a lot, but I totally agree that it was totally different that the trailer led me to believe.

Well i speak 4 languages (I live in Germany [arabic,german,frensh,english]) and I know many people that speak a lot more. Anyway I liked the movie alot but i think the “original” Inglorious Bastards.Interesting link for everyone who speaks german (http://wortvogel.de/?p=7503)

A lot of other people have already said “good review”, so I’ll skip the part where I say that bit which I feel is obvious.

I just wanted to throw out that Eli Roth’s character was from Boston, not Brooklyn. His accent was just as overdone and unneeded as Brad Pitt’s, however, and when you overdo Boston that much, you can kind’a get a Brooklyn. I would’ve thought the same if he hadn’t made references to Fenway Park and such.

well looks like i’m gonna have to wait for the dvd-release, i’m quite sure that they fucked up the translation into german- at least that’s what i could discern from the trailers.

a question to the american commenters: is it really that bad when it comes to your foreign language skills? i think that i can express myself well enough in english and spanish… and if i have to i can order a beer, comment a chick’s boobs or pick a fight in french. but don’t you have to learn a foreign language in school… i mean you have a lot of hispanics living in your country and to the south of your border you have Mexico, so getting people to learn spanish might me quite smart.

concerning the swastika issue… in all parts of Wolfenstein the swastika was cut out… or the game was banned for sale entirely.

I don’t really get peoples problems with subtitles, it’s not exactly hard to read them and it’s way better then dubbing.
Dubbing destroys the original character in that it removes his/her voice and usually gets a completely different rythm and speach pattern.
Like if you dub Arnold S for example, you lose his trademark accent.

But then again, I’m from Sweden, the country that only dubs kid stuff (and still has the option to view them subbed, even in theatres) and subs everything else, so I’m well used to subs to the point where I prefer them no matter what language the movie/series I’m watching is in.

The movie is entertaining but something is missing….

And as a native Italian…. that one scene made me laugh so hard!!!

from what you say spoony
i’m not realy surprised, tarantino is an idiot,always trying to serve the same movie over and over again
and he sooo doesn’t know how to cast people (remeber uma turman… as a hitman ……. with a sword…..wearing a bruce lee outfit… yeahhh not goood)

as for the language changes …. that’s the gibson effect (mel), some people just discoverd that there are other languages… noo really

any way
didn’t we al ready have, saving private ryan, a bridge too far… hell call of duty and medal of honor
the subject is full, the only original perspactive would be the german side
imagine the ne call of duty were you are enlisted is the german army, or the new spelberg film
were you see the story of that german fellow from usa that the group capture in saving p ryan

haa who am i kidding i wishing for someone to be original, wile on a tarantino subject… tarantino => way too long and way too borring

yes i made my comentary this long on purpose… and i don’t care for my spelling

Love QT, Hated this movie.

I’m not sure what he was trying to go for but for me it seems like two scripts poorly stapled together. On the one hand you have the black comedy action movie and on the other a talky suspense thriller. You cant just stick two movies together and call it good, It just doesn’t work.

Also what was the point of the bar scene half way through? 30 mins of overacting and then half the cast is killed! Why introduce the Englishman if he contributes nothing to the plot? Am I missing something here, do you need to be a movie buff to make sense of it?

Hey Spoon! There was a really good pulp fiction WWII movie called “The Big Red One” written/directed by Sam Fuller (who wrote actual pulp fiction, incidentally). It was really good, has Mark Hamill in a rare live action non-Luke Skywaker role. I heard that Lee Marvin liked it a lot better than The Dirty Dozen. Have you seen it? I haven’t in many years.

Quentin Tarantino said on the UK chat show “Friday night with Johnathan Ross” that he bought the rights of an old film called Inglourious Bastards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inglorious_Bastards) just for the name, just because it was a cool name.

some german guy:

In some places in the US, it is practical, and some people know more than English (Spanish being the most well known, but others, like Chinese, are spoken depending on the cultural demographics of an area). However, the situation in the US is different from Europe, as that we have always been a nation of immigrants, so different groups of people from around the world usually assimilate into US culture (including speaking English exclusively) with in two to three generations. There are other factors as well, such as a sense of pride in American Culture, that speaking another lauguage is seen as un-American, as it keeps people divided among racial or cultural lines. A single lauguage is seen as a unifying factor. It also should be stated, however, that this national pride is not limited to English-speakers. Spanish-speakers (immigrants from Mexico, mostly) have political movements to keep new immigrants from fully assimilating, usually by keeping them from learning English.

I don’t watch it. My family members were killed by allies soldiers -one of them was executed by a drunk allies soldier- and my city was bombed by the Air Force in the WW2. So, no thanks.

It is a propaganda movie. How to grow hate against German, Japanese, Italian people? Make movies like this. Hollywood does the same with the arabs. No new ideas? Seriously? The same movies over and over. “Evil nazis”, “evil terrorist arabs”, “evil nazis again”, “more evil terrorist arabs”. That’s why I like the Starship Troopers. No “evil arabs” or “evil nazis”.

When Hollywood make movie about the Apartheid in ISRAEL? I guess never. Where are the movies about Hiroshima, Nagasaki or Dresden? That’s what I call real holocaust. What about the Gulags? How many movies in Hollywood were made about the Gulags? I did see ONLY ONE, about 15 years ago.

This is disgusting. All this kill the Germans, kill the axis soldiers, kill kill kill. What if another country make movies like this just the crazy blood thirsty idiots are the American characters, not the Germans. What if movies make fun of the American WW2 heroes who died at the frontlines.

My family members gave their lives for the freedom, they fought against the communist Red Army. Movies like this spit on their grave. So thanks Brad Pitt, Tarantino, Spielberg and the others who make movies like this. Thank you very much.

Watch the Katyn, it is a movie about what the Russians did. And it is not a propaganda movie, it a History movie with facts, without goofy jokes and “fun killing”.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0879843/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUhBB3FgslI

Awsome comic collection. You have a shit ton of Hellblazer rock on!

Oh and greetings from Berlin XD

Gruesse and alle Deutsche und Spoony.m/

I dont mind movies that are not all in english as long as I know going into it. I only feel suckered when they dont make it a point to let us know its not because then I’m not expecting that. If I know, though, then I dont mind cus I know what im getting into. It’s a problem I had with “Pan’s Labyrinth”, but that may have been my fault for knowing nothing about it. Its a great movie, I just wasnt expecting it to not be in english. Once I got over that, though, of course it was superb so in that sense you’ve made me want to see “Inglorious Bastards” even more.

As for it being like “Kill Bill”, any QT fan knows he always tries to do something different so expecting it to be like a previous movie is really only something someone who is not familiar with Tarantinos work would do. Also, knowing QTs work I suspect the over the top style was intentional, as that is generally a staple Tarantino’s work, so I suspect it was intentional. Based on past interviews from other movies, im sure QT pushed the actors for it more so then maybe the actors themselves (Like, I’m sure he had some conversation with Brad Pitt at some point to push the envelope with his characters accent). The only time ive heard of him having an actor tone it down was Kurt Russel Bragging QT asked him to tone down his death scene in “Deathproof”. So, ya, I suspect it was intentional.

I loved Brad Pitt’s accent. Especially when he tried to speak italian. I think I laughed like 5 minutes for myself after that scene.

Me being european I can’t see why subtitled movies should put anyone off. It’s not like you can’t read in the states. That you need to know in advance if it is subtitled shocks me.

Spoony, you give very good reviews. A nice kind of friendly atmosphere. I’m planning to see this film and I’m sure I’ll like it since I’m a fan of Tarantino’s work.

Spoony, you give very good reviews. A nice kind of friendly atmosphere. I’m planning to see this film and I’m sure I’ll like it since I’m a fan of Tarantino’s work.

I saw this movie last night and really enjoyed it. The scenes of action and extreme violence that they did have were very well done. I also really liked most of the conversation scenes, dialogue is really Tarantino’s strong point. I thought the story was well done too. Overall I really enjoyed it and it is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while.

You have Enemy Ace!!! You are awesome!

You have Enemy Ace!!! You are awesome!

Spoony, you are right on about this movie’s irony and how it “laughs” at the audience. I noticed this when the audience in my theater chuckled with glee as the Basterds smashed a Nazi’s head with a baseball bat (as well as many other times). It was a pretty disgusting response and one rather similar to that of Goebbels in the movie itself (as you mention).

Hey Noah, not much to add except this: You can look at this movie in one of two ways. As a World War II movie it’s flat out awful, with its generalizations, over the top characters and gross historical innaccuracy.

As a QT movie it’s clever, tense, and preys upon your expectations of what History records to give you moments of complete surprise. What made the movie entertaining for me was how unexpectedly it developed and concluded, giving you 20 minutes of “WTF” at the very end. You know how WWII ends, and that is what throws you for a bender.

Heads up, Pitt’s character is from the Smokey Mountain area of eastern TN, and out there they do talk like he does. Well, perhaps not as thick as that, though.

Arreeber-derchi
(arrivederci)

about 2 days before i saw this movie, i saw that the 1980 one is coming out of dvd which made me relize this is a remake so their was little they could really change

Hey Noah, not much to add except this: You can look at this movie in one of two ways. As a World War II movie it’s flat out awful, with its generalizations, over the top characters and gross historical innaccuracy.

As a QT movie it’s clever, tense, and preys upon your expectations of what History records to give you moments of complete surprise. What made the movie entertaining for me was how unexpectedly it developed and concluded, giving you 20 minutes of “WTF” at the very end. You know how WWII ends, and that is what throws you for a bender.

Heads up, Pitt’s character is from the Smokey Mountain area of eastern TN, and out there they do talk like he does. Well, perhaps not as thick as that, though.

Arreeber-derchi
(arrivederci)

@jjm

It’s not a remake. It’s more of an homage to that movie.

Also, thank you Spoony. I basically 100% agree with everything you said.

I really really loved the movie though, I do believe if you like it, it really deserves a second watch. But I can see how it isn’t for everyone.

@jjm

It’s not a remake. It’s more of an homage to that movie.

Also, thank you Spoony. I basically 100% agree with everything you said.

I really really loved the movie though, I do believe if you like it, it really deserves a second watch. But I can see how it isn’t for everyone.

Spoony, just wanted to know, have you seen the original? and does this one have ANYTHING to do with the original “inglorious bastards” execpt the title? Because you didnt mention anything about the original film. I heard something about Bo svensson the swedish actor (from original cast) making some kind of kameo in this one…

Well i probably will enjoy this because ive always liked QT.

Hitler and… Gurbles?

Hitler and… Gurbles?

Thanks for the heads up. Nothing like going into a movie drunk expecting tanks and Nazzi slayin’ and not receiving gratuitous amounts of said Nazzi Slayin’.

I agree that it’s not exactly how it was advertised, but I personally absolutely loved it. Hell, this is the first movie I’ve ever attended that received an applause.

I agree that it’s not exactly how it was advertised, but I personally absolutely loved it. Hell, this is the first movie I’ve ever attended that received an applause.

spoony liked Christoph Waltz as Hans landa. WOW that shows that the guy is really good if even he thinks that.

Thanks for posting the review. Unfortunatly I can’t watch it yet as I haven’t yet seen the movie. I did watch the first minute or two of it before you started hitting spoiler territory I shut it off. I’ll probably be watching it again after I see the film.

Thanks for posting the review. Unfortunatly I can’t watch it yet as I haven’t yet seen the movie. I did watch the first minute or two of it before you started hitting spoiler territory I shut it off. I’ll probably be watching it again after I see the film.

Spoony… did you notice that you have an awesomly epic british accent?

@baelmon
I do love the irony of the movie. I was clapping when the Nazis were being brutally killed. I don’t think it is a disgusting response but more so a natural one. It is human to get angry. Many of my family members fought in WW2 and also were civilians who suffered because of it. It was cathartic fantasy being filled.

And I love the “overtopness” Pitt’s accent. I mean he is a great character actor. Seven, Fight Club, and Snatch to name a few. I loved it. I also loved the scar around his neck. I read some it was implied that somebody tried to hang him but he survived/fought his way. But it was never mentioned in this cut of the movie.

I do think this is one of his best movies. I mean they even mentions it at the end of the movie. Stylistically it was stunning. I’m a lover of long monologues disguised as dialogues in movies, so extended conversations and that mental chess tickles my fancy. I simply can’t get enough of it!

I share the similar complaint that we didn’t get to see the Basterds enough. I related it to No Country for Old Men. You don’t get to see the final gun fight at the end (even though I think we all wanted too). You simply have to imagine it and sometimes that’s better than actually watching. Although I’m a fan of QT’s action/violent scenes, so yeah bring on some “ultraviolence” but I think it worked.

@baelmon
I do love the irony of the movie. I was clapping when the Nazis were being brutally killed. I don’t think it is a disgusting response but more so a natural one. It is human to get angry. Many of my family members fought in WW2 and also were civilians who suffered because of it. It was cathartic fantasy being filled.

And I love the “overtopness” Pitt’s accent. I mean he is a great character actor. Seven, Fight Club, and Snatch to name a few. I loved it. I also loved the scar around his neck. I read some it was implied that somebody tried to hang him but he survived/fought his way. But it was never mentioned in this cut of the movie.

I do think this is one of his best movies. I mean they even mentions it at the end of the movie. Stylistically it was stunning. I’m a lover of long monologues disguised as dialogues in movies, so extended conversations and that mental chess tickles my fancy. I simply can’t get enough of it!

I share the similar complaint that we didn’t get to see the Basterds enough. I related it to No Country for Old Men. You don’t get to see the final gun fight at the end (even though I think we all wanted too). You simply have to imagine it and sometimes that’s better than actually watching. Although I’m a fan of QT’s action/violent scenes, so yeah bring on some “ultraviolence” but I think it worked.

I agree with everything you said in your review, Spoony. I noticed the irony in the theater, and while my friend didn’t enjoy the film as much as I did (mostly because he doesn’t particularly enjoy reading subtitles) I thought it was entertaining, thoughtful and visually stunning. I have experience watching foreign films as well so the subtitles were not a big deal to me. It would be interesting to see an in-depth written review from you once the DVD is released so we can get your thoughts on a more play-by-play basis (and of course then spoilers won’t be a problem). Great review, Spoony. Keep ‘em coming!

It sounds worth checking out, and I don’t mind reading subtitles at all so I’ll probably try to go see this. Thanks for the review, Spoony.

It sounds worth checking out, and I don’t mind reading subtitles at all so I’ll probably try to go see this. Thanks for the review, Spoony.

I just got back from seeing the movie myself, and I agree with you that it is a very ironic film; I think they are making fun of the fact, or rather using the fact that the Nazis have been portrayed as villains so many times that they have in a way become almost fictional. This is especially noticeable in the last twenty minutes.

I felt the movie was very… divided, in the sense that one part was over-the-top-twisted-humor-violence, (with Brad Pitt and the Basterds) and the other with the more serious story of Shosanna and the movie theater, and as the third, separate entity Col. Lada who is the only one (I think?) who really walks between the two parts, being in both types of scenes. I’m not saying this is a good thing, in fact, this is what made me like the movie as much as I did, but I think neither would have been as good without the other, so I have to disagree with you about removing the Basterds (also, what would they have had to put in the trailer?)

Other than that, great review as always Spoony, I always like hearing your thoughts. I also thought Christoph Waltz was awesome as Lada and I hope he’ll be receiving some awards. And as a European who know more than one language, I was seriously impressed with his language skills; it’s one thing to know those many languages, it’s a whole other to be able to speak them all so well.

Irony: Hating those who torture and kill, while you yourself enjoy the spectacle of defenseless men being tortured and murdered.

Why I did not go to see it.

Irony: Hating those who torture and kill, while you yourself enjoy the spectacle of defenseless men being tortured and murdered.

Why I did not go to see it.

I do plan on seeing this one, and since im a Swede, all of our films on TV are subtitled, So thats not a problem.
Oh, and speaking of odd foreign films, you guys just have to see “Død snø” or Dead Snow in english. I dont want to spoil anything, but nazi zombies and extreme gore…thats just pure win in my books^^

Also, great review!

I didn’t see it I just wanted to comment on how the whole trailer bait and switch happens so often these days. Even the most atypical movies are filtered down to look like cliches just to draw in the crowds.

I didn’t see it I just wanted to comment on how the whole trailer bait and switch happens so often these days. Even the most atypical movies are filtered down to look like cliches just to draw in the crowds.

With regards to the ending (and no, I’m NOT going to spoil it, so don’t worry), I go back and forth between two theories, one quite likely, the other just something I like to think might be the case…

1) The whole thing is an unashamed fairy tale, tipped off by the whole “ONCE APON A TIME in Nazi-occupied France…” thing at the very beginning.

2) In the world that all QT’s movies happen in, THIS is how WW2 ended.

I agree with Spoony on the intensity of many of the scenes. You really get a sense of the danger threatening the characters.

~SPOILERS!!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT!!~

I love how every single thing that went wrong with their plans actually lead to the Nazi’s being wiped out. If any of those things had gone right, the attack wouldn’t have been as successful as it was. Even the evidense at the bar caused the head of security and his men to leave the theatre. The Nazi Star leaving Hitler’s booth, leaving them more vulnerable to attack which btw they could have otherwise escaped the theatre. Everything that went badly, allowed other things to go right.

~Spolier alert done~

I agree with Spoony on the intensity of many of the scenes. You really get a sense of the danger threatening the characters.

~SPOILERS!!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT!!~

I love how every single thing that went wrong with their plans actually lead to the Nazi’s being wiped out. If any of those things had gone right, the attack wouldn’t have been as successful as it was. Even the evidense at the bar caused the head of security and his men to leave the theatre. The Nazi Star leaving Hitler’s booth, leaving them more vulnerable to attack which btw they could have otherwise escaped the theatre. Everything that went badly, allowed other things to go right.

~Spolier alert done~

Tarantino? Make a wish fulfillment movie? Noooo! Impossible!

/Sarcasm

The New Republic

The Movie Review: ‘Inglorious Basterds’
by Christopher Orr

There is a moment in the first scene of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds that is not what it appears to be. A Nazi colonel named Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) is interviewing a French farmer (Denis Menochet) he believes to be sheltering Jews. Landa is conducting the inquiry in more than passable French (yes, with subtitles and everything), when he pauses. He’s come to the limits of his francais, he claims. Does the farmer speak English and, if so, might they continue in that tongue? He does, and they do.
At the time it seems an absurd contrivance, and a dispiriting concession to the belief that American audiences won’t shell out ten bucks to see any film so presumptuous as to present itself in another language. Moreover, it’s hard to shake the suspicion that Tarantino wants us to believe it is such a concession. But it is not–Landa has his reasons for the switch–and the dialogue in Inglourious Basterds is not, for the most part, conducted in English.

UP YRS!

The New Republic

The Movie Review: ‘Inglorious Basterds’
by Christopher Orr

There is a moment in the first scene of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds that is not what it appears to be. A Nazi colonel named Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) is interviewing a French farmer (Denis Menochet) he believes to be sheltering Jews. Landa is conducting the inquiry in more than passable French (yes, with subtitles and everything), when he pauses. He’s come to the limits of his francais, he claims. Does the farmer speak English and, if so, might they continue in that tongue? He does, and they do.
At the time it seems an absurd contrivance, and a dispiriting concession to the belief that American audiences won’t shell out ten bucks to see any film so presumptuous as to present itself in another language. Moreover, it’s hard to shake the suspicion that Tarantino wants us to believe it is such a concession. But it is not–Landa has his reasons for the switch–and the dialogue in Inglourious Basterds is not, for the most part, conducted in English.

UP YRS!

as a jewish guy myself and having family that died in germany. (i was born in germany too as well as my mother but now live in arizona) all i can say is i actually do wish people would of done this type of thing to the nazis. that is all.

Is that Preacher by Garth Ennis behind you Spoony?

well this film sounds good and im about to go and see it thanks for telling me of the multi language script but as you said most americans will not like this type of film do to the fact that they dont like to think during a movie. thank you once again spoony.

well this film sounds good and im about to go and see it thanks for telling me of the multi language script but as you said most americans will not like this type of film do to the fact that they dont like to think during a movie. thank you once again spoony.

“UP YRS!”

Call me crazy, but that seemed like a compliment to QT. And it’s not without good reason that the reviewer said that as Spooney plainly pointed out in his review that people that aren’t used to foreign film might not like it.

To asu:

So was that review acknowledging that you find out that the reason they switched to English then was because Hans didn’t want to Jews to be able to understand them? Cause that seemed like the reason.

To asu:

So was that review acknowledging that you find out that the reason they switched to English then was because Hans didn’t want to Jews to be able to understand them? Cause that seemed like the reason.

I do no remenber any Nazi being “evil” not even hitler, the only one that did any evil was the main villain (forgot his name) and I found him as the best character.

the one being beaten by a bat: killed for refusing to give away greman posistion (hell wend ask how he got his metal he reply “for bravery”

the ones in the bar: celebrating the brith of one of the solder’s son

the ones at the end: civilians (minus Hitler and the high command)

The irony was that the heroes are evil psychopaths while the villains were just normal solder serving their (evil) nation (ie like many WERE, Erwin Rommel anyone? If you want to get revenge for Nazi War Crimes you need to go after the Schutzstaffel) but since the heroes were Jews and the villains were Nazis many people look around this. Now if it was about Jews going into oh say Palestine “killing them terrorist” but not really caring if any of there victims are form Hamas it wouldn’t work.

Seen the original?
It has the same name, except with bastArds.

It looks interesting but at the same time I really dont want to put any money in Eli Roth’s pocket.

Seen the original?
It has the same name, except with bastArds.

Sounds like a good one. Might check it out. Since you brought up Paul Verhoven, check out the novel Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein, it’s a good read and the book is better than the movie!

Sounds like a good one. Might check it out. Since you brought up Paul Verhoven, check out the novel Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein, it’s a good read and the book is better than the movie!

Thought you might like this-

http://www.halolz.com/2009/08/17/video-inglourious-plummers/

Have you put on some wieght Noah? Don’t let having a girlfriend and a steady supply of sex keep you from the gym now..lol

Have you put on some wieght Noah? Don’t let having a girlfriend and a steady supply of sex keep you from the gym now..lol

Okay I saw it. Wow , you hit it right on the head Spoony. I loved it. I know I still would have, but your Vlog was kind of like a ‘cheat sheet’ for me, I was ready for this film. Subtitles didn’t bother me (I speak French anyway), the stereotypical characters were par for perceptions at the time. I have one difference of opinion though, not seeing that much of the basterds was actually genius. It made their mystique as the ultimate menace to the Nazis in occupied France more effective. What is more ominous than the unseen? As for Hitler and Goebbels laughing at films of allied soldiers being shot, that may have actually happened. There is no direct evidence of it, but it wouldn’t have been out of character. But anyway, thank you for actually enhancing my movie going experience.

Oh and one more thing, QT was clearly playing games with us. We loved watching Nazis get massacred, but thought “how evil” when the tables were turned. QT is the master of perspective.

Oh and one more thing, QT was clearly playing games with us. We loved watching Nazis get massacred, but thought “how evil” when the tables were turned. QT is the master of perspective.

Good thing I speak french. If anything, I can safely say the writing and acting in french is top notch as well.

And it was. Movie is awesome.

And it was. Movie is awesome.

“QT”? Is he your buddy or what?

I quite enjoyed the movie. I thought that it had a lot of really funny moments, not just when nazi’s were being killed, but a lot of more subtle ones. There was a really funny moment for a friend and I, though I’m not sure if it was on purpose. There was a character named Wilhelm, and the two of us knew that he was going to be killed, and he would do the Wilhelm scream. Well the moment came… and went, with no scream. The two of us actually started laughing, just because it subverted our expectations. Of course, when the scream came in again later, we started laughing at it again.

The movie was very well thought out, with many, many tense and interesting scenes. The ending threw all of my friends and I for a twist, and we all came out having greatly enjoyed ourselves. I think it’s a great success of a movie.

I quite enjoyed the movie. I thought that it had a lot of really funny moments, not just when nazi’s were being killed, but a lot of more subtle ones. There was a really funny moment for a friend and I, though I’m not sure if it was on purpose. There was a character named Wilhelm, and the two of us knew that he was going to be killed, and he would do the Wilhelm scream. Well the moment came… and went, with no scream. The two of us actually started laughing, just because it subverted our expectations. Of course, when the scream came in again later, we started laughing at it again.

The movie was very well thought out, with many, many tense and interesting scenes. The ending threw all of my friends and I for a twist, and we all came out having greatly enjoyed ourselves. I think it’s a great success of a movie.

@ diggerjohn111

yeah I found that the problem with the movie.

People don’t seem to get that most Nazis were just normal people and were in no way connected to the holocaust most didn’t even knew it was going on. But there’s Nazi so fuck them, fuck Max, fuck the Sniper just doing his job, fuck the guy who died refusing to give a bunch of psychos info

See in my theater people cheering wenever a nazi was geting killed, later you see Hitler laughing and cheering wend watching a movie about Americans getting killed left and right. Think about it.

About the language thing, I’m from Finland and I can speak english, finnish, swedish and little bit of russian. They teach both english and swedish in school, so I had to learn them for good grades.

About the language thing, I’m from Finland and I can speak english, finnish, swedish and little bit of russian. They teach both english and swedish in school, so I had to learn them for good grades.

Hey spoony, I’d really like to see you do a review of “Indigo Prophecy”. It’s notorious for a phenomenal story that falls to complete nonsensical pieces near the end. I think you’ll love the first 2/3rds and seriously WTF at the last bit.

Having a lot of subtitles and little violence has never bothered me before so I’ll probably go see it at some point…

btw, spoony, you should watch Gran Torino and then review it

Having a lot of subtitles and little violence has never bothered me before so I’ll probably go see it at some point…

btw, spoony, you should watch Gran Torino and then review it

I had a post and I can’t find it now. Censored? Wow. Just wow. I just explained why I don’t like movies like this one. I don’t think anybody was offended because my opinion.

@715

While it is true that very few germans were actively involved in the holocaust it is a common lie and revision of history to say that they didnt’t know about it. I’m german myself, I should know^^
I’m not calling you a liar by all means, I’m just saying you’re missinformed. Germans might have not known all the details, but when millions of jews just vanish from your neighborhood after a visit from the gestapo and that happens all over the country, everyone will realize that something bad is going on. Plus it’s not like it was a surprise, since Hitler was an open antisemite and the Nazis started teaching kids in school to hate jews and other “races”. The Nazi leaders even announced and called for riots against jewish people and their shops etc…

What I really wanna say is: don’t tell me the germans at that time were innocent sheep who were manipulated or anything.
And although this movie is ironic in that it makes you laugh at the deaths of the Nazis you still have no reason to feel bad about it. They simply had it coming.
And I can assure you from a german standpoint, that german audiences are in NO WAY offended by this (Neonazis excluded^^) We, too, love to see Nazis get killed ;)

@715

While it is true that very few germans were actively involved in the holocaust it is a common lie and revision of history to say that they didnt’t know about it. I’m german myself, I should know^^
I’m not calling you a liar by all means, I’m just saying you’re missinformed. Germans might have not known all the details, but when millions of jews just vanish from your neighborhood after a visit from the gestapo and that happens all over the country, everyone will realize that something bad is going on. Plus it’s not like it was a surprise, since Hitler was an open antisemite and the Nazis started teaching kids in school to hate jews and other “races”. The Nazi leaders even announced and called for riots against jewish people and their shops etc…

What I really wanna say is: don’t tell me the germans at that time were innocent sheep who were manipulated or anything.
And although this movie is ironic in that it makes you laugh at the deaths of the Nazis you still have no reason to feel bad about it. They simply had it coming.
And I can assure you from a german standpoint, that german audiences are in NO WAY offended by this (Neonazis excluded^^) We, too, love to see Nazis get killed ;)

Barabbas:

After the way they f__ked your country over and left an ineradicable stain on its reputation, I can understand how you guys might dig movies where a lot of Nazis die.

Hilter WAS evil and Himmler WAS even more evil, but the soldier of the 10000…..battalion cant be accounted for the same crimes as this two,if you get my point. I apologize to all jewish reading my comment, but honestly if you were a soldier under the nazi regime wouldnt you prefer to shoot other innocent people instead of being shoot yourself and making your family be sent to death at a consentration camp.Besides you sould know that before start of Poland invasion there were several army officer and common people murder by the SS for being against hitler.

The point is, the same hillbily you find in the usa sayingt he whants to kill iraqis(or whatever,) to protect AMERICA because G.W.Bush (and is friend Jesus, ?i supose?) says so, can be darn well compared to the manipulation the nazis done with their people through fear …..,(¬_¬)…. , and fervent nationalism …,(¬_¬)…to kill jews.

So is the sweet(:grim) reality of our world.

Hilter WAS evil and Himmler WAS even more evil, but the soldier of the 10000…..battalion cant be accounted for the same crimes as this two,if you get my point. I apologize to all jewish reading my comment, but honestly if you were a soldier under the nazi regime wouldnt you prefer to shoot other innocent people instead of being shoot yourself and making your family be sent to death at a consentration camp.Besides you sould know that before start of Poland invasion there were several army officer and common people murder by the SS for being against hitler.

The point is, the same hillbily you find in the usa sayingt he whants to kill iraqis(or whatever,) to protect AMERICA because G.W.Bush (and is friend Jesus, ?i supose?) says so, can be darn well compared to the manipulation the nazis done with their people through fear …..,(¬_¬)…. , and fervent nationalism …,(¬_¬)…to kill jews.

So is the sweet(:grim) reality of our world.

Great review Spoony, I saw that you compared it to a comic book. But you forgot to mention that QT films it in a very spaghetti western fashion, starting from the beginning where it says “once upona time in Nazi-occupied France” to the sound track and the overexagerated stereotypes famous in spaghetti westerns .

can you do a review on emeny ace?

can you do a review on emeny ace?

Bonus points for the Runaways Hardcover.

Hey Noah,

First: Great review!

I am German and I have to say I didn’t think the Nazi soldiers were stereotypes (apart from Hitler and Goebbels). Most of the German soldiers were actually pretty nice guys in comparison to the Basterds. The soldier that fell in love with Shoshanna was the only character regretting to have killed somebody. I think Tarantino switched the stereotypes in this film, because the Basterds, if you think of them, really were more brutal then the Nazis. So I think the Basterds fullfilled the classic Nazi stereotype of brutal, non-reliable (they kill Landa’s driver) soulless bastards just going to war because they really hate the enemy. Whereas the soldier Wilhelm in the tavern was the classic stereotype of an American soldier, as far as I recognize any WW2-movie: He’s young, had to go to war, actually a nice boy and has a new born child he will never see.

BTW: In Germany they actually translated the English parts of the movie so we just have to sit through the French parts with subtitles.

Sorry for eventual mistakes

Ben

Hey Noah,

First: Great review!

I am German and I have to say I didn’t think the Nazi soldiers were stereotypes (apart from Hitler and Goebbels). Most of the German soldiers were actually pretty nice guys in comparison to the Basterds. The soldier that fell in love with Shoshanna was the only character regretting to have killed somebody. I think Tarantino switched the stereotypes in this film, because the Basterds, if you think of them, really were more brutal then the Nazis. So I think the Basterds fullfilled the classic Nazi stereotype of brutal, non-reliable (they kill Landa’s driver) soulless bastards just going to war because they really hate the enemy. Whereas the soldier Wilhelm in the tavern was the classic stereotype of an American soldier, as far as I recognize any WW2-movie: He’s young, had to go to war, actually a nice boy and has a new born child he will never see.

BTW: In Germany they actually translated the English parts of the movie so we just have to sit through the French parts with subtitles.

Sorry for eventual mistakes

Ben

Great Review Noah i saw the premierer and i walked out perplexed sort of like you.Although i DO think this movie is like kill bill if you analyse beatrix kiddo and compare her to Shushana ( im not sure that’s her name). It did feel like a “QT” movie and i was impressed. Again, Great Review!

Pretty much agree with this review, I watched it at midnight on Thursday and… like most people, I was expecting an action comedy. As such, I chugged half a handle of jaegar and walked my drunk ass inside the theater, only to see it packed to the brim with Tarrantino fans.

This was the start of bad things to come. I sat down with my friends in the second row, and honestly I should have just gotten a refund at that point, because movies with subtitles should NOT be watched in the front three rows, they should just block them off entirely. What’s worse is that I was drunk… reading isn’t the funnest thing to do when you’re hammered, so I dozed off a couple of times but still missed absolutely nothing, save for a few lines of “witty” dialogue… in subtitles.

The action scenes were okay, but so infrequent that when they happened I was just like, “meh.” Acting was sub-par imo, with the exception of the Jew Hunter. Brad Pitt was downright awful, I have no idea how people are praising his role. Every sentence he spoke caused the theater to erupt with laughter and made me scratch my head in confusion. Maybe it was the alcohol.

In conclusion, all I can say is don’t watch this movie drunk. You’ll fall asleep, check your watch/cellphone constantly, leave to take a piss only to find that the scene is still the same people talking 10 minutes later, and eventually have the desire to simply walk out. Despite this I stayed until the end and hated almost every minute, but I can see myself enjoying it if I was sober.

Pretty much agree with this review, I watched it at midnight on Thursday and… like most people, I was expecting an action comedy. As such, I chugged half a handle of jaegar and walked my drunk ass inside the theater, only to see it packed to the brim with Tarrantino fans.

This was the start of bad things to come. I sat down with my friends in the second row, and honestly I should have just gotten a refund at that point, because movies with subtitles should NOT be watched in the front three rows, they should just block them off entirely. What’s worse is that I was drunk… reading isn’t the funnest thing to do when you’re hammered, so I dozed off a couple of times but still missed absolutely nothing, save for a few lines of “witty” dialogue… in subtitles.

The action scenes were okay, but so infrequent that when they happened I was just like, “meh.” Acting was sub-par imo, with the exception of the Jew Hunter. Brad Pitt was downright awful, I have no idea how people are praising his role. Every sentence he spoke caused the theater to erupt with laughter and made me scratch my head in confusion. Maybe it was the alcohol.

In conclusion, all I can say is don’t watch this movie drunk. You’ll fall asleep, check your watch/cellphone constantly, leave to take a piss only to find that the scene is still the same people talking 10 minutes later, and eventually have the desire to simply walk out. Despite this I stayed until the end and hated almost every minute, but I can see myself enjoying it if I was sober.

lol…im not say killing blacks isn´t worst than killing jews…as slavery isn´t as bad as holocaust…lol

I think irony, over the top stereotypical characters and dehumainzation is the only way I could stand anymore WWII stuff.

I mean; I played Call of Duty World at War. Am I really supposed to think of the russian cheering for genocide of german civilians as revenge as a hero? I don’t think so, and I don’t think the developers had that in mind, but they way they portait it, ya can’t really see that.

In a Quarantino movie, ya can be at least sure that all this stuff is seen with irony and never fully serious, and thats good. Espacilly in a time like the WWII, were everyone was essentially an asshole.

I think irony, over the top stereotypical characters and dehumainzation is the only way I could stand anymore WWII stuff.

I mean; I played Call of Duty World at War. Am I really supposed to think of the russian cheering for genocide of german civilians as revenge as a hero? I don’t think so, and I don’t think the developers had that in mind, but they way they portait it, ya can’t really see that.

In a Quarantino movie, ya can be at least sure that all this stuff is seen with irony and never fully serious, and thats good. Espacilly in a time like the WWII, were everyone was essentially an asshole.

Hey,Nice review once more.
Will definately going to see it when it arrives at the Dutch cinema’s.

If you’re not bothered by subtitles and would like to see Mélanie Laurent (Shosanna) in a another great performance (if you can get your hands on a copy of course) you should really check out Je vais bien, ne t’en fais pas (english title: Don’t Worry, I’m Fine).
Unless athouse kinda moveis is not your thing. But she’s great in that one.

btw: don’t try to convince people that don’t like subtitles to stay away from this one. It just might convince them to go and see more ‘subtitled stuff’ in the future.

Oops:
athouse=arthouse
moveis=movies

ps: first comment here, Been following your work for quite some time now (since The Thing review)
Keep up the good work!

Oops:
athouse=arthouse
moveis=movies

ps: first comment here, Been following your work for quite some time now (since The Thing review)
Keep up the good work!

[SPOILER!!!]
I thought it was pretty cool that they really killed of [SPOILER!!!] Hitler and Gobbels [SPOILER!!!], but I guess I was suspecting it in a way, I mean it IS Tarantino we’re talking about :)

If you like anything by Tarantino, you should watch this movie!

Well that’s interesting, I too was expecting something like an Action Comedy with over-the-top Shootouts

Well that’s interesting, I too was expecting something like an Action Comedy with over-the-top Shootouts

Still, I have ONE question…why is “Basterds” spelled with an “e”? I mean, in Europe, this film was released as “Inglorious Bastards”, spelled correctly. Was it because QT didn’t know how to spell “Bastards”, or the screenwriter or something? Were they trying to take the whole “because poor literacy is kewl” approach? Is there a reason in-movie that they give for the “e”, which for some reason is taken out in the European release? My mind is going haywire over a misspelling!

I have to say that after seeing this review, I needed to go see this movie. As perplexed as I am, I have one thought. Everyone who saw ‘The Bear Jew’ walking out with his bat in hand should have thought ‘This guy resembles a Scout from Team Fortress 2.’

BONK!

I have to say that after seeing this review, I needed to go see this movie. As perplexed as I am, I have one thought. Everyone who saw ‘The Bear Jew’ walking out with his bat in hand should have thought ‘This guy resembles a Scout from Team Fortress 2.’

BONK!

“Basterds” is a phonetic spelling of the pronunciation of the word “Bastards” in an American accent. Often American military units would use misspellings and slang in their names as a form of national pride. It also adds to their “street cred”, makes them sound fierce.

I think it was a pretty smart movie, like spoony said. The nazis kind of get what they deserved, but it doesn’t feel satisfying like in Kill Bill. Especially the scene in the cinema, when the 2 Basterds were shooting all this people who try to get out… it felt kind of strange to me.

But one thing bothered me: Hitler was done badly, I mean of course it was supposed to be kind of a joke, with the robe and all that, but there wasn’t any depth to his character. It was just slapstick comedy.

Btw I’m from Austria

I think it was a pretty smart movie, like spoony said. The nazis kind of get what they deserved, but it doesn’t feel satisfying like in Kill Bill. Especially the scene in the cinema, when the 2 Basterds were shooting all this people who try to get out… it felt kind of strange to me.

But one thing bothered me: Hitler was done badly, I mean of course it was supposed to be kind of a joke, with the robe and all that, but there wasn’t any depth to his character. It was just slapstick comedy.

Btw I’m from Austria

Flameke, I was thinking the SAME THING.

Just put him in red or blue.

I just saw it, had a lot of fun there. But even as a Jew watching the sclaping didn’t make me go “Hell ya” it made me cringe. The rest was awesome though don’t get me wrong! :D

I just saw it, had a lot of fun there. But even as a Jew watching the sclaping didn’t make me go “Hell ya” it made me cringe. The rest was awesome though don’t get me wrong! :D

Well thanks for the review… And to precise that it wont make any convert… I wont try to see in this case. I really dont like Tarentino. The first time i tried to watch Pulp Fiction i fell a sleep after 15min… Secound time i had to fight a lot to be able to watch it all… I just find it VERY BORING…. so Inglorious Bastard is sure not for me

Noah needs to review Moon and The Hurt Locker. Those were two good movies(I thought) and I would like to have his take on them.

Noah needs to review Moon and The Hurt Locker. Those were two good movies(I thought) and I would like to have his take on them.

Haha nice Tampax Pearls ad before your video. :3

PS:

“Noah needs to review Moon and The Hurt Locker. Those were two good movies(I thought) and I would like to have his take on them.”

I’d love to see him review The Hurt Locker, I thought that was a great movie. I know a lot of people who hated it though for lots of different reasons (some republicans who thought it was too political, some liberals who thought it was too unrealistic or something).

PS:

“Noah needs to review Moon and The Hurt Locker. Those were two good movies(I thought) and I would like to have his take on them.”

I’d love to see him review The Hurt Locker, I thought that was a great movie. I know a lot of people who hated it though for lots of different reasons (some republicans who thought it was too political, some liberals who thought it was too unrealistic or something).

Q misspelled Basterds because he believes that how it should be spelled because that is how it is pronounced, and he said thats the way he would have spelled it so its his way of spelling bastard. Same thing with Inglorious, he uses a U after the O when there isn’t one, he did it on purpose.

And btw, great review :)

And btw, great review :)

Wow, I know this movie is a work of fiction but tarantino seems like he did some nice work. I just hope he makes a movie where the palestinians avenge themselves against their oppressors.

you deserve your own tv show or at least a movie I don’t know, you are my hero

you deserve your own tv show or at least a movie I don’t know, you are my hero

noah
I always enjoy watching your off the cuff reviews but this one was special because I actually might go watch this.
1) because you so cautiously recommended it, which intrigues me
2) because I so rarely would watch any movie that you have chosen to vlog lately- though I don’t know if that’s a comment on the state of movies recently or just due to the fact that my tastes don’t cross often with yours ( I blame my double X chromosomes)
3) last because you don’t recommend many movies sometimes as much as I love the snark I wish you would watching you analyze that which intrigues you is just as much fun as watching you tear something awful apart

Good stuff. Just saw the movie tonight, and I have to say I agree with you on pretty well all your points (Christoph Waltz was incredible). One thought my friend and I were having on Brad Pitt’s character having the scar on his neck; I was debating whether if it was a scar from a cut or from a hanging. The idea of it being from a hanging gave me the impression that his character is in fact a war criminal, and he has been turned loose on a suicide mission to be a shit disturber (I could easily be quite wrong and am looking far to deep into the film). Also, after the movie was finished, I felt that the “Inglorious Bastards” were in fact every single character in the film, what with almost every single important character had a hand to play in the gruesome death of another.

On a side note: I couldn’t help but notice the books on the shelf in your video, and I think I recognized the Hellblazer comics you may have (I think, not %100 sure). It would be cool of you ever did any reviews or videos on that subject, maybe even a comparison to the movie Constantine (unless you have already done it and I have missed it). I think it would be a fun video to watch, and lord knows Keanu is a wellspring of subject matter ripe for cometary. Just a suggestion, I leave it in your capable hands.

Until then, I’ll continue to watch what you have in store. Keep up the good work!

Tim

Good stuff. Just saw the movie tonight, and I have to say I agree with you on pretty well all your points (Christoph Waltz was incredible). One thought my friend and I were having on Brad Pitt’s character having the scar on his neck; I was debating whether if it was a scar from a cut or from a hanging. The idea of it being from a hanging gave me the impression that his character is in fact a war criminal, and he has been turned loose on a suicide mission to be a shit disturber (I could easily be quite wrong and am looking far to deep into the film). Also, after the movie was finished, I felt that the “Inglorious Bastards” were in fact every single character in the film, what with almost every single important character had a hand to play in the gruesome death of another.

On a side note: I couldn’t help but notice the books on the shelf in your video, and I think I recognized the Hellblazer comics you may have (I think, not %100 sure). It would be cool of you ever did any reviews or videos on that subject, maybe even a comparison to the movie Constantine (unless you have already done it and I have missed it). I think it would be a fun video to watch, and lord knows Keanu is a wellspring of subject matter ripe for cometary. Just a suggestion, I leave it in your capable hands.

Until then, I’ll continue to watch what you have in store. Keep up the good work!

Tim

Inglorious Basterds did one thing I never thought possible.

It made me sympathize with Hitler.

All I wanted to do was see an action-packed, super fun, nazi-killing movie, and was instead treated to TALKING TALKING TALKING.

Not as bad as being mowed down by bullets until you resembled swiss cheese, surrounded by flames, but y’know, if they’re going to make movie that is a tense thriller involving a plot to kill Hitler, they could at least market it as such INSTEAD OF THE SCENES THAT ONLY MAKE UP TEN MINUTES OR SO OF THE MOVIE.

I thought this movie was hardcore-awesome. I walked out of the theatre thoroughly entertained. Top-notch Tarantino imo.

I thought this movie was hardcore-awesome. I walked out of the theatre thoroughly entertained. Top-notch Tarantino imo.

Great review Spoony.

I absolutely loved this movie. I thought it was brilliant. Having heard you say it I actually really agree with your likening this movie to a comic book. Particularly in regard to characters like Hitler and Goebbels. Like you said, they were laughing at the sight of these atrocities and were basically maniacally evil. They were effectively comic book super villains.

I also felt like the movie was basically indulging the audience’s bloodlust. Let’s face it. Historically the Nazis were arguably the ultimate in evil regimes. And so it is easy for a film maker (particularly one as talented as Tarantino) to be as hideously cruel and brutal to them as he wants safe in the knowledge that no one will be pitying them, or thinking it was inappropriate. As you said, they had it coming.

It even indulges the audience to the point where it basically says a big “Fuck you!” to history. We know it is a fictional story. But other fictional films based within real historical events still respect and adhere to the important, solid facts. Not this film. Everyone loves the idea of seeing Hitler shot to shit. And so this movie gives it to us.

I will be seeing this film again very soon.

I live in Quebec, so i’ve seen a french dubbed version with my dad (he loves Tarantino movies) and christoph waltz dubs himself in the few english-turned-french scenes (just the scenes with the Basterds, i think). The guy is pretty damn talented.

I live in Quebec, so i’ve seen a french dubbed version with my dad (he loves Tarantino movies) and christoph waltz dubs himself in the few english-turned-french scenes (just the scenes with the Basterds, i think). The guy is pretty damn talented.

thanks spoony, its nice to get a heads up before walking into a movie that was advertising brad pitt and the basterds for marketing purposes only. i was skeptical about seeing it but you got me excited and interested again. i love most of quentins work so much i should be kicking myself for not going on opening day, but i just watched schindler’s list for the first time a couple weeks ago(really good), and not too long ago i saw that piece of shit valkyrie. so i wasnt that pumped about a new holocaust movie but im definately going this weekend.
love your reviews noah.

This applies for other reviews of yours that I’ve seen for films that’ve recently come out, but I loved watching this. I haven’t seen Inglorious Basterds yet, same with Distrcit 9 or Transformers 2 (thank god for that). But your reviews are always unbiased. You look at both the good and bad things non-objectively, and in such a way that never seems forceful, if you follow me. I think that’s essential in any sort of thoughtful criticism. It’s constructive.

You’ve warned me away from Transformers 2 (though I found its predecessor rather decent), and have convinced me all the more to see District 9. :D I’m quite a big fan of Peter Jackson’s work. If you like, I shall share my thoughts on it on your D9 review when I’ve seen the film.

Keep up the great work, Spoony! :)

This applies for other reviews of yours that I’ve seen for films that’ve recently come out, but I loved watching this. I haven’t seen Inglorious Basterds yet, same with Distrcit 9 or Transformers 2 (thank god for that). But your reviews are always unbiased. You look at both the good and bad things non-objectively, and in such a way that never seems forceful, if you follow me. I think that’s essential in any sort of thoughtful criticism. It’s constructive.

You’ve warned me away from Transformers 2 (though I found its predecessor rather decent), and have convinced me all the more to see District 9. :D I’m quite a big fan of Peter Jackson’s work. If you like, I shall share my thoughts on it on your D9 review when I’ve seen the film.

Keep up the great work, Spoony! :)

I agree Spoony, I saw the movie and the Bastards don’t seem to be a major factor in this movie, hell the whole bar scene was more the British guy and Diana Kruger then anyone else, and that felt like a quarter of the movie. I think all of the violent scenes, save for the end, were already in the trailer. I’m only disappointed in this movie in that the trailer lead me to believe something else, like you said in the review. So my original expectations were smashed but I did enjoy parts of the movie. Also, you didn’t say it in your review, but this movie was really long, 2h 33min. I knew this going into the movie and still felt like forever. I understand that the scenes needed to be long to build up the tension slowly, but I felt he could have left some for the DVD. I also didn’t like how the violence was abruptly cut away to some other scene; left me a little confused. I would suggest to check this movie out once as it is one of the better movies of the summer, but its not like other Tarantino movies nor is it like the trailer.

P.S. I loved the character of Col. Hans Landa, but who else thinks that role was written for John Malkovich? He could do the French, but maybe the German and Italian would have been a stretch.

Kick ass movies.

Kick ass movies.

First, this movie did feel like a bait and switch. Much like Death Proof but to a much lesser degree. And like Death Proof not really a bad movie. Just annoys me that they promised dark action comedy and I got, well, OK there was dark comedy but very little action. There was also a compelling story of revenge thrown in. And perhaps one of the most EVIL antagonists I’ve seen this summer. The Demon Goat from Drag Me To Hell doesn’t count you expect that level of pure evil.

Anyway great movie but don’t expect an action film. Think Kill Bill Volume 2. An awesome movie for a completely different reason from the original.

People shouldn’t expect action flicks from Tarentino.

Tarentino doesn’t do action flicks. Kill Bill volume 1 was as close as he ever will get, and even that was a damn long, very involved flick.

When will people stop buying into what trailers tell em. You reallly think a Tarentino flick, with his very unique style would be sold as what it actually is? Of course not.

People shouldn’t expect action flicks from Tarentino.

Tarentino doesn’t do action flicks. Kill Bill volume 1 was as close as he ever will get, and even that was a damn long, very involved flick.

When will people stop buying into what trailers tell em. You reallly think a Tarentino flick, with his very unique style would be sold as what it actually is? Of course not.

I liked INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, but like you said, I think anybody expecting a DIRTY DOZEN style WW2 adventure film along the lines of, say, THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS will walk away disappointed. Interesting you should mention Verhoeven, you should see his film BLACK BOOK (ZWARTBOEK), a Dutch WW2 thriller about a Jewish singer infiltrating Gestapo headquarters. It’s nothing like the big-budget sci-fi satires he did in the US but it’s still really good.

First of all I liked the movie and I am from Vienna, Austria

To sum it up it was a strange movie and after watching it i felt kind of defused, didn’t know what I have seen right now, but it was great.

To the actors: Christoper waltz aka Hans Landa was the shit, fluent in 4 languages is much more than you can expect from an american actor! and much much much better than pitt
Smelling the first oscar for an austrian actor? :D Til schweiger was ok, pitt was ok, rest of them just ok.

great review as always spoonar

First of all I liked the movie and I am from Vienna, Austria

To sum it up it was a strange movie and after watching it i felt kind of defused, didn’t know what I have seen right now, but it was great.

To the actors: Christoper waltz aka Hans Landa was the shit, fluent in 4 languages is much more than you can expect from an american actor! and much much much better than pitt
Smelling the first oscar for an austrian actor? :D Til schweiger was ok, pitt was ok, rest of them just ok.

great review as always spoonar

He says he like the film, his second chin says otherwise.

to Landa: Waltz got so much screentime… no wonder he won a golden palm

to Landa: Waltz got so much screentime… no wonder he won a golden palm

I’m almost ready to do a vlog myself on this film, because now that I’ve seen it I’ve been mulling it over in my head for a bit. You touched on one point that I’ve been thinking about in particular, and I thought I’d share.

The movie is a propaganda film about propaganda. It’s a film that acknowledges that we really want our lives to be like the movies, and it performs that function for us while showing the effects of it. Brad Pitt’s character mentions that watching “The Bear Jew” pummel Nazis to death is “the closest me and the boys get to seeing the movies,” and when the propaganda of the Basterds gets to the point where Hitler himself sees that they are undermining his soldiers’ morale, his solution? More propaganda: “Nation’s Pride.”

I could go on, and I think others will eventually recognize this and talk about it, too. But one thing that I will say is that the film could not have ended with Hitler getting away–that would have defeated the intent of what the story was trying to show.

MovieBob from Escapist did an interesting review of this movie. At times when he reviews cinema that is really bad (IE Transformers 2) or really good (IE Section 9) he seems to get a bit over-passionate about his statement and I find it highly hit-and-miss, but his review of this particular movie I liked quite a bit, as it’s a fair bit more thought-provoking.

Personally, I haven’t seen the movie myself, but I’ll probably look into it in the future.

MovieBob from Escapist did an interesting review of this movie. At times when he reviews cinema that is really bad (IE Transformers 2) or really good (IE Section 9) he seems to get a bit over-passionate about his statement and I find it highly hit-and-miss, but his review of this particular movie I liked quite a bit, as it’s a fair bit more thought-provoking.

Personally, I haven’t seen the movie myself, but I’ll probably look into it in the future.

I have to disagree on a few points. You say that to a man that each of these Germans are evil and deserve everything that they got. But until the end, the Basterds are just killing regular german soldiers in occupied France. They are not shown as doing anything especially evil. There’s even this exchange:

“Did you get that medal for killing jews?”
“Bravery.”

And you feel really bad for the guy. In the scene in the bar, the germans are clearly shown to be people with families. You feel really bad that Wilhelm died. Poor guy.

Even Fredrick was shown as a dogged nice guy for most of the film. Other than his “I’m not the kind of guy you can say no to” thing, did he actually do anything evil?

The point of the film seems to be “War creates evil maniacs on both sides”. You’re not supposed to like the Basterds. They’re heroic sociopaths at best.

During the first massacre of germans, many people in the audience laughed. I didn’t. In the later theater scene, we see Hitler laughing at allies getting shot. This has to be a comment on the audience. “You laughed at this? You’re an inhuman monster. No better than Hitler”.

Now, for the acting. Mike Myers was kinda bad. I couldn’t see him as anything but “Mike Myers in some make-up playing a british general”. I couldn’t get past that.

Now, for the acting. Mike Myers was kinda bad. I couldn’t see him as anything but “Mike Myers in some make-up playing a british general”. I couldn’t get past that.

Hi there,
great review – as always, well, i totally share your opinion on this movie as being one of the more thought-provoking things to hit theatres this year.
Well, i watched Inglorious Basterds yesterday in an English-Cinema (i’m from Vienna and refused hardcore to go see the german dub) and well, i was really entertained as well. Imho i really loved to see Till Schweiger again on screen for more than just a minute or something – the introduction to his Character (the thing where they showed, what he did in the past, with his name flashing out and then flashing back) was kind of a real smack across the face, but i found it really cool.
On Christoph Waltz (i think he’s the one playing Landa – having an viennese accent in his german, i’m just forced to suppose he is.) i’ve just got to say, that his performance blew me away. And you are quite right – i can’t of course speak for the fellow europeans here, but i grew up with german and english and i am currently learning russian – and that is kind of normal, to at least speak a few chunks of english around here.
In conlusion i just can say – keep up your good work, and well, great film if you are not expecting too much of gunplay and things like this – as you pointed out in your review of it.
And, well, if you do speak German, you’re able to get more from this film, than just “armed” with one language, because it’s really, really well done, i very often heard German in American films in the Past, and it sounded more than just terrible, and hoped, that those scenes were made better here – so it was a fine thing to watch.
I didn’t find the stereotyping too bad, in fact, i’ve seen worse in this category. But my one complaint is, that Landa was a little bit less intimidating as i wanted him to be. I mean, that was one scary fucker, but a little more authority would not have damaged him.
But, it was still one of the best characterizations i have seen a long time.
So, that’s good night from me, and until next time.

Your review hit it on the head for me. I was expecting action and got a lot of dialogue. Frankly I did not care for the movie. I will take your example and say, I enjoyed Death Proof more, if only because it was shorter. (Also because I’m a big Texas Chili Parlor fan *laugh*) I realize that Tarantino was trying to illustrate the sense of war time paranoia, but the “tension” during the bar scene became tedious. It wasn’t a very satisfying ending, though I suspect that’s again, what Tarantino was going for.

… and yes, the best part for me was Brad Pitt. Every line was gold. If it had been the action flick I’d expected, I’d have been much happier. I’ll probably watch it again later after I’ve had a chance to calibrate and enjoy it more.

Hey, Spoony!

Long time watcher, first time poster and your review was dead center on what I believe QT was trying to do with Inglourious Basterds. It is the first (or a least, what I think is the first) postmodern war film. Irony, wordplay, and visual allusions all play into the film, and that’s what makes it a masterpiece. It is less Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan and more Godard’s Bande a Part (Band of Outsiders). It is no secret that QT loves the films of the French New Wave (hell, his film company’s name, A Band Apart, is a correct translation of Bande a Part), and that is what the film is aiming for. Yes, the main plot line does follow Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) more than the Basterds, and to me that is a nod to the French New Wave. In fact, when I first heard of this plot I was instantly reminded of François Truffaut’s Le Dernier Métro (The Last Metro). The whole point of the French New Wave was to be experimental and a bit boisterous and to create something new by simultaneously paying homage and riffing on the films of Classic Hollywood. As you said perfectly in your review, Hans Landa (Chirstoph Waltz) is a classic Nazi villain, and yet, there are just plain cartoony aspects to him. Hell, even the bar scene that went on for too long, as everybody seems to think, is a lot like Godard’s infamous ten-minute tracking shot of a traffic jam from his 1967 film Week End. In the end, I knew what QT was going for and thought it was great. This is not everybody’s cup of tea and many people will think that the film is pretentious, which is another hallmark of the French New Wave, but hey, to each his own!

(Also, I am sorry if this is mentioned before, but the French actress I think you refer to as terrible doing English is Audrey Tautou, who was dreadful in The Da Vinci Code)

I loved the movie, there was tension from the first scene up until the last. To me it never felt boring at all, but I think it’s a lot more enjoyable if you somewhat know the languages. Being from Switzerland, I speak all the spoken languages in this movie and the dialogue was great in every one of them (especially German, with Landa being the indisputable highlight).

I went in not expecting much, seeing how most of the (American) reviews had not been overly positive but I was delightfully surprised if not to say blown away by this movie.

I loved the movie, there was tension from the first scene up until the last. To me it never felt boring at all, but I think it’s a lot more enjoyable if you somewhat know the languages. Being from Switzerland, I speak all the spoken languages in this movie and the dialogue was great in every one of them (especially German, with Landa being the indisputable highlight).

I went in not expecting much, seeing how most of the (American) reviews had not been overly positive but I was delightfully surprised if not to say blown away by this movie.

The ending was absolutely worth it, but the whole movie was just INTENSE, I bit my nails almost to the bone! The best movie I’ve seen this year so far!

Man, this film was awesome! First I was afraid I could be bored by very drawn out, tedious scenes. But I found the whole film thrilling and tense. I think it really improves the film experience a lot if you know the languages. Fortunately I know English and German.
To all you French and Germans who read this site, I would like to recommend watching this film in the original version. If you know enough English to enjoy Spoony’s videos, I guess you can understand the English spoken in this film just as much. I am glad I decided to watch this film in the original version, because I think it is kind of awkward if the Americans and the English speak German in this film.

It was funny how I knew a lot of the German actors who are quite famous in Germany and there were some German references. After a while in the tavern scene I thought I was watching a German film. It is funny when I consider most Americans will not notice that.
However I did not know Christoph Waltz yet and surprisingly he outshines all the other more famous German actors in this film.

I don’t understand why people have a problem with subs. I saw plenty of subbed movies when I was little, so I’ve grown up with them and never had a problem. Why other people seem to be so lazy they refuse to read during a movie is beyond me. So you have a read, big deal? I’ve seen lots of wuxia films and I HATE the dubs. They sound so retarded. I much prefer subs. The only time when I prefer dubs to subs is with anime.

Well Spoony, you’ve convinced me to go watch it :-)

I like QT films, though I think the quality of his films has been declining a bit with each film (Jackie Brown being an exception, I couldn’t quite get into that one… though a lesser Tarantino still kicks the butt of a lot of other films), so I’ve been waiting for him to actually do something a bit different. I liked Robocop and Starship Troopers too, so if it really has that kind of ironic/cynic approach, chances are I might like it. Heh, it laughs at the audience, does it? Hey, the audience deserves to be laughed at. I expect a lot of popcorn-munching teens to be quite disappointed with this flick. Yeah, it’s probably a bit snobbish, but they should get the finger every once in a while.

As for subs: I agree with the above post. I’m from Belgium, and we’re such a small country with both a Dutch and a French speaking part so most films here are subbed in both languages (one line for each). We’re quite used to reading subtitles, so the transition to other languages isn’t that hard on us. I’ve heard Americans saying that it is tedious to have to read during a film. I don’t get that. Do these people never pick up any kind of book (even comics)? Reading stuff in your native language should be kind of an automatic thing. (This has little to do with understanding the language spoken in the film: subtitles on Asian flicks aren’t that much harder on me then English flicks.) It really doesn’t require that much effort at all. The few times I had to watch something in a dubbed version, I cringed at how stupid most of it sounded. And sometimes it even looks like nobody even bothered to even try and synch up the audio and video. I see I kinda made most of this post about subtitling, but this really seams to be a big deal for Americans. Michael Haneke wouldn’t have made that shot-per-shot remake of Funny Games if it wasn’t.

I really liked the movie and I agree with the opinion of Ben who reminded me that “the Basterds fullfilled the classic Nazi stereotype of brutal, non-reliable [...] soulless bastards just going to war because they really hate the enemy. Whereas the soldier Wilhelm in the tavern was the classic stereotype of an American soldier”.
As Tim said I also think the scar Rayne had was because from a hanging so he probably was a war criminal.
And Chirstoph Waltz was amazing as Hans Landa!

I saw IG Sunday night and I consider myself a huge QT fan. Now this movie was entertaining, and well done, and I enjoyed the hell out of it. But, there’s that BUT, it did seem like I saw this before, by QT

Spoilers in case you didn’t see it follow

The revenge film we had with Kill Bill, and so the story of Shoshanna wasn’t anything new.
The font used for the movie was Pulp Fiction and also done before.

The requirement to have Sam Jackson as a narrator was not good, and really takes you out of a movie that requires full attention to begin with. Out of place.

In fact, even Harvey Keitel’s voice acting spot was very out of place for myself, since he was supposedly playing a high ranking general and I could only picture the Wolf, all slick and shit.

The music seemed really wacky to me, like the Kill Bill wetsern style, with a hint of Italian, also was done before. It wasn’t terribly out of place, except for that 1981 David Bowie song, which was really worse then hallelujah in Watchmen.

Oh and the scenes where tension is shown with the high pitch music, also from Kill Bill.

The opening chapter with the french dairy farmer & Landa was (for me) the best scene in the movie. Just because the trailer didn’t show any of it. It’s intense, but not drawn out like the basement mexican standoff scene. That particular scene was the Holy Grail’s “get on with it” scene for me. But the acting between Landa & the Frenchman was amazing.

The Basterds chapter was ok, but most of it was in the trailer, so not a lot to add.

The Jewish girl’s and the sniper’s chapter started slow but got better when they have this seemingly nobody German private who is actually a famous dude, the acting from Shoshanna was amazing as well.

The basement standoff seemed overly long for the payoff – to have the British mission needing last second changes giving the Basterds charge of operation Kino. While it wasn’t boring, you could see where it was going, so it seemed overly drawn out.

The final chapter was good, intense and again good play between Landa & Raine, yet seemed a bit anticimate. The reason was because what they ultimately did to the Landa was done earlier in the movie. It reminded me of Pulp Fiction in the Sam Jackson ezekiel speech. The first time you hear it you get a payoff of violence. The second time you hear it you kind of expect that same result but it doesn’t happen. Here I was expecting a different result, yet it didn’t come. The ending was not as tense just because there were two plots to kill Hitler and no seemingly escape unless Landa phones it in, and even tha was blocked by Shoshanna’s plan. You knew no one was getting out of the theatre.

Overall I am really pointing out the flaws as I saw, but I really enjoyed the movie. Some good stuff…

The tension was high through most of the movie. Landa was an amazing villain, and his coyness/questioning was always scarey due to the payoffs of them.

I really thought the acting was good.

The movie out and out entertained me, I never checked the time, and I kept interest for the whole thing AND I will get the DVD and watch it numerous times.

Yes, Landau was awesome, and so was Melanie Larent (and se was gorgeous too!).
But seriously, how can someone be put off by foreing language acting, and reading subtitles?
Most movies are the bestz in their intended, original form, and it goeas for the language also.
So why’s the whining?
I never understood this kind of attitude.

I shit.
LANDA i mean.

Good review.. one more thing though…
IT’S A BINGO!

I really liked this movie. To be honest, I did go in expecting a lot of violence, just because of his previous movies. But that didn’t turn me off. The violence I felt (mainly the first scene in the beginning) really made a point and was quite brutal despite not really seeing anything graphic. I was disappointed at the lack of basterds in the movie but after watching your review of it, I almost wonder if he did that on purpose.

I fully agree Mr. Spoony!

The villian (Landa if I am not mistaken) was GREAT, a challenging villian who seemed to be 2 steps ahead of even the audience.

Brad is a supporting character mostly, but he does well and is entertaining.

I thought it was well paced, I never felt bored and I felt that the length moved quite quickly.

To me it didn’t feel like a QT movie, it wasn’t the action hyper violent gore fest that I expected.

All in all entertaining but more of a drama than an action.

I will list some of my very few cons first, but let it be clear that not only was I satisfied leaving the theater, but I was also wondering how long until the unavoidable Director’s cut DVD will take to be released so I can buy it. This, Watchmen Ultimate, Star Trek, and District 9 are going to chew up a chunk of my DVD shelf space.

Spoilers ahead!

I was a bit disappointed by the lack of screen time the “Basterds” were given, in retrospect wanting to see more of them just shows how entertaining their presence was. The basement shoot out scene was a bit too fast for comprehension for a first time viewer. It happens so fast you are left wishing you had a remote with a rewind , and slow down function. I would kind of compare it to ripping a band off extremely quickly to minimize the pain, but I still would have preferred a little more time to identify who killed who, how, etc…. Finally I remember watching an interview with the cast where Eli Roth was talking about the background of “The bear Jew”, and he mentioned that the bat he used was signed by many of his Jewish neighbors in NYC. I would have loved to see that scene(if it was filmed) simply because it would have added a bit more humanity, and appreciation from the audience for their actions. However, I thought it was obvious that QT did not want anyone taking the film seriously to the point of making it more disturbing then over the top.

There is really too many things I liked to list them all, so I will try to mention some of the more obscure reasons. I can’t believe I am saying this but Mike Myers actually worked for me. I was concerned at first but after seeing his cartoon like nature I immediately understood. I loved to hate the “Jew Hunter”, talk about a great villainous performance. After the scene of his introduction, tension would mount with each of his on screen appearances. I am really getting irked by the people complaining about this not feeling like a QT movie. The film was made partly as a homage to old war movies, so anyone who knew about the film should have known this wouldn’t be his typical work. He was complimenting the filming styles of past directors with his own personal twists. If he was constantly staying predictable his popularity would have faded years ago.

Finally the fate of Hitler scene was fucking awesome. I was almost embarrassed at one point when Hitler’s face turns into Swiss cheese. The epicness made me laugh out loud, then half the audience gave me a really evil look, while my Dad turned to me and said “You are sick”. I can’t be the only one who got a kick out of his the fate he truly deserved.

I just got through watching the movie…and all I can say is…didn’t do it for me. All the characters besides Brad Pitt’s were unlikeable, unhonorable hypocrites, and I have a real problem with that. Maybe I value honor too much, but you know what? Fuck the unhonorable.

It’s overall a good movie–don’t get me wrong–but I can’t overlook that. I don’t know about you, but hypocrites and douchebags piss me off to no end.

In a sense, every character in that movie is a villian…not an anti-hero. What is an anti-hero? Well, I think an anti-hero still would follow some type of code…but none of these characters besides Brad Pitt’s did…and ironicly, the main villian. I was expected both of them to just kill the people anyways, but they didn’t. That’s not to say I at all agree with the Nazi bastard, but if a damn Nazi has some code of honor, shouldn’t you?

To hell with the characters. Really.

You know what…I’m going to take that back. It’s a great movie, because the end more than makes up for the douchey characters.

*spoilers ahead, but I will try to keep them minimal *

I can understand the recurring criticism due to a loss of perspective with the very thin line separating the Basterds/Allies/Shosanna from Nazis as heroes/ villains. However, anyone who attempts to argue that the various Nazis are executed in a unjust manner is fucking retarded. The Nazis in the film are dispatched exactly how they should have been in reality. In fact some of them get off much too easily, and should have had a cattle prod taken to their balls for a few hours before death. When you compare the basterds’ methods to Nazi practices such as filling a public showering area full of Jewish Men, Women, and Children gassing them, incinerating their bodies, and then disposing of the remains in the same manner a person would dispose trash is in my opinion enough to regain your hold on who you should be routing for. The Basterds flip the unwavering cruelty of Nazis right back into their faces. Bitching about the Basterds lack of morality is an argument that when used makes me believe the commenter had no business seeing this film.

Sorry for the double post but I just remembered something I thought was mentionable, but forgot to include it on a previous post. The complaints about the subtitles is really irritating. Yes for an American made movie there was a good deal of subtitling, but nowhere near enough that I can take criticisms of it seriously. In my opinion it was used in a manner to contribute to the “being out of the states” atmosphere, and was very efficient.I wasn’t sure how to take the “Being your home may I ask that we switch to English since I have exhausted my French” technique, but in retrospect I now think it was effective almost to perfection. I hope no one commenting here takes this as a personal insult, but that particular criticism makes me believe the person is extremely lazy if a bit of reading actually is found tedious..

Those Christoph Waltz, who played Hans Landa can speak those four languages fluent.

And the funniest thing about the movie is, that the german Kids think now, that the inglourious basterds really exist :D I was kinda embarrassed when i heard that.

That’s a BINGO!

@Lookheed

Where did you hear that?! XD
You have to be at least 16 in germany to get into this movie, plus the historically inaccurate ending shows that this movie is not based on actual events…
So, I guess some people in germany are stupid enough to think that, but very few, believe me^^
We got the WW2-history in school so often and detailed, I’d like to think most people are smarter than that.

But of course, maybe I’m just naive^^

@Barabbas

I am from Germany and friends told me that. Well people here are that stupid and no one cares about your age, they just want your money :D
Well I had WW2 also in school, but very late. About 10th grade (?)
People here are really so stupid. :D

So Spoony, I have a question… I noticed in Inglourious Basterds that QT made A LOT of nods to Alfred Hitchcock’s style of building so much tension and suspense that you’re almost yelling at the screen to get it over with… Did you notice that?

Good review, glad you’ve taken to not eating your dinner during the review re:Dark Knight.

I wasn’t bothered by the multilingual dialogue at all. As I am learning German, it was kind of like a little game for me to try and watch the movie without subtitles, which was pretty fun.

Overall, I loved this movie. Definitely one of the top picks of the year.

The way you felt when you saw this film, Spoony, is the way I felt when I saw Twelve Monkeys.
I will definitely see this movie. Thanks for the review!

(German not a problem, as a Swede I understand alot of it anyway. OH AND WE HAVE POLAR BEARS OF COURSE).

*Rolls eyes*

For far the best film of this year. Very intelligent and lack of action as ever good movie has to be, unlike the idiot movies that are all about unstopable action to entertain the great stupid audience.

This film remember Kubrick’s random style and exotic sense of humour. Surprisely Tarantino looks to be improving, and shoots this film very different from Kill Bill 1 that was a piece of shit.

If you want to see a movie which are full length bastards only, see Inglorious Bastards from the 70ies. :) I didn’t even know a new movie existed, but i watched the old one recently. However, as far as character depth is conserned, the old movie is lacking too.

And hey, your judgement of Europeans being able to speak at least 2 languages, though pretty much correct, it applies to the French the least of all. It’s usually somewhere between very basic and very awful, sometimes up to fairly correct but tainted by an dreadful accent. There must be something wrong with their education system and old beliefs. Also i think there’s no relationship between distance to UK and English knowledge, as we don’t really learn it to go to the UK, but because it’s the communication language of international business and science.

Interestingly enough, there were real life “Inglourious Basterds”–Jewish Commandos who had to scurry behind enemy lines to gather intelligence and avoid confrontations lest their cover be blown. Needless to say, these guys weren’t exactly thrilled with the portrayal in this movie.

Nontheless, this movie kicked ass. Didn’t mind at all that the Bastards were secondary characters to Shoshanna. In fact, it was quite a pleasant surprise and it worked out for the better. The tension was thick, especially the scenes with Landa. That man was as fiendishly clever and upredictable as the damn Joker from the Dark Knight.

As for Tarantino’s so-called commentary about excessive violence, I think the only irony to be had here is that the Nazis are laughing and cheering whilst savoring their night of triumph, blissfully unaware of the horrible fate in store for them.

I went back and forth on this film due to my own inexperience with Tarantino style movies.

I think I went in expecting that deep characterization after the first scene went on and then watched 5 newly established characters gunned down in a tavern. :P It was a three prong attack going from the commercial advertisements, the first scene or so and then the rest of the movie.

I spit out my drink when he did his impression of Mike Myers’ character. “They coll them the bastads.” Perfect.

hated it..
brad pitt acted bad
til schweiger acted bad as usual
all other actors acted bad..
^^

oook with the exception of christoph waltz.. he was great

This was a strange film, but in the end I think I really enjoyed it. The subtitling doesn’t bother me in the slightest, I’m more than used to watching foreign films with subtitles, I don’t think it detracts from the experience. But I found this movie to be quite clever and thought provoking. I thought the acting was good, and as you mentioned in the review, myself and my friends were impressed with the SS Officer. My French friend was impressed at how perfect his English and French were, along with the other languages he spoke in the film.

I particularly enjoyed how it switched from the tension of the “talking over the table” scenes, to the scenes involving the Basterds, which often involved the small bursts of violence with some tongue-in-cheek humour. It was strange but I thought it worked well. Either way, I enjoyed the movie and I’d recommend it. And completely agree with TTL.

This is actually something that QT does a lot, and it never looses the effect. when you watch a QT movie you never know quite what to expect…any of the characters, no matter how well established, can die at any moment.

It's what makes his flicks so much fun to watch!

i see alot of your points spoony and your right, but i personally liked this film alot. then again, as a jewish person, i am always biaed towards films about “killin' natzees”

Not that anyone will see or care about my opinion…but I saw this movie for the first time about three weeks ago, and I'm still not sure whether I liked it or not. The pacing in the movie was really awkward to me, and I never really settled into the movie. Overall, I liked the acting, though I think Brad Pitt went too far with his accent, but was too far over the top. I get, that they all had that aspect, but you can still carry it too far.

Christoph Waltz, was awesome however. Landa, was by far the most effective character in the movie, and his scenes were all excellent.

If you enjoy blood, gore, go see it.

Sure it is a classic story of (really really bad guy people who enter the theaters are supposed to hate) vs opposing forces, i wasn't sure i liked it at first either similar to arson55 but since then i have re-imagined it in another way.

Just do me a favor, imagine this movie as one very fucked up version of star wars, go ahead do it, the theater is the death star, hitler is vader (p.s. you don't see the ending coming, its one of those endings that seem to come the fuck out of nowhere, really excellent, even the ending you didn't expect was totally off-base, because it fucking goes into another universe on your ass).

Overall i think people should see this movie, original it isn't but you will be entertained nonetheless.

I am eternally indebted to Tarentino for bringing Hero to our shores. That said, I don’t think I’ve actually liked any of his own movies. I agree with you, Spoony, they didn’t give us nearly enough of the Basterds. That bit with the “Bear-Jew”? The entire movie should have been that.

I hated this movie. Honestly, I would consider it the worst movie I’ve ever seen (granted, I haven’t seen quite the plethora of movies Spoony has). I would rate it a 3 of 10, simply because, as a student of German, it was really great to hear the languages spoken so fluently.

Here in Belgium, many people speak at two or more languages fluently. An ex of mine even spoke four languages fluently (Dutch, French, German and English), though that’s not the norm. Still, I’m just pointing out that here in Europe it’s indeed more common to speak several languages fluently.

Anyway, I didn’t really like the “Kill Bill” films that much and didn’t like “Death Proof” either, so I didn’t expect “Inglourious Basterds” to be any good. Nevertheless, to my surprised I liked it a lot. All three are basically an homage to ’70s exploitation, but the first two never really seemed to hit the mark imo, whereas I consider “Inglourious Basterds” to be far superior and more entertaining than the material it’s based on.

I had to leave before the movie really got moving but brad pitt is always awesome and when I find that DVD I’m so watching it.

I had to leave before the movie really got moving but brad pitt is always awesome and when I find that DVD I’m so watching it.

The amount of languages spoken differs per European country, I think. I know most Dutchmen and Belgians speak at least a passable amount of English, but this is much less the case in, for instance, France, Spain or Germany.

Anyway, I was as surprised as Spoony the first time I watched it. But since then I’ve seen it three more times, and it’s a joy every time. Little things, like Landa calling every minor German character he speaks to or mentions ‘Hans’, or the SS officer in the tavern drinking beer from an enormous glass boot, keep cracking me up.

I love the irony; the ‘good guys’ are just as horrible as the ‘bad guys’. I don’t think EVERY German in the movie is as bad as Spoony says though. The guy who gets beaten to death with a baseball bat is, in fact, quite brave for choosing death over selling out his comrades.

I’m not a big fan of QT films, but I really enjoyed this movie. I liked how one moment everyone would be conspiring quietly and the next you’d get the baseball scene with the bastards. 

Mentioning the bastards: couldn’t you say that everyone in the movie can be considered an inglorious bastard? (just answering the claim that the bastards didn’t get enough screen time despite the title). The review got me thinking and I believe every character can be described as such. 

Altough I agree to most things Spoony says, I disagree when he and a lot of other people say that, and I’m paraphrasing here, “all those damn Nazis got what they deserved”.
When the simple German soldier that was just having fun with his friends since he just became a dad got betrayed and shot by Bratt Pit I was about to shout “Hey! Those…basterds!”. It was actually quite the irony: Those few soldiers were just in France doing their duty. They would rather be home in Germany with their families. On the other hands, the Basterds are volunteraly in France and having a blast scalping others. There only ones that carry out torture in this movie are actually the Americans, and torturing a women that offered help none the less. Who is betraying and backstabbing? The Basterds. Who is carrying out suicide bombings? The Basterds.
When the young German soldier Zoller supports and helps Shosanna, he does it because he’s in love. But she rejects him just for the uniform he’s wearing, she’s the one being racist.

I think the major theme of this movie really is: It’s not as it seems.
In terms of the plot and motivation of the characters, but also who the “good” and who the “bad” guys and gals are.