Inglourious Basterds

This week, WHayes and I are reviewing Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds." I ended up loving this film--in spite of Brad Pitt's atrocious accent--and I'll even say it might be Tarantino's most palatable creation yet. Normally his films are just a bit too heavy-handed with the blood and guts, but "Inglourious Basterds" balances this with outrageous humor and incredible acting, writing, and cinematic value. I have found myself bombarded by the enormous marketing budget of this film. Because of how it's trailer pervades TV, the Internet, and theater previews, I feel like I've seen it a hundred times without even trying. Take a look if ... Read Full Story

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "The better the dog, the busier you have to keep him." That was the advice a dog trainer, of all people, gave Christoph Waltz, the Vienna-born actor who won the top acting prize at Cannes for his role as the eerily deliberate Col. Hans Landa in "Inglourious Basterds." Now he's keeping busy. Very busy. Sporting a beard for his new role as the villain in "The Green Hornet," the 53-year-old actor is co-starring in a major studio film and fielding offers for everything from star parts to A-list parties. He appears somewhat bemused to be invited to events and ... Read Full Story

War movies have been, and will always be a method for celebrating humanity's pesky habit of proving itself worth a damn during moments of otherwise pants-shitting horror. This theme (or even genre-tenant) didn't evolve in a vacuum: surely it has blood-ties back to the novel (hello Tolstoy), and epic poems before that ( Gilgamesh , the Odyssey ) and is a tenant I largely support. I can't imagine any other way to recount events involving famine, disease, strife and genocide on such a massive scale without anchoring it in some form of silver lining: a glorious battle, a resilient warrior clan, a hero. Without ... Read Full Story

“Inglourious Basterds” begins in German-occupied France, where Shosanna Dreyfus(Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema. Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in targeted acts of retribution. Known to their enemy as “The Basterds,” Raine’s squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich. Part 1 Part 2 ... Read Full Story

I'm not quite ready to follow Gold Derby 's logic when it claims that Inglourious Basterds will be the Best Picture winner at the Oscars. Sure, it's a prediction for the sake of making a prediction, but I don't think it's a stong case. I do think Basterds will likely get nominated, along with Quentin Tarantino for screenplay and possibly director, but the pieces of this theory aren't all coming together for me. Tom O'Neill begins by claiming a stastical conclusion as an absolute, essentially that because the Best Director winner usually wins Best Picture it is just as likely to happen this year. ... Read Full Story