Inglourious Basterds [Blu-ray] [2009] [Region Free]

Killing Nazis best movie ever. Lots of blood guts and head bashing even some scalping! All the characters are lovable and do a great job.

This is my second favorite Tarantino movie (after the legendary "Pulp Fiction"). In fact, IMO this is the best movie he has done SINCE Pulp Fiction (Jackie Brown was very good but a little too slow paced for my taste; Kill Bill I and II were disastrous, IMO; and I am probably one of the few who hated Django because some of the scenes in that movie were so unsavory they made me physically ill).What did I like about this movie? Firstly there are the performances, several of them from new, breakout stars: Christopher Waltz, of course, is the film's true revelation. He plays SS Colonel Landa whose task it is to hunt for Jewish fugitives in Nazi occupied France. Waltz plays the character in a very interesting fashion. He never gives the impression that he truly hates Jewish people and wants them eradicated. He additionally does not give the impression that he is intensely loyal to the Nazi party and wants soley to see its goals carried out (as was the case with Joseph Goebbels, also featured in the film). He is simply is a professional, a detective of sorts whose job is to discover the whereabouts of wanted fugitives, and then secure their capture. That his job has unsavory aspects to it does not unsettle him, nor does it, in some perverse manner, motivate him. It simply is what it is, and as a professional he must pursue it to its logical conclusion.The film also features excellent performances by Micheal Fassbender (this being his first big commercial film), the stunning beauty Diane Kruger (as the double agent Bridget Von Hammersmark), and August Diehl, who plays a cunning and ruthless SS Officer with remarkable authenticity. Brad Pitt surprising does an excellent job in this film as tough as nails Lieutenant "Apache" Raine. I say surprsingly, because Pitt has had to redefine himself as he enters middle age. He can no longer sell movies based on his hearthrob status of his 20s and 30s (where he basically had to just show up and hordes of women were guaranteed to go watch his movies). In his search for a new identity, he has had his share of flops (eg. I thought he was terrible in "Moneyball"). But with this movie, it appears he found a role that suits him to a tee. Namely, that of a kind of tough guy, a poor man's John Wayne, complete with generous amounts of wit, charm, charisma and humor.Beyond the acting, the movies story and script is first rate. My favorite scene in the movie, just a classic Tarantino scene that would be right at home in a movie like "Pulp Fiction", is the tavern scene towards the middle of the film. This is where British Agent Micheal Fassbender must make a rendezvous with his contact, double agent Bridget von Hammersmark. Now Hammersmark happens to be a famous German actress, and she is approached in the tavern by a regiment of off duty German soldiers (several of whom are getting alarmingly drunk). When Fassbender is finally able to pry her away from these admirers, a covert SS Officer, played brillantly but August Diehl, makes a surprise entrance, and, suspicious of Fassbender's curious German accent, decides to interrogate him and his party. The scene is brillantly scripted, and the tension between the aggressive Diehl and the calm and collected Fassbender is palpable. This scene alone makes the movie worth watching.This is not a movie for everybody. There is plenty of violence and gore in this movie, which may offend more sensitive viewers. However, if you are a fan of Tarantino films, and you are curious how Tarantino would approach a WW2 movie, then this is a film you need to see.

I was fortunate enough in 1994 to attend a test screening of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, shortly after its triumph at Cannes and months before it premiered in the U.S. Because I saw it before it was acknowledged as a game-changing sensation, I was completely unprepared for my mind being blown. I remember sitting in the dark theater, sort of giggling to myself in a low voice, because I was in absolutely alien territory; I had no idea what was going to come next, and I knew I'd never seen anything like it before. (Tarantino attended the screening and I got a chance afterwards to shake his hand, after which I just walked away, rather than say, "huminah-huminah-huminah.")Coming out of Inglourious Basterds, I realized that Tarantino is still blowing my mind, as he has with each of his post-Pulp Fiction films. This is not because I think his films are perfect, and not even necessarily because he's my favorite director, but rather because I think Tarantino is trying for something in his films that's absolutely different than anyone else's work.Basterds is a multi-threaded take on a World War II film. It weaves together a series of stories taking place in Nazi-occupied France, and it's exciting, suspenseful, thoughtful and funny (Brad Pitt is an absolute hoot, and he, Christoph Waltz and Melanie Laurent pretty much walk away with the film). But like every other Tarantino film, it's actually really all about movies above all other concerns, including plot.That's where Tarantino runs into trouble with some critics. They say that his films are all about movies, not real life, that the films are simply a series of film references. The worst criticism? His films are mere exercises in genre.I think that's missing the point. Yes, Tarantino loves genre films and loves to mix genres. But he's doing some remarkable things with them. I think he's trying to build serious art with the raw materials of genre. It's akin to taking an electric guitar, an accordion and a triangle and writing a symphony with them - and succeeding.Some say that Pulp Fiction was his most mature work, if by "mature" we mean conventionally artistic. Under this view, later films, which more explicitly take use the mechanics of gangster, blaxploitation, revenge and, oddly enough, European art cinema, are less "personal," less serious. But that may reflect more about what you think about genre than about anything else. If you believe genre is artless, low-brow moviemaking, then the use of the film vocabulary from genre in service of personal, artistic filmmaking is confusing and unsettling. If you can accept that art is about personal vision, not the tools you use to express that vision, then Tarantino's approach can be exhilarating and thrilling.Employing that personal vision, Tarantino has no problem using David Bowie's great "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" in a period film, or splashing a blaxploitation-era logo to flash the name of one particularly colorful character, or using narration when it's necessary and forgetting about it when it's not, or opting for long stretches of subtitled dialog (I think this was Tarantino - who's calling card is his expertise in dialogue - tying one hand behind his back for the fun of it). Tarantino even uses little signifiers - signifiers as little as the fonts he uses in his "chapter" markers and in the end credits - to let you know you're in his unique, personal world.As Tarantino himself said in a great appearance on the Howard Stern radio show recently, his work is unambiguously his work - you'll either love him or hate him, and that's because he has a singular, idiosyncratic voice. I love his work and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.One more thought [and mild spoiler alert] - I hope it doesn't become an issue that in Basterds, Tarantino is playing fast and loose with the facts of world history (let's just say that at some point Basterds and history go down different roads). It's called an alternate history - a device used by everyone from comic book artists to serious writers like James Ellroy. Is there any real concern that people will mistake Tarantino-esque fiction for historical fact? If that's the case, we should worry a little less about Tarantino and a little more about our education system.

Hilarious movie. This movie combines history and comedy into one with well known actors. I recommend for the audience of 18+ for gore and language.

IMHO Tarantino's finest work...INGLORIOUS BASTERDS is indeed a highly stylized, excellently written/directed and produced film, as well as a deeply satisfying revenge fantasy because it hits on "deep chords" and does it incredibly deftly. It's a rare take on the SHOA, and actually taps into millennia-long horrific dehumanization and persecution of Jewish human beings. It acknowledges and gives remarkable outlet to Jewish outrage and rage over these atrocities, it unabashedly revels in the vanquishing of pure evil, along with fearless Jewish prowess and refusal to be cowering or weeping victims and instead fully celebrate our amazing warrior legacy. This movie blew my socks off and I absolutely loved it when it came out 15 years ago (I was in my late twenties) - I absolutely love it still. I've just shared it with my kids, and our discussions afterward have been pretty incredible. There's so much to cull from this film surrounding the Jewish experience and people, but also about manhood, war, history, good and bad features of humanity, ETC. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.