Inglourious Basterds

[Bomby]

Double post? I think so...

Inglourious Basterds has topped every movie I've seen this year, including such excellent films as (500) Days of Summer and The Hurt Locker. It has topped at least three of Tarantino's previous films (Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, and Death Proof) and is making good company with his other two (I count Kill Bill as one film).

In other words, I liked it quite a bit.

[Booyakasha]

Wow. If it's better than 'Reservoir Dogs', I think I can expect to like it quite a lot.

[Bomby]

Keep in mind that I'm probably not as big a fan of Dogs as most people are.

[Deku Tree]

I gotta arrange a man-date to see this thing. My wife doesn't care for Tarantio flicks.

[Metal Mario]

By and large, Tarantino is a buffoon infatuated with his own turn-a-phrase. He can be entertaining on occasion, though.

[Bomby]

On occasion?

By and large, it's Tarantino's self-indulgence which makes his films entertaining. Is he as good as his legions of obsessed fanboys say he is? No, but he's still pretty damn good.

On top of that, Tarantino is the only mainstream filmmaker who actually dares to make the films that he wants to make. Like him or not, respect the fact that his movies might actually open a few minds in the audience up to try out more daring, unconventional cinema.

There's a backlash because his fanboys have overhyped him, and it's now "uncool" to like him in cineaste circles. This is wrong.

[Metal Mario]

Pulp Fiction is quite good, and Jackie Brown is good, and Reservoir Dogs is okay. Kill Bill, however, was mostly awful, and you've already pointed out that Death Proof sucked. (Yes, I know Death Proof was supposed to be "bad" in a funny, entertaining way, but to me it just came off as a presumptuous inside joke by a film school geek.)

[Valigarmander]

I haven't seen enough Tarantino movies. I thought Kill Bill was decent, and I'll watch it any time it comes on TV, although it does seem like Tarantino just sat on his office chair while writing the script thinking "I like these old Asian movies and those old Westerns and this movie and that movie, now I'm gonna combine them into one supermovie!"

Death Proof was ho-hum (I preferred Terror Planet). There were some very interesting parts of the movie, but I could've done without 60 minutes of girls talking to each other.

I have Resevoir Dogs... I know I'd probably like it, but I've never actually gotten around to sitting down and watching it yet. I'll have to do that sometime.

[Bomby]

Kill Bill is a spectacular film. The House of Blue Leaves scene is one of the greatest, most elaborate, and most thoroughly entertaining action sequence in the history of American films, on par with and even besting many of the action spectacles from Hong Kong's heydey in the 1980's and 90's. If there's one flaw, it's that there's a bit of unevenness between the tone of the two separate parts of the films, and it's a bit hard to believe Lucy Liu. The story unfolds slowly and fascinatingly, and much like Pulp Fiction before it, uses splintered chronology much to its advantage. Robert Richardson's cinematography is spellbinding, and the musical selections from Tarantino amp up the scenes perfectly. But what's really daring about Kill Bill is that its diegetic world does not try at all to intersect with the real world, other than the names of cities and locations. It's audacious to create a film such as this for prudish American audiences who think that a film's realism is the measure of its quality. Kill Bill is very unrealistic and very good.

Death Proof was 80 minutes of Tarantino loving to hear his own words followed by a great car chase. The dialog felt more like a decent Tarantino imitator than Tarantino himself. And oh my god, his acting has somehow managed to get worse over the years. I still liked it better than Planet Terror. Easily Tarantino's worst film, but the overall Grindhouse experience was more than the sum of its parts.

Meanwhile, Reservoir Dogs, while generally one of his most respected films, is little more than an empty exercise in style. An enjoyable one for the first few viewings, but by far his most overrated film. Just an appetizer for Pulp Fiction, IMO.

[t3hDarkness]

I haven't seen enough Tarantino movies. I thought Kill Bill was decent, and I'll watch it any time it comes on TV, although it does seem like Tarantino just sat on his office chair while writing the script thinking "I like these old Asian movies and those old Westerns and this movie and that movie, now I'm gonna combine them into one supermovie!"

I heard the entire thing was based on the wedding flashback, more specifically the character of The Bride.

[Saria Dragon of the Rain Wilds]

I thought Death Proof was awesome, and a hundred times better than Planet Terror (though amusing together). It had a very real, non-act-y feel to the roles which made it way more entertaining than "blahblah you can see this person acting" like most other films seem to have. I never cared to see Kill Bill, but Pulp Fiction was a neat classic (mostly good roles and good lines, again).

I'm not going to go out of my way to see this. There are other things I'd rather watch instead.

[Booyakasha]

Saw it last night.

It was kind of a mess.

[Sean P Kelly]

Haven't yet seen the movie, since I was out of town during the weekend. I plan to see it sometime during the week.

[Metal Mario]

Make of this what you will. I haven't yet seen the film, so I can't judge, but the article does seem to make some good points.

[t3hDarkness]

So the first one is Italian and this one is German, that article makes no points at all other than stating the obvious.

[Bomby]

Inglourious Basterds is an apolitical film. Any time a movie is made about World War II, the Holocaust, or Nazis, these types of commentary are to be expected. But with Basterds, discussing it as a political work is missing the point entirely.

[Metal Mario]

Any time a movie is made about World War II, the Holocaust, or Nazis, these types of commentary are to be expected.

But those other movies don't typically portray German soldiers as likable, cultured chaps, nor do they portray Jewish soldiers as bloodthirsty rednecks, nor do they attempt some sort of post-ironic statement about al-Qaeda.

[Rainbow Dash]

blah blah blah it's a good movie

[Calamity Panfan]

taking a quentin tarantino film seriously is stupid

[Bomby]

But those other movies don't typically portray German soldiers as likable, cultured chaps, nor do they portray Jewish soldiers as bloodthirsty rednecks, nor do they attempt some sort of post-ironic statement about al-Qaeda.

None of the German soldiers in this film are likable. The only one who even seems the tiniest bit sympathetic turns out to be a creepy stalker. The Jewish soldiers are bloodthirsty, indeed, but they're pretty damn likable, and the only redneck isn't even Jewish at all, and...

You know what? **** this. Regardless of whatever political bent, the film is enjoyable and well-crafted. This debate has no merit in terms of the film's quality.

You're looking for an excuse to disown a film you haven't seen. Even if you ever do go see it, you will probably have already made up your mind to dislike it before the opening credits even start. I'd give you a serious debate but I'm afraid that I can't take you seriously.