Anybody see Inglourious Basterds?

[Sinewav]

Caught the midnight showing, and I have to say that I enjoyed it very much. Not exactly what I was expecting based on the trailers, and by no means Tarantino's best work, but it was still very good. Acting was great too; in particular, I thought Pitt, Waltz, and Laurnet were excellent.

[Alexis]

Haven't seen it yet, but I plan to! I've been excited about this ever since I saw previews.

[Sinewav]

Well, I'll warn you that I found the trailers to be a bit misleading. I got the impression that there was going to be lots of action, but instead it was really more of a drama/thriller type deal. Still very well done, but not what I expected from the previews at all... though the commanding officer of the basterds is just as awesome/hilarious as he sounds, and then some.

[big giant circles]

No, but I will. Looks awesome.

[JCvgluvr]

I saw the midnight showing as well. I loved the IB's leader, and the "Jew Hunter." Everyone else was pretty good. The action was brutal and engaging, and the movie also had this whole "tense" thing going for it.

But holy freaking crap, the dialogue scenes dragged on and on and on and...so forth. Unfortunately, It took 10 minutes for the beginning scene to become interesting. It was probably the biggest disappointment, for me.

Still, this movie had other things going for it, like symbolism, for instance. The milk, the character portrayals, the fire and smoke at the end (won't say anymore than that), it was all pretty good, and I'm sure I missed a whole bunch more.

I only have one other thing to say about this movie.

Hugo Stiglitz.

[Lotd2242]

It was fun, and leaves no doubt that it is a Tarantino movie.

[Kenobio]

Saw it, loved it.

Opening scene and the bar scene were my favorites. Superb acting, particularly from Mr. Jew Hunter (Christoph Waltz, best actor winner at Cannes for his role).

Man, and how about those new trailers? Although just a teaser, Inception looks craaaazy. Can't wait!

[ambient]

I was expecting this to be a flashy Tarantino movie, but in the end it was just too boring. Sure, certain characters were great, and a couple of scenes were well executed, but overall I was very underwhelmed. Not going to watch it again.

[Strike911]

I highly enjoyed the movie.

That said, I felt like some of the scenes did run long, but then again, it is Tarantino. I too felt like the trailer had more of an action vibe to it, but I still REALLY enjoyed the suspenseful situations.

There were some really great characters on all sides of the film and the latter half really shined. Christoph Waltz as Landa was probably one of my favorite characters ever.

[JJT]

Saw it last night.

Christopher Walz made this movie worth it. Wish we would've spent a little more time with the bastards and learned a little more about the British soldier's back story.

[Alexis]

Yeah. This movie is pretty good. You should go see it.

Although, the previews made the movie look like it'd be Brad Pitt and his basterds against the Nazi's the whole time, which it absolutely was not. Nor was it as action filled as I expected. And for a Tarantino movie, it wasn't that bloody either. But it still turned out to be pretty good!

That said, I felt like some of the scenes did run long, but then again, it is Tarantino. I too felt like the trailer had more of an action vibe to it, but I still REALLY enjoyed the suspenseful situations.

Agreed. About halfway through that bar scene, I started wondering how long this scene had been going on for. Then it just kept going. I might have to go back to see it just cause I'm curious how long that scene went on for.

Also, a really fun part of the movie was when Mike Myers came on the screen. About half the audience, including myself, realized it was him right away. The rest of the audience gradually figured it out through the scene. It was entertaining to hear people who just figured out that it was him.

[Brandon Strader]

Yeah. This movie is pretty good. You should go see it.

Although, the previews made the movie look like it'd be Brad Pitt and his basterds against the Nazi's the whole time, which it absolutely was not. Nor was it as action filled as I expected. And for a Tarantino movie, it wasn't that bloody either. But it still turned out to be pretty good!

Agreed. About halfway through that bar scene, I started wondering how long this scene had been going on for. Then it just kept going. I might have to go back to see it just cause I'm curious how long that scene went on for.

Also, a really fun part of the movie was when Mike Myers came on the screen. About half the audience, including myself, realized it was him right away. The rest of the audience gradually figured it out through the scene. It was entertaining to hear people who just figured out that it was him.

I haven't seen it yet. Ass!

[Alexis]

I haven't seen it yet. Ass!

Go see the movie and explain to me how I ruined it for you. I didn't post anything to spoil it. I think I said less about the actual movie itself than the trailers did.

[Kenobio]

yeah, the mike myers cameo is even gloriously noted in the opening credits

[Kenobio]

He's this guy in the link:

http://www.sawf.org/Newsphotos/Hollywood/Inglourious_Basterds_Still.jpg

Don't really want to give anything away, but his role is pretty small (but amusing).

Edit: Damn, responded to a spambot. This post is pretty unnecessary now.

[djpretzel]

Huge threadbump action, I know, but I *finally* saw this yesterday - surprising given that I'm a huge Tarantino fan.

My verdict is that... I need to see it again. It certainly didn't hit me like the Kill Bills, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, or even Death Proof did. In spite of a 2+ hour runtime, it actually felt kind of... short. I think a lot of folks are 110% correct in praising the film's suspenseful scenes as highlights - the opening scene and the scene in the bar are classics.

Now, the bad:

I know this sounds like nitpicking, but I'm VERY attuned to music in films. In Kill Bill, QT made each of the themes he used iconic to THAT film. To turn around and in his VERY NEXT FILM reuse at least two (maybe more) pieces of music... I just felt like I was watching Kill Bill except Brad Pitt was on the screen, hunting Nazis. I'm talking about the whistling, Western theme used on first introduction to the Basterds in the woods (also used in the buried alive, breaking-out-of-coffin scene in Kill Bill) as well as the piece with alternating hits and string falls, almost tango-ish, used in both films as well... forget the specific scene in Basterds, in KB it's Vol. I, in the tea house fight scene.

Ironically enough, I remember someone else making a similar critique of KB I think, saying it reused themes from other QT films, or that the reuse of music from other non-QT films was annoying. While it didn't bother me there, it did bother me here... maybe I've just seen the Kill Bills too many times.

Landa was an awesome character, very observant, calculating, and not without a sense of humor, sick and twisted though it may have been; given all this, his decision towards the end of the film to "make a deal" (I'll say no more) just seemed overly naive and deus ex machinistic.

Finally, let's talk symbolism and subtext: it wasn't very subtle. Much hoo-ha is made of directors, film, and hell, a theater is the final setting and film itself the weapon of choice. It practically deconstructs itself. Stylistically, the narrator device is employed very sparingly... I had this problem with Life is Beautiful, too: in my opinion, you either go with the narrator concept, or you don't, but if you only use it 2-3 times in an entire film, it feels a bit slapdash. Here, I would have dropped it entirely for more Landa screen time or backstory on the British dude, etc.

Just a few criticisms... I've got more, but I've also got more praise for the things done well. Like most QT stuff, I'll probably watch it a dozen more times, but the last line of the film, regarding the meta-label of "masterpiece" - I'm gonna say that, for me, PF, RD, and KB are all much better.