John’s Movie Musings

I can’t talk about Inglorious Basterds without spoiling everything for you.  Fortunately, this is a Tarantino flick, so you already know if you want to see it.  Quentin has carved out a genre all to himself and certain things are to be expected.  Either you like those things, or you don’t.  Inglorious Basterds will delightfully complete your checklist, but won’t change your opinion of him.

Tarantino likes to rant.  He’s like Andy Rooney with a sugar high…and tourettes.  Inevitably, his rants end up in his movies.  Or at least a portion of them do.  I shudder at what doesn’t make film.  All I’m sayin’ is keep the man away from Twitter.  Here, there’s an inglorious rant, but it’s not quite as good as the others.  It is delivered to perfection, however.

Which brings me to Tarantino’s casting choices.  I don’t know how he does it, but every single movie of his is brilliantly cast.  Basterds is no exception.  Brad Pitt leads the charge with director Eli Roth as his number two.  Roth does an adequate job, but the real highlight is German actor Christoph Waltz.  He plays the villain (well, the villain that’s not Hitler) and puts on a fantastic performance.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of him in American movies. At least I hope to see him again.

Inglorious Basterds fits perfectly in your Tarantino collection.  It’s not as good as Pulp Fiction (what is?), but it’s about on par with Kill Bill.  Dialog is great and funny when it needs to be.  The violence is sudden and surprising.  And the plot is satisfactorily random.  What more can you ask for?

Grade: B+