INGLORIOUS BASTERDS

Sunday, what better day to head to the theater for two and half hours and see what Quentin Tarantino is cooking up in his new movie, Inglorious Basterds. This film killed it at Cannes so I figure I would give it a go. Not that I wasn't going to see it, but I do have quite the love/hate relationship with Tarantino's movies.

So with my popcorn and Coke Zero (per usual, Dan Vogel's "Ultimate Movie Goer" definition), I hit up the 12 noon show. P.s.- great previews for Chris Nolan's hush-hush Inception with Leo DiCaprio, plus an Avatar and Wolf Man trailer. From the get-go, there was no question that this was a Tarantino film. His usage of long-winded conversation scenes played well against the ridiculously violent and bloody shots we have come to love/expect. Brad Pitt was hilarious as Lt. Aldo Raine. Definitely worth while to see the movie purely for his take on the Nazi-killing, Moonshine brewing Leader of the Basterds.

Two guys that I was pleasantly surprised by were Basterd Eli Roth and Nazi Christoph Waltz. I am not a fan of Roth's movie Hostel, but he definitely did a decent job acting. Particularly the rage/intensity in his eyes when he swings for the fences with weapon of choice, a baseball bat. Christoph Waltz's character is one people will surely love to hate. As main Nazi, he makes it pretty easy to hate his guts. The opening scene does a hell of a job setting up his character and "WHY" he does the things he does.

One aspect of the film that I liked was that everyone has an personality and their "nicknames" play to those ego's. Most of the characters are known for one thing or another (see Raine's Apache and Roth's Bear).

Tarantino has a way of sensationalizing and dramatizing the coolest and oddest things. There is a shot of a cigarette flying through the air that I particularly enjoyed. Plus, the movie's climax will not disappoint either. It is no doubt his Symphony of Violence. Artistically speaking, it is as visually poetic as it comes (again, see Roth's face). Where some of Tarantino's movies have real odd story lines, this film is pretty straight forward. There were some times where I wasn't sure what was going to happen next, even to the point that I found myself expecting crazy to occur. The natural progression complimented the story. Additionally, tt was cool to see, rather hear, Tarantino Alums Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel make brief cameos.

I didn't want to give anything away(in case you were expecting spoilers or in-depth plot summary) but I really did enjoy this movie. You will root for the good guys and won't like the bad guys. I found myself actually feeling for some of these characters. Like Sam Jackson and Travolta's characters in Pulp Fiction, it proves once again that Tarantino has a knack for developing personalities that you will remember long after you remember what the movie was about. I still have no idea what Pulp Fiction was about.

You won't see a non-stop actioner (Kill Bill Vol. I) but you won't be bored to tears with all the dialogue (Kill Bill Vol. II). Finally, you may find yourself squinting your eyes at a few of the blood driven scenes, especially the end!

Verdict: A "Must See."