Saturday, August 22, 2009
Inglorious Basterds
Although I liked Grindhouse and the Kill Bill movies I had no real desire to see Quinten Tarantino's new movie Inglorious Basterds. The previews just didn't make it look good to me. But I'm really glad I saw it. It was a great movie. It was such a clever idea to take a factual event (WWII) and put a fictional spin on it. Being a Tarantino movie I kept expecting something horrendous and gory to happen at any second and was pleasantly surprised at how so many of the scenes ultimately unfolded. I was on the edge of my seat throughout most of the movie. 
The acting was flawless too. At times poignant, at times frightening, at times funny. Brad Pitt was enjoyable but by far, the best performance belonged to German TV actor Christoph Waltz. I love when directors find a largely unknown, but obviously talented, actor to play such a pivitol role. They don't carry any baggage from previous roles and can really bring a realism to the part that someone you've seen before just can't. His portrayal of Col. Hans Landa (perhaps Tarantino's most fully realized character yet) was absolutely Oscar-worthy and if he doesn't get a nomination he'll be robbed. Definitely will be on my personal Top 10 for the year.
