Sadly, I've been avoiding blogging for a month now.  I'm in mourning for the camera I lost during the VERY LAST HOUR I spent at Comic-Con this year...and with it all the pictures I took to blog about the interesting things I learned, esp the underground fan insanity over the Brit Com "The Mighty Boosh"...I will recover eventually, and I vow to blog about just what makes people mad for The Mighty Boosh, but tonight I'm getting back in the blogging saddle with this review of Inglorious Basterds.

Here's the Official Trailer for Inglorious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's bizarre take on WWII.  For reasons only marketing execs know, the "official trailer" features the film's weakest link: Brad Pitt as Aldo Raine, a U.S. soldier inspired to ghoolish violence by Apache Indian guerrilla warfare.

(True geeks will enjoy this Mario Brother's fan take on the trailer: "Inglorious Plummers").

The "Official Trailer" for Inglorious Basterds sez: "You haven't seen war until you've seen it through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino"...

Okay, well I'm assuming that doesn't apply to anyone who's actually seen war.  But if you (like Tarantino) have never been anywhere near war, you might enjoy this romp through genocide, torture, and the kinda chicks who populate the fantasies of seven-year-old boys (indulge your pre-pubescent fantasies along with Tarantino here).

But don't let reality stop you!  War is fun...in a movie theater!

What the "Official Trailer" doesn't show you is the one reason to see this flick:

Sexy Christoph Waltz!  Waltz plays evil Nazi Hans Landa, the "Jew Hunter".  Walz was so evil and delicious as Landa he won "Best Actor" at Cannes this year.  I know, right?  Just when you want to stick a fork in Tarantino, he casts yet another overlooked genius for us to drool over and fall in love with!  Dayum, Waltz is cute!

The film's "Official Trailer #2" actually does include Waltz...for a few seconds, anyway (spot him at 2:08...after highlights of Brad Pitt and Mike Myers, neither of whom will be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2010).

Plot: In this energetic, revisionist take on WWII, Nazis terrorizing France face pissed off Jews and crazy U.S. soldiers convinced they can outsmart the "Nah-zis" with white dinner jackets.  Vendetta-ridden violence and film premier chicanery ensues.
To Its Credit: Written and Directed by Tarantino (who earned a Palme d'Or nom for the film at Cannes); Cinematographer Robert Richardson (Oscar-winner for The Aviator); Lots of nice work by a fine cast of actors from around the world who you've never heard of.
Pluses: Great suspense scenes in classic Tarantino style with amazing actors beautifully reciting realistic dialog as the chilling threat of impending violence looms in the distance.
Minuses: Brad Pitt in yet another forgettable performance (and that's sayin' something); Lots of graphic violence only comic book fans will enjoy; Mostly subtitled, a wonderful choice by Tarantino that might annoy some viewers.
You'll Like This Film If You Liked: Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2, Reanimator, Grindhouse, The Dirty Dozen, South Park.
I Say: Wait to see it on DVD.  In the meantime run out and rent Jackie Brown!

After watching Inglorious Basterds in the theater, I spent a weekend curled up with a bunch of other flicks featuring great actors and stylized violence (Thanks, Tommy B!), including Pulp Fiction (Tarantino's Oscar winner!) Layer Cake (Daniel Craig before Bond!), and RocknRolla (Guy Ritchie post Madonna!).

All fine films, but the best by far was Tarantino's 1997 flick Jackie Brown.  Great acting, sassy storytelling, and a plot that will have you chewing your fingernails to the nubs in the last 10 minutes.  Co-starring Robert Forster (in his Oscar-nominated role), Samuel L. Jackson, Robert De Niro, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, and even Chris Tucker!  One of my favorite films of all time.

If you're a fan of Tarantino, Pam Grier, Elmore Leonard, Blaxplotation, R&B, crime novels, or the 70's, turn on the DVD's "enhanced trivia" subtitle track and treat yourself to a second viewing.  You can argue (and Tarantino will admit) that everything he does is derivative, but the fascinating background tidbits on the "trivia track" of Jackie Brown will make you admire the thoughtful lengths Tarantino goes to in his films to honor his beloved inspirations...not the least of which is adapting Elmore Leonard's "Rum Punch" for a black female lead, just so he could cast his life-long love, Pam Grier.

In my book, by casting Pam Grier as "Jackie Brown", Tarantino made up for all his sins against women...and gave us one of the world's greatest go, go, go - suckah! gals of all time!  Boo-yah!

Tarantino's tribute to 70's films and Pam Grier's badass blaxploitation films: Tarantino's LAX opening credit sequence for Jackie Brown (under Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Street")