Hot Toys - Inglourious Basterds

[uscmhicks]

I can see what your saying but I can't think of any scenes or parts of scenes that I would want pulling out personally.
Maybe the movie could have benefited by being a little longer.

 

[jmarch]

You do makes some good points. I do agree with you about not knowing who the film is actually about and that Christoph Waltz is absolutely amazing. I am hoping he can win for Best Supporting Actor.

I have to agree with minivader. I believe the film is WAY overrated. it has a lot of things going for it. It's beautifully shot. There are some really strong performances; some AMAZING dialogue. If you isolate each scene on it's own, they play brilliantly. However, when you see one long conversation after another cut together, it becomes monotonous. Tarantino has always had this problem. He loves to hear the sound of his words so much, that he doesn't know when to edit. Just look at Bill's speech at the end of Kill Bill 2!

Christoph Waltz is absolutely amazing as Hans Landa, but it's not his film. Actually it's hard to figure out who the film is actually about.

If I heard this film as a radio play in several parts, I think it would actually work really well.

Having said all that, I still bought the film on blu ray just so I could skip to my favorite parts

Oh, and I will be buying the Aldo figure if it ever see the light of day.

 

[Cap'n Cook]

Honestly I think Tarantino's strongest point is in his talking scenes and usually the most boring scenes are the ones with action.
All of my memorable scenes from this movie are of ones talking , the first being my favorite.

Completely agree.

He is a master of suspense and his 'talking scenes show this off. It is not about the action, but the build up to the action.

 

[IrishJedi]

Honestly I think Tarantino's strongest point is in his talking scenes and usually the most boring scenes are the ones with action.
All of my memorable scenes from this movie are of ones talking , the first being my favorite.

Agreed. Some people just do not have the attention span to appreciate the sublime.

 

[Shai]

agreed. Some people just do not have the attention span to appreciate the sublime.

yep, those idiots enjoying transformers and avatar will never know what a masterpiece of a movie inglorious b. Was.

 

[Darren Carnall]

what about those of us who enjoyed inglourious *and* Avatar.... lol

 

[Ultramanimator]

I can see what your saying but I can't think of any scenes or parts of scenes that I would want pulling out personally.
Maybe the movie could have benefited by being a little longer.

It's not so much a suggestion of pulling things out as it would be trimming things down. I think suspense is created when in contrast with other scenes. If you pace every scene the same, as I feel Tarantino does in IG, it loses some of it's impact. Things are dragged out endlessly with very similar "punchlines".

Hitchcock is THE master of suspense. He knew that dialogue was important, but that it required economy. He also had no problem creating suspense without dialogue, a skill that Tarantino may never acquire.

 

[Ultramanimator]

Agreed. Some people just do not have the attention span to appreciate the sublime.

I have a great attention span, but IG is FAR from sublime in my opinion.

There's a fine line between suspense and monotony.

And to bring it back to the discussion of toys, the wait for Aldo is going from suspenseful to monotonous. Maybe it's a tribute to the spirit pf the film

 

[Voorhees27]

Hitchcock is THE master of suspense. He knew that dialogue was important, but that it required economy. He also had no problem creating suspense without dialogue, a skill that Tarantino may never acquire.

I think Directors like John Carpenter really understood Hitchcock's technique. Still however, I don't see Tarantino as a director of suspense as much as he is a "Dialogue" film maker.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Ultramanimator]

I think Directors like John Carpenter really understood Hitchcock's technique. Still however, I don't see Tarantino as a director of suspense as much as he is a "Dialogue" film maker.

Just my 2 cents.

Carpenter is a great example. I just watched The Thing yesterday. Amazing, and underrated, film.

 

[uscmhicks]

Tarantino has always been known for having a unique style and I think its the way he paces things along with as you say his talking scenes that somehow always seem to stay interesting and unpredictable. I think Inglorious Basterds was well paced being honest and I would have guessed Tarantino even if you would have taken out the soundtrack , chapters and Samuel.L.Jackson .

I thought this movie was great and it kept me glued personally. If there was one thing I had to complain about though I would agree it didn't seem to focus on any one person or group but then again that didn't bother me much.

 

[Ultramanimator]

Tarantino has always been known for having a unique style and I think its the way he paces things along with as you say his talking scenes that somehow always seem to stay interesting and unpredictable. I think Inglorious Basterds was well paced being honest and I would have guessed Tarantino even if you would have taken out the soundtrack , chapters and Samuel.L.Jackson .

I thought this movie was great and it kept me glued personally. If there was one thing I had to complain about though I would agree it didn't seem to focus on any one person or group but then again that didn't bother me much.

See, I thought it's lack of focus is exactly what made it monotonous (for me). Each sequence had a pay off (usually a great one), but the whole film didn't pay off for me.

Again, I feel that some of the scenes in the film are absolutely brilliant. The opening with Landa and the tavern seq. are both amazing. However, I've had a slice of really amazing pie before. I just don't want to eat the whole pie at once. That's just my opinion

 

[uscmhicks]

However, I've had a slice of really amazing pie before. I just don't want to eat the whole pie at once. That's just my opinion

That sounded like something out of a Tarantino movie all by itself.

 

[Ultramanimator]

That sounded like something out of a Tarantino movie all by itself.

I'll take that as a compliment

 

[minivader]

I have to agree with minivader. I believe the film is WAY overrated. it has a lot of things going for it. It's beautifully shot. There are some really strong performances; some AMAZING dialogue. If you isolate each scene on it's own, they play brilliantly. However, when you see one long conversation after another cut together, it becomes monotonous. Tarantino has always had this problem. He loves to hear the sound of his words so much, that he doesn't know when to edit. Just look at Bill's speech at the end of Kill Bill 2!

Christoph Waltz is absolutely amazing as Hans Landa, but it's not his film. Actually it's hard to figure out who the film is actually about.

If I heard this film as a radio play in several parts, I think it would actually work really well.

Having said all that, I still bought the film on blu ray just so I could skip to my favorite parts

Oh, and I will be buying the Aldo figure if it ever see the light of day.

this is pretty much how I felt as I was watching the movie. A lot of amazing scenes thru out the movie, but nothing really glue them all together to make an amazing film. Taratino has made some of the best movies I have ever seen, and I give him kudos for sticking to his vision and style in a tough industry where most movies are just the same rehash of things done before. But not all his movies are great. And IB just didn't do it for me. The first 40 minutes were awesome, after that I just find the movie flat.

 

[Hydeous]

this is pretty much how I felt as I was watching the movie. A lot of amazing scenes thru out the movie, but nothing really glue them all together to make an amazing film. Taratino has made some of the best movies I have ever seen, and I give him kudos for sticking to his vision and style in a tough industry where most movies are just the same rehash of things done before. But not all his movies are great. And IB just didn't do it for me. The first 40 minutes were awesome, after that I just find the movie flat.

I couldnt agree more, mate.

And I thought I was the only one.

But nevertheless, I'm picking this one up from HT. Whenever they decide to release him, that is.

 

[Entropy]

The complaints I've heard about IB are actually some of it's greatest strengths and keep it from only being a masturbatory, WW2 Kill Bill revenge fantasy. But of course that is what a lot of the Groundlings wanted. I think a lot of people went into it expecting one thing, myself included, and were surprised by what they got, and that registered as "flat" or "slow" or "unfocused".

 

[superado]

Yeah, when is HT coming out with these dang figures? Maybe they're waiting for the Oscars to make sure on their bankability.

Inglorious Basterds was definitely made for guys like us who grew up watching a lot of action movie reruns on prime time TV before these movies ended up exclusively on Turner Movie Classic. I think the genius of IB is how Tarantino took key iconic elements from cult WWII/espionage movies that he (and many of us) grew up with, and reinterpreted them in his own style. Sometimes he paid homage to certain things in a subtle way (such as casting or making up actors who do not resemble the historical personalities they are playing, e.g., Hitler), or despite the fantastical framework of the movie, logically working out some overlooked premises in those older movies (Clint Eastwood as an Alpenkorp officer walking past a German sentry while speaking in an American drawl).

Another example is the beginning with the French farmer, in which I believe Tarantino purposefully exploited the viewers' familiarity with the gritty, unfaltering resolve of quiet, unshaven Partisan-types, only to surprise us with this effete, Felix Unger type, milk-drinking Nazi owning this guy. Then there's Tarantino taking an absurd thriller movie element and making it even more absurd, comparing Alec Baldwin in Hunt for the Red October, whose character was a historian who was an expert in the Russian sub captain being hunted down, with the IB plot about German film propaganda and the British officer (doing a Sean Connery from A Bridge Too Far) who happened to be a critic and scholar of German cinema and who wrote two books on the subject.

My favorite part, however, is how Tarantino took his trademark extraneous and jittery dialog sequence a few levels higher by executing the buildup of tension in the playing of a parlor game...in German! ...this, as if it were all very casual and conversational, at least to a non-German speaker like me; yet, the foil in that scene again was another action film staple of how an imposter is tripped by an obscure cultural nuance that the crafty enemy catches on to (Where Eagles Dare and The Great Escape). Of course, this is old hat for Tarantino; just see his episode in “Four Rooms” about the cigarette lighter wager.

If Tarantino listed making a WWII movie on his list of things to do before he dies, Inglourious Basterds was it, and not just any WWII movie, like for example “Miracle at St. Anna,” but an outstanding showcase of the most iconic WWII movies. It’s for this reason that IB would not fully appeal as a “linear” movie to anyone else who is not a fan of these older movies, making it the most niched film Tarantino has made IMO and all the more remarkable considering its success so far.

 

[Ultramanimator]

The complaints I've heard about IB are actually some of it's greatest strengths and keep it from only being a masturbatory, WW2 Kill Bill revenge fantasy. But of course that is what a lot of the Groundlings wanted. I think a lot of people went into it expecting one thing, myself included, and were surprised by what they got, and that registered as "flat" or "slow" or "unfocused".

I've seen all of Tarantino's films and went into the film knowing it wouldn't be an action film.

I think it was extremely masturbatory. Instead of gunshots, he used words.

And in the end, it really was just a revenge fantasy. Just because there's 2 hours of dialogue between the beginning and end (some of it brilliant) doesn't it make it high art.

Again, with some restraint, it could've been a masterpiece. I think Tarantino's stylistic choices are his greatest strength/weakness. Did we really need Sam Jackson narrating flashbacks? Or flashy 70's fonts?

But then again, I don't know anyone who would have the guts to go all the way with the "Hitler resolution".

 

[Mr.Enigma]

Again, with some restraint, it could've been a masterpiece. I think Tarantino's stylistic choices are his greatest strength/weakness. Did we really need Sam Jackson narrating flashbacks? Or flashy 70's fonts?

You can never have enough Samuel L. Jackson.