#1 being by Roger Moore, the Orlando Sentinels "Movie Reviewer". Read the article here if you'd like (I wouldn't give him the hits if I were you, but if you do, please write a comment on the bottom telling him he is worthless): http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/orl-movie-review-inglourious-basterds,0,4336375.story
So, Roger Moore. I don't know who this guy is and I don't really care. The only reason I read the review was because Jim Phillips (local Orlando talk radio guy) said that he read a bunch of bad reviews about the movie and mentioned Roger. I had not heard a single bad word about this movie from people on twitter and elsewhere.
Roger starts out his "review" by saying "Hollywood's two most indulged enfant terrible filmmakers have now made the worst two World War II movies of this millennium. With Inglourious Basterds Quentin Tarantino has topped Spike Lee ( Miracle at St. Anna) in awfulness".
Alright, so Roger just doesn't like Quentin Tarantino. Once I read that, I realized this guy was worthless and hated the movie before he even saw it. He obviously just doesn't like Quentin's work and that is fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion (including me). But to start a review by letting everyone know that you think the filmmaker is terrible, is just stupid. He also went ahead and gave the movie 1 out of 5 stars which is so ridiculous it made me laugh. There are very few movies that deserve 1 out of 5 stars. Romy and Michelles High School Reunion and Step Brothers to name a few off the top of my head.
Bottom line, Roger Moore is one of those guys who hates movies that everyone else loves and loves movies that everyone else hates. Maybe that is his schtick. All I know is that I will never read another review by him personally, ever and either should you.
Rotten Tomatoes gave it great reviews. If you look at Yahoo Movies which throws together all of the professional Movie Reviews, its lowest score was a C+ by the New York Times. Everyone else gave it an A or A-. Regular movie watchers gave the movie a B+ overall.
So Roger Moore....you are an idiot.
Anyway, here's what I thought:
Quentin Tarantino has written a slew of fucking amazing movies. Starting with Reservoir Dogs (AMAZEBALLS) then Pulp Fiction, Natural Born Killers, Four Rooms, From Dusk Till Dawn, Jackie Brown and Kill Bill 1 and 2. I have seen all of these movies and thought they were excellent. I never saw Grindhouse, but will watch it soon. Quentin Tarantino is known for pushing the limits creatively and has a signature style when it comes to blood and gore. Some people think he's too violent and a little off kilter, but what great filmmaker isn't? I like a movie that I remember and I remember Quentins films.
Quickly, here is a summary of what the movie is about: In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis.
I will say that about 85% of this movie is in subtitles. It didn't take anything away from the movie however so don't skip it because you think it will be hard to keep up with. I also had no idea that this was a remake of a 1978 movie..nor do I care. It's obvious that Quentin made it his own. It has the same style that you expect from his films and doesn't disappoint. The story isn't meant to be seen as a historically accurate portrayal of France during WWII, but it does follow the notion that everything that happened during that time was bullshit insane. It is gory in some parts but nowhere near his previous films.
From the get go, the actor that plays Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) blew me away. In short, this is the guy that hunts jews and has a reputation of being a smarmy prick. He plays it to a TEE. Every single word out of his mouth is gold. He stole the show in my eyes, even against Brad Pitt.
So Brad Pitt, he is delicious in this as he is in all of his movies. He plays Aldo Raine who is the leader of the "basterds". Although I don't really think Brad Pitt has much range as an actor, I enjoy all of his movies. He did a great job in this. I also enjoyed Eli Roth as the "Bear Jew" who would beat Nazi's to death with a baseball bat. BJ Novak who you might know from The Office is also a "Basterd". Mike Myers has a cameo that I didn't really get the point of but whatever. OVERALL, the acting was excellent by everyone involved.
One thing I wanted to mention was the soundtrack. It is slick and insane and right on point. Also, there are excellent montages done about some of the characters (Hugo Stiglitz being my favorite). I laughed at a few points and cringed at a few of the more gory scenes but the dialogue was impeccable and kept your attention (even though a majority of it is spoken in German and French).
In conclusion, I'd pretty much recommend this movie to anyone. It's worth the $9. It's 2 in a half hours long, but didn't feel like it at all. I would see this again and if I purchased DVD's (which I do not) I would add it to my collection.
Suck it Roger Moore.
I give it 4 out of 5 bloody baseball bats.
