Inglorious Basterds was not the movie I was expecting.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

I was expecting a violent action movie puncuated by moments of cheesy dialogue. Like Kill Bill.

Instead, I got a movie with lots of fascinating, suspenseful dialogue punctuated with moments of violent action. Like Jackie Brown. For example, there's the scene where Pitt is describing the mission to the recruits, you saw it in the previews. Then it just cuts straight away to scenes where they've already been performing the mission for some time. In another movie, there'd be this long extended sequence, probably a musical montage, where they get on planes, and the planes take off, and the planes fly over France, and they jump out, and they land, and they stow away their parachutes, etc. All that's unnecessary, the audience is perfectly capable of imagining it. So such scenes don't exist.

I particularly enjoyed the German film criticism, especially the scene with Winston Churchill. He's only got three lines, but the best three lines in the film.

Other comments:

The only downside was the score. Tarantino's got the best ear for music in Hollywood. And while this was still probably the best score in the last year of films, a lot of it was retreading from Kill Bill.

The suspenseful scene in the tavern was fantastic. You know what's coming before the scene even starts, but it's a lot of fun to watch how it gets there. This sort of dialogue hasn't been at this level since Hitchcock.

I appreciate the imitation of Leone in the opening shot. It's the introduction to "The Bad" scene in The Good The Bad and The Ugly. If you're going to imitate filmmakers, imitate the best.

Great bad guy. The bit where he couldn't help himself over the "mountain climbing" bit was great.

[TK421]

1. I started watching it...and just found it boring! I turned it off

and played Silent Hill 2 on my PS2

[Fleshdancer]

2. I really liked it

and I couldn't help but laugh at the very end because people in the audience actually applauded.

[madrchsod]

3. a very good movie...

[arcadian]

4. The bar scene was intense.

Not the shoot 'em up, but the back and forth leading up to the shoot em up.

[Forkboy]

5. I thought it was his best since Pulp Fiction.

I never got that into either Kill Bill movie.

[mcctatas]

6. I went to see it on a first date

I loved it. My date said that any woman who can sit through more than one scalping was the girl of his dreams, 5 months later we are still together :P

[Initech]

7. One of the best movies of 2009, IMO.

I saw it in the theater and was really impressed with QT's take on it.

[kedrys]

8. I just bought it on DVD as a holiday present, sight unseen

The previews are hilarious, and the reviews are stellar. I look forward to watching it tomorrow. :)

[Iggo]

9. You saw the same movie I saw.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=210x29701#29981

[NNadir]

10. I have never seen a coherent Tarantino film.

Of course, I've never actually watched one from start to finish, since most of them make me nostalgic for being in a coma, so I switch them off.

[BlueJazz]

11. Loved it and the German Actor..Christoph Waltz ...is superb.

[Orrex]

13. I heard an interview with Tarentino on NPR's Fresh Air when the film came out

He praised all of the German actors who auditioned for the role, but he said that, of all of them, only Waltz was able to get the dialogue's cadence right.

Can't wait to see it!

[BlueJazz]

14. The first 15-20 minutes of the film is a study in how a Great Actor works

It's just so damn cool! :)

[JimGinPA]

12. I Liked It - Except For The Ending...

To me it turned a pretty good movie into a joke.

[dysfunctional press]

15. when we saw it at the theatre, i developed a migraine before it started...

but i didn't say anything so that my wife could watch the movie, as she had been looking forward to it...so i just sat there like i had an axe in my skull, and later couldn't remember anything except for the very last scene with brad pitt and the guy from the office.

so i rented it.

i thought that it was just okay.

i definitely enjoyed both kill bill films better. and pulp fiction, obviously. it's been awhile since i saw jackie brown- but i think i preferred it as well.
basterds was definitely better than death race, though.

my wife has an interesting quentin tarrantino story, in that her cousin's housemate owned the video store where quentin worked, and he basically crashed on the couch watching/critiquing/talking movies whenever he wasn't working, until they eventually convinced him to write his own.

[PaddyBlueEyes]

16. It was so good

I bought it on dvd for a xmas present...