| Spoilers, ho!
So, I've been to the movies three times in the last week. I saw District 9 today and I've seen Inglourious Basterds twice. District 9 was excellent, although I regret that I'm not as familiar as I'd like (in the educated sense, anyway...) with apartheid to understand all of the subtext. I loved the documentary style that the film drifted in and out of, as well as the overall gritty feel. Thanks to Johnnie's LJ post as well for clarifying that Nigerians are not, in fact, all bloodthirsty cannibalistic militiamen because, while watching it, I started to wonder just how far the truth had been stretched for that one.
Inglourious Basterds, however, is probably my new favorite movie of 2009--just barely surpassing Star Trek, which I thought was silly and great fun. Good golly. Anything I say has already been said by people far more experienced at film critique than I, but I will say that what I LOVE about this film is how Tarantino takes World War II, mashes it with the spaghetti western (complete with music by Ennio Morricone) and adds his own flair for dialogue. Everything about this movie oozes spaghetti western. The music, the close-up shots...I'm sure even some of the plot holes, such as the film not explaining how The Little Man gets arrested and winds up in the final moments with Aldo, were completely intentional. In addition to the spaghetti western element, though, every performance in the movie was excellent (INCLUDING Brad Pitt's one note Tennessee-born Col. Hogan act....it was fantastic BECAUSE it was so over the top). The serious moments were lovingly directed, especially the sequence where Shosanna and Frederick Zoller kill each other in the fifth act as Marcel lights the enormous pile of film. Simply stunning. Then, there's the film's over the top sense of black humor--look for a visual nod to Little House on the Prairie when Shosanna is running from Hans Landa at the beginning and when the scene is repeated later in the film--which reminds me a lot of Pulp Fiction's similar quality. So yeah... I loved this movie. It isn't for everyone, though. There's some pretty ridiculous, over-the-top violence including scalping and a brutal baseball bat scene as well as a graphic, though skin-free and mercifully brief, sex scene featuring Joseph Goebbels and his mistress. So yeah. I give it a 9 out of 10. It ain't perfect, but I enjoyed it.
And now, a public service announcement:
If you're elderly and looking for a good, patriotic World War II film...please don't go see Inglourious Basterds.
If you're a child, please don't go see Inglourious Basterds.
If you're overly sensitive and not in on the fact that this movie is, in fact, one big goof...please don't go see Inglourious Basterds.
During the viewing yesterday, I saw at least three kids (aged maybe 10 to 13), a bunch of elderly couples who walked out utterly perplexed, and a lady who walked out after the first act BAWLING hysterically. Educate yourself before going to the movies. Respect the Tarantino and all his name carries with it.
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