[atsonicpark]

Symbol man, as a non-Tarantino (and a non-Kill Bill) fan for the most part, I must say that Basterds is actually pretty decent. It has really uncomfortable, awkward, weird changes of tone in it, especially in the first 30 minutes or so, that didn't sit well with me. It's messy. It takes a while to find its voice, but its nearly always an enjoyable mess. Inspired direction, a SOMEWHAT mature narrative, and some weird little touches (the guitar riff introducing one of the Basterds, for example) kept this movie feeling alive and fun, even with the grim tone. The star of this movie isn't Brad Pitt, it's Christoph Waltz, who hopefully will win plenty of awards for this role. He's just amazing. On the other hand, Eli Roth looks so out of place in this that it's ridiculous. He took me out of every scene where he had to speak. He was so bad. I mean, he was AWFUL. Embarassing. Almost ruined the movie... Wow... Anyway, it's nice how Tarantino casts "big" actors and he doesn't even devote screen time to them for some of the chapters (very Godardian; see Tout Va Bien with Jane Fonda...). Also, I like how about 80% of the dialogue is subtitled... it seems like Tarantino actually somewhat respects the intelligence of his audience. Or, perhaps, he just doesn't give a shit... Also, one conversation that goes on for a good 30 minutes was an example of just amazing writing and filmmaking and one of the most memorable scenes in recent mainstream cinema.. In fact, he often stretches some of the dialogue well past the breaking point. Also, the music, either by Morricone or by the best Morricone imitator in history (too lazy to look it up currently), is mindblowing, though it doesn't really fit some of the scenes. So, yeah, this definitely exceeded my expectations, and it didn't even feel like Tarantino at times, which is probably why it ended up being good.

I'm not a fan of war movies, or Tarantino, and I liked it, so hey.

I had to make a list of my favorite directors for an interview I did recently, so here it is, for anyone interested: Jean-Luc Godard, Damon Packard, Takeshi Kitano, James Fotopoulos, Jon Jost, Shuji Terayama, Toshio Matsumoto, Bella Tarr, Aki Kaurismaki, Jon Moritsugu, Ryan Trecartin, Alejandro Jodorowsky, George Kuchar, Derek Jarman, Ki-Duk Kim, Shinya Tsukamoto, Giuseppe Andrews, Stan Brakhage.. and the Coens.