Strider posted a BLOG item
almost 4 years ago
[SIZE="4"][FONT="Trebuchet MS"][COLOR="blue"]2009 San Diego Comic-Con[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE="2"][FONT="Book Antiqua"]The film reviewed below was a special free advance screening for a fortunate group of Comic-Con attendees only.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT="Verdana"][SIZE="2"]Inglourious Basterds - 8/10 or ****/***** stars[/SIZE][/FONT]
Every year at the San Diego Comic-Con, there's always special advance screenings held in the Gaslamp area, but the nearly one-month-in-advance screening of Quentin Tarantino's highly anticipated sixth film Inglourious Basterds is easily the biggest screening (in my opinion) the Comic-Con has ever had.
It wasnt an easy task scoring tickets for this event (yes, this was an EVENT). The studio handed out 200 tickets to the first 200 people at a local San Diego coffee-and-tea house at 8:00 AM on the day of the screening. The night before, I arrived from the Con to my hotel room close to 3:00 AM, never went to sleep, got ready at 5:00 AM, left at 5:30 AM, and arrived at the coffee-and-tea house to wait in line at 6:00 AM. There were quite a few people already waiting in line, but I was the 117th Comic-Con attendee in line, so I knew I was going to receive a ticket. At 8:00 AM, we, the fortunate 200 Comic-Con attendees, received our "tickets" (they were actually bad-ass army dog tags, which had the name of the film, location, and time listed) and waited in great anticipation for the 8:00 PM screening.
Prior to the start of the screening, Eli Roth, who has a supporting role in the film, made a surprise appearance to introduce what we were about to see. Roth said we were the first American audience to see the film, and he also told us to "spread the word" if we thought the film was awesome and to "shut the fuck up" until the film opens if we thought the film sucked. He was very charismatic and funny, and he effectively pumped up the audience.
As for Inglourious Basterds itself, I don't want to say too much about the film, because I think movie-goers, film buffs, and QT fans should watch this film with the least amount of information humanly possible. You won't get any spoilers from me. In a nutshell, Inglourious Basterds is a blast from its amazing opening sequence, which slowly builds up into something intense, to its insane, satisfying conclusion, and it's also one of Tarantino's best cinematic efforts.
Releasing this film during the summer is a great move, because Inglourious Basterds, despite its graphic violence and moments of darkness, is the kind of film viewers will want to enjoy with a large bucket of popcorn and an ice-cold drink. I suppose I'm saying that Inglourious Basterds is a Tarantino-style "popcorn flick." One could argue Tarantino already made a "popcorn flick" with Death Proof, his half of the awesome, criminally overlooked Grindhouse, but his latest picture is longer, more entertaining, and superior.
Inglourious Basterds is Tarantino's take on World War II and the war genre, and it's outrageous, hilarious, violent, and utterly fantastical. If you decide to see the film once it's released, don't expect an orgy of action sequences, because they're few and far between. What you can expect is an orgy of dialogue, which should be great news for those who appreciate and love Tarantino's dialogue. After watching Inglourious Basterds, I've finally decided that there's no other director or scriptwriter that can write dialogue as brilliantly and cool as Tarantino himself.
Like most of Tarantino's pictures, Inglourious Basterds is an ensemble piece, and everyone delivers (including Eli Roth, who's surprisingly effective and amusing as one of the Jewish soldiers, thirsty for Nazi blood), but it's Christoph Waltz who steals the show from lead actor, top-billed Brad Pitt (he's great and obviously having a lot of fun here) and the entire cast as Hans Landa, a.k.a. "The Jew Hunter," a sinister, psychotic, yet super-intelligent and occasionally charming Nazi Colonel. Waltz is simply terrific, and if the Academy doesn't reward his work with a Best Supporting Actor nomination, it will be a crime. Along with Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, Uma Thurman and David Carradine in Kill Bill, and Tim Roth in Reservoir Dogs among others, Waltz delivers one the best performances featured in a Tarantino film.
Inglourious Basterds runs about 2 1/2 hours in length, but I never once felt the length, mostly because I was having so much fun. Inglourious Basterds isn't a film for everyone, but here's a question I must pose to you: what Tarantino film is for everyone? I sincerely hope Inglourious Basterds is well-received by a healthy number of movie-goers and film buffs alike, because it's worth your time and money. In conclusion, to hell with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, because the real cinematic event of the summer has finally arrived (correction: it may have "finally arrived" for me, but it's almost here for all of you).
Note: Id like to say I never wouldve found out about this semi-secret screening if not for the cool people behind Joblo.com, who reported that a screening for this film would be held this past Saturday evening at the Comic-Con.
Strider
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very well said .