Great End-Of-Summer Movie (mild spoilers)

Rating: 9/10 (8 September 2009)

Had the fortune of seeing this the day after Labor day (furlough day) in an almost-empty theater. Loved the titles, the music, the storyline....Tarantino is already pretty well known for tense scenes but this movie is packed with them, and surprisingly less gore than expected, save for the last 10 minutes and the "scalping" scenes. One of the main action sequences the movie hinges on lasts only about 10 seconds of screen time, which gives the movie a great feeling of existing in real time, in the moment.
Great performances all around, especially Pitt (who seems to be playing a variation on his Thelma and Louise character) and Shoshona, the heroine and movie buff. By going against audience expectations (140 minutes of expletives and flying Nazi body parts), Tarantino creates one of his most fully imagined worlds yet. And I love the use of subtitles and the actors speaking primarily French or German (or bad Italian)- one of the characters even taunts the Americans for speaking only one language.
Entertaining completely. One of my favorite Tarantino movies, better than Jackie Brown, not quite as good as Pulp Fiction. A grower for sure.