Essential Tarantino

Rating: 10/10 (16 February 2010)

It's kinda hard to describe Inglourious Basterds if you don't understand what makes a Quentin Tarantino movie because that's essentially what it is. It looks like a war movie, or a Brad Pitt vehicle, but after watching it, you know it doesn't fit into either mold.
Tarantino is... irreverent yet worshipful. His movies tribute the most obscure of classics, or "classics," but with his own unique spin. There is a lot of violence but those scenes don't have the gratuitous feel like they're there to provide cheap thrills. Rather, they're always creative and often with a good suspenseful build-up and infused with his twisted and wicked sense of humor, and all quite exhilarating to watch.
Basterds was mesmerizing in just about every way. Set in WWII, it plays like a WWII action drama, though the story is offbeat enough for you to soon realize that it's not. It's a fascinating tale that's brought to life by diverse talented actors from the US and EU and filmed in gorgeous locations around Germany and France. And though I was captivated by the movie enough to not have spent any time wondering about how it would end, it was still a doozy of an ending (that pretty much confirms that it's not historically accurate).
PS I wish the deleted scenes featuring Maggie Cheung would surface!