A couple of great scenes and one great performance surrounded by indulgent nonsense

Rating: 2/10 (2 July 2015)

I tried 4 times to make it through this movie. 3 times I watched the captivating first scene, which is Tarantino at his best. This scene, wonderfully shot, paced and acted with rich homage to the classic films that inspired Tarantino, is one of the best set-ups for a story that I've ever seen.
But then the movie diverges into Tarantino's awkward, adolescent cocaine-edged ultraviolent fantasy world of cartoonish characters, exaggerated theatrics, lack of plot and supposedly justified violence and I just couldn't keep watching. It isn't that the violence bothers me so much (though I still have trouble understanding why people love to watch this kind of violence so much) as the utter pointlessness. 3 times I looked to see that there was still about 2 hours to go and just couldn't do it.
Last night I finally made it through the movie this time and for a couple of reasons am glad that I did. The "basement scene" was just as good as the opening scene with great acting, subtlety, twists and turns, great period sets, a patient and deliberate pacing that you just don't see in modern movies, and really just great cinema and story telling. The end of this scene spoiled it slightly for me, I just don't know why Tarantino has to always resolve tension with some ridiculous over-the-top violence, but still worthwhile viewing.
The other bright spot was Christoph Waltz, who kept turning in a "who is this guy?" performance. Exhibiting charm, great acting chops, and moving the story along he was a pleasure to watch. Later in the movie when he suddenly broke into fluent Italian I almost fell off the couch and now am a major fan of his.
But the rest of the movie was just barely watchable. Re-writing an alternate version of some of the best-known events in history is ridiculous to begin with, but to write it in a way that completely lacks logic or adherence to any believable actions is beyond stupid. He could have at least made an interesting plot of it. It assumes the audience is ignorant of the events and their consequences and impacts on millions of people worldwide.
Indeed it must be ignorance and stupidity that rates this film among the best of all time. I can only imagine young, ignorant, bloodthirsty Tarantio fans drinking up the violence and cheeky on-liners and rushing to IMDb to pay homage to their only favorite director. Tarantino could create great movies if he'd just grow up a little.