Astounding performances

Rating: 10/10 (29 August 2009)

Austrian Christoph Waltz' menacing performance ranks among the top 5 of any actor I've ever seen (anyone tried to memorize 30 pages of dialog for a single scene and switch between languages lately?)--- reason alone to see this movie. I read where some reviwers found the scene "boring" (?????!). The film itself is thoroughly entertaining. Tarantino delivers phenomenal performances from everyone, wrapped around historical revisionism with an anachronistic score straight out of a spaghetti western (yes, there are innumerable minor historical flubs, but yeesh, history it ain't!). The set design and visuals are remarkable. I had some very minor gripes: Pitt's character lacks depth, to the degree that I felt like some of his stuff was left on the cutting room floor, the Basterds deserved more screen time doing mayhem and Hitler's make up was iffy (contrast that with Mike Meyers' pasty British)---- gaaah! I didn't recognize Rod Taylor as Churchill (!). The visuals are stunning (the image of the screen burning: astounding) and Tarantino is obviously up on his knowledge of WW2 German cinema (Emil Jannings was a cool touch). I thought I heard Harvey Keitel 's voice on the phone--?! 10/10. See it for the acting! Not for kids...