Inglourious Basterds

I'm a Quentin Tarantino fan and I always will be, mostly due to the fact that Pulp Fiction is one of the Greatest Films Ever Made. I also very much liked Jackie Brown and Kill Bill 1 & 2 (Yes, I liked Part 2 as well. It's a totally different tone but, if you look at it on its own, the tone works.).

Tarantino, however, has a bad habit of being very arrogant. There is a term Benny and I like to use to refer to when someone creates any type of art for their own enjoyment without regard for whether or not what they are doing is right for the project itself. We call it masturbation. Tarantino has fallen victim of masturbating in his films.

For example: Grindhouse. Death Proof, his contribution to Grindhouse, was full of masturbation. His intention, I think, behind the film was to create a good ole fashioned revenge/feminist/girls-can-kick-butt-too film. But in actuality it’s an anti-feminist film in that instead of standing up for themselves like women, the women in the film become as bad as the men. They are badly mistreated by a very bad man, but in the end when they get revenge they are just as ruthless as he was. Acting like a man is not feminism and it’s not liberating. It’s just becoming the thing you were fighting against. It’s losing the battle, ultimately. And I don’t think that was what he was going for, which means the film does not make its point and is a failure.

Also the acting of the lead kick-butt female was horrendous. This is because she is a stunt woman, and a very good one, but not an actress. Tarantino just likes her so much he put her in the lead role even though she is a terrible actress. Again, he is doing what he wants without regard for what is best for the film.

In this film I felt that Tarantino really jumped the shark. I really hope he has gotten himself under control for Inglourious Basterds.

Now for my review of Basterds:

It’s going to be good. Not a perfect film, and I get the feeling the ending may be a little off, but it will be well acted and a lot of fun with some crazy Nazi-scalping gore thrown in. I can tell you that Brad Pitt will be brilliant. I love him in character roles, such as in Burn After Reading, and this will be another great performance. This could be a return to the films I love from Tarantino, but I’m worried somewhere in the film Tarantino’s masturbation habit will rise up and there will be unnecessarily long/gory/or in some other way exploitative scenes, but I don’t think it will ruin the film--Partly because Brad Pitt is so talented, and also because there are other actors in it as well that will give good performances too.

My initial thought about this film was that it was going to be a complete disaster and that Tarantino had really jumped the shark for good and had already produced his master works. Well, after considering it I still don’t feel that this in any way will be his best work, but I think, especially for those who enjoy an aspect of exploitation in their films, this will be a film worth watching.

Quality: * * *
Entertainment: * * * *
Masturbation Seal of Approval

*A note on exploitation films:
I realize that exploitation films are full of unnecessary and exploited elements (boobs, guns, explosions, violence) and that is part of the point of the genre, however current films made by quality filmmakers should still have solid storytelling and filmmaking elements. Watch Planet Terror to see a great example. Rodriguez really gets it. You can make an exploitation film without making a crappy film.