The Film

I don’t know any blue-blooded American that doesn’t like fantasizing about killing some Nazis. They’re cinema’s greatest villain, all a film maker has to do, is say their villain is a Nazi and it’s instant heat. As long as there has been sound in film, there has been war films, notably WWII films. Killing Nazis is good and all, but you got to throw in some of that good old American fist-pumping heroics, and a student of that is Quentin Tarantino. He has been in this mode of popularizing old genres recently, taking niche genres and mainstreaming them. Shaw Brothers kung-fu flicks from China is Kill Bill, and open road car films from the ’70s is Death Proof. Except the latter was his weakest film, one that feels hastily put together, as it features some of his blandest characters and lamest dialogue scenes.

Tarantino is a student of cinema, and that is perfectly clear in his films, but Death Proof was on-the-nose with its influences, to standout of all the copycats who are going back to the wild west of cinema known as the 1970s, and it felt bland and desperate. Has the pop culture master fallen off? Every director has their off film, but he returns valiantly with this ever so loose remake of Enzo Castellari’s exploitation WWII film from 1978, Inglorious Bastards. Where as that film was a cheap (but fun) Italian knock-off of the Dirty Dozen, Tarantino just makes good on killing Nazis, and it’s apparent that killing Nazis is a good business venture.

Tarantino succeeds here with his crafty staging of scenes. From the first chapter (a repeated gimmick from Kill Bill), he handles a scene where Col. Hans Landa (a criminally good Christoph Waltz) interrogates a French man hiding runaway Jewish people. Col. Hans Landa is cunning. Tarantino writes the scene almost as a violent type of foreplay. He uses his well-written dialogue for when Col. Hans is telling the French man about the nature of rats and squirrels. Why are we compelled to instantly attack a rat when it enters our home, and not a squirrel? They’re both rodents. These exchange masterfully explains why the Germans are eradicating the Jews. As if we needed more fuel for our Nazi-hating fire, Tarantino gives us a craftier reason to hate the Nazis even more. He uses his camera movements to give us a non-verbal cat-and-mouse game, following the rise of suspense to its inevitable conclusion. This early scene not only establishes Col. Hans as a genius that can sniff out liars, but sets the stage for the continuous use of the slow building of suspense to rally up our hip-hip-hooray American pride to its natural climax. He’ll do this numerous times, and its always gratifying.

As much as killing Nazis is fun (a tag line that is always worth repeating), he does stumble midway through. The film begins to meander for a time, albeit somewhat interestingly, but he starts to love each character, no matter how minute, giving them long-winded scenes. Inglourious Basterds is like a Stephen King novel, it starts off with promise and draws you in, then putts around for a time, almost boringly. Although with the promise of the early parts, you continue to follow, even though you want to have him get on with it, wherever he’s going with it. Then when he reaches his story’s climax, everything fits together, and you see his full scope and arc, you’ll appreciate the time he meandered around. But it still feels long-winded. Same thing here. There’s a hugely unneeded scene with Mike Myers (yes, Austin Powers himself), that feels, well, like a deleted scene from Austin Powers in Goldmember. It’s too jokey and out-of-place.

But Tarantino hasn’t forgotten his early promise, and he ends the film with the ultimate climax, however fictionalized it is, history is just too anti-climatic for us Americans. He doesn’t go full on with his genre love. Here he’s just flirting with Nazisploitation. He’s more impressive with his use of Nazi chic than SS women torturing prisoners. It’s loud, hollow, fun, and a welcome return for cinema’s so-called prodigal son. It’s Kill Bill, but less epic. A fun realization of American expectations brought to a satisfying conclusion, as satisfying as an American apple pie. Now, who says some WWII-Nazi killing, has to be as stiff as a college level history class? Kill some Nazis, and collect their scalps!

The Blu-ray

Audio/Video

The audio on this disc is stellar, attacking the eardrums with just the right amount of resonance to make watching it at home feel like more like being in a real theatre than on your couch. The video is equally as impressive, boasting beautiful colors that pop out of the subdued hues in the color palette. The blacks are deep and brooding and the perfect mix of light and shadow are consistently displayed throughout the movie’s entire runtime.

Special Features

Roundtable: Tarantino, Pitt, and Elvis Mitchell talk about the genesis of the movie. Everything from the script to rehearsals is discussed. Solid feature that almost makes up for the lack of commentary tracks.

Extended/Alternate Scenes: This isn’t a long feature, but all of the scenes presented here are worth watching. A longer version of the lunch scene and the card game are joined by a new version of Nation’s PrideI.

Making of Nation’s Pride: Eli Roth and friends talk about his awesome propaganda video. A little short, but fun.

Original Inglorious Bastards: A look at the original cast members of Castellari’s film, and a brief look at the actors that made cameos in Tarantino’s version.

QT’s Camera Angel: A funny collection of lines by the slate girl on the flick. Good stuff.

Pocket Blu: A cool app that allows you to use your iPod Touch or iPhone as a remote control/viewing device for special features. I enjoyed this feature, and can’t wait for these apps to get even more advanced.

Killin’ Natzis Trivia Challenge: I had a great time with this trivia challenge! Fun for any fan of the movie.

Conversation with Rod Taylor: The actor that portrays Winston Churchill in the movie talks about his experiences working with Tarantino.

Also included on the disc are short video greetings sent to the film’s editor (Hi Sallys), a Poster Gallery, Trailers, BD-Live, and more!

The Film: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

As for Grindhouse, if you remember the theatrical presentation featured both films strung together with a variety of fake trailers in between, was broken up for DVD and Blu Ray. Combining them together like the original intent is highly requested by fans, but Tarantino admits he’s been too lazy to finish it. Expect this to be a ways off.

Source: Blu-Ray

The truth is that Nation’s Pride is the movie-within-a-movie from Inglourious Basterds. For those who’ve seen the trailers, Nation’s Pride is the premiere everyone’s attending. For those who haven’t seen the trailers… SEE THEM. All the cool kids are doing it.

This film-within-a-film was directed by none other than Eli Roth.

Source: FirstShowing.net

While I’ve heard of studios recutting movies to a PG-13 rating for certain markets, taking a Tarantino movie from a hard R to a G? Sounds as good as American Psycho edited for tv.

* – it’s sort of new. It’s a revision of the 70′s  Italian movie of the same name. But spelled correctly.

No, say it isn’t so, Mr. Bottin, who is the great effects artist that gave us The Thing and The Howling. He adds, after a clip, “that it’s a tool and when melded with practical effects, the result is extraordinary”. Whew!

Okay, if that hooks you in, then the Starz documentary, Fantastic Flesh: The Art of Make-Up Effects should intrigue you. Like many of the artists here, I became fascinated with creatures and monsters, and then in high school, on how they are made. I believe this aspect has helped me watch the goriest of gore films, without flinching. In fact, many people look at me weird because I laugh. I guess it’s an appreciation for what was accomplished more than the nature of the effect in the context of the story.

Fantastic Flesh is meant as a primer course for these legends, their stories, and their methods. I’d say the overall film centers around the boys at KNB Effects, who did work for Tarantino, Scorsese, and all of the horror films recently of note. Nicotero and Berger are modern FX masters, and I remembering when Berger accepted the Oscar for Narnia, I was relieved that the majority finally recognized these guys. Love Kill Bill? Like the gore in Hostel? They did it and hearing them comment on the films, as well as having Simon Pegg, Tarantino, and Peter Dinklage talk about them.

The documentary breaks up the years, giving the KNB guys a historical context from where they came from, their inspirations, with a look at Lon Chaney, Dick Smith in an extended segment, and Jack Peirce, the creator of our modern images of Frankenstein, Wolfman, and the Mummy. Sadly, Stan Winston isn’t mentioned, and while Rick Baker is, he’s no where here. They are two very important men and having them glossed over is a shame. But most of this documentary’s information is rather broad, and many of us who are fans know some of this anyway.

The stories are always remarkable to hear again and again. Tom Savini gives props here, saying “when a new movie came out by one of these FX artists, it was like an art opening”. I totally agree. If anything, for the newbie to this world, I hope you seek out the many great books, interviews, and DVDs of these people, as your interest in this medium after Fantastic Flesh should be piqued.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

2008 Films opening in 2009: Due to markets and release patterns, here’s some anticipates films many will get to see in January: The Wrestler, Frost/Nixon, Gran Torino, Waltz with Bashir, $9.99, and Revolutionary Road.

10 – Ong Bak 2: Despite the crazy behind-the-scenes drama with producers and the star Tony Jaa, the leaked early footage looks fantastic. Tony Jaa can easily step into the elite action star status with this; hopefully, we’ll see it sooner than later. (TBD)

9 – X-Men Origins: Wolverine: The trailer looks good; full of action, story, and Gambit. I suspect this film could go in two directions: Iron Man greatness or Spider-Man 3 sloppiness. There seems to be too many characters and it looks as if they’re trying to cover a lot of ground with his origin, so we will see. But Marvel’s on a hot streak. (May 2^nd)

8 – Pixar’s Up: After Ratatouille and Wall-E, need I say more? (May 29^th)

7 – Star Trek: Personally, I’m torn. I can’t get over the fact that it’s essentially “Baby Trek” but the trailer looks awesome. Abrams seems to love the Trek universe and Paramount and the fans are on board, let’s hope it will boldly go where no Trek film has gone before…or since Wrath of Khan. (May 8^th)

6 – Inglourious Basterds: I was a fan of Death Proof, the first Tarantino film I disliked, but I enjoyed the original 1978 version of Inglorious Bastards and everything from the casting of Brad Pitt, Mike Myers, to the concept, to the secret hope this is the film that return Tarantino back into the light, I am down for his WWII film. (August 21^st)

5 – Jennifer’s Body: This is the new film from Diablo Cody after her Oscar-winning screenplay for Juno. I think she’s talented and I like her as a person, so I’m hoping she proves she’s not a one-hit wonder. Cody’s stated she is a geek for horror films and you get that sense in Juno with the Argento versus Lewis talk. A naked Megan Fox isn’t a bad selling point either. (September 18^th)

4 – Friday the 13^th: I’ve given up the resistance to fight remakes. Good thing too because the poster, the trailer, the look of Jason are all bad ass. It’s not a hard concept to reconceived, a mother goes psycho after he boy drowns by camp councilors were busy having sex, so it should be no surprise if this film is wicked cool. I expect this film to be huge. (February 13^th)

3 – Terminator: Salvation: I was skeptical over further adventures in this world after James Cameron left, but if anything T3 was a lot of fun, Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox is a great show that I hope lasts, and early footage makes this look epic. I can’t wait to see what happens in this timeline, because the trailer said “this isn’t the future my mom warned me about” as John Connor looks at these newer Transformer-styled Terminators. Christian Bale is Connor equals best casting choice ever. I don’t care that McG is helming it, I trust the footage seen. (June 22^nd)

2 – Black Dynamite: Here’s my off-beat, sexy pick. A hit at Sundance, this film looks as if it was made in the ‘70s and release this year. I am a huge fan of the blaxploitation genre and the trailer promises funky music, afros, sex, and all of that good ‘70s action. Michael Jai White owns in the trailer! (TBD)

1 – Watchmen: Like there would’ve been any other choice? The early trailers and footage look beyond great and this could be the film director Zach Snyder steps into the director elite circle. If anything, after The Dark Knight we’re more open to a multi-layered story with action wisely used and some people who have seen the first 20 minutes claim this isn’t an action-fest which has gotten the fans of the graphic novel even more excited. Hopefully, the court battle between WB and Fox ends soon and us fans aren’t the victims. (March 6^th)

There’ll be a lot more films I and Killer Film will get excited about as the year moves onward but I think these will be some of 2009’s more popular films. Keep it here for coverage, reviews, and interviews for all things film related in 2009, only at Killer Film! What are your anticipate films? Post below!