"Once Upon a Time, in Nazi-Occupied France..."

Last night, Rhiannon and I saw Quentin Tarantino's latest movie, Inglourious Basterds. We had heard many positive things, so we were very excited about seeing it. In all honesty, we both went into it knowing very little. We had only seen the trailer and the previews on TV, so we didn't really know the entire plot of the movie.

Here's a quick synopsis of the movie, taken from its official site...

In the first year of the German occupation of France, Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema.

Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish American soldiers to perform swift, shocking acts of retribution. Later known to their enemy as "The Basterds", this squad joins a German actress and undercover agent, Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger), on a mission to take down the leaders of the Third Reich.

Fates converge under a cinema marquis, where Shosanna Dreyfus is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own...

Employing pulp and propaganda in equal measure, Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds weaves together the infamous, oppressed, real, and larger-than-life stories of WWII.

Here's the trailer for your enjoyment:



My Thoughts on Inglourious Basterds:

• The performances are spectacular, especially from Christoph Waltz and Melanie Laurent. I'm thinking that some Academy Award nominations are deserved. (I read that Christoph Waltz won the Best Actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival, so you never know where that could lead...)
  
• Brad Pitt is terrific, as always. However, I was surprised that he wasn't the main protagonist and didn't have as substantial of a part as I had thought from seeing the trailer and previews on TV.
• I really enjoyed Mike Myers' cameo as General Ed Fenech. He is a great dramatic actor, so I'm glad to see when he gets the chance to show off his skills.
  
• Quentin Tarantino's script and direction are flawless. This is a fantastic piece of work!
  
• Even with that being said, the movie did feel a tad long at 152 minutes... (That's literally the ONLY downside to the movie.)
  
• The final showdown is extremely well done! (If only that occurred in real life and was written in our history textbooks...)

OVERALL RATING (Out of 05): 04/05

I truly think that this is a wonderful movie. In order to receive a perfect rating from me, I must LOVE every aspect of it. Being that it felt a little long to me, I can't possibly give it a perfect rating.

However, do yourself a favor... SEE THIS MOVIE!