Yesterday I saw Quentin Tarantino‘s new movie, Inglourious Basterds.
I like Tarantino, but I don’t love Tarantino. Pop in Pulp Fiction and I’ll watch it any time. Pop in Reservoir Dogs and I’ll watch most of it, if not all of it. For Jackie Brown I’ll stay to see Pam Grier and Robert De Niro. Probably.
But Kill Bill I prefer to see in bits and pieces (har har). Sitting through both parts of that movie is just too much Tarantino at once. And when it comes to Death Proof, I only want to see the last half, that fantastic car chase with Kurt Russell and the over-the-top charming Zoe Bell.
All that said, I still believe a Tarantino movie is going to be worth seeing, and I’ve liked Brad Pitt ever since 1995’s 12 Monkeys.
It turns out Brad Pitt isn’t in Inglourious Basterds as much as the advertising would have you believe. He turns in a good, comical performance, but the real star of the show is Austrian actor Christoph Waltz, who plays Nazi Col. Hans Landa.
Inglourious Basterds didn’t thrill me, and it’s long. The more movies I see that last longer than two hours, the more I think no movie should last more than two hours. Argue with that if you can.
One of the best parts of my movie-going experience yesterday: at one point in the movie you can hear The Wilhelm Scream on the soundtrack.