Inglourious

Question

Just saw it. I really like Tarantino films. And this was... um how shall I put it... an overrated inexplicable huge pile of steaming ***?

What the hell was he thinking? Overwritten. WAY too much exposition in dialogue. Tedious subtitles for hours on end. The famed violence is barely a glimpse of a couple of things we've been primed for. The business of killing Hitler, Goebbels and all the others is... um... what? A schoolboy fantasy from 1940? Totally in love with the Nazi iconography.
About the only thing I ended up enjoying was Brad Pitt - who looked like Marlon Brando in the Godfather with his jowls and moustache and sounded like Gomer Pyle. But at least he was having fun, and was a breath of fresh air whenever he graced us with his presence - which he didn't for a full 45 minutes. As for all the movie references, well so what?

I want my time back.

"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Just saw it. I really like Tarantino films. And this was... um how shall I put it... an overrated inexplicable huge pile of steaming ***?[/nq]
Are you channeling NM Stevens?

Thanks for the review. I don't like Tarantino films so I probably wouldn't have watched it anyhow.

RonB
"There's a story there...somewhere"

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Just saw it. I really like Tarantino films. And this was... um how shall I put it... an overrated inexplicable ... movie references, well so what? I want my time back. "If you can, tell me something happy." - Marybones[/nq]I loved it and will see it again. I had one major problem though. I thought the soundtrack for the opening credits was over modulated, and figured thats just QT doing his 42nd St experience thing with the wobblie pitch and the scratches and the frame jitter. After that it seemed to me like the certain scenes of dialog were distorting, or blowing the loudest frequencies out. Now that must be the projection, and not QT. So I left my seat and found the manager and I asked her whether the soundtrack was over modulated by QT as an effect or was there a problem with the audio system in the theater? She said she would check the projection booth levels.

I went back to my seat, and about 20 minutes later it was still doing it. So I went back into the lobby and smiled and the now (3) managers smiled back and the original manager said, "Its the movie, thats the way it is" I said "Thanks, now I know" She asked if I wanted a refund or to see a different movie, and I said no, that I like it so far and would finish it.

I left still not knowing whether that blown out sound was intentional or just bad projection. So I guess I will find out when I see it again. Anybody else get bad audio?
BD

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Just saw it. I really like Tarantino films. And this was... um how shall I put it... an overrated inexplicable huge pile of steaming ***? What the **** was he thinking?[/nq]
I am fairly certain that he was thinking that every shot he films and every word he writes is so precious that it would be a crime to spare us filmgoers a single one. Ergo, the pacing problems that first showed themselves in Jackie Brown and have been a continuing problem are present here as well. Perhaps, like Hitler, he has come to believe his own hype, and his potency is waning accordingly.
The more of these bloatjobs I see from famous auteurs, the more I appreciate Woody Allen. Is there any other major director out there who still makes films that come in at a nice and tidy 96 minutes, as Deconstructing Harry did?

Did you notice that half the characters were named after actors and directors known for their work in '70s exploitation films ("Lt. Aldo Raine", "General Ed Fenech", etc., etc., ad overcuteam)? This is further support for the GIGO theory of filmmaking. When Mr. Tarantino was doing Reservoir Dogs and emulating The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing , things were fine. Nowadays he seems to actually believe all that miserable sludge is some sort of art.
There were many young men in the audience when I saw it, and they cheered at all the moments they were supposed to do so. I wonder how many of them realized that they had been seduced into cheering for the cooler barbarians, and how many of them would have cared if they did.
[nq:1]Overwritten. WAY too much exposition in dialogue. Tedious subtitles for hours on end. The famed violence is barely a glimpse ... primed for. The business of killing Hitler, Goebbels and all the others is... um... what? A schoolboy fantasy from 1940?[/nq]
Real life is not Star Wars. Millions of people and entire governments do not give up just because a handful of the lead guys get killed. ****, WW2 might have gone on longer if Hitler had been assassinated and somebody more sane had wound up in charge.
[nq:1]About the only thing I ended up enjoying was Brad Pitt - who looked like Marlon Brando in the Godfather ... his presence - which he didn't for a full 45 minutes. As for all the movie references, well so what?[/nq]
All the stuff about UFA and Goebbels basically being the **** movie mogul is interesting. It just doesn't belong in a movie like this.

To not only you, but the group at large: has anybody here seen any ****-era UFA productions? I have seen only one: Munchhausen , which Goebbels ordered made to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the studio. It's not bad, although most of the entertainment value springs from the viewer's knowledge of the historical context in which it was made, and Gilliam's version is much better IMHO.
There *is* one good line in there... wherein the Baron tells somebody about (quoted from memory) adventure, war, foreign lands, beautiful women... that is what he wants out of life. This led to me having one of my .sigs read: "alt.flame Special Forces: Adventure, war, foreign lands, beautiful women... what more could you possibly want from a newsgroup?"
[nq:1]I want my time back.[/nq]
I warned you. :-)

alt.flame Special Forces
"Of all sexual aberrations, chastity is the strangest." Anatole France

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Just saw it. I really like Tarantino films. And this was... um how shall I put it... an overrated inexplicable huge pile of steaming ***?[/nq]
I'm not going to accuse Tarantino of being a no-talent, but clearly he's more of a collage-artist than an original filmmaker. I think the only movie of his I've ever really enjoyed was JACKIE BROWN, and that's probably because it's the only one he's ever made that wasn't cobbled together from bits and pieces of other people's movies. Honestly, if he wasn't pilfering from obscure Cult movies he's be decried as a plaigarist instead of genius.
[nq:1]From what I've heard, this new one of his is mostly stolen fromSpaghetti Westerns. Like him, I'm an absolute fanatic ... I want to see something by the Three Sergios (Leone, Corbucci and Sollima) I'll watch something by the Three Sergios.[/nq]
Cheers,
B

Usenet · Answer

"Avoid normal situations."
[nq:1]All the stuff about UFA and Goebbels basically being the **** movie mogul is interesting. It just doesn't belong in ... from the viewer's knowledge of the historical context in which it was made, and Gilliam's version is much better IMHO.[/nq]
I did see Munchhausen and I agree. The one I would like to see is the one whose title escapes me - a huge 18th war epic that Michael Medved cites in oneof his Golden Turkey books. They diverted thousands of actual soldiers to work as extras - in about 1944 I believe, just when they were really needed to defend the fatherland. I'm not sure it was ever released.

"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Honestly, if he wasn't pilfering from obscure Cult movies he's be decried as a plaigarist instead of genius.[/nq]
Again, I'll add that Paul Zimmerman, former film reviewer for Detroit's Orbit Magazine and later Film Threat, was the first to write about Tarantino's familiarity with City on Fire, so that Orby T-shirt QT wears in PF has always been a fun little nod.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I left still not knowing whether that blown out sound was intentional or just bad projection. So I guess I will find out when I see it again. Anybody else get bad audio?[/nq]
Sound was fine to me (in the UK, 35mm print).

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]All the stuff about UFA and Goebbels basically being the ... it was made, and Gilliam's version is much better IMHO.[/nq]
[nq:1]I did see Munchhausen and I agree. The one I would like to see is the one whose title escapes me - a huge 18th war epic that Michael Medved cites in oneof his Golden Turkey books.[/nq]
19th, actually. Kolberg .
[nq:1]They diverted thousands of actual soldiers to work as extras - in about 1944 I believe, just when they were really needed to defend the fatherland. I'm not sure it was ever released.[/nq]
Oh, it was, at least on tape. I bet it ain't real good, but it might be fascinating to watch as a train wreck.

alt.flame Special Forces
"Of all sexual aberrations, chastity is the strangest." Anatole France

Usenet · Answer

"Avoid normal situations."
[nq:1]To not only you, but the group at large: has anybody here seen any ****-era UFA productions?[/nq]
I looked up what William L Shirer had to say about ****-controlled motion pictures:
(From 1933 t)he films remained in the hands of private firms but the Propaganda Ministry and the Chamber of Films controlled every aspect of the industry, their task being - in the words of an official commentary - 'to lift the film industry out of the sphere of liberal economic thoughts .. and thus enable it to receive those tasks which it has to fulfil in the National Socialist State.'
The result in both cases was to afflict the German people with radio programmes and motion pictures as inane and boring as were the contents of their daily newspapers and periodicals. Even a public which usually submitted without protest to being told what was good for it revolted. The customers stayed away in droves from the **** films and jammed the houses which showed the few foreign pictures (mostly B-grade Hollywood) which Goebbels permitted to be exhibited on German screens. At one period in the mid-Thirties the hissing of German films became so common that Wilhelm Frick, the Minister of the Interior, issued a stern warning against 'treasonable behaviour on the part of cinema audiences.'

"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" p307 (Pan paperback)

Martin B

Usenet · Answer

"Avoid normal situations."
[nq:2]I did see Munchhausen and I agree. The one I ... that Michael Medved cites in oneof his Golden Turkey books.[/nq]
[nq:1]19th, actually. Kolberg .[/nq]
That's the one.
[nq:2]They diverted thousands of actual soldiers to work as extras ... defend the fatherland. I'm not sure it was ever released.[/nq]
[nq:1]Oh, it was, at least on tape. I bet it ain't real good, but it might be fascinating to watch as a train wreck.[/nq]
I wouldn't spend a lot of time seeking it out, but if I stumbled across it, I'd give it a look.
A Marlene Dietrich biopic would be a great story - but who could play her? Cate Blanchett, maybe.

"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones

Inglourious

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