In Inglourious Basterds, Nazi colonel Hans Landa enjoys a delicious glass of fresh milk with his conversation. Pour yourself a tall one before watching Owen and Lisa discuss Quentin Tarantino’s unique view of World War II.
Aug 24
2009
08:53 AM ET
'Inglourious Basterds': Lisa and Owen talk about Tarantino
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Bravo Owen! Lisa, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. There does not always have to be deeper meaning; even with WWII films.
Yeah, Lisa needs to lighten up a bit.
Most of the critics that have had a problem with IB seem to be critiquing Tarantino more than the film itself. Too bad. It’s a great movie.
Agreed. They bring this pre-conception of what his movies should be, or what it is about him that drives them nuts, and they view the new film through that filter.
Lisa Schwarzbaum might be the worst film critic going right now. Her type of overly pretentious criticism is the reason that many people don’t bother reading movie reviews. If I see her name on a review I immediately go looking for another review on a different site.
Ughh!! I really despise video blogs. It’s a lazy way out.
No doubt Lisa would have yelled at Jerry for making out during “Schindler’s List.”
Owen’s argument is that the film is not really about WWII or the Holocaust but about Tarantino’s love of B-movie conventions, etc. But is this true? First, as he points out himself, the film is very unconventional in its own way: what B-movie consists of drawn-out dialogue scenes? (This is what’s most daring about the film, but also what makes it rather unlike a B-movie.) Second, the film hardly presents a simple black/white view of events. The Jewish soldiers are almost completely interchangeable and anonymous. The Jewish heroine is a big empty void on the screen. But the Nazi villain is suave, sophisticated, and a crowd pleaser. Absolutely no one comes close to matching his appeal or level of complexity. More than this, since most of the brutality in the film is committed by the American soldiers it was hard for me to “root” for them as one is typically encouraged to do in a b-movie.
We root for the Americans based on principle. The subject matter alone is all the motivation we need.
But I agree about the characters, though. Disturbingly, the Nazis, including the young, love-struck war hero, are more interesting than the so-called ‘good guys’ in this movie.
Not to get all spoilery, but no one seems to have noticed that among the Basterds’ victims is “Blue Angel” star Emil Jannings.
every day i think Schwartzbaum sucks more and more. I can’t remember ever agreeing with her on anything. In fact, i always check out her reviews just so i can take the opposite into account when deciding on what to spend my cinematic dollar. Emmanuel Levy is the best film critic out there.
I agree that Ms. Shwarzbuam is looking for something deep that doesn’t need to be there. She so much as states that any movie about WWII should be as reverential and self-flagellating as “Schindler’s List” or “Saving Private Ryan.” Not only is this ludicrous, but is automatically dismissive of most every WWII made before 1970… the precise type of movie to which Tarantino is paying homage. To quote another famous military movie, “Lighten up, Francis.”
jeez why cant Owen just review everything! at least all the major ones. Lisa has gotten so freakin terrible
To Lisa’s credit, she did give the film a decent (B) review. While it appears many of us would have rate it higher, she is not slamming the film by any means (of course if a person did not have the chance to read her actual review, and only this video piece, that might not be abundantly clear).
Hi guys, here’s my review. For what it’s worth, I’m a big fan of making out during Schindler’s List.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20297351,00.html
Lisa, you are a miserable cow of a woman and a talentless bore of a writer.
Wow, EW readers can get very nasty…
Even though I side with Owen on my view of the film, I agree with some of Lisa’s points. QT does have a tendency to do this hip, ‘in-crowd’ thing with his movies, that can certainly alienate some audiences. I think its fair for someone to feel that way. Inglorious Basterds I enjoyed quite a bit, but I can totally understand if someone didn’t like it. Each chapter is 30 minutes of dialogue book-ended with only 30 seconds of violence. That can be frustrating. Contrary to the marketing campaign, the Basterds are hardly in the movie and we don’t really get to know any of them. Christoph Waltz’s Nazi colonel is the best, most layered character in the movie. But the violence, when displayed, is graphic and memorable, and the final chapter is one of the most glorious payoffs I’ve seen in a movie. Not as revolutionary as Pulp fiction, or as fun as Kill Bill, but Inglorious Basterds is solid and memorable- one of the better movies this summer, anyway.
I agree, considering that the “basterds” make up about a third of the movie, at best.
I agree with Owen way more than Lisa. I think that Lisa should except the way Tarantino makes movies. She says too much of her own opinion.