Inglourious Basterds

I dont think I hated this film. But I'm not quite sure.

It is definitely way too long, and the reason for it is simple, Tarantino makes all of his scenes too long. There are some nice scenes in this film and some nice acting, but others let it down badly. Brad Pitt is hopeless, unconvincing and thoroughly un-menacing as the brutal Nazi-Killer.

There is one simple story line and it takes a ridiculously long time to come about. I am not sure what message he is trying to get across in this film, but in the end it is a muddle of cinematic history, ultra violence and little else.

The ultra violence is served up sparingly, after long bouts of tense(ish) build ups. In one scene we get to meet "The Bear" one of the Inglourious, and there is an unbearably long wait for the club wielding bastard to come in to view. The problem is, that its not tension or fear unbearable - its tedium unbearable.

The clever movie reviewers at the New York Times, will be able to tell you all the famous movie references and style references etc. etc. But for me I just want to be entertained, and was to some degree. But Tarantino fell down at the most crucial stage, that of The Story. The film is basically a collage of loosely related scenes that lead up to the story which comes to view after 2 hours of the movie have passed.

I'm sure that a lot of people will enjoy this film, but for me I like a film to make me think or to laugh or even to scare the life out of me. It did the latter a couple of times, and I found myself covering my eyes at some of the gory bits.

I think this is basically a comic book trying to be a movie. Its all meaningless dialogue pasted around lots of pretty pictures filled with action and 2 dimensional characters.

I know Tarantino fans think the man is God, so to them I say sorry, but I think I did hate this film.

Oh, and I did spot the Mike Meyers Cameo and was duly unimpressed with his flagging british accent. (public school educated british army types tend not to have scratchy accents that come in and out mike!)

SAm

Learn from the Rain Man Uncle Sam!

Gary McKinnon a man from the UK who suffers from Aspergers syndrome, a form of Autism, is to be extradited to the US for hacking the US military. It seems the man was something of a UFO nut and wanted to find out what the US knew about extra terrestrial life. He hacked a number of Top US military Navy and army sites, and now they want him, and they are going to punish him..

Fuck that. Surely they should be sending a private jet for the guy to come over and tell their so-called technology-security people what they are doing wrong and how they can avoid being infiltrated by genuinely threatening people. Fuck it, give the guy some Khaki pants, a lamenated ID card that he can wear at waist level and a leather laptop bag... make him head of US military something or other.. But dont punish the guy..
I'm not saying he is innocent, and the yanks are claiming he left their sytems open to other intruders, but surely they need to use this as a learning experience.

I say give this guy a break. Dont lock him up. Lock up the fuckers who built a vulnerable security system, or better still fire their asses. Hire this Rain man guy, and on the weekends he'll count cards for them in Vegas so they can get back the 700k he supposedly cost the US.

He highlighted a vulnerability, in my mind he may have saved them money or maybe more..

Give this guy a break...

Sam C