INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

Some Italian postery goodness.

As soon as the lights go dark and everyone quiets down you can feel it.
That atmosphere that seems to appear magically, making you KNOW that everyone there is as excited as you. It's almost worth the price of admission alone (not really).

The movie starts with a scene that will go down in history as one of the most "OHMYFUCKINGGODTHATSHITISINTENSE" sequences ever put on film.
Seriously, you could hear a needle drop on a cushion, people were holding their breaths.
This scene alone probably took eight years off of the audience's lives.
It also has the honor of introducing Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), a character that' probably the best antagonist Quentin Tarantino's ever written.
No, scratch that 'probably'.
He IS the best antagonist Tarantino's ever written.
Hot damn, can that guy make a glass of milk badass.

"You call THAT a pipe?!"

After the heart-stopping opening scene the surviving minority of the audience is introduced to the titular characters - the Basterds.
Headed by a tough-as-nails Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), this group plans to go through Nazi-Occupied France doing one thing and one thing only. Killin' Nazis. (Or nehzie's, whatever)
Brad Pitt had a field day with this one, the character's accent is completely over the top yet gripping and, somehow, totally convincing.
The rope burn around his neck makes you wonder exactly what this guy has seen but, alas, it is never mentioned.

"Seownd GUHD?!" Sure does.

We're also introduced to Sgt. Donnie Donowitz a.k.a. the bear jew.
A menacing entity whose name has become a myth for the german Axis powers. A Nazi-killin' machine.
What actor did Quentin Tarantino find to be menacing enough to play said character?
Eli Roth.
That's right, THAT Eli Roth. The guy that did Hostel.
Now, don't get me wrong, I like Hostel (crucify me later), I thought it was a fun movie and I'd call myself a fan but when I saw Roth in the trailer my first thought was "Oh. . . really?"
However, and I can see people disagreeing with me on this one, I thought he did a great job!
He didn't really have that many lines and the ones he had were delivered convincingly so Roth gets a good grade from me! (Oh, the honor...)
He had just the right balance between a sadistic killer, an all-American boy and a likable war hero to be a well-written and realized character.

Just look at that fucking smirk.

Now, despite what the trailers would lead you to believe, the movie does not actually follow the basterds for the majority of the movie. The lead character is actually a jewish girl named Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), a woman scorn who barely escaped the bloody massacre in which her family was killed.
Co-incidentally she's the most likable character in the film with her strong personality, wit and charm.
Oh, that and one of the most bad-ass 'getting ready' scenes in years. David Bowie, consider yourself on the Tarantino soundtrack wall of fame.
Plus, she's probably the sexiest Tarantino character ever (sorry, Uma).
She runs a movie theater in Paris which is chosen to show the latest
propaganda piece by Joseph Goebbels. Shosanna agrees but wheels are set in motion and she constructs a plan that just might get her revenge.

She can plot revenge on my Nazis any day.

When I left the theater I was amazed. I went to a special premiere in Iceland and it was packed, I went out, Nazi banner wrapped around my arm (guests who arrived in costumes were promised merchandise. I have yet to receive mine so the looks I got in the lobby have yet to be proved worth it) dazed and very impressed.
This is easily Tarantino's best film since Pulp Fiction.

The stories mix perfectly, the script is top notch, the acting is amazing, the directing is...well, it's Tarantino all right.
If you like Tarantino, hell, if you like movies in general and you haven't seen Basterds already - go see it because to paraphrase Lt. Aldo Raine, this just might be a masterpiece.