Inglourious Basterds: 2-Disc Special Edition (Blu-ray)

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Rating: R

Starring:

Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine

Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus

Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa

Eli Roth as Sgt. Donny Donowitz

Michael Fassbender as Lt. Archie Hicox

Diane Kruger as Bridget von Hammersmark

Daniel Brühl as Fredrick Zoller

Til Schweiger as Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz

Gedeon Burkhard as Cpl. Wilhelm Wicki

Jacky Ido as Marcel

B.J. Novak as Pfc. Smithson Utivich

Omar Doom as Pfc. Omar Ulmer

August Diehl as Major Dieter Hellstrom

Denis Menochet as Perrier LaPadite

Sylvester Groth as Joseph Goebbels

Martin Wuttke as Adolf Hitler

Mike Myers as General Ed Fenech

Julie Dreyfus as Francesca Mondino

Richard Sammel as Sgt. Werner Rachtman

Alexander Fehling as Master Sgt. Wilhelm / Pola Negri

Rod Taylor as Winston Churchill

Soenke Möhring as Pvt. Butz / Walter Frazer

Samm Levine as PFC Gerold Hirschberg

Paul Rust as PFC Andy Kagan

Michael Bacall as PFC Michael Zimmerman

Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey as German Soldier / Winnetou

Petra Hartung as German Female Soldier / Beethoven

Volker Michalowski as German Soldier / Edgar Wallace

Ken Duken as German Soldier / Mata Hari

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Special Features:

Extended & Alternate Scenes

Roundtable Discussion with Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt and Elvis Mitchell

The Making of Nation’s Pride

A Conversation with Rod Taylor

Nation’s Pride: The Film Within The Film

The Original Inglorious Bastards Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel

Film Poster Gallery Tour

And Much More!

Includes Digital Copy of “Inglourious Basterds” for Portable Media Players

Other Info:

Widescreen (2.40:1)

DTS-HD MA 5.1 Sound

Spanish and French Languages

Spanish and French Subtitles

Running Time: 153 Minutes

The Details:

The following is the official description of the film:

“Brad Pitt takes no prisoners in Quentin Tarantino’s high-octane WWII revenge fantasy ‘Inglourious Basterds.’ As war rages in Europe, a Nazi-scalping squad of American soldiers, known to their enemy as ‘The Basterds,’ is on a daring mission to take down the leaders of the Third Reich.”

“Inglourious Basterds: 2-Disc Special Edition” is rated R for strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality.

Mini-Review:

“Inglourious Basterds” has all the hallmarks of a typical Tarantino film. First of all, it has fantastic dialogue. Scenes where characters are doing nothing more than sitting at a table chatting keep you riveted to your seat. Whether it’s Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa eerily comparing Jews to rats or Mélanie Laurent withering under his interrogation as Shosanna Dreyfus, you can’t help but be glued to their every word.

Second, it has the required over-the-top, gory action. Lt. Aldo Raine and his “Basterds” inflict brutal revenge against the Nazis for their atrocities. We see Eli Roth as Sgt. Donny Donowitz bash in a man’s head with a baseball bat. We see Aldo carve a swastika in a man’s forehead. We see a stunningly brutal shootout in a bar. It dances back and forth over the line of being way gross and way cool, but there’s no denying it is engaging.

Third, it has great cinematography. For example, almost every scene in Shosanna’s cinema is beautifully executed. Whether she’s framed in a second story window or putting on her makeup, Tarantino makes her look gorgeous. When the cinema eventually burns to the ground, it’s amazing seeing all the Nazi banners burning and Shosanna’s laughing image projected in the smoke in the theater. From French dairy farms to basement barrooms, it is all perfectly photographed.

Finally, the film keeps Tarantino’s retro feel from the opening credits to the music to the sound effects. Anyone familiar with ’60s and ’70s cinema will appreciate it. That being said, this is not a remake of the original “Inglorious Bastards.” In fact, it has absolutely nothing in common other than the name, the WWII setting, and cameos by the original cast and director. This is a completely original film.

The cast, as you would expect, is as good as they are eclectic. Brad Pitt is hilarious as Lt. Aldo Raine. He steals every scene with his Southern accent, swagger, and cutthroat attitude. Christoph Waltz ends up being a classic movie villain as Col. Hans Landa. The guy is intimidating even when he’s drinking milk. The women of Tarantino’s films always end up looking great and it’s no exception here. Mélanie Laurent is memorable as Shosanna Dreyfus, the cinema owner who is determined to get revenge on the Nazis for killing her family. Diane Kruger also stands out as Bridget von Hammersmark, a German movie star and Allied spy.

My main gripe with “Inglourious Basterds” is the pacing. As fantastic as the dialogue scenes were, I think they could have been trimmed down a bit in order to show more Nazi killing. The opening conversation between Landa and a French dairy farmer is nearly 30 minutes long. Meanwhile, the movie skips from briefly introducing the Basterds to immediately showing them as the scourge of the Third Reich. We really needed a bit more time showing them on the screen. “A little less conversation,” Elvis would say. A large part of the screentime is spent showing Shosanna and her plot to burn the cinema. That could have been trimmed down, too. For a movie called “Inglourious Basterds,” the Basterds have very little of the screentime. We’re told they’re tough, but we don’t see as much of it as you’d expect.

If you like a good revenge fantasy and you’d like to see an alternate WWII reality where things don’t happen quite according to the history books, then you’ll enjoy “Inglourious Basterds.” Needless to say, fans of Tarantino are required to add this Blu-ray to their collections.

You’ll find a good selection of bonus features on the Blu-ray. First off, there’s a digital copy of the film for your portable devices. On the disc itself, you’ll find some extended and alternate scenes. There are only three or four and they’re not all that different from the versions shown in the movie. There’s also a roundtable discussion with Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt and Elvis Mitchell. They discuss Tarantino’s filmmaking style, his determination to finish on time and on budget, and more. “The Making of Nation’s Pride” is a mockumentary where Eli Roth, who really directed the segment, pretends to be a German director discussing how he made the propaganda film. Various other cast members also stay in character to discuss the movie. It is done very tongue in cheek. “Nation’s Pride: The Film Within The Film” shows the full propaganda film from the movie. “A Conversation with Rod Taylor” is a brief featurette with the actor discussing his cameo in the film and how Tarantino approached him about it. There’s a follow-up featurette where he talks about how Tarantino got him some rare Australian beer as a thank you for wrapping his scenes. “The Original Inglorious Bastards Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel” shows some various things that the clapper girl did in front of the camera during shooting. Also included are a few other brief featurette and a film poster gallery.

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