Hitler was screwed by Basterds

At least, according to Tarantino.

The story of 'Inglorious Basterds' has been around for so long that one wondered whether QT was ever gonna do it at all. At one point he was supposed to do it after 'Jackie Brown' but ended up doing Kill Bill instead. Then he was supposedly going to do it again but instead did 'Grindhouse'. And then, one day, he jokingly said his next movie was not going to be Basterds because every time he says it is it never happens.

So his next movie actually became 'Inglorious Basterds'.

Now, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy Kill Bill I & II. I did enjoy those movies. But it didn't leave me as reeling and as excited as usual. I loved 'Death Proof' more than 'Planet Terror' when Grindhouse came out but it still didn't feel completely like a Tarantino movie.

Then this comes along. From the moment I saw the first trailer that came out which consisted pretty much entirely of Brad Pitt's brilliant recruitment speech I was sold. By the time I saw the second trailer, I couldn't wait.

And it sure didn't disappoint.

I remember when the world first went crazy over Brad Pitt, especially the women. They raved and swooned about him, especially over 'Legends of the Fall'. I wasn't impressed.

Then 'Seven' rolled around, followed by '12 Monkeys', and I started formulating a theory that the shorter his hair was, the better his acting was. In the end, however, I just find him to be a brilliant actor and movie star. Especially after 'Fight Club'. The man is insanely talented and it's in roles like this, where he gets to shoot off larger-than-life characters such as Lt. Aldo Raine, that he is a pleasure to watch from beginning to end.

However, the most stand out actor of the lot has to be Mr. Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa.

The opening scene that starts off the entire movie showcases both Tarantino's return to form at brilliant wordplay as well as the sheer genius of this actor - just two people having a conversation as the tension ratchets up with every word uttered. In most World War II movies playing the Nazi often leads to performances of pure, unadulterated evil and completely unsympathetic.

Christopher Waltz doesn't just give off the necessary menace, but we also find ourselves admiring the dude. We fear for the characters that are put on his path but at the same time we don't hate him. Whilst the SS officer in the film is your straight-up menacing Nazi that we're all accustomed to Col. Landa is a different kettle of fish. And with his multi-lingual savvy he may as well be called a different kettle of babel fish.

But what truly makes this movie great is that though it is set in World War II and it's landscape is based on history, it's story couldn't be far removed from it.

This is a film where Eli Roth's character nickname is 'The Bear Jew'...

...where British soldiers talk with that wonderfully old school matinee idol proper accent...

...where Hitler feels like a blundering buffoon...

...and where the entire war is ended in one single night with the power of cinema and the flamability of old film stock.

Though the opening scene was brilliant, there is a moment in the movie that had me loving this movie a hundred times more and had my eyes glued on the flick from then on in. After all the scenes we see of World War II, though fictional still very much plausible, we are introduced to Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz, a former Nazi who defected and joined the Basterds (played by Til Schweiger who I haven't seen in flicks since 'SLC Punk').

The thing is, I didn't get most of the explanation because I was laughing my ass off. Why? Because all of a sudden we are treated to a flashback of Sgt. Hugo... with 70's funk and a voice over by Samuel L. Jackson.

I couldn't contain myself. It was such a completely out-of-place moment of insane movie referencing that wouldn't work in any other hands but Tarantino's and I loved every minute of it. From then on, the movie became a hundred times more fun.

And speaking of laughter, there are many moments in this movie where I found myself in stitches as there's so much humor in it. Black humor, yes, but humor nonetheless amidst the cartoon violence. After all, this is supposed to be a World War II movie, right? And yet, amidst it all, we are treated to a hilarious moment that would fit any comedy where Lt. Raine and his men pose as Italian filmmakers to attend the premiere of a Nazi movie even though they can't speak Italian for nuts!

Real farcical stuff that again shouldn't work but it does. In fact, this entire movie shouldn't work, it just plain shouldn't, but it does because of Tarantino's inherent talent of knowing all the rules of movies and knowing just how to turn those rules against us in such a way that it should not be possible but still making it so.

I loved this movie. Flat out loved it. It's a Tarantino movie that I can honestly say I love without trying to make excuses for it and the last movie of his I could honestly do the same was 'Pulp Fiction'. Along with 'Star Trek', this is my favorite movie of the year so far and I don't know if any other flick of the year can match it.

Pictures taken from AceShowBiz.com and IMDB.