"That's a bingo!"

I finally got around to my second viewing of Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds yesterday. I never properly reviewed it and I don't think I will now either. But I do have a couple of thoughts that were solidified by a second viewing. Mainly that, while there are a whole bunch of things that I love about the movie - and I'll list them here quickly: Christoph Waltz was even more amazing the second go-around, and I am tickled to death by Michael Fassbender's George Sanders impersonation (speaking of Fassbender, I'm gonna have more to say about him this week but let me just get this off my chest - I am completely infautated with him right now); Melanie Laurent is lovely and her final scene actually made me tear up this time; and there are all sorts of small side moments that make me giddy, from Til Schweiger's back-story (complete with face-fisting!) to Julie Dreyfous' ridiculous costumes to "Der bären juden!" to Diane Kruger's high-heeled leg-cast and really I could go on and on, there is a whole lot that I love - so while there are a whole bunch of things that I love... somehow, it still adds up to less than the sum of its parts.

And I'm gonna go against the grain here and say that I think the film needs to be longer. I worry that the problem stems from QT having had to hack it down from its Cannes cut and that some of the problems I have with the film - too many characters too thinly stretched, and a rhythm and tone that never coheres - might've been a result of certain integral things being left on the cutting room floor. The film's violence, its disregard for history and "the seriousness of the subject matter" - things I've seen many reviewers take aim at - are some of my favorite things about the film, so it ain't that. So while I find so many moments and scenes to be exquisitely crafted, there's a disconnect to the entire piece together for me. And there is a slickness over characterization that's here, which is something QT's been criticized for before that I've never taken issue with until now. And I do wonder if there aren't character beats that would fill in the gaps in the film's longer cut. Perhaps we'll see, if Quentin ever releases said cut. I hope so.

Wow, I say I'm not reviewing the film, and then I go a'ramblin' like that. I can't help myself. But a review is not what I'm writing this post for - no, it is this wondrous news (via):

"There may be hope for The Green Hornet yet. On the heels of Nicolas Cage's departure as the gangster antagonist in the superhero film, Michel Gondry has snagged a far more villainous actor: Inglourious Basterds' Nazi fiend Christolph Waltz. Deadline is reporting that Waltz, who has received much acclaim as the fearsome Nazi Colonel Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's latest film, has been cast as Chudnofsky, The Green Hornet's main foe."

Oh yes. Yes yes yes! To be honest I liked Waltz much better with my second viewing of Basterds than I did the first. I went into the film the first time with the deafening buzz for his performance in my ears and only on the second viewing was I really able to watch it for itself. And wow. It's the real deal. So this news is positively joyous.