Quentin Tarantino's new movie "Inglorious Basterds" is coming out tomorrow (he won't say why he misspells "Bastards" but movie insiders suspect the director is actually a reterd). While I've enjoyed a lot of Tarantino's work in the past (Reservoir Dogs is still one of my favorite films) I just haven't been able to get much into his recent work--"Deathproof" had some decent moments, but the characters were just not interesting enough to care about, and "Kill Bill" seemed rather pointless and lacking in any real twist or suspense. He's still a hell of a talent though.
The other thing is, I think I'm finally all "Nazi-ed Out". I must have seen about four hundred films involving Nazis as the villains--let's face it, unless you're watching something produced by Joseph Goebbels or Mel Gibson, the Nazis will be featured as villains--and feel there's just not much left to say about them. In a way, they were the perfect villains--arrogant, evil, but really efficient and powerful. They had black uniforms, and a symbol that could induce hypnosis (don't stare at a swastika for too long!). But there's just no nuance there--the only way a Nazi could be a good guy would be if he turned against the Nazis, like Schindler from Schindler's List, or if the protagonist isn't actually a Nazi but a bedraggled German soldier dragged into the war such as the submariners in Das Boot, or if the Nazi is actually a Jew in disguise such as in Europa, Europa.
I guess I'd like to start seeing some war movies with new villains. Like the Greeks. Damn Greeks! Always messing with Turkey and shit.
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6 years ago
In Tarantino's defense, the two movies you cite, Deathproof and Kill Bill, are both in homage to the original genres of exploitation and kung fu films, respectively.
ReplyDeleteSo while I can't disagree with you in regards to to your points about the movies, it's important to realized that he was merely sharing epic remakes of the film genres that inspired him.
I think Tarantino himself has me Tarantino-ed out.
ReplyDeleteJust can't get enough of those Nazis though!
Techdubb--that's true about the homages, though I would have hoped that Tarantino would have improved upon the typical formula with them. I guess my expectations were too high after his first few films.
ReplyDeleteBrett--how about gratuitous Nazis? Like a re-make of Caddyshack where Judge Smalls is really an ex-Nazi in hiding? Or Dirty Dancing, where Johnny and Baby have to compete with a Nazi couple?