I love Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, then something happened, he went all fanboy. It was with much intrepidation when I read the first few pages of "Basterds" hoping that he eradicated the fanboyisms that plague his work so often. Unfortunately, it's still there; the script is peppered with Leone fanboyism - it's getting old and smacks of unprofessionalism. But, I loved the script when I wanted to hate it. Getting past the ridiculous fanboyisms, there's a great story here that kept me riveted to the page. QT's angst years play out right in front of us in a very compelling way.
The opening of the film is incredibly suspenseful, introducing the Jewess and her story. It's her story that I found the most emotional and QT kept me on the edge of seat gnawing away on my nails, desperate for her to succeed in her mission.
I love the "Basterds" but I was quite happy to have the Jewess story as a single film, cinema paridiso meets ..... would work very well. The Basterds are hilarious but it was a man one show unlike the multi-faceted Jewess story.
The film takes liberties with history. Would Hitler have travelled to Paris to attend this premiere? Unlikely. The death of the Third Reich is just in the film, it's not meant to be a history lesson, QT uses "Once Upon a Time..." which is to say that it's a brutal fairytale.
Overall, I liked it a lot - a well crafted story but definately requires another pass to remove a lot of decorative dialogue.
I just finished reading it and I have to say I thought it truly stank. If I didn't know who wrote it I'd guess it could be a first time writer. And I don't think it's the heaping pile of misspelled words and poor grammar that's tainting my opinion. (I refuse to even call them typos. It's not a typo when you continually spell the same word incorrectly over and over.)
Seriously, QT either is so arrogant and lazy that he thinks crapping out a first draft and calling it the "last draft" makes it so, or he simply sucks.
The dialogue was amateurish, the characters were caricatures and the plot was sophomoric. If Brad Pitt agrees to do this after reading the script in its current condition he's out of his mind.
I'm not familiar with the business end of this one. Has the script actually been bought? Even if it has, I honestly can't imagine a studio stupid enough to greenlight this piece of dreck.
(Are unsold, unknown writers allowed to light up an A-lister like this? Or will I be getting a late-night visit from a team of WGA thugs tonight?)
I agree with you, Otis. I'd struggled with this read. The thing that's crazy is, if I or anyone of us would have wrote this and sent it out hoping for representation or a sale -- we'd be LAUGHED at...
...but this is QT, so he'll get praised for this.
Just wait 'til I make it, I'm gonna start writing in crayon on wrinkled note book paper. Maybe I'll win an Oscar, or at the minimum, nominated.
I agree with you about Bastards Shane but I thought all of his films wore their inspirations and his love for them on their sleeves. I actually thought that was what made Death Proof any good, certainly separated it from Planet Terror. Since he always adds more than what's on the page, this finished film should be insane in the best kind of ways.
I agree with you, Otis. I'd struggled with this read. The thing that's crazy is, if I or anyone of us would have wrote this and sent it out hoping for representation or a sale -- we'd be LAUGHED at...
...but this is QT, so he'll get praised for this.
Just wait 'til I make it, I'm gonna start writing in crayon on wrinkled note book paper. Maybe I'll win an Oscar, or at the minimum, nominated.
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