Ghost World (2001) - Terry Zwigoff

Does Thora Birch still exist? I haven't seen her in things since the 90s that I can think of. If she's dead or something I'll regret that comment, whilst Scarlett Johansson has gone from strength to strength. All the main stars in this film are good in it, especially Steve Buscemi. Nobody plays lovable loser quite like Steve Buscemi. His role in Reservoir Dogs (1992) - Quentin Tarantino, obviously makes us think of him as a bad tough guy, but there are so many layers in his acting ability, that any film with him in, is dragged immediately upmarket. I just found myself feeling so bad for him in this film, but it's an enjoyable cringe.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Inglourious Basterds (2009) - Quentin Tarantino

At first glance, this is just a remake of The Inglorious Bastards (1978) - Enzo Castellari, but after watching it, the only way they are similar is the title, and even that is different enough, so that Tarantino knows his big budget film won't be confused with the Italian director's work. Apparently, Tarantino did buy the rights to the name of the film anyway, just to stop any copyright infringement, unlike what he did with Reservoir Dogs (1993), eh, soundtrack fans?

I spectacularly enjoyed this film, which is what cinema is all about. The problems I had with it, are purely production wise: Brad Pitt's star credit was unnecessary. His screen time was much less than Christoph Waltz (who gave a remarkable performance of eerie authenticity as Colonel Hans Landa), and I'm not sure if his name was there for any other reason than publicity. That being said, Pitt still gave a pretty good go at stealing every scene he was in, and was eclipsed only by the fact that he was not alone amongst the sterling performances.

Both the ending and the (sort of) epilogue with Pitt and Waltz, without giving too much away, were the best pieces of the film, and worth the 2 and a half hours we spent getting there.

A fine film from Tarantino, and a worthy predecessor to what I'm hoping will be a blockbusting phenomenon: Django Unchained (2013).

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆