Tag: Samm Levine

“Inglourious Basterds” DVD launch: A less deadly Operation Kino kicks some Nazi ass

So, while I was procrastinating conducting in-depth research for this post, covering a promotional screening for the rather glorious “Inglourious Basterds,” I found myself going over numerous reviews and think pieces. One piece for a very respectable and staid looking website started out normally enough but, while praising “Pulp Fiction” and other older films in the Quentin Tarantino catalogue, it quickly became unusually vicious. Tarantino is a filmmaker who has a special gift for generating a certain degree of critical anger, the cinephile hubbub kicked up by critic and film historian Jonathan Rosenbaum over the film’s non-portrayal of the Holocaust being one prominent example, but this was different.

As I noted the attention this particular review seemed to be paying to the ancestry of the cast, crew, and characters, I realized that the hate was not over anything so conventional as concerns that “Basterds” might be trivializing the Holocaust or World War II. I was reading a “white nationalist” web site. Yes, even more than some overly sensitive liberals, Nazis hate “Inglourious Basterds.” Considering it’s a movie in which a bunch of Jews, a part Cherokee good ol’ boy lieutenant, an African-French projectionist, a traitorous movie star, and a few odd others defeat the Third Reich in a painful and fiery manner, displeasing Nazis is kind of the whole idea.

IB Cast LR

Certainly, no one was feeling conciliatory towards facists or racists of any stripe as a good portion of the “Basterds” cast and crew turned up at the last of L.A.’s revival houses, the legendary New Beverly Cinema, to celebrate the DVD/Blu-Ray release of the the award-winning, genre-blending war flick. Indeed, as neighbors from the heavily Hasidic West Hollywood-adjacent neighborhood ignored the commotion, a few of us less observant entertainment scribes got the chance to talk to a select group of not-quite superstar basterds, including players in two of the more acclaimed sitcoms of all time, a personable musician and Tarantino-buddy turned actor, and a passionate producer who is not about to let any conservative climate deniers take away his Oscar…but that’s all ahead.

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Tarantino’s “Basterds” gets its big debut

Those wondering if Quentin Tarantino would complete his latest film (the WWII epic “Inglorious Basterds”) in time for the Cannes Film Festival (and perhaps more importantly, its late August release date) need not worry. Yahoo! Movies has officially released the teaser trailer on the internet today, and from the looks of things, it’s farther along than I imagined. Though it seems to be more traditional than the usual QT project, the film shows immense promise – notably Brad Pitt, who seems to be channeling his inner George Clooney for what may be his best role to date.

In the film, Pitt stars as the leader of a group of Jewish-American soldiers who invade Nazi-controlled France to give Hitler and his army a taste of their own brutality. The film also features “Freaks and Greeks” star Samm Levine, “The Office” star B.J. Novak, and horror director Eli Roth. Check out the trailer below, and then let us know what you think.

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