Screenhead

Bad news: it only represents nineteen percent of all tickets sold online in the last few days on Movietickets.com.

The next competitors are tied for second, as District 9 and G-Force are running neck and neck with eleven percent each.

Ouch.

Look, we all knew District 9 was going to be a big deal.  It’s one of the first truly original movies to come our way this summer, based only vaguely on a short film by the original director.  There was just no way it wasn’t going to be big.  Meanwhile, along comes yet another brain fart from Tarantino, who’s clearly stuck in the seventies, doing REMAKES no less and being so transparent about them that he’s MISSPELLING THE TITLE to make it look slightly less obvious.

But considering the fact that Tarantino’s getting a run for his money from gerbils who are on like week four of their theatrical run?  That’s just a low blow.

Before you start wondering how I get incredible access to all the very latest movies that haven’t even come out yet, you should pay close attention to one thing–the spelling of the above title.  This is not Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”, this is the ORIGINAL “Inglorious Bastards”, from 1978.

Yes, the guys at Severin Films have jammed a very large straight pin in the massive gas sack that is Quentin Tarantino’s ego and sent it whizzing all around the room by presenting, clearly, the fact that Tarantino’s version is really a remake, though as we’ll discover, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

This version, the ORIGINAL version, revolves around a group of criminals who would receive the death sentence in a World War II Allied prison camp, but instead break out, with the plan to shoot their way into Switzerland, but instead find themselves neck-deep in a suicide mission.

After only about ten minutes in, I was positively enamored with this movie.  Sure, a war movie is generally at least kind of good–there aren’t that many BAD war movies, though they do exist–but this one is a class all by itself.  There’s plenty of action, and more than enough comedy to go around.  These guys are flat-out great; they may have been examples of the very worst the army had to offer, but they really knew how to get a job done.  They’ve got thieves and killers and compulsive gamblers, but when it comes time to do a job, they really know how to get it done.

Even better, there will be a variety of adventures for our inglorious bastards to slog their way through, and they will approach them all with a style all their own.  It’s downright amazing what these guys are going to get into, and it’s actually even more amazing how they get out of it.  More than once I found myself grinning, chuckling, and muttering at my TV, “Those magnificent, inglorious bastards”.

I think they saw me coming when they titled this thing.  I really do.

Despite the fact that this movie is over thirty years old, it’s aged well.  Clearly some remastering has been done in the DVD translation, but the effects aren’t half bad, the props are downright authentic and the set designs and background are top-notch and absolutely realistic.

In fact, I’m hard pressed to say anything BAD about this movie.  Believe me, I’ve gone over this with a fine-tooth comb and I’m having a hard time finding anything wrong.  Oh, sure, by TODAY’S standards, the whole thing’s somewhat lesser-grade, and maybe it was a good idea for Tarantino to go and slap a fresh coat of paint on this one with some modern, updated effects tech and some more explosions.  A potato-masher grenade explosion really shouldn’t look like a gust of compressed air firing up from the ground.

Despite this, there’s absolutely no way such a thing will ever get in the way of you enjoying this movie.  If you have even the vaguest enjoyment of war movies, then you’re going to go nuts over this one.

Inglorious Bastards is a fantastic war movie that aged well over the years, and is more than deserving of a remake that I personally have high hopes for.  And around here, it’s SO good that it’s going to get a clean ten out of ten.  There’s just nothing wrong with it worth noticing.

Quentin Tarantino looks like he is having fun because he is “making movies.”

Quentin Tarantino and his bastards will be present at the Cannes Film Festival, reports Variety, as his WWII action film Inglorious Bastards has been accepted for the competition.

The film follows a band of Jewish-American soldiers whose mission is to take down a group of Nazis. It is set to hit theaters on August 21.

Bastards is currently being readied by Tarantino for its world premiere during the May festival.

The highly anticipated Quentin Tarantino project Inglorious Bastards has added two more to its cast – Samuel L. Jackson and Maggie Cheung.

Jackson will provide his voice for narration which will be used sporadically throughout the film. Cheung will play Madame Mimieux, the French matron of the Cinematheque that takes in the protagonist Shosanna when she is homeless and being sought by the Nazis.

IG is moving ahead quite well now, with the cast being rounded up and shooting going forward. The film is due out next year.

Quentin Tarantino just started shooting his film, Inglorious Bastards, in Germany and already has his movie poster out on the Internet. That’s fast. Casting is interesting too. I wonder how the whole project will turn out.

The Weinstein Co has released a press release today stating that director Quentin Tarantino has begun principal photography on his WWII epic “Inglorious Bastards.” Furthermore, the press release mentioned Cloris Leachman as part of the cast. Of course, you already have notable actors such as Brad Pitt, Mike Myers, and Eli Roth in on this film.

Tarantino plans to complete production of Inglorious Bastards in time for release at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2009. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Two story lines… converge: One follows a group of prisoners-turned-soldiers whose mission is to take down a group of Nazis, and the other follows a young Jewish woman who seeks to avenge the death of her parents by this Nazi group.”

The film will be divided into five chapters (Kill Bill style):
-Chapter One: Once Upon a Time… Nazi Occupied France
-Chapter Two: Inglorious Bastards
-Chapter Three: German Night in Paris
-Chapter Four: Operation Kino
-Chapter Five: Revenge of the Giant Face

From The Playlist comes word that Julie Dreyfus, Michael Bacall and Omar Doom have joined the cast of Inglorious Bastards, the highly anticipated Quentin Tarantino project.

Interestingly, all three have worked with the famous director before. Dreyfus played Sofie Fatale in Kill Bill, while the latter two played bar patrons in the first half of Tarantino’s Grindhouse feature Death Proof.

No details were given of their involvement in the film, though some are speculating that their roles will likely be minor ones.

Diane Kruger of National Treasure is set to play German actress Bridget Von Hammersmark, a strong character in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards. She sabotages the Nazis. Natassja Kinski was first thought of for the role.  

Christoph Waltz is set to play Col. Hans Landa the main antagonist in the story.  Waltz is mainly known in Germany for his television work.

Other actors set to star in the film are Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Mike Myers, Michael Fassbender, B.J.Novak and Sam Levine.

Filming begins October 13 in Germany.

Quentin Tarantino signed up Mike Myers to join his ensemble cast of Inglorious Bastards, which goes into production October 13 in Germany.

Myers is set to play British General Ed Fenech, a military mastermind joins in the launching a plot to wipe out Nazi leaders.

Myers is now in ranks with Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Simon Pegg, Natassja Kinski, David Krumholtz and B.J. Novak.