16 Days of Birthday, Day 12: Quentin Tarantino's Awesomeness

We all know that there are too many war movies being made. Yes, that World War II was a very interesting period of time. And seven times out of ten the movies are actually really good. But you know what's better than having history happen before your eyes???

Having that guy, Quentin Tarantino, change history before your eyes.

Having history changed is a pretty risky move. But when it is done by Quentin Tarantino, the king of all things cool, it is pretty amazing. People may have doubted Inglourious Basterds because there was an e where there was supposed to be an a and there was an extra u creeping it's way into the title. But who cares? I am one of those firm believers that Inglourious Basterds is a masterpiece. Seriously, I could watch Aldo Raine and his basterds scalping Nazis, Hans Landa laughing at Bridget von Hammersmark's 'misfortunes' and The Bear Jew smacking the shit out of a guy every day. If only there were more hours in the day...

Quentin's reimagining of what happened to Adolf Hitler and his Jew-hating followers is one which isn't believable, in the slightest. But does that really matter? No. I had a lot of fun watching this. I must admit, when I first watched this film, I was a bit dubious of the first chapter. But this was because, back in the day, I was a bit ADD and had to have things jumping out of the screen to grab my attention. Thankfully, that's changed. Any time I watch this film now, I am still completely engrossed in what is happening on the screen.

50% of the time I am waiting around for Hans Landa to grace the screen again. I'm sure I'm not the first person who has said it, but Christoph Waltz is simply genius in this movie. Every time the guy falls silent, I am scared shitless. Every time he smiles, I am scared shitless. But most of the time I just feel like laughing at him...he's a bit lost in his little world, which I find quite funny.

That's not to say that I forget about the other stars, though. Everyone looks like they are having a lot of fun. My other favourite performances in the film are the ones from Diane Kruger and Melanie Laurent. These two blonde and beautiful actresses have their parts down to a tee - Kruger playing the glamazon actress who uses her charm and fame to become a spy; Laurent playing a Jewish girl in disguise who has a cinema and a plan (a plan which is awesome, by the way).

I particularly like Kruger in the chapter "A German Night in Paris". This chapter is probably my favourite out of all of them (followed closely by the final chapter, of course). Every thing is perfect in this chapter. From Kruger's introduction, being both smart and still living up to her actress reputation, to Michael Fassbender being ultra-sexy through speaking German. Things seem to skate pretty level in this scene until Fassy accidentally blows his cover by holding the wrong three fingers up. Then what happens? Just a casual shoot-up, leaving the actress and the new father to be the only ones alive. The Tarantino-favourite Mexican stand-off and a new master plan follows. How is this chapter not genius? Better question: how is Quentin Tarantino not a genius?

The one thing I really like about QT is the fact that he basically writes and directs his movies with himself in mind. His scripts always drip with pop-culture references and homages to his favourite films (that is the main reason as to why I love Inglourious Basterds so much). You see, if I were to ever become a film-maker like I want to be, I'd probably be writing scripts similar to his. Mainly because 99% of what I say is usually from a movie, and usually the people I know haven't seen any of the movies which I quote, so they think I'm a bloody genius every time I say something. I'm like a walking homage...

Anyway, what I'm meaning to say is that whether it be Inglourious Basterds (probably my favourite film of his) or Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino has always been - and will always be - a favourite of mine. His films always lift me up if I'm in a bad mood, even with all their violence and blood. He's a guy who doesn't make films for money or status. He make movies because he can, and he can do it really well. And through all of that, he seems to be teaching his audience something. Which he doesn't do through pounds of metaphors or hidden messages.

He just is awesomeness, all the way through to his core.

What's your favourite Quentin Tarantino movie?