Inglourious Basterds

(USA/Germany, 2009, 153 minutes)

During WWII, a squad of Nazi-hunting American outlaw soldiers are sent on a mission to eliminate the German high command who are attending a propaganda film premiere in Paris, not knowing the cinema owner has plans of her own. Outrageously freewheeling, wildly inventive and hugely enjoyable war fantasy that, in keeping with its author's skewed cinephilia, filters the entire history of exploitation, B-series and Eurotrash actioners through the lens of European auteur theory, love of cinema and recycled pop culture. Also, probably the only war movie in history without a single war scene; but it still could have used a trim.

Universal Pictures and The Weinstein Company present an A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg Film production. Starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger; and Mélanie Laurent; guest starring August Diehl, Julie Dreyfus, Sylvester Groth, Jacky Ido, Denis Menochet, Mike Myers, Rod Taylor, Martin Wuttke. Directed and written by Quentin Tarantino; produced by Lawrence Bender; director of photography (DeLuxe/Technicolor, Panavision), Robert Richardson; production designer, David Wasco; costume designer, Anna B. Sheppard; film editor, Sally Menke; visual effects supervisor, John Dykstra; special make-up effects designed and produced by Gregory Nicotero and Howard Berger.