Inglourious Basterds

Weekend Box Office – THE EXPENDABLES Take Number One with $35 Million

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: August 15th, 2010 at 9:46 am

If conventional wisdom says that Sylvester Stallone and Julia Roberts are has-beens, than someone clearly forgot to tell their audiences. Both stars are looking like winners today – especially Sylvester Stallone and his oldies action-hero reunion tour, otherwise known as The Expendables.

	Title	Weekend	Total
1	The Expendables	$35,035,000	$35
2	Eat Pray Love	$23,700,000	$23.7
3	The Other Guys	$18,000,000	$70.5
4	Inception	$11,370,000	$248.5
5	Scott Pilgrim vs. the World	$10,525,000	$10.5
6	Despicable Me	$6,760,000	$221.5
7	Step Up 3D	$6,620,000	$21.5
8	Salt	$6,350,000	$103.5
9	Dinner for Schmucks	$6,316,000	$58.8
10	Cats & Dogs 2	$4,075,000	$35.1

Mélanie Laurent Exclusive Interview; THE CONCERT Star On INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS’ Worldwide Appeal, Experiencing Cannes With Quentin Tarantino & Becoming A Virtuoso Violinist In 3 Months

by Ron Messer    Posted: August 9th, 2010 at 5:30 pm

Inglourious Basterds burst onto theater screens around the world last year with heaping doses of gunpowder and star power, namely Brad Pitt, to set box offices on fire.  But while familiar faces like Pitt, Mike Myers and others lit up the screen, two actors all but unknown to American audiences left an undeniable impression.  Christoph Waltz’s Oscar-winning performance as the diabolically delicious Col. Hans Landa has been well documented.  However, Mélanie Laurent’s portrayal of the main heroine Shosanna Dreyfus gave the film its conscience and heart.

Collider caught up with Laurent on the phone recently about her newest film, The Concert, which is in the midst of a national rollout.  Hit the jump for the interview’s transcript and audio, along with news of her post-Basterds work, comparing careers with her good friend Marion Cotillard and Quentin Tarantino’s advice for going behind the camera.

Christoph Waltz On Set Interview THE GREEN HORNET

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: July 13th, 2010 at 9:02 am

On the Set of The Green Hornet, everyone knew that Christoph Waltz was going to be an academy award winner, but – in December of 2009 – he had yet to be nominated. His performance was just that good. It was undeniable. But at that point Waltz had just started getting work from the heat of that performance, and so in some respects – even with a body of work that spans decades – he was a newcomer. An irony Waltz himself appreciated. The Green Hornet role came from Inglourious Basterds, and as Rogen said he thanked Tarantino for the gift his film had been given.

Christoph wasn’t shooting that day, but came to the set to talk to us, regardless, which is a great show of professionalism. With Waltz, he had to keep some secrets so he daintly danced around some probing questions about his character, and talked about making the film, Basterds, the award season, his newfound celebrity, and more. My interview with Christoph Waltz after the jump.

THE HURT LOCKER Wins 6 BAFTA Awards Including Best Picture

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 21st, 2010 at 9:34 pm

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts added momentum to The Hurt Locker awards train tonight as they award the film Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Sound.  Hurt Locker‘s awards in the technical categories are particularly interesting because perhaps Academy-thinking that usually awards those categories to the big blockbuster movies, i.e. Avatar.  But perhaps BAFTA and Oscar voters on the same wavelength and despite the massive box office of Cameron’s tech demo, the Academy could recognize the impressive editing, sound, and achievement in other technical categories (although Avatar won the BAFTA for best visual effects and it’s a lock to win the Oscar in that category as well).

Other nice victories included Colin Firth for Best Actor (A Serious Man), Carey Mulligan for Best Actress (An Education), and my personal favorite: Outstanding British Debut to Duncan Jones for Moon.  He gave a very sweet acceptance speech and I’ve included video of it after the jump along with the full list of winners.

2010 Oscar Nominations Announced; AVATAR and THE HURT LOCKER Lead with 9 Noms Each

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 2nd, 2010 at 6:29 am

Despite opening up the Best Picture race from five nominations to ten, this morning’s announcement of the 2010 Oscar nominations hardly had any surprises.  When the biggest shocker comes from the widely-unseen The Secret of Kells being nominated for Best Animated Feature, then the prediction system worked as it should.  That’s not to say that there’s nothing to be happy or disappointed about.  It’s just that with no surprises, that happiness or disappointment has probably been felt well in advance.  Personally, I’m jazzed that District 9 picked up a Best Picture nomination and I’m really bummed that Peter Capaldi wasn’t nominated for Best Supporting Actor for In the Loop.

But the race between Avatar and The Hurt Locker remains close.  Each film picked up nine nominations and so there’s no clear favorite to win the award.  Right now, Hurt Locker would seem to have a slight edge with its victories from both the Producers Guild and the Directors Guild.  But Avatar‘s box office numbers contribute to its status as does the mainstream acclaim for the film.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees.  The winners will be announced at the 82nd Academy Awards on Sunday, March 7th at 8pm EST on ABC.

Minimalist Posters for the Films of Quentin Tarantino

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 26th, 2010 at 2:19 pm

More homes would have movie posters on their walls if studios made them as eye-catching as what artist Ibraheem Youssef has done with the films of Quentin Tarantino.  They remind me of the “I Can Read Movies” series with their minimal designs that cause fans to grin and make the uninitiated want to get in on the joke.  I’ve seen all of Tarantino’s movies, but I can’t seem to grasp the reference Youssef’s making for Inglourious Basterds even though I’ve seen that movie twice and recently.  Help me out in our comments section.

Check out all the posters after the jump.  You can purchase them as 12×18 prints or 24×36 posters at shop.ibraheemyoussef.com.  All prints and posters are limited editions, hand-signed, and numbered.

16th Annual SAG Awards Honor INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and STAR TREK Among Others

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: January 24th, 2010 at 1:07 am

The Screen Actors Guild cast their votes for the best performances of 2009, and the results were announced on Saturday night.  Virtual Oscar locks Christoph Waltz and Mo’Nique were honored for their supporting turns in Inglourious Basterds and Precious, respectively.  Golden Globe winner Jeff Bridges repeated here for his lauded role in Crazy Heart.  Sandra Bullock took home the award for best female lead in The Blind Side, adding some drama to what is now ostensibly two-horse race between her and Meryll Streep for the Oscar.  Poor Carey Mulligan.

On the TV side, critical darlings 30 Rock and Mad Men took home three awards: the duo of Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey swept the lead comedy awards, while Mad Men was deemed to be television’s best drama ensemble.  Michael C. Hall, fresh off a Golden Globe win, won for being the only great part of Dexter.  Freshman shows also found some love, as the youthful cast of Glee is the SAG’s favorite comedy ensemble, and Juliana Marguiles turned some heads with a starring role on The Good Wife.

Hit the jump for the full list, which also includes wins for Star Trek, 24, Kevin Bacon, and Drew Barrymore.

WGA Nominees Announced; Nods for AVATAR, STAR TREK, and THE HANGOVER

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 11th, 2010 at 12:41 pm

The WGA has announced their nominees for Best Original, Adapted, and Documentary screenplays today and because so many great films were ruled ineligible, these nominees are kind of a joke.  Avatar is getting way more love for its spectacle than its story (protect the Hometree from the Sky People), (500) Days of Summer‘s structure is impressive but the characters and story are completely vanilla, Julie & Julia is half a good movie, and Crazy Heart is a two-hour commercial for Alcoholics Anonymous.

Now here’s a list of movies that were rule ineligible:  Inglourious Basterds, District 9, In the Loop, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Up, and A Single Man.  I suppose the only bright spot of all this is that The Hangover received a nomination, which is hilarious.

Hit the jump for the full list of nominees.  Winners will be announced on February 20th.

Analyzing 2009

by David Corbin    Posted: January 2nd, 2010 at 11:43 am

The 2009 film industry highlight reel is fun to watch. You are reminded of the $10 billion in ticket sales. The negative impact of the economy on specialty films. The $4 billion Disney-Marvel acquisition. But a highlight reel, while succinctly packaged and easy to reference, lacks the most essential element of film-a story. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen co-writer Roberto Orci stressed the necessity of crafting a solid story in order to create a compelling film. “If you can’t take out the gimmick and still have a story, then you don’t have anything,” he said. Setting aside for the time being the fact that Orci seemingly ignored his own advice during the writing of Transformers 2, he is right-a good story is essential if viewers are to remember the film after the lights are raised. So, what story can be told of the film industry in 2009? The story, as I see it, is Hollywood’s realization that it must do a better job of protecting the financial viability of franchise films from being undermined by an increasingly voracious and savvy viewing public that is constantly searching for a greater degree of access to and control over the film properties to which they have become attached.

Matt’s Top Performers, Director, Quotes, and Kills of 2009

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 30th, 2009 at 6:38 pm

The joy of list-making continues today as I’m running down who I thought gave the best performances of the year plus what I thought were the best quotes and kills of 2009.  Please keep in mind that regarding the performances, I haven’t seen a few key films that could have very well changed the winners and runners-up: Crazy Heart (Best Actor), The Last Station and Bright Star (Best Actress), and a few others.  If you think there was someone who clearly should’ve won or been nominated, shout out in the comments section and I’ll let you know whether I saw the film or not.

With this disclaimer out of the way, I present to you my picks for the best performers, directors, quotes, and kills of 2009.  Hit the jump to check them all out.

Matt’s Top 10 Films of 2009

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 27th, 2009 at 7:45 pm

I’m so happy that 2009 was a front-loaded year.  Friends and family asked me on more than one occasion, “It’s the end of the year, so where are all the good movies?”  I responded that this year, for whatever reason, was different and some of the year’s best films had premiered as early as Sundance (The Hurt Locker technically debuted in 2008 with its premiere at the Venice Film Festival).  The scarcity of must-see year-end flicks worked out beautifully for me because I had the time to give more thought to films and have the opportunity to watch them more than once.  I feel confident in my Top 10 in a way that I’ve been uneasy about in years prior.  There was a wealth of great films to choose from this year and almost all of my favorites are now available to own or rent on DVD or Blu-ray.

If I had to sum up 2009 in films, I would say it was a year of surprises and disappointments.  Films I expected to enjoy like Funny People, Bruno, Public Enemies were letdowns, while films like District 9, In the Loop, and A Single Man, came out of nowhere to blow me away.  It’s also refreshing to see that movies like The Hangover, Paranormal Activity, and Avatar did so well at the box office despite not being adaptations or remakes.

I thought 2009 was a great year for film and while I seriously considered expanding this list to a Top 15 or even 20, I felt that ten was appropriate because while this is clearly a vanity project for me, I do hope it serves as a recommendation tool for people who can’t go see every movie.  If you only see ten movies from this year, see these ten.  Hit the jump to start the countdown.

Quentin Tarantino Has 40 Pages of an INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Prequel but It’s Not His Next Movie

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 22nd, 2009 at 11:35 pm

Inglouious Basterds has begun its award season rampage and Quentin Tarantino isn’t done with the Basterds just yet.  However, he’s not ready to start it up yet either.  Speaking with Vulture, Tarantino said he has 40 pages of a Basterds prequel and he won’t give up on it, especially if the original continues to rack up commendations through awards season.  However, Tarantino says his next film will be “smaller,” and less epic,” than Basterds and within an entirely different genre.  He thinks he should have the script finished after five-to-six months of intensive writing.

Tarantino’s comments to Vulture lines up with what he said about “Volume 3 of the Bride” not being his next film either, but possibly the film he does after.  It seems Tarantino has his heart set on this smaller film but he’s not letting on what it is.   But what comes after could be a showdown between Basterds prequel versus a Kill Bill sequel.  Or it could just be like The Vega Brothers and neither project ever comes to fruition.

It’s fun to speculate on what a Basterds prequel would cover.  My particular theory is that it would cover why the clearly non-Jewish Lt. Aldo Raine would lead eight Jewish soldiers to kill Nazis and what caused his Hang ‘Em High-scar.  Or, if the film’s awards continue to go to Christoph Waltz for Best Supporting Actor (he’s racked up ten so far), Tarantino could turn his focus towards “The Jew Hunter”.  Heck, I’d even settle for a spin-off featuring The Bear Jew and his trusty baseball bat.

Screen Actors Guild Award Nominations Announced

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 17th, 2009 at 8:57 am

Causing a yawn followed by sad resignation, this year’s Screen Actors Guild Award nominations are unimaginative and a depressing indicator of what we could be seeing when the Oscar nominations are announced on February 2nd.  There’s not a single nominee that surprises.  Even the out-of-left-field Best Supporting Actress nomination of Diane Kruger for Inglourious Basterds feels more like a comment on the lack of good roles for actresses rather than an attempt to bring attention to an overlooked performance.

You can see the full list of nominees after the jump along with the equally-dull nominations for TV actors.

Eli Roth Talks Sci-Fi Movie ENDANGERED SPECIES and More

by Jonathan Callan    Posted: December 15th, 2009 at 9:20 pm

Last night, the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles held a red carpet premiere for the DVD release of Quentin Tarantino’s World War II opus Inglourious Basterds. The premiere featured cast and crew including Tarantino, producer Lawrence Bender, and most of the titular “basterds”, including Eli Roth. Collider was there to cover the event and a full write up will be available soon. However, we wanted to let you know what Roth told us about his upcoming sci-fi flick, Endangered Species.

“I have a sci-fi movie I’ll be directing called Endangered Species,” Roth said. This coming on the heels of horror film “Cotton”, an exorcism flick Roth’s been producing. “We just finished the sound mix on that and it’s really scary.”  Unfortunately, Roth wouldn’t provide any details about the plot of Species.

However, Roth did speak about making Basterds’ film-within-a-film, Nation’s Pride as well as a cut scene where he and fellow Basterd speak fake Italian to each other.  Hit the jump to read his comments on both.

Golden Globe Nominations Announced, UP IN THE AIR Leads with Six Noms

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 15th, 2009 at 10:15 am

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced their nominees for the 67th Annual Golden Globes and before I comment on the nominees, I first have to explain something about the Globes.  The Globes are not really an indiciator of the Oscars.  Critics lists and awards from various guilds are far better predictors because the Globes are ultimately bought and paid for by the studios.  The Oscars are as well to some extent, but the Globes are just ridiculous.  However, it doesn’t mean they’re not a lot of fun and that they’ll take chances Oscar won’t.

But the big movie nominee was a safe choice with Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air grabbing six nods followed by Rob Marshall’s Nine, which racked up five.  But looking through the nominees, there are some absolutely bizarre inclusions: Julia Roberts for Duplicity (this one makes sense when you remember that the HFPA are starfuckers), Matt Damon for Invictus, and “I See You” from Avatar as the Best Original Song, a tune hated by even those who love the movie .  Some of the snubs are also weird: No love for Up or Fantastic Mr. Fox for Best Musical/Comedy and no Best Song nomination for anything from The Princess and the Frog.

By the same token, I have to give it up for the Globes for nominating The Hangover as Best Musical/Comedy (I guess that FYC ad paid off) and Quentin Tarantino for Best Director for Inglourious Basterds.  It’s all pretty random but the Globes are an entertaining show with a looser atmosphere than the Oscars.  Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees, including the ones for television (Glee led the pack with four nominations).

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