Dear Reader: Update, Movie Review Intelligence will
continue publishing this website through June (more...)
Search a Movie:
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDSMovie Reviews
Drama about a group of WWII American soldiers, known as "the basterds," who mete out punishment to nasty Nazis. Cast:Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent, B.J. Novak, Samm LevineDirector:Quentin TarantinoRelease Date:August 21, 2009DVD Release:December 15, 2009From:The Weinstein CompanyRating:RLength:2 hr 33 min
Inglourious Basterds played to very good reviews that at the same time were mixed. • Todd McCarthy wrote in Daily Variety, "By turns surprising, nutty, windy, audacious and a bit caught up in its own cleverness... a completely distinctive piece of American pop art..." • And Christy Lemire wrote for the Associated Press, "Everything that's thrilling and maddening about Tarantino's films co-exists and co-mingles here..." More Reviews Below...
Richard Corliss, Time: OUTSTANDING "Tarantino's fans think they're in for a Hollywood-style war movie starring Brad Pitt. What they're really getting is the cagiest, craziest, grandest European film of the year."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 756 words, 08/21/09
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a collage of interlocking set pieces -- cinematically dazzling, to be sure, enhanced by a meticulously chosen retro soundtrack -- rather than a linear progression."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 632 words, 08/14/09
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Everything that's thrilling and maddening about Tarantino's films co-exists and co-mingles here... Tarantino frustrates in equal measure."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 629 words, 08/20/09
Thelma Adams, Us Weekly: VERY GOOD(cg) "...vigorous acting and dense, comic dialogue, the flick satisfies. One quibble: Since the movie is told in episodes, it doesn't build to the big bang that audiences crave."(See all of Thelma Adams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 112 words, 08/20/09
get our iPhone app... or get our mobile web app...
movie review intelligence
NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (13 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: MODERATE "...rarely has one of Mr. Tarantino's movies felt as interminable as this one... As usual he gives you a lot to chew on, though there's plenty to gag on as well."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,591 words, 08/21/09
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...a big, bold, audacious war movie that will annoy some, startle others and demonstrate once again that he's the real thing, a director of quixotic delights."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 840 words, 08/20/09
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...a film that loses its way in the thickets of alternative history and manages to be violent without the start-to-finish energy that violence on screen usually guarantees."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 838 words, 08/21/09
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Tarantino's best film since 'Pulp Fiction,' though his legion of detractors will likely not appreciate the aging enfant terrible drastically rewriting history..."(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 596 words, 08/21/09
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...a showcase for a 52-year-old Austrian-born character actor named Christoph Waltz, who waltzes off with the performance honors as a suavely vicious Nazi colonel..."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,102 words, 08/21/09
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: VERY GOOD "...a switchback journey through Tarantino's twisted inner landscape... an ungainly pastiche, yet on some wacked-out Jungian level it's all of a piece."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 771 words, 08/17/09
Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE(cg) "...a weird hybrid of a movie with an equally strange mix of emotions - wonder, regret, tedium, fleeing moments of admiration, extended patches of annoyance."(See all of Rick Groen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,029 words, 08/21/09
J. Hoberman, Village Voice/LA Weekly: OUTSTANDING "Energetic, inventive, swaggering fun... a consummate Hollywood entertainment -- rich in fantasy and blithely amoral."(See all of J. Hoberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,411 words, 08/19/09
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Roughly one-third of Quentin Ttarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds' is so good that it very nearly excuses the other two-thirds."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 410 words, 08/20/09
KEY CITIES (17 Reviews)
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: FAIR(cg) "...as rich as the subject matter is in both action and metaphor, in Tarantino's hands it becomes mere scaffolding for his chief preoccupation, which is the movies."(See all of Ann Hornaday's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,152 words, 08/21/09
Mick LaSalle, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: OUTSTANDING(cg) "It's not enough to say that this is Quentin Tarantino's best movie. It's the first movie of his artistic maturity, the film his talent has been promising for more than 15 years."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 866 words, 08/21/09
Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: OUTSTANDING(cg) "It's smart, stylish fun, full of all the elements that will have his fans applauding and may help the uninitiated understand what all the fuss is about."(See all of Tom Maurstad's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 751 words, 08/21/09
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: MODERATE(cg) "Tonally schizoid and rife with anachronisms (a David Bowie song on the sound track, out-of-era vernacular), Tarantino's Third Reich folly is utterly exasperating."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 877 words, 08/21/09
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...prime, if well-worn, Tarantino... it's also his weakest film yet, in part because the director's playing close to the fire this time, and he's scared of getting burnt."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,034 words, 08/21/09
John Hartl, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Tarantino's wartime fantasies may leave history in the dust, but his movie is a surprisingly satisfying contribution to movies about the Holocaust."(See all of John Hartl's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 581 words, 08/21/09
Clint O'Connor, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Tarantino has outdone himself (if that's possible)... a stylish, glistening, retro-Hollywood action-adventure that is cleverly written, well-acted, and wildly fun to watch."(See all of Clint O'Connor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 470 words, 08/21/09
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: OUTSTANDING(cg) "With its exploded notions of heroism, torture-rack dramatics and kamikaze gusto, it's a fiendishly entertaining flick."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 465 words, 08/21/09
Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: EXCELLENT(cg) "...it does reaffirm Tarantino as an audacious dude who'll err, but never on the side of caution.... bloody, giddy, flawed fun."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 619 words, 08/20/09
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: POOR(cg) "Tarantino has remade a really bad Italian-made WWII thriller into an intentionally dumb and violent shoot-'em up... slow, dumb... incompetent."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 498 words, 08/21/09
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...provides the sheer, humongous pleasure of a great filmmaker firing on all cylinders, including a few new ones you didn't even know he had."(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 926 words, 08/21/09
Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun: WEAK(cg) "The only hope is that audiences will embrace it the way the Broadway crowd did 'Springtime for Hitler': because it's so bad they think it's good."(See all of Michael Sragow's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 862 words, 08/21/09
J. Hoberman, Village Voice/LA Weekly: OUTSTANDING "Energetic, inventive, swaggering fun... a consummate Hollywood entertainment -- rich in fantasy and blithely amoral."(See all of J. Hoberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,411 words, 08/19/09
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: OUTSTANDING(cg) "It seems like overkill, but since when did that bother Tarantino?... It's nasty and exhilarating stuff. So too, at times, is the stuff of cinema."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 545 words, 08/20/09
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Roughly one-third of Quentin Ttarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds' is so good that it very nearly excuses the other two-thirds."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 410 words, 08/20/09
Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper: OUTSTANDING "...though it's not quite on par with the genre-busting 'Pulp Fiction,' Tarantino's seventh film is just as assuredly paced and remarkably more mature."(See all of Tricia Olszewski's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 583 words, 08/20/09
HIGHBROW PRESS (4 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: MODERATE "...rarely has one of Mr. Tarantino's movies felt as interminable as this one... As usual he gives you a lot to chew on, though there's plenty to gag on as well."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,591 words, 08/21/09
Joanne Kaufman, Wall Street Journal: WEAK "...nothing about the emotionally unmoored 'Inglourious Basterds' adds up. Whether it's parody, farce or a fever dream is anyone's guess."(See all of Joanne Kaufman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 272 words, 08/21/09
David Denby, New Yorker: FAIR "...skillfully made, but it's too silly to be enjoyed, even as a joke.... Waltz is brilliant in it; he takes an intellectual pleasure in devilry."(See all of David Denby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,010 words, 08/17/09
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...a film that loses its way in the thickets of alternative history and manages to be violent without the start-to-finish energy that violence on screen usually guarantees."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 838 words, 08/21/09
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Todd McCarthy, Daily Variety: EXCELLENT "By turns surprising, nutty, windy, audacious and a bit caught up in its own cleverness... a completely distinctive piece of American pop art..."(See all of Todd McCarthy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,569 words, 05/21/09
Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: WEAK "Reportedly, Tarantino has been having a go at this script for more than a decade, and it looks like he never licked the dramatic problems."(See all of Kirk Honeycutt's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 934 words, 05/20/09
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...a film that loses its way in the thickets of alternative history and manages to be violent without the start-to-finish energy that violence on screen usually guarantees."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 838 words, 08/21/09
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: MODERATE "...rarely has one of Mr. Tarantino's movies felt as interminable as this one... As usual he gives you a lot to chew on, though there's plenty to gag on as well."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,591 words, 08/21/09
Joanne Kaufman, Wall Street Journal: WEAK "...nothing about the emotionally unmoored 'Inglourious Basterds' adds up. Whether it's parody, farce or a fever dream is anyone's guess."(See all of Joanne Kaufman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 272 words, 08/21/09
23.8 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Inglourious Basterds's reviews are separated by an average 23.8 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Inglourious Basterds (45 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Inglourious Basterds's reviews cover 88.0% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 34,493 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 766 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 37.0 Hours Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Inglourious Basterds's reviews on average broke 37.0 hours before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Inglourious Basterds's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Inglourious Basterds (45 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
Mobile Web App version 1.2 shows a list of all current movies and review information. You can click through to the cast, director, synopsis, release date and rating on page two, plus individual reviews on page three. The information is updated on a live/real-time basis. You can also search our database of films. Designed for when you're on the move and want the latest info, this app will work on any mobile web browser. From your mobile device -- only from a mobile device -- open our Mobile Web App here...
