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A view on Blu-ray by Gary W. Tooze

 

Inglourious Basterds [Blu-ray]

 

(Quentin Tarantino, 2009)

 

 

Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: A Band Apart

Video: Universal Home Video

 

Disc:

Region: FREE! (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 2:32:59.628

Disc Size: 47,788,081,988 bytes

Feature Size: 37,429,143,552 bytes

Video Bitrate: 25.69Mbps

Chapters: 28

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: December 15th, 2009

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 3516 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3516 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
DUBs: DTS Audio French 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit
DTS Audio Spanish 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit

 

Subtitles:

English (SDH), English, French, Spanish, none (burned-in English for non-English dialogue)

 

Extras:

• 3 Extended & Alternate Scenes - Lunch with Goebbels, La Louisiane Card Game, Nation’s Pride Begins (11:26 in HD)
• Nation’s Pride (6:10) – The film within the film Inglourious Basterds can be seen it its entirety
• Roundtable Discussion with Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt and film historian/critic Elvis Mitchell (30:45 in HD)
• The Making of Nation’s Pride (4:00 in HD!)
• The Original Inglorious Bastards – a salute to the original 1978 film (7:39 in HD!)
• A Conversation with veteran actor Rod Taylor (6:43 in HD!)
• Rod Taylor on Victoria Bitters, the Australian beer (3:19 in HD!)
• Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel (2:42 in HD!)
• Hi Sallys – Gag Reel (2:09 in HD) Sally Menke editor
• Film Poster Gallery Tour with Elvis Mitchell (11:00 in HD!)

Kill'in Nazi's Trivia Challenge
• Inglourious Basterds Poster Gallery
• Domestic and International Trailers

My Scenes

DBOX
• BD-Live
• Digital Copy of Inglourious Basterds

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: Brad Pitt takes no prisoners in Quentin Tarantino’s high-octane WWII revenge fantasy Inglourious Basterds. As war rages in Europe, a Nazi-scalping squad of American soldiers, known to their enemy as “The Basterds,” is on a daring mission to take down the leaders of the Third Reich. Bursting with “action, hair-trigger suspense and a machine-gun spray of killer dialogue” (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone), Inglourious Basterds is “another Tarantino masterpiece” (Jake Hamilton, CBS-TV)!

 

 

The Film:

With Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino has made his best movie since Pulp Fiction. He has also made what could arguably be considered the most audacious World War II movie of all-time. If you think there are rules for this sort of motion picture, guess again. And it's not just that Tarantino is using the spaghetti western as his template; it's that the sheer unpredictability of where all this is going makes it compelling from beginning to end. Even the film's occasional artistic flourishes (such as chapter titles and out-of-period music pieces) work within the context of what Tarantino is trying to accomplish. This is clearly an attempt by the director to expand his range and step outside of the comfort zone in which he has worked for the majority of his career.

Tarantino brings to Inglourious Basterds his not inconsiderable knowledge of films. The movie is awash in references - some subtle, some obvious - that run the gamut from D-grade exploitation flicks to A-list classics. This is not, as has been reported in some places, a remake of the 1978 feature The Inglorious Bastards, although the title is an homage. Reportedly, some of Tarantino's nascent versions of the screenplay used elements of the earlier film, but those are mostly gone in the final edition. This is pretty much 100% Tarantino, which could be good or bad, depending on your opinion of the man's work.

Excerpt from James Berardinelli at ReelViews located HERE

 

 


Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc.
 

No matter what one might think of the movie - the image quality 'rocks!'. This is one of the sweetest looking films on Blu-ray - of this entire year. Aside from skin tones appearing somewhat reddish at times - I really can't find a demonstrative flaw with this video transfer. Colors are far brighter and truer than SD could relate utilizing a softened pastel for blues and darker officer uniforms. Contrast exhibits healthy, rich black levels. This Blu-ray has a very pristine quality but grain not particularly apparent. There is some depth but the smoothness doesn't 'wax' the figures and while I suspect some digital manipulation it is not of any significance to have disturbed my viewing experience. This Blu-ray probably looks very close to the theatrical intent and will advances handily beyond the simultaneously releases DVD editions.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

The DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3516 kbps is as defining as the video. When ever called upon with Tarantino's frequent use of rousing musical scores the audio responds with a crispness with abundant range and depth. Inglourious Basterds' music scrambles all over the place from Lalo Schifrin and Dimitri Tiomkin to Ennio Morricone and some Billy Preston. There is even a bit of David Bowie to keep you shifting. This track sounds perfect to my ears. I am a bit bothered by the burned-in bright yellow subtitles for the non-English dialogue. The is extensive with many parts in German and French requiring translation but the optional subtitles are in a white font with black border - appearing only under or near the character delivering the dialogue - typical of Universal - are superior in their display. My Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

 

 

Extras :

Unfortunately the supplements don't include a Tarantino commentary and despite the longish list - there really isn't too much here handling the production and story aspects of the film in question. We get 3 extended and alternate scenes - Lunch with Goebbels, La Louisiane Card Game, Nation’s Pride Begins running less than 12-minutes in HD. Probably the best extra is the Nation’s Pride 6-minute faux-film within the film Inglourious Basterds. Amusingly still in character The Making of Nation’s Pride continues with the charade from another 4-minutes. The Roundtable Discussion with Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt and film historian/critic Elvis Mitchell for about 1/2 hour in HD covers some of the details fans may wish to know about what is crawling around the director/writer's fertile imagination. Veteran actor Rod Taylor gets in some camera time with a short conversation and even shorter take on on Victoria Bitters, the Australian beer. Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel is as unimportant as the Hi Sallys – Gag Reel where cast and the director wave hello at the end of scenes to, frequent Tarantino collaborating, editor Sally Menke. Elvis Mitchell returns with a Film Poster Gallery Tour. There is an untested Kill'in Nazi's Trivia Challenge, some trailers and Blu-ray specific 'My Scenes', 'DBOX Motion Controls' and, presently, un-launched BD-Live functionality. Included is a second disc is the Digital Copy of Inglourious Basterds.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
I watched this film quite recently and it's hard to know what to think. Tarantino has gone off in another direction that actually flatters his filmmaking ability. I wasn't as keen on the silliness of the film with Pitt's goofy accent sometimes appearing like a Peter Sellers type. As an action/thriller this holds up very well and you can never really get a handle on the direction things may be going. It has graphic violence that may disturb some viewers but I doubt most weren't anticipating this knowing the director's reputation. At times it is an engaging film with something hidden, fairly deeply, beneath its surface. I'll have to give it another whirl and some contemplation in the forthcoming days but I have no qualms with the Blu-ray presentation at all - which is marvelous enough to be demo for some.  Supplements could have done more for appreciation but as it stands we certainly recommend a spin (or more)! 

Gary Tooze

December 3rd, 2009

 

 

 


 

About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 3500 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.

Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. So be it, but film will always be my first love and I list my favorites on the old YMdb site now accessible HERE.  

Gary's Home Theatre:

60-Inch Class (59.58” Diagonal) 1080p Pioneer KURO Plasma Flat Panel HDTV PDP6020-FD

Oppo Digital BDP-83 Universal Region FREE Blu-ray/SACD Player
Momitsu - BDP-899 Region FREE Blu-ray player
Marantz SA8001 Super Audio CD Player
Marantz SR7002 THX Select2 Surround Receiver
Tannoy DC6-T (fronts) + Energy (centre, rear, subwoofer) speakers (5.1)

APC AV 1.5 kVA H Type Power Conditioner 120V

Gary W. Tooze

 

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