Inglourious Basterds

Okay okay I agree Christoph Waltz gives undeniably one of the greatest performances of all time—both charmingly loquacious and absolutely terrifying. Oscar well-deserved. Brad Pitt's performance, however, does not get as much attention as it deserves. He is charming, funny, Southern, nonchalant, and intimidating. He elicits a laugh just as easily as he does a "hell yeah" or a "bruuuutallll." Just a very cool and insane protagonist that I feel very strongly about.

Other things I love about this one are the strange choices to include weird details. Only some characters get title cards, Samuel L. Jackson narrates random and disconnected scenes, and for some reason Hugo Stiglitz is the only character that receives an electric guitar fanfare. And while these choices are, for lack of a more nuanced description, quite weird, Inglourious Basterds feels as if it has such a distinct personality in part because of odd choices like these.

In regards to the overall story, obviously the dialogue is a step above everything else in this film (with the possible exception of Christoph Waltz's Hans Landa). The best examples of Tarantino's suspense-building writing are on full display in the opening interrogation scene and the bar scene; despite their similarities (high-stakes conversations that ultimately result in exploding action), both remain unique and equally engaging. Likewise, the audacity to alter significant historical events, making for an unpredictable ending, was a bold writing choice that now I couldn't imagine being executed any differently. There are only a handful of scenes throughout the entirety of the film, and yet it manages to tell a very complete story through the careful selection of scene inclusions and the methodical dialogue.