Resting comfortably at the top of 2009-Must-See-List is this, the latest from Quentin Tarantino—Inglourious Basterds. Now, I'm fine with admitting that I'm somewhat of a Tarantino "stan,” so there could be a bit of bias here. Whatever, though. This first teaser trailer looks all kinds of crazy, and I defy anyone to watch it and not have even the slightest interest in watching the hell out of the finished product come August 21. Even if you think it looks too cartoon-ish, like a Marvel Comics spin on World War II epics, there must be some shred of intrigue bred at the sight of Brad Pitt doing his best (or worst?) Foghorn Leghorn impression while trying to sound like a good ol' redneck.

I'm sure you could attack me with the tired "You're just a Tarantino apologist” bullshit, but then you'd totally be missing the point of what the man is trying to do with Inglourious Basterds. It may not totally come across in this teaser trailer, but I've read (and loved) the script, and let me tell you—it's completely exaggerated anarchy, full of humor, over-the-top violence, Nazi scalping, bashed heads, the fictionalized deaths of major historical figures, and utterly ridiculous dialogue. In other words, everything a lover of escapist cinema such as myself could ever ask for from a Quentin Tarantino WWII flick. If I want serious characterization and heart-wrenching conflict in a period battle mashup, I'd go rent Saving Private Ryan. This isn't that, and hating on it in that context is instant grounds for "Shut the hell up.”

Now, if this trailer looks solid to you, and you're on the same page as I, just disregard the preceding bitch-fit. I've just been reading some negative reactions from folks toward this trailer, which of course would be respectable (opinions are like assholes, my friends) if the majority of the skepticism wasn't grounded in "How ludicrous does this look as a WWII film?” Stop taking yourselves so seriously, and just give the thing a chance. Besides, this isn't even two-minutes-long. The script itself is nearly 160 pages long, meaning the film should easily exceed two hours. Plus, the speech that Pitt's character is giving constitutes about five minutes of the entire movie, so writing the whole film off based on a teaser trailer is the lamest.

I, for one, am counting the days until I can feast my eyes on this bad boy. Check it for yourselves:

Inglourious Basterds (opening August 21, 2009)

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