Jurodan's avatar

Jurodan

Thomas & Nina
85 Watchers116 Deviations
28.4K
Pageviews
So, I went out and saw a movie last night with Nina while celebrating her birthday (and, once again, Happy Birthday Nina). We went to see Inglorious Basterds, the new Quentin Tarantino flick.

It was awful. Not just bad, but outright awful.

Since there are so many flaws, lets start out with pacing, shall we? Quentin Tarantino seems to have a problem with pacing, specifically, the man needs an editor. Several scenes were drawn out for dramatic tension, but only a quarter of them really worked (and all of those were solely because of Christopher Waltz's superb acting during the film).

The scenes where the Basterds were interrogating three captured Nazis springs readily to mind, with one of the basterds taking a minute or so to exit the tunnel he was waiting in, having him strike the walls with the baseball bat he smashes nazi skulls in with. The German actually made me think quite highly of him for accepting his fate with about as much aplomb as someone about to be put to death could possibly have.

The other, and by far the worst scene of the movie was the drawn out scene in the basement. Yes, yes, I know he was trying for tension, will the British agent get found out or will his cover hold? (It's the former, by the way, and if you're going to yell about spoiling it, you should read the title of the post...) Anyway, the scene is horribly dragged out, starting with them waiting, having the British officer wary about the German who joined the Basterds, and then all of them entering the small bar, which they apparently could have done at the beginning of the scene... The scene goes on a bit, with them pulling away the actress from a group of Germans celebrating the birth of a son of one of those present, and goes on for a while the guy whose son was just born catching the British agent's accent. An SS soldier comes out and, after a scene that is ruthlessly drawn out, finally outs the British agent and gets all but one person in the bar killed. Yes, this does explain why the non-German speakers have to go to the big film at the end, but it's absolutely painful to watch.

On the bright side of the pacing, as I mentioned before, was Christopher Waltz's portrayal of Hans Landa, and especially his interaction with Shosanna Dreyfus. Christopher Waltz played a SS officer, specially one that tracked down hiding Jews, and while that seems very bastardly (and it is, no doubt), he went about his job that seemed to be lacking in malice. He was an EXCELLENT interrogator, causing anyone he talked with to be thrown off balance ("Wait for the cream..."), and did such a good job intimidating people that he had a grown man crying while still acting completely congenial. He also played one of the funniest parts of the movie, acting as the foil for Brad Pit in the beginning of the movie scene (with Brad Pit attempting to speak Italian while Christopher Waltz's character being completely fluent, and basically playing him for a fool). It was only after that scene that things came together at all, but that leads me to the next problem I have with the film.

Historical inaccuracy. Long story short: Hitler, Goebels, Goering and Borrman, and nearly the entire German high command all dieing in a movie theater in Paris either due to fire (set by Soshana and her lover Marcel), bombs brought in by the Basterds (and one placed by Hans Landa who switches sides). The only reason Nina did not hear my jaw hit the floor was because of all the audio chaos spewing threw the cinema. Yes, it was very nice to see Hitler get shot to pieces (and then his body shot until it was collapsing into goo, and, no, I'm NOT exaggerating), but the sheer gall of it all was astounding. Lord knows the sacrifices we had to make before the bastard offed himself in real life, including the suicide attempts made by the Germans themselves. It didn't sit well with me last night and it still doesn't today.

So was the fact the Jews in the Basterds effectively turned themselves into suicide bombers. And it wasn't as if they needed to be either, they were wearing bombs on their legs and could have easily taken them off and tossed them into the crowd of nazis racing for the door. It's as if they just forgot to take them off. And, yes, I am aware they were in Hitler's balcony seat where Hans had set the bomb and they would have died anyway, but there's a difference between the sheer stupidity of not taking off the bomb on your leg and getting blown up by the bomb that someone had tossed under a seat.

And then there was the waste of talent. It's most noticeable from the trailer, really. You'd be surprised by the LACK of screen time that Brad Pitt and the actual Inglorious Basterds have as well as how brief the actual bouts of violence are. In fact, the majority of the film was devoted to either throw away characters or Hans Landa and Shossana Dreyfus (which, admittedly, come to be some of the best scenes of the movie). The violence, while nice and bloody (par the course for Quentin Tarantino), isn't all that it's cracked up to be. We don't actually see the Inglorious Basterds sabotaging the Germans behind the lines, we merely hear about it from other characters and see the aftermath of an attack once. A good quarter of the scenes for the Basterds, the bar scene, doesn't even have all of them in the shot, composed entirely of two bastards and the British agent who gets them all killed. Why they even bothered to toss the British Agent in at all, I'm still not quite sure...

As for the good parts of the movie... they just weren't enough to drag it above the murky waste it was mired in. Yes, it had it's moments, both humerous and violent, and Hans certainly made the tension linger whenever he was busy with actual business (I guess I should note that the other German SS, the one who actually caught the British Agent was actually quite competent in his own right, but the scene was almost painful in how it was done that it drowned out the creepy effectiveness of the character). Shosanna was a strong character as well (her little breakdown after being confronted by Landa was perhaps the most emotional scene of the movie, how she kept herself from weeping more openly went to show how strong of a character she was). Zoller (a German war hero who became the star of the movie within a movie [which also looked outright awful, but was being greeted by the Nazis as if it was the greatest movie in history]) was tolerable, at best, with a possibility of redemption cut short when Shosanna kills him when he gets in the way (only to mortally wound her in turn). Aldo Raine was a bastard, best portrayed by his execution order of a nazi radio operator, who had surrendered and was in handcuffs, for absolutely no reason, left a foul taste in my mouth. As for the rest of the basterds? I can't even really say, since none of them got any serious characterization.
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In

Tagged by Abbie

3 min read
It's rare that I get tagged. I think I'll run with it.

001. Real name → Thomas. That's all you're getting.
002. Nickname → Tom
003. Status → Dating.
004. Zodiac sign → Cancer. Appropriately named, and occasionally right.
005. Male or female → Male.
006. Elementary → Diminishing returns, enjoyed early, began to hate with time.
007. Middle School → Mercilessly picked on and frustrated.
008. High School → Switched schools and grew into my own.
009. Smart → Mouth.
010. Hair color → Brown.
011. Long or short → Average.
012. Loud or Quiet → I like toggling the volume
013. Sweats or Jeans → Depends on what's clean.
014. Phone or Camera → Phone, though I want a camera.
015. Health freak – That's cute.
016. Drink or Smoke? → Drinks socially.
017. Do you have a crush on someone? → Yes. The girl I'm dating.
018. Eat or Drink → Preferred food: Chinese. Preferred drink: Water.
019. Piercings → None
020. Tattoos → None

FIRSTS:
023. First piercing → None.
024. First best friend → Chris
025. First award → Something to do with pronunciation.
026. First crush → Gabriel.
027. First pet → Sugar, a dog.
028. First big vacation → Wildwood Crest.
030. First big birthday → Never big on birthdays.

CURRENTLY:
049. Eating – No.
050. Drinking → Water.
052. I'm about to → Mow the lawn.
053. Listening to → Nickelback - Burn It To The Ground
054. Plans for today → Mow, hit warcraft, visit Nina.
55. Waiting for → Nothing. I'm just lazy.

YOUR FUTURE:
058. Want kids? → Yes, eventually.
059. Want to get married? – Perhaps.
060. Careers in mind – Board Game Designer.

WHICH IS BETTER WITH GIRLS
068. Lips or eyes → Eyes. Perplexing.
070. Shorter or taller? – Shorter. But not by much.
072. Romantic or spontaneous → Spontaneous. I am rarely disappointed.
073. Nice stomach or nice arms → I'd certainly hope neither is deformed.
074. Sensitive or loud → Sensitive. My ears handle enough loud noises at work.
075. Hook-up or relationship → Relationship. Stability is preferable to simple pleasure.
077. Trouble maker or hesitant → Hesitant. Measure twice cut once.


HAVE YOU EVER:
080. Lost glasses/contacts → No.
081. Ran away from home → No.
084. Broken someones heart → No.
085. Been arrested → No.
087. Cried when someone died → Yes, my grandmother.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
089. Yourself → Quite frequently. I just hope I live up to the hype.
090. Miracles → Yes.
091. Love at first sight → No.
092. Heaven → I'd be wasting my talents if I didn't.
093. Santa clause → No.
094. Sex on the first date → I'd be very surprised...
095. Kiss on the first date → I am patient, I can wait.

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
097. Is there one person you want to be with right now → Yes.
098. Are you seriously happy with where you are in life → No. I still have a long road to travel...
099. Do you believe in God → Yes.
100. Post as 100 truths and tag → TW. You're probably the only one who will read this anyway.
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In

Slip And Fall

2 min read
Ow. My neck is so stiff right now I can't turn it from side to side. I slipped and fell on the icy parking lot at work. I had to go to the hospital on Christmas, it was so stiff. It feels like my shoulders are perpetually shrugging, just to keep my head up. When my girlfriend was driving me, every time she accelerated after a light or stop sign, it felt like someone was karate chopping my throat. And I can't drive since I can't turn my head far enough to look at all the mirrors or over my shoulder while going in reverse. I'm on muscle relaxants and something for muscle spasms.

Best part? Right after I fell, when I went back inside, my boss laughed at me and told me to be more careful.

I guess I can see people laughing, I really can. It sounds funny, someone slipping and falling on the ice, but telling me to be careful? Why don't you salt, sand, or, I don't know, plow your lot? Hell, I have pictures I took after the big snow/ice storm. Not the day after either, it was a few days after. You can barely see through the ice, it was so thick on the lot. The day I fell, it rained all frigin day, and there was STILL ice on the ground when I got back (I took photos of THAT too). I have to look up workman's comp since, when I went in on Friday, they said they'd have to have a doctor look me over before I'm able to return. Jeeze... this blows. I can't believe I actually GET a job in this crap economy, and then ICE takes me out. Fucking hell. I have bills to pay damnit. I can't afford to sit on my ass and do nothing.

*grumbles as heatpack is applied* I hope everyone had a happier Christmas than I did.

Sincerely,
Jurodan
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Yup, I follow through when asked to: nomisluck.deviantart.com/

a) Tell you why I friended you
b) Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a colour, a photo, et cetera
c) Tell you something I like about you
d) Tell you a memory I have of you
e) Ask something I've always wanted to know about you
f) In return, you must post this in your journal.

Anyone who wants to ask, feel free to...
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Also, with a few comments to people here, since it'll be easier to just make one mass post here than to comment to each and every single person. I've been pretty much all anon save for the occasional post here and I'm apologizing for that.

To People Who Comment on My Work, Whom I have Not Yet Responded To  (Re: ZeWatcher, Karbo, InAbsentia, Nomis, and others): :DDDD THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE COMMENTS! I'm sorry I have not responded until now, once again, but I do appreciate them. And the critiques have all been a big help.

To Emily: Dude, we do need to start hanging out again. :( I'm sorry I have not said anything until now (I've been feeling sort of withdrawn, but now I'm starting to contact people again and I'm trying to hang out with people more). My AIM is still GypsyMisaki, and I can message you my phone number if that helps any as well.

To Tom: Well, I speak to you all the time and I'm more in contact with you than anyone else. But I still have the urge to tell you this: I love you. :) Being with you makes me happy, and you encourage me to do my best every day.

With all that being said, on to the meme! o/

SIX PAIRINGS I LIKE: (Fine, I'll leave out the threesomes I like too. But I'm adding them to the other sections!)
1. Ichigo/Chad
2. Orihime/Tatsuki
3. Keiichi/Rena
4. Ichigo/Orihime
5. Naruto/Hinata
6. Ban/Ginji (... Most of the pairings I like are slash or femslash. Well, anyway, THEY ARE JUST SO SNUGGLY TOGETHER AND BUDDY-BUDDY, AND THIS IS WHY I LIKE BROMANCE OMG)

THREE SHIPS I'VE ABANDONED:
7. Shunsui/Nanao
8. Naruto/Sakura/Sasuke
9. Yoruichi/Urahara (Sorry. :( It's honestly has become Yoruichi/Soi Fon or nothing for me)

THREE SHIPS I'VE NEVER LIKED:
10. Sonozakicest
11. Hitsugaya/Hinamori
12. Kazuki/Jubei

TWO SHIPS THAT HAVE PIQUED MY INTEREST:
13. Sarah/Grissom (... I know, "You're a little too late for that", but the reruns have given me a sense of ":) You know, they work well together. In a damaged, somewhat creepy May-December way, but they work."
14. Mion/Rena


1. Why do you dislike #11 so much?
I'm sorry, internet, I've tried. :( I just can't like either of these two as a character, and having them together is both of my LEAST FAVORITE THINGS of childhood friend pairings

2. Who do you know that ships #13?
I think it was the series crazy sect of shippers for a while. You know, like how the Harry/Hermione fans who called themselves "Harmonians" were, only with series backing.

3. What would be your ideal scenario for couple #3?
Have you seen the "Wedding Night" copy-pasta, with a sexualized rewrite of Keiichi and Rena's fight from the Tsumihoroboshi-hen arc.

4. What is your favorite moment for #1?
When Chad is reminiscing about how he and Ichigo met, and Ichigo had Chad agreed to fight for his sake in return for Ichigo fighting for Chad's sake. *_*

5. How long have you been following couple #6?
Pretty much after the first two episodes of the anime. It wasn't until the first major arc that I became very fond of them.

6. What's the story with #8? What made you stop caring?
It's been slowly developing since Sasuke abandonned Konoha, but it's pretty much has hit the boiling point with the last major arc. Why you gotta hurt us, Kishimoto? :( There's no conceivable way to salvage Sasuke now, IMHO, and now he's just become too irredimable as a character.

7. Which ship do you prefer--#2 or #4?
Why do you make me have to choose, meme? :( Why must you make me choose?

8. You have the power to make one ship non-existent. Choose from #10 or #12.
10. I don't like 12 because it's really overplayed. But I don't like 10 because I really dislike Shion, and because Shion/Mion creeps me out.

9. What interests you about #14?
Mion covered up a murder for Rena. SHE COVERED UP A MURDER. Dude, there's some level of love there, at least.

10. When did you stop liking #7?
I liked it up until the latest chapter of Bleach where... Well, I can't say what happened, since Tom's reading this and he's very >:( >:( >:( about spoilers, but still. Kubo has just made it REALLY awkward.

11. Did your waning interest in #9 kill your interest in the series?
Not really. Honestly, it's one of those replaced for something double-plus-awesome, so I don't mind as much. :D

12. What's a song that reminds you of #5?
Hikaru Utada's "My Sanctuary", mostly due to a very sweet AMV featuring those two.

13. Which of these ships do you love the most right now?
CHAD/ICHIGO :DDDD

14. Which do you dislike the most?
Sonozakicest. :( Not all incest is wincest, internet.

15. If you could have any of these pairings double date, who would they be?
Ichigo/Chad
Orihime/Tatsuki

Maybe it will lead to orgy hijinks? >:D

16. Have #2 kissed yet?
I wish. :( At least they have hit the "I'll beat up people in order to show my love for you! o/" stage that a lot of my preferred pairings have though.

17. Did #4 have a happy ending? Do you think one is likely?
Honestly, four seems to be one of the two most likely pairing ends with Bleach. As it stands, I think it's either going to be Ichigo becomes a full-time shinigami/vizard/whatever and be with Rukia, or he'll be human (and ascend to AWESOMEGAMI in the epilogue after a natural death) and he'll probably get together with Orihime in that time period. While I have no problems with IchiRuki, I really am hoping for ending two.

18. What would make you start shipping #14?
Probably Mion making Rena do a punishment game. Most of them have been either entire group punishments or Keiichi-only punishments. But a Rena-only punishment instigated by Mion... :D

19. If only one could happen, which would you prefer--#2 or #6?
Orihime/Tatsuki. TATSUKI NEEDS SOME LOVE, DAMNIT. And besides, GetBackers is over, whereas Bleach is probably at mid-point.

20. You have the power to decide the fate of #10. What happens to them?
Maybe Mion wins one round of the "Shion's gone NUTS" timeline with the power of FALCON PUNCH?
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Featured

Inglorious Basterds (Warning: Spoilers and Bile) by Jurodan, journal

Tagged by Abbie by Jurodan, journal

Slip And Fall by Jurodan, journal

Meme from Nomisluck by Jurodan, journal

Nina here, with a Meme for the Journal by Jurodan, journal