Inglorious Bastards and Doctor Who

The coolest thing about lj is that I can interact with people from other countries, states, and cultures constantly. It's addictive. Of course, I was always a fan of foreign correspondence.
In school - had two pen pals in France, and one in Turkey. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered I truly had no aptitude for languages. No one in my family does - although we've tried.
Momster took two years of German, Dadster took three of Russian, KidBro - two of Spainish, and I took six of French (I stayed with it the longest, out of pure determination - so as a result I have a rudimentary understanding of the language - in that I can read it fairly well or at least well enough. But - I can't write, speak or understand spoken French. Europeans tend to speak faster than Americans do, noticed this while watching Doctor Who and having to rewind to make head or tails out of what he was saying.)

Anyhow...enuf about me. Saw the new Doctor Who finally. Love the new writer, but am on the fence about the new actor playing the role - the man has the funniest looking face - no eyebrows really. It is going to take me a while to warm to him. But not that long - he has everything down pat - the cadence, the mannerisms, the kinetic energy, and the arrogance, as well as the niave charm. Also Stephen Moffat is in some respects a much better writer than Davies - he scares me more and I find his plotting, world-building, and characterizations more intriguing and less silly. It's personal preference, I know. But I'm a huge fan of Moffat and not so much of RTD. This could change, we shall see. Also, I rather liked the set-up for the companion - which in some respects works better than Rose Tyler or Martha Jones - which were a bit too romantic in nature and abrupt.( spoilers on Doctor Who - Eleventh Hour )

Also saw the Quentin Tarantino Revenge Fantasy Inglorious Bastards which in some respects reminded me a great deal of the old Charles Bronsan film "Once Upon A Time in The Old West" as well as The Dirty Dozen. It's sort of the Dirty Dozen meets Once Upon A Time in The Old West meets Cinema Paradiso. What I love about Tarantino - is it is obvious this guy is a film buff and has watched and critiqued a wide range of movies in his lifetime. He used to work in video store back in the 1970s, I think. And at times, watching his films, I can really see that video store geek behind the camera. Being a film geek myself - I admittedly enjoy this aspect of Tarantino's film-making. It's in the geeky details that only a film geek or buff would know - such as the reference to Nazi cinema and the fact that film was made of nitrate back then and highly flammable. Also his films reference other movies.

What I'm less crazy about is the cartoon violence that permeates his films to such an extent that I'm starting to think Reservoir Dogs was fairly tame. That was amongst his first films, controversially violent for it's time. Now? It's rather tame. And this one is admittedly tamer than Kill Bill. Yet like Kill Bill - it is a revenge fantasy.
( Film Review with Spoilers - Inglorious Bastards )