By Michael Forstein

There Will Be Blood, USA, 2007

Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Based on the Novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair

Inglourious Basterds, USA / Germany, 2009

Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Okay, okay, I’ve resisted the temptation to use this (or any) forum to write about movies. It’s too easy, and I could spend far too much time doing it. There was a moment in high school when I thought film critic would be a novel career, but I quickly decided against it, citing, in equal parts, a world already saturated with critical opinion, and a desire to make movies of my own. But while watching Inglourious Basterds (2009), I realized I was witnessing one of the great feats of modern storytelling, and that poor Mr. Tarantino – simply because, along with being a gifted filmmaker, he happens to be a sicko who fills his movies with grotesque and offensive oddities, while often treating serious moments with levity and irreverence, and because, though he draws on cinematic tradition, he doesn’t care about fulfilling anyone’s expectations of what a movie should be but his own – would not get half the credit he deserved for what clearly is his masterpiece (what a beautiful cherry on top, that closing line), and thus, I realized I had something to say. Incidentally, I promise there will be no more awful run-on sentences like the previous one. Let my lack of brevity be a testament to my passion for the subject. I love movies – always have – and it bothers me that the two best movies in recent years were, and will continue to be, so shallowly dealt with and oftentimes misunderstood by critics and audiences.

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