Inglourious Basterds

Take an art house talky film and mix in raw exploitation devices and you have the new Quentin Tarantino film, purposefully misspelled, Inglourious Basterds. If you notice more than usual press surrounding this film that's because QT always gives people something to talk about. A WWII story that rewrites history, the film also offers some of the most righteous acting seen in a film this year, not to mention QT's penchant for rediscovering forgotten actors (look for '60s action star Rod Taylor in a brief cameo as Winston Churchill).
Divided into five different chapters IB weaves the story over a multitude of characters converging in Nazi-occupied France. The script was posted on the internet last year so those who want to know the full details have no doubt had that chance. For the less informed the less you know about the convoluted narrative the more fun and explosive it will actually be. I had read the script and was still blown away by QT's stylistic decisions at every turn. The color red, whether on drapes in Nazi or Allied offices, the thickly lacquered fingernail polish of the day or the seductive tone of a dress, or just the sight of blood, flashes in strong contrast to the stiff grays of uniforms or the verdant green of farm fields. For a war film there's very little actual gunplay or violence, but when it erupts the lasting memory is of the carnage and not the clever dialogue.
Some of the best parts of IB have to do with 19th century literary references that suggest that Tarantino shares an allegiance with Karl May (his novels have been made into over 20 films, most of them German or French) and his fictional Apache chief Winnetou. Another conceit that provides a main plot point concerns German propaganda cinema under the Reich as well as the mountain climbing genre of German silent films.
If the film is being sold as a Brad Pitt film fine, but he's just part of the spaghetti recipe. Exceptional performances from Mélanie Laurent as the films heroine and Christoph Waltz as a Gestapo badass will provide most of the post-screening conversation. QT holds an exalted place in film history and with every new film he further cements his reputation as one of the most idiosyncratic and iconic figures the current cinema has to offer.