Mixed 'Basterd' Messages From Weinstein?

I've been keeping my eye on this whole Inglourious Basterds mishegoss, because I'm a fan of Tarantino's, and of Nazi movies, and of movies where Nazis are killed in spectacularly violent ways, even though the atrociously spelled title is enough to give a copy editor or any responsible writer an aneurysm.

When I read that Harvey Weinstein spectacularly dissed the movie in an interview with GQ, I was a little confused. According to WENN, Weinstein told GQ, "It isn't funny; it isn't exciting; it isn't a realistic war movie, yet neither is it an entertaining genre spoof or a clever counterfactual wartime yarn. It isn't emotionally involving or deliciously ironic or a brilliant tissue of trash-pop references. Nothing like that. Brad Pitt gives the worst performance of his life, with a permanent smirk as if he's had the left side of his jaw injected with cement, and which he must uncomfortably maintain for long scenes on camera without dialogue."

So I read the very cool Q&A with Weinstein on GQ's actual site. Weinstein had plenty to say about Basterds, but it all seemed pretty kosher. He told writer Alex Pappademas, "the movie's great, it plays with audiences, and when I saw it back home in Los Angeles, it wasn't even a movie. It was like going to see the Stones. It was like Aerosmith and the Stones and AC/DC combined. People were cheering, it was like, f**king, I thought they were gonna light candles any second. It was like a 1980s experience."

Nothing about Brad Pitt's frozen jaw or what a piece of poo the movie was. I hunted down a copy of GQ, and still no dice. So I emailed Alex, who kindly set me straight. The quotes were directly taken from a review of the movie on The Guardian. Huh!

It's good that those opinions aren't from Weinstein himself since there's already talk of a sequel (or prequel): "Brad wants to do Inglorious II. We all want to do it. And the movie hasn't even come out yet! But unfortunately I cannot give away the plot."

Well, Harvey might not have given up the goods, but Tarantino has shared some possibilities with journos, such as the Basterds kicking some KKK ass. Appropriately enough, Inglourious Basterds is the cover story for the next issue of Heeb magazine. And for the trailer and why it kicks ass, check out Erik Davis's coverage. Now bring me the scalp of 100 Nazis!