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on 4/6/2013
Seemingly every flickcharter's favourite Tarantino flick (apart from me) vs most people's least favourite Nolan film (yes that's an exaggeration, just my cynical way of looking at things I guess). Obviously they are very different films, but thus far these are probably the weakest films for each director which I have seen (bearing in mind that I still haven't seen Memento, The Prestige or Following for Nolan and I haven't seen Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, Death Proof or My Best Friend's Birthday for Tarantino), and I have to say that Insomnia is, in my opinion, a much stronger film than Basterds. It's more interesting, more tense, it has a much more consistent cast (Basterds has a career-defining performance from Waltz and some other people doing and saying whatever and however Tarantino told them to) and if this is indeed the bottom of Nolan's barrel, then that says a lot for the kind of Director that Nolan is. Not that I think that Basterds is a bad film, I just think that compared to the kind of quality that Tarantino has done before like Pulp Fiction, it's pretty mediocre. In some ways this is a classic example of a consistently decent vs inconsistently brilliant and lacklustre, but I found Insomnia to have much more in it from a filmmaker's stance than Basterds.
Aha, my second favorite Tarantino film (my favorite is Reservoir Dogs) vs. my second least favorite Nolan film (my least favorite is Batman Begins...yes. Just me and Boonmee, I guess) (not counting Doodlebug). I'm not a big Tarantino guy. I don't know, something about his writing or directing just doesn't appeal to me. He hasn't made a bad film (well, I haven't seen Death Proof), I just don't care much for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained. I guess I like Basterds and Dogs more because they're a little more serious in tone? I can't put my finger on it. On the other hand, I really like Nolan's work. Even his weakest film, Batman Begins, is still an okayish piece of entertainment. Although Insomnia is my second least favorite from him, I did like it. It was suspenseful, it was well acted, and it kept my interest. I prefer Basterds' scope, characters, setting and subject matter though. The only real problems I have with it are that's it's often too slow for me, and some things in the movie don't mesh very well (like I've always thought that the stuff with Hugo Stiglitz was awkward and pointless. I dunno, maybe that was the point). But besides that, I enjoy it quite a lot.
Insomnia doesn't get enough credit it deserves. Its story is unique and the cast does a pretty good job at portraying their characters to the screen. Al Pacino brings the archetype of a detective onto the screen in a remote and isolated environment, and Robin Williams is good as well, given his nature. All this make it an above average film. Inglourious Basterds brings all these merits of Insomnia and raises it up a few notches. There are much more memorable moments in The Basterds, the acting is top form, and Christoph Waltz... Insomnia isn't my least liked Nolan film, I'm afraid that crown goes to Following. And all though The Basterds isn't my fave Tarantino flick, it's still enough to smash Insomnia to knockdown Insomnia.
on 4/7/2013
Insomnia is underrated, but the Basterds are too much for it.
Yeah, I'm one of those guys who considers Insomnia to be Christopher Nolan's worst film (although I have only seen it once). It just moves along way too slowly and its story doesn't give me enough to give a damn about. I still can't say with any confidence whether Inglourious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino's best work, or if it is still Pulp Fiction (they're both great, but in different ways). What I am confident of, however, is that Inglourious Basterds is FAR better than Insomnia.
on 1/5/2016
I'm in the minority here, but I prefer Insomnia over Inglorious Basterds. Insomnia is one of Nolan's most underrated films while Inglorious Basterds is good, but kind of overrated.
on 2/18/2021
Basterds isn't better than the original Insomnia but it does beat the remake.
I enjoyed both, but small edge to Basterds...
