The Hateful Eight (2015)

[Greg]

Here is how the Queen summed up the film that she wasn't watching, merely half-listening as she read her book: Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, bang, bang, talk, talk, talk.

She's not far off. On multiple occasions, I reached for the remote to switch this off. And clocking in at almost 3 hours, could you blame. And there is a lot of talk and very little bang. Plus, I have a mostly hate relationship with Tarantino. I feel his ego oozing all over the film. But they keep giving him awards and praising his daring so I feel the need to see what all the fuss is about. Ooh, he talks about blow jobs! Ooh, a girl gets beat up for the majority of the film! Ooh, it's shot in 70mm Panavision.

If you know that the film takes place for the majority of the film in one room, what do you think is going to happen besides the characters talking to each other? Not a lot. All the actors are giving a chance to chew scenery, with the majority of the mastication going to Samuel L. Jackson.

It's supposed to be a mystery about who is working with the girl (who has the dumbest name ever) but I found I didn't care. I just wanted it to end.

I even watched the two docs about the film. More self congratulatory back slapping for making it on film. More Quentin is wonderful. 

I say less.

[King Bob]

Wasn't planning on seeing it, and now have confirmation that I've made the right decision. To me, his work is way too postmodern - he really wants you to see all the things he's stealing from (he would say paying homage to), but he never takes his own movie or his characters seriously.

[cranefly]

I'd forgotten that anyone had reviewed this, so my review is untainted by anything said before.

It opened with a wooden Christ figure with an expanse of snow in the background and a tiny dot in the distance.  The dot takes forever to come into the foreground, revealed to be a stagecoach at full-throttle.  These many minutes provide ample time for front-loaded credits, prominent among them being Weinstein.  Weinstein this and Weinstein that, plastered all over the screen.  I was expecting Tarantino accolades, but he's no match for Weinstein.

So then the stagecoach stops, picks someone up, and, well, the Queen got it right, because they yak yak yak, and there's nothing particularly clever about any of it.  And the people are too clean, and the interior isn't bouncy enough.  It's like they're in a train car.  It just looks fake.  And so effin' clean.  And they talk.  And while Tarantino can be brilliant with dialog, there's not a hint of that as they yak yak yak, excreting plot elements hard as Chuck Norris turds.

I finish my dinner thirty-five minutes in, and they're still in the fucking stagecoach yakking away.  Talk about stage-bound.  This is stage-coach-bound.  It's insufferable, and I turn it off.

Though it turns out I was wrong (checking IMDB afterwards), as they do eventually reach a cabin where the movie becomes room-bound.

On top of Tarantino's penchant for borrowing, it turns out (according to imdb trivia) that Jeff Bridges was intentionally doing a John Wayne throughout.  Why?

And why is this highly rated by imdb and rotten tomatoes?

[El Dingo]

I liked it.

The way the characters developed and how their backstories were gradually revealed as the mistrust grows between them. It was obvious homage to Sergio Leone who often used long, slow dialogue sequences to build tension.

I thought one-room set and costumes were spot-on for the period and  the acting was decent.

To each his own I guess.

[Drunk Monk]

Its in my queue. I'll get around to it eventually. 

I admire Tarantino for his ability to poach shamelessly. He's built his career on that, and I envy it. Consequently I find him overrated, being usually familiar with his source material. But I find it fascinating hat he gets away with it. Just like a lot of politicians nowadays, although I don't find them admirable.  

I should see this just to add to the conversation. 

And y'all should see Villainess. It's our KFM sweeps now (wink wink to all but cf).

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

hint taken. angus theodoric rides again.

H8full8 is also waiting in my queue.

[Drunk Monk]

I was totally going to watch this on Sunday.  But my Netflix crashed.  

And then I fell asleep.

[cranefly]

For various reasons I've been unusually impatient with movies of late.  I've bailed on five or six of them in the past month or so.  Anyway, with the growing discussion here, I decided to give this another go and finished it a couple nights ago.

I can now see why Tarantino wanted to make this, as it leads to a scenario that allows him to do what he does best.  The movie has a long fuse, but it leads to a very respectable denouement, though one could nitpick it for several flaws.

As for Samuel Jackson, I keep viewing him as this B-grade actor, likely because of the image burned into my retinas of him bad-mouthing snakes on a plane (only in the trailers, as I never did see that movie; did anyone?).  But then a month or so ago I watched Jackie Brown, which I'd never seen before.  And while I'm rather fond of Pam Grier, Samuel Jackson was the true standout, so cold-bloodedly creepy that it's hard to believe he's just acting.  The Hateful Eight provides another fine display of his brilliance.  Not only is he great as an action star, if someone is going to talk at length, let it be him.

[Drunk Monk]

As for Samuel Jackson, I keep viewing him as this B-grade actor, likely because of the image burned into my retinas of him bad-mouthing snakes on a plane (only in the trailers, as I never did see that movie; did anyone?).  But then a month or so ago I watched Jackie Brown, which I'd never seen before.  And while I'm rather fond of Pam Grier, Samuel Jackson was the true standout, so cold-bloodedly creepy that it's hard to believe he's just acting.  The Hateful Eight provides another fine display of his brilliance.  Not only is he great as an action star, if someone is going to talk at length, let it be him.

Bro, check out Black Snake Moan for Academy Award level Samuel L. Jackson - http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...p?tid=3998.

He's a Jedi, he's an Avenger, he's awesome at reading children's books - what the motha-effin more do you want from him?

[cranefly]

Bro, check out Black Snake Moan for Academy Award level Samuel L. Jackson - http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...p?tid=3998.

He's a Jedi, he's an Avenger, he's awesome at reading children's books - what the motha-effin more do you want from him?

I want him to be more polite in his speech, that's what.  All that cursing, it offends my sensibilities, such as they are.
I did see Black Snake Moan, but was distracted from his performance by something called Christina Ricci (she was hotter than a radiator in chainmail).

[Drunk Monk]

SEEN! 

I side with ED in this one. I was amused. Sure, there's a lot of pretentious overdone pseudo-philosophizin' dialog, but that's a Tarantino hallmark. And there's some moments of ultravi that are also signature. Perhaps because y'all warned me, I wasn't expecting much. Perhaps I'm more accustomed to the Tarantino style. That doesn't bug me as much as the fact that he gets away with it and the critics fawn over him. It's grindhouse schlock that for some reason gets acclaim. Must be all that philosophizin'. It's like those drunken midnight rants you might have at 1am but spattered with ultravi.

I should mention that I just tapped a new bottle of Kavenagh Single Grain (not bad, Irish smooth with a bit of spice at the end). Maybe a quarter of the way in, I started taking a sip with every N-word. Two thirds of the way I had to stop, but had a delightful buzz for the ultravi finale.

The gauntlet is thrown down. Over to you, Maestro.

*Try my N-word whiskey game, if yer man enuf...