Jan 1, 2016

blo-jo- scene. you can keep that.

i understand, but u can keep that

 

Jan 1, 2016

 

Jan 1, 2016

i mean, no

 

Jan 1, 2016

I never thought of it like that, thank u for the post

 

Jan 1, 2016

ur so very welcome overlord swizz

 

Jan 1, 2016

It could surpass Pulp Fiction for me tbh.

 

Jan 1, 2016

go on

 

Jan 2, 2016

http://aestheticsofthemind.com/2016/01/01/the-hateful-eight-tarantino-2015/

The 70mm is glorious, though Tarantino does little to use the medium to his advantage. Snowfall is visceral and the actors pop off the screen, but with so much of the film set in a cabin, it feels that 70mm was mostly used in vain. And this here is the crux of the film: vanity. Tarantino’s intentions and mannerisms reach a level of ego and obnoxiousness—and sometimes stupidity—that the otherwise interesting story is almost completely undermined. While Jennifer Jason Leigh is brilliant, the rest of the cast, Samuel L. Jackson especially, feel like caricatures, drawn with such generic single-mindedness that it is difficult to care about anyone’s role—though I suppose they are all hateful, so there’s that. There are times of suspenseful narration and entertaining visuals, but the film is rather without substance as its formal structure and thematic intentions are constantly being altered and contradicted by unbalanced direction.

68/100 – Decent.

 

Jan 3, 2016

I let this one sit for awhile, but unfortunately the more I've thought about it, the less I like it. I've read a number of positive reviews, including Vishnevetsky's for the AVClub, but I've yet to find any argument personally convincing on why the first half had to be so overblown and long-winded. It's 90 minutes of some of Tarantino's laziest character exposition and set up in his career ("Aren't you so-and-so?" which is then followed by long backstory of so-and-so, and repeat). The dialogue here boasts nothing close to a quotable and is overall just without any charge. I don't know why this section simply couldn't have been 20-30 minutes long and, this way, perhaps the film overall could have been a tight 2-hour, claustrophobic, Agatha Christie-esque guessing game.

In the second half, the action escalates very quickly and I'm willing to wrestle a bit with what Tarantino may or may not have been up to here. As signaled in the title, the characters are all fairly despicable, lacking the sense of cool often displayed by the criminals in his prior films. Likewise, the violence in the film is brutal and nasty...a far cry from the stylish and cartoonish violence of k--- Bill. This is clearly by design and it all is effectively as off-putting and ugly as I'm sure Tarantino intended (Never more so than in the long, drawn-out slaughter of innocents in the second half). What I'm struggling with is the "Why?".

Clearly, Tarantino is drawing his set up along racial lines and conveying a broader sense of mistrust, hidden motives and, of course, hate. This may be a commentary on America's often idealized past (see the Lincoln letter and the film's ironic ending) or, like many Westerns before it, it's a reflection of our own tense present. However, set up aside, I'm not sure Tarantino has anything to say about any of this, other than mere provocation. And that provocation certainly didn't provoke much thought for me, though I'd be eager to hear from those more positive on it than me.

Instead, I felt like I was being poked in the eye by someone who felt this ugliness passed for insight. This may have gone down better if there was some tension in the proceedings, but Tarantino's timing is significantly off and there is little suspense in simply waiting for the inevitable bloodletting, especially when we've been given very little reason to care.

 

Jan 3, 2016

Out out out out way the f--- out

 

Jan 3, 2016

Might as well have called the movie Scumbag 8 lol

 

Jan 3, 2016

FOH ur drunk

 

Jan 4, 2016

Just saw the film today, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I definitely see criticisms against the first half, but honestly, I feel the payoff was well worth the buildup. All the actors did great, and I think this is a strong film in his incredible catalogue.

 

Jan 4, 2016

ive watched this s--- like 3 times already since it leaked, i might put this as my second favorite quentin flick

 

Jan 4, 2016

@FilmAndWhisky @Twan agree with you guys... I feel like this is the type of film, if you're an unabashed QT fan - you're in. not to be a d-ck, but seeing people compare this to pulp fiction rly reiterates how fanboyish film culture is nowadays..

like, honestly, why does anyone care what quentin tarantino has to say about race relations??????

 

Jan 4, 2016

I care what he has to say, I just don't think he said much (or enough) with hateful 8 aside from the odd line here or there. In also a Tarantino fanboy and this might be my least favorite film of his (I still enjoyed it, and don't think it's bad. More like a lost opportunity).

Contrastingly (just because I saw this brought up on the other thread), I'm NOT a Nolan fanboy but I absolutely love interstellar (despite its shortcomings). Idk

 

Jan 4, 2016

i mean, it's hard as a filmmaker when you're a brand. knowing what i know about tarantino, his background, etc... i just don't think he has anything interesting to say about race --mostly what he's doing in h8 is being provocative for its own sake. or its like lucas getting political in the prequels... like shuttt uppppp.

 

Jan 4, 2016

Tarantino plans on only making 10 movies and then he wants to do plays ...So 2 more to go...

 

Jan 4, 2016

10 is just a guess. He basically wants to go out while he's on top. Which, if his next film isn't better than these last two, should definitely be soon lol

Until django/hateful 8 I thought Tarantino could do no wrong tbh

 

Jan 4, 2016

that scene of JJL in the foreground and Kurt Russell in the background, where Tarantino racks focus like 50 times over like a 2 minute long take, is probably the most obnoxious scene in cinema.