Just watched Hateful 8
I personally really liked it, mainly because I love clue, and 10 little indians and plays in general, but with all that being said I can see how people are going to have issues with this movie.
I will admit, the first hour I was hating on it pretty hard, but then in the 2nd hour it won me back when it got excellent. The 3rd hour was solid as well.
If I had any formal complaints, this thing definitely did not need to be 3 hours long. The entire 1st hour was set up and it was pretty drawn out. Parts of hour 2 and 3 could have been trimmed as well and we could have had a slimmer, and better paced film, but whatever, by the end I walked away happy.
And bravo to Samuel jackson. He stole the show. Oh my god, he had me rolling
I thought the first act was solid. I'm a sucker for Tarantino dialogue and I thought that was some of the best in the movie. Besides, the development is important to the tension that it builds up to. Not sure if you saw the standard or longer 70mm version, but with the intermission the longer version was just fine (and I thought his last two were too long).
As for the movie, I think it might be the most insanely violent thing I've ever seen. Like all Americans I'm desensitized to graphic violence, but seeing it in such a claustrophobic atmosphere, and so prolonged with so many taking so long to die, it really makes for a different experience. Yet, like most of his work, it's still amusing and often times hilarious during, and at times
because of the insane violence. Every time somebody belted Jennifer Jason Leigh it made me laugh.
As for SLJ, I think he might have been the weak link. When he was the house negro in Django he was pretty believable. In this he came across more as Jules than a retired civil war veteran. Everybody else really nailed it. In particular Bruce Dern, who was not only perfect for the part, absolutely sold the conclusion of the second act. Without him it wouldn't have worked, and in this case it worked well enough to leave the audience shell-shocked when the lights came up for the intermission. There was a second or two of silence, and then a large, collective gasp.
All in all I'd certainly recommend it, but only to people who enjoy graphic violence. And not the over-the-top violence of The Crazy 88 and The House of Blue Leaves. Closeup gunshots and people lying around bleeding, caterwauling and generally suffering out their final half hour.
The Hateful Eight. Wow, what a fun movie. I love mystery type stuff, this was awesome. 3 hour film that was interesting all throughout. Thought my goodness it was loud as hell in the theater.
Glad it wasn't just me. Most of the movie is reasonable, and the gunshots are sufficiently loud and concussive, but the music and some of the cues were deafening. I was feeling like an old man in there.