The Hateful 8

The opening credits note that this is the 8th film by Quentin Tarantino, who has been plying his trade for many years now, since the breakout Reservoir Dogs in 1992.  That's nearly 25 years.

This pedigree is important to keep in mind because this 8th film is best viewed as a culmination of the 7 before it.  It has a familiar cast of actors, Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, and so forth.  It is an ensemble piece with a lot of direct interaction between the main characters in a Lifeboat type, stage atmosphere.

Kurt Russell play John Ruth, the Bounty Hunter.  He is taking Doris (Jennifer Jason Leigh) in for the bounty, when he comes across Marques (Jackson) another bounty hunter.   He trusts no one.   Because a blizzard is on, they bed down at Minnie's Haberdashery, when the remainder of the Hateful 8 are.  No one trusts anyone else.  Hilarity ensues.

At its best, the tense stage scenes in the Haberdashery are like the basement from Inglorious Basterds ( you can tell that a part here was cast with Christoph Waltz in mind but he must have said "been there, done that")  or the warehouse in Reservoir Dogs.  The characters take a while to develop, but we are working with a lot of time (3 hours goes by pretty fast).  If you see it in 70 mm, there is an intermission.  That should be a bucket list item.

Ultimately, it's a story about nothing.  Seinfeld meets Tarantino.  Don't think too much about it afterwards.  Enjoy the gore!  Don't say you didn't hear the Harbinger.

* * * * of 5

If you're looking for a bloody good story, this is for you.  Caution for the [sanitized]  rating:

MPAA Rating 

R for Violent Sexual Content, Some Graphic Nudity, Language, Strong Bloody Violence.

Also - per Me:  Non-bloody violence, N-words, Rape, Torture, Groin Hits, Splattering, Pooling, Exploding and so on

Fortunately, there's no ear cutting or scalping.

Sisters

Tiny Fey and Amy Poehler get their 80s on in their version of an Apatow movie.  When the two sisters find out their parents are "Selling the House?!" they rush home, turn immediately into whiny kids and decide to have one last blowout.  If you remember what happens to nice cars in the 80s movies (Risky Business, Fast Times at Ridgemont High) you'll know what happens to the house.

Falls well short of its near competitor, Trainwreck.  Reminded me more of Neighbors.


* *  of 5.

The Big Short

When you start with a story by Michael Lewis, you know you've got just that - a story.  Then you make it into a movie.  Then the movie is written by Adam McKay of Anchorman and The Interview fame.  So you can expect that an objective non-fiction overview is not in the cards.  For that we must say... thanks!

The subprime mortgage meltdown and the traders who made money betting that the downside would occur "the short" are unlikely material.  But a closer looks shows this is the stuff of many Ben Mezrich movies (21, the Social Network [based on his book Accidental Billionaires]).  All have in common the smarter-than-you nerd out to exploit a weakness for their own personal gain.  Add in the Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg figure (a barefoot Christian Bale) and you've got every modern day business fortune movie made.

Inventively done, with visual props and interview vignettes to move the story along (Margot Robbie, Anthony Bordain, Selena Gomez).  Good casting with Steve Carrell and Brad Pitt.  But my favorite parts were the interview at Standard & Poore along with the Las Vegas convention.  I'm sure it didn't happen just that way, but it was a fun way to tell the story.


* * * * of 5

The Shop Around the Corner (1941)

James Stewart stars as Alfred, an "insignificant little clerk" in this Ernst Lubitsch dramedy about two coworkers in Matuschek & Company, a shop in Budapest.  As Christmas is coming, Stewart is carrying on a pen pal relationship with a woman he becomes more and more interested in.  At the same time, a new co-worker arrives Klara  (Margaret Sullivan) and they have a brother/sister antagonism.



As it turns out, it is they who are pen pals with each other, but they don't know that about each other.  Remade in the 90s as You've Got Mail, it's a classic screwball comedy of the day.  Fine dialogue and funny gags reminded me of some of the Astaire/Rodgers movies of the time as well.

* * * * *

Star Wars Eve

Twas the hour before Star Wars:  The Force Awakens.  It starts at 12:20 today.  Will there be previews?  Will there be after-credit actions?  Lots of anticipation.

Flash back to 1977.  I was 12 years old, living in Houston, Texas.  What we know as Episode IV now opened in July.  Since it was summer vacation, I think I was able to see it the opening day Friday.  It was at the Galleria I theater.  Yes Virginia, there was a movie theater in the Galleria back then.

I recall that summer was when I was able to go to movies by myself.  I don't remember seeing it with anyone else.  I remember that I liked it of course, and that I saw it a total of 3 times in the theater.

In retrospect, there was some anticipation of this new movie.  The budget was supposed to be big and it was expected to be a success- maybe not number 1 of all time as it turned out (at the time) but big.  The biggest grossing movies to that date were Jaws and Gone with the Wind, if you can believe that.

What marks the enduring nature of this universe?   Perhaps it's because of the carefully crafted universe with lots of attention to not only the worlds but also the varied characters which have had a lot of continuity.

Some things I will expect - A hero will emerge to fight a dark enemy, with a determinative light sabre duel.   There will be a lot of quirky evil aliens, and there will be cute non-human characters (robots, trolls).  Sounds like some later classics made into movies:  Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings.