The Hateful Eight (2015)

THE HATEFUL EIGHT  (2015)  ¢ ¢ ¢
    D: Quentin Tarantino
    Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh,
    Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Bruce Dern, Demián Bichir,
    Walton Goggins, Channing Tatum, Lee Horsly, Zoe Bell
Eight despicable characters find shelter from a Wyoming blizzard at a remote stagecoach stop called Minnie's Haberdashery. So they've escaped the storm - as long as they can keep the door nailed shut - but not each other, and since they're in a Tarantino movie, it's only a matter of time before the guns come out and the blood starts to fly. In fact, it takes a long time for the bloody stuff to happen, long enough for you to wonder whether they're ever going to start shooting, or maybe just talk each other to death. Tarantino's both a joker and a sadist. It's not incidental. It's part of his DNA. Whether there's a significant point to it all remains unclear, but there's no doubt about his cinematic knowledge and skill. He makes his characters suffer - a lot - but he writes great dialogue and he always gives his actors a chance to shine. You can see why people like working with him. Jackson, Russell, Madsen and Roth are all Quentin regulars, but the scene-stealer among the eight is Jennifer Jason Leigh as a woman with a black eye, several knocked-out teeth, a nasty disposition and a $10,000 bounty on her head. Not since Sissy Spacek closed down the prom in "Carrie" has an actress earned an Oscar nomination playing a character covered in this much blood.