Released: December 2015

Director/Writer: Quentin Tarantino

Rated R

Run Time: 3 Hour, 7 minutes

Distributor: Anchor Bay

Music: Ennio Morricone

Cast:
Samuel L. Jackson: Major Marquis Warren
Kurt Russell: John “The Hangman” Ruth
Jennifer Jason Leigh: Daisy Domergue
Walton Goggins: Sheriff Chris Mannix
Demian Bichir: Bob
Tim Roth: Oswaldo Mobray
Michael Madsen: Joe Gage
Bruce Dern: General Sandy Smithers
James Parks: O.B.

There are many people who say that the Western is a dying genre in the film world.  They say that there’s nothing more to be said about the Old West, that the stories have run dry, and there’s nothing new to be gleamed from that particular genre.  My humble opinion?  Bullshit.  Yeah, the Western has peaks and valleys just like any other genre, but it will be a good long while before the genre dries up completely.  We’ve seen a number of new movies in the genre in the past 16 years that include films like Seraphim Falls, Appaloosa, the 3:10 to Yuma re-make, Bone Tomahawk, Django Unchained, The Salvation and most recently, The Hateful Eight.  The influence of the Western has gone beyond the borders of the United States.  You can see it’s influence in the Far East with films like Akira Kurusawa’s The Seven Samurai, which itself influenced a great deal of modern movies.  The Western has permeated many of the other genres, but it still remains one of the finest forms of storytelling in film.  I mean, I get it, you’re not going to get a whole lot of Westerns these days, because movies like that take time to really get right.  I’ve seen some bad ones, let me tell ya.  With up-and-coming directors like S. Craig Zahler, who directed the amazing Bone Tomahawk, there is hope that the genre will continue so long as the audience gets out to see them.  I’m one of those people who really loves the genre.  Now, with Quentin Tarantino having directed TWO Westerns, I’m very curious as to where the genre goes next.  For now, let’s examine Tarantino’s latest film, The Hateful Eight.

The story of The Hateful Eight begins with a carriage carrying a bounty hunter, John Ruth, and his prisoner, Daisy Domergue, that’s on its way to Red Rock so the prisoner can be hanged.  On the way, The carriage picks up two stranded travelers: Former Union Army officer Major Marquis Warren and Sheriff Chris Mannix.  With a harsh blizzard on their tail, these strangers stop at an inn of sorts out in the middle of nowhere.  Within the structure we have an additional four people waiting out the storm.  However, when John Ruth brings his prisoner inside the building, we realize that not everybody is who they say they are.  To delve any further into the story would spoil the twists and turns that the story takes.  It’s extraordinary.  This is a bit of a detective story of sorts set inside a Western.  We see a number of characters that have their own agenda, and we generally don’t trust them.  Everyone has a purpose for being here.  As I said, there are twists and turns here that will keep you guessing until the end.  It’s unpredictable in a very good way, and Quentin Tarantino really does a good job with ratcheting up the tension, despite the majority of the film taking place in one room.

Now, one would think that having the majority of a 3-hour film take place inside a room would be boring, right?  Oh, no, no, no.  The characters in the film are astounding, each with their own unique personality and motives.  The tension starts when you place Warren, who is black into the same room as a Confederate general, and you are instantly going to have some tension.  With all these different character types thrown into the mix together, which includes a female prisoner, there’s a storm brewing, so to speak.  In a lesser director’s hands, this really could have been botched all together, but because of Quentin Tarantino’s unique way of writing characters, story and dialogue, there’s not a scene or character in the film that seems out of place.  That’s also due to the fact that we have an amazing ensemble cast.  Kurt Russell, who is known for playing Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, returns to the genre which really gave him a boost.  The genre fits him like a glove.  It’s like he’s born to be in Westerns.  Samuel L. Jackson plays Warren as only Sam Jackson could.  He plays a very different character than he did in Django Unchained, but he nearly steals the show.  Walton Goggins has to be commended for playing the racist Sheriff of Red Rock, but we learn that there’s more to him than we think.  Special mention has to go to Jennifer Jason Leigh, who plays Daisy.  Like Jackson, Leigh almost steals the show.  In fact, nearly every actor in here is phenomenal.  Again, the credit has to go to Quentin Tarantino for being able to bring these actors together.  Not many directors can really claim that, at least not as consistently as Tarantino.

When you go into a Quentin Tarantino movie, you are in for a very unique experience.  Why?  Because Tarantino is a one-of-a-kind film-maker.  There aren’t a whole lot of directors out there that know film-making the way Tarantino does, which is why each film he makes is visually very interesting.  He doesn’t do digital film-making.  No, he’s kind of old-fashioned in that he prefers using actual film to make his movies.  When a films a movie using 65mm cameras, you can see the detail and a very distinct look throughout the movie.  The wide environment shots that he shoots are something that you just don’t see in a movie that’s filmed digitally.  On top of that, he stages his shots carefully, methodically and without the “shaky-cam” technique that’s plaguing the film industry right now.  The other thing you have to realize about Mr. Tarantino is the way he writes.  The characters he writes are unique, flawed, and fairly over-the-top, but in a good way.  The dialogue that is spoken is something to behold.  Mr. Tarantino has made writing dialogue an art form.  NOBODY writes a movie the way Tarantino does.  Yeah, he draws his inspiration from older movies, but he gives it his own unique flair that is often imitated but never duplicated.  When you watch a Quentin Tarantino movie, you’re getting the real deal.

Now, there are people out who have complained about Tarantino’s use of violence in his movies.  His movies are often very bloody, sometimes really gory, but they are definitely visceral and unforgettable.  Here’s the thing about that, though.  It’s all very over-the-top.  It’s not realistic.  The amount of blood that flows from these characters is almost comical, but it’s deliberate.  Mr. Tarantino uses his story to drive the violence, as one should.  But there have been complaints about there not being enough action in The Hateful Eight.  It’s funny, you look at one of his previous films, Inglorious Basterds, it’s not really action-packed.  It wasn’t meant to be.  When the violence hits, it does hit hard.  The complaints about violence in Tarantino’s movies are just mind-numbingly dumb.  It’s a Quentin Tarantino movie, you have to expect it.  He’s not going to tone down the violence because it hurts your feelings.  In fact, he’s just going to do the opposite, because that’s the way he is.  Back to The Hateful Eight:  The action, when it does show up is pretty brutal, but when you’re dealing with a number of armed bounty hunters and retired generals and various people, it’s going to get messy.  Truth be told, while I enjoyed the action, it was the dialogue that really had me engaged in the film.  There’s just something about a Quentin Tarantino film that’s just captivating.

The music is done by the legendary Ennio Morricone, who is known for his work on movies like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, as well as movies like John Carpenter’s The Thing.  As a matter of fact, Quentin Tarantino actually uses some of the music used in The Thing to an interesting effect.  Morricone’s work is almost unrivaled as a film composer with over 500 credits to his name.  There’s not that many composers out there with THAT kind of a resume.

Overall, I was very impressed with The Hateful Eight.  It had a very interesting story that took some really interesting turns, and had some of the most visceral shoot-outs I’ve seen in a long time.  But what really made the movie for me, as it has with nearly every movie that Mr. Tarantino has made, was the way the film was written.  It’s an extraordinary experience watching a Tarantino film.  I’ve seen nearly every movie that Quentin Tarantino has directed, and he hasn’t really made a bad one yet, in my opinion.  I think The Hateful Eight does run a little too long, but then again, that’s not necessarily a detriment to the kind of film that Mr. Tarantino wanted to make.  My final score for The Hateful Eight is an outstanding 9.5/10.  I love this movie.  It’s one of the most interesting Westerns that I’ve seen in years.  If you’re a fan of the director, this film is a must-see.

Before I tell everyone how I feel about this new movie coming out in October, I think it’s prudent to tell you how I feel about the original The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith.  I wrote a review last year about one of the most controversial movies ever made.  Released in 1915, D.W. Griffith’s film was met with some pretty justified hostility on the part of the African-American people.  The NAACP strongly condemned the film as racist in its overtones, and the organization STILL considers the film to be racist.  The truth of the matter, is that the NAACP isn’t particularly wrong.  However, I judged the film on its technical achievements and it’s ability to tell a coherent story, however controversial.  I refused to give the film a score, not necessarily because of the content, but because of how much power the film still has.  It came out in a time when racial tensions were still sky high.  Many film historians will tell you that the film is important.  It’s important because not just because of its historical inaccuracy, but as I said, it was powerful.  It had fantastic acting with really great cinematography, and it was very well written and directed.  Some people consider D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation one of the greatest American films ever made.  I agree to a certain extent, however, the film has been seen as propaganda for the Ku Klux Klan.  It’s an interesting movie that’s worth watching at least once.  It’s currently in the public domain, so you can see it for free.  You can read my review of the original film here.

The 2016 version of The Birth of a Nation tells the true story of Nat Turner, a black preacher, who led a rebellion of slaves in 1831.  It’s not exactly one of the most well-known stories to come out of that era, but it is particularly significant for civil rights.  While I am certainly curious about the movie, and am willing to see if it’s any good or not, I can’t help but wonder what possessed director Nate Parker to slap D.W. Griffith’s film’s name on to his own.  In my opinion, that smacks of pretentiousness and capitalizing on the name of a movie that’s over a century old.  I had an interesting, but brief discussion with a friend of mine on a forum about it.  I’m not opposed to people making movies about slavery, whether it’s modern-day or Civil War-era.  In fact, I approve of the topic.  It’s a discussion that’s been happening and needs to continue to happen.  My problem with Nate Parker’s film, is that the movie looks really, really preachy.  It also looks like it approaches the issue from one side of the discussion.  Now, somebody might say, “HOW COULD THERE BE TWO SIDES OF THE ISSUE?!  IT’S SLAVERY!”  The answer is this:  Slavery was common in the South during most of the 19th century.  Most of the people in that part of the country didn’t see slavery as an evil.  It was part of the economy.  I’m not trying to justify it, because slavery is evil in and of itself, but when you take on a subject like that, you have to be willing to see things from all sides, not just one, otherwise you’re not going to see the whole picture.  That’s where I have a problem with the new Nation.  It appears to be approaching the issue from one side, but I won’t know for sure until I see it.

There’s another issue surrounding the film, but this is more of a legal issue, but it’s still worth mentioning.  In 1999, Nate Parker was accused of raping an 18-year old college student.  While he was acquitted in 2001, details surrounding the case have come back to haunt the man and potentially overshadow the new Birth of a Nation.  Something like that is definitely going to be on the minds of many people who are planning to see the movie.  Accusations of rape aren’t going to go away, even if you’ve been acquitted of the crime.  How it’s going to affect the release of Parker’s movie is something that only time will tell, but it will definitely have a negative impact.

As with any movie, I will attempt to reserve judgment until I have seen the final product, but I will admit that there are issues here that I really can’t ignore.  I will review the film as soon as it gets released, so stay tuned for that.

Released: April 2016

Director: Ilya Naishuller

Rated R

Run Time: 95 Minutes

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Cast:
Sharlto Copley: Jimmy
Danila Kozlovsky: Akan
Haley Benett: Estelle
Tim Roth: Henry’s Father
I love video games.  Anybody who knows me can tell you that.  I’ve been gaming for most of my life.  I didn’t start REALLY getting into games until Wolfenstein 3-D.  Wolfenstein 3-D was a first-person shooter.  For those who don’t know, a first-person shooter video game is played entirely from the perspective of the character you’re playing.  You’ve got a weapon in your hands and you’re moving in a fairly 3-dimensional space.  But the game that really cemented my love for that particular genre was, and still is, Doom.  Movies based on video games have been around since 1993, but the first video game movie to feature an entire sequence from the first-person perspective, ironically enough, was Doom starring Dwayne Johnson.  Not a great movie, but it had some really good stuff in it.  There was a section in the film where the film switched perspectives to one of the main characters.  It was a 5-minute sequence but it was extremely memorable.  So, how would you do that for a full 90 minutes?  I give you Hardcore Henry.

The film opens as the character of Henry wakes up with a missing arm and leg.  A cybernetic arm and leg are then attached when the laboratory where they are at is attacked by a mysterious telekenetic warlord, Akan.  After kidnapping Henry’s wife, Estelle, Henry goes on the run and meets up with an eccentric character named Jimmy.  That’s the gist of the story.  For a film like this, the story is secondary to what’s happening on the screen.  Now the first thing you will notice, is that the entire film is filmed strictly from a first-person perspective.  You never actually see Henry’s face at all until towards the end of the movie, and even then it’s only a reflection.  So now we have a movie that plays out like a first-person shooter video game.  The question is:  Does it work?  The short answer is, yes, mostly.

I’m going to warn you:  If you get motion sickness of any kind or really don’t like shaky-cam, stay away.  The nature of the whole first-person perspective is to place the audience directly in the shoes of the main character.  Because of that, the camera tends to be quite shaky at times and it moves fast, so it may be hard for you to keep up.  If you can keep up with what’s going on, you are treated to a very visually interesting action movie.  When Henry wakes up, he has no idea what’s going, so the audience doesn’t know what’s happening until we start piecing things together with the help of Jimmy.

I’m going to flat-out say it:  The acting in this film, aside from Sharlto Copley is basic at most.  Sharlto Copley plays the most interesting character in the movie, and one of the most interesting characters of his career.  Yeah, the character is there for mostly comic relief, but he’s also there as a guide for the audience by telling Henry, and therefor, the audience what’s really going on, and why he’s helping Henry.  The villain of Akan is a kind of an albino telekenetic nutjob that we really don’t know anything about.  He’s not the worst villain I’ve seen, he’s just…bleh.  But again, you really don’t go to a movie like this for deep characterization and story.  No, you come for the action.  If you’ve ever played a first-person shooter, you know it can get pretty crazy with a ton of enemies on the screen.  Hardcore Henry plays out exactly like one of those games, and it really works.  The action is brutal, fast, and extremely bloody.  People get eviscerated and blown to pieces, while cars explode and people fall from helicopters.  One of the reasons the first-person perspective works so well in a movie like this, is the stunt-work.  Between the parkour scenes and shootouts, this movie has it all.  The stunts are absolutely out-of-this world.  I mean that in a good way.  The whole movie was filmed in Russia, so a lot of the stunt men are really good at what they do.  Henry is played by several stuntmen who assume the role for a particular stunt.  You’ve got one guy is good parkour, another who is good at falling, and yet another, who knows horses.  The various kinds of stunts that take place are absolutely jaw-dropping.  There’s this sequence early on where Henry is chasing another guy and repells down a 16-story building.  The car chases are NUTS.  The one where he’s riding shotgun in one of those old motorcycles that has a side-car for a passenger, and Henry wields a fifty-calibur machine gun.  It’s very well-done.  I have to give the film-makers credit for that.

It’s not all sunshine and roses, though.  The movie moves at such a break-neck pace, that we really don’t get time to breathe.  I don’t mind a wall-to-wall action film, but with the first-person perspective, we need to get a few moments where we can get our heads on straight, and some of the action scenes are so chaotic, you can’t really see what’s going on.  That being said, the whole is just plain bonkers.  If you’re looking for a unique action movie that doesn’t let up, Hardcore Henry fits the bill.  Sharlto Copley’s performance alone is worth the price of admission.  Overall, this movie is pretty freakin’ awesome.  It’s one of the best straight-up action movies this year and it’s generally a hell of a lot of fun.  I definitely recommend it.  8/10 is my final verdict.