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Strange opinion: The Hateful Eight is the best movie from Quentin Tarantino

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jetjevons

Bish loves my games!
Nothing beats seeing Reservoir Dogs in the theatre for the first time for me. His formula and style got less original and more indulgent over time. Don't get me wrong I love all this movies (except maybe Death Proof) but Inglorious and '8 were *long*. I think he peaked with Jackie Brown. A masterpiece.
 

Roboculus

Member
It's not my favorite Tarantino film but I definitely enjoyed it. I will say that it still has the same problem that all of his recent films have had which is it felt too long.

Personally, I still think his first three (RD, PF, and JB) are the best because the characters just felt more grounded and relateable. From Kill Bill on wards, all of his films have felt a lot more over the top and cartoonish. Don't get me wrong, I still really enjoy them and I think his track record is still pretty good overall but I do wish he would go back to making a film that didn't feel like it was trying so close to imitate a genre flick.
 

Switch Back 9

a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
Inglourious Basterds is hands down my personal favourite. I'm not expert on film or writing so it might not be his "best" from certain technical standpoints, but I love the setting, I love the characters, and Pitt/Fassbender hamming up while Waltz slays it as one of the best villains in cinematic history makes for an awesome film. Solid action and some incredibly tense scenes too.

Plus I still haven't seen Jackie Brown
please don't kill me.
 
I miss when Tarantino was able to transport you to somewhere you feel like you've never been before.


All these rankings are subjective, but I rank Tarantino in this order:

1) Pulp Fiction
2) Kill Bill 1 and 2
3) Jackie Brown
4) Reservoir Dogs
5) Inglourious Basterds
6) Django Unchained
7) The Hateful Eight
8) Death Proof


The reason Inglourious Basterds ranks so highly are for the various scenes throughout the film which don't play out like a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Django and Hateful Eight are so anachronistic and silly that it's hard to immerse yourself in anything that's happening. Django had some fun moments, but Hateful Eight took some of the best actors you could assemble and wasted them on an absolutely pointless plot.

I'm not for one moment suggesting that Tarantino films need to be serious. No, they're good because they have dark humor and over the top violence, but they need not be cartoonish.

It's weird that you complain about cartoonishness and yet have both Kill Bill's ranked so high.
 

Hyun Sai

Member
It was his best work of the last years for sure. Django had his moments, but after Dicaprio and Waltz were out, it went bland.
 

Macka

Member
Just like Fincher, all his movies are pretty equal quality wise IMO, I can't choose one, it would depend on the mood I'm in at the time but loved Hateful Eight because there's nothing quite like it being made these days.
You can't be serious? Alien 3 was trash, while The Game and Panic Room weren't anything special either.
 
Could someone explain exactly what it is they like about Jackie Brown? Not hating, I just don't remember anything particularly striking about it. Maybe that's the appeal?
 

Cepheus

Member
Could someone explain exactly what it is they like about Jackie Brown? Not hating, I just don't remember anything particularly striking about it. Maybe that's the appeal?

It's not all action, in fact there's barely any at all. It's just a mellowed-out film that's still pretty engaging. As much as I like Tarantino's dialogue, there's an actual reason behind why they talk a lot in this film and you're gripped the whole way through. It was based on a book, and I wish Tarantino did more of that. It's also unique in style because it bombed at the box office compared to Pulp Fiction before it and Tarantino got so bummed out about it that he never made a film like it again.
 
I love that there can be a thread on basically any Tarantino film and you can count on an equal number of people praising it as his best film or easily his worst.
 
It's not all action, in fact there's barely any at all. It's just a mellowed-out film that's still pretty engaging. As much as I like Tarantino's dialogue, there's an actual reason behind why they talk a lot in this film and you're gripped the whole way through. It was based on a book, and I wish Tarantino did more of that. It's also unique in style because it bombed at the box office compared to Pulp Fiction before it and Tarantino got so bummed out about it that he never made a film like it again.

I'm going to have to see some receipts on the bolded.
 

Cepheus

Member
I'm going to have to see some receipts on the bolded.

Exaggerating a little, but according to Wikipedia, Pulp made $214 million, and Brown only made $75 million at the box office. And he didn't release another film after that for six years... I think people were expecting Brown to pretty much be Pulp Fiction 2, and it wasn't, hence the drastic difference.
 
Exaggerating a little, but according to Wikipedia, Pulp made $214 million, and Brown only made $75 million at the box office. And he didn't release another film after that for six years... I think people were expecting Brown to pretty much be Pulp Fiction 2, and it wasn't, hence the drastic difference.

Once again, I think you're making this up. Nobody expected Jackie Brown to do Pulp Fiction numbers. Jackie Brown was highly successful with Pam Grier as lead actress.
 
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Resi Dogs
3. Kill Bill Vol 2
4. Kill Bill Vol 1
5. Django
6. Hate 8
7. Death Proof
8. Inglorious
9. Jackie Brown


Jackie Brown bored me. The lack of conflict in that film makes it really boring. It doesn't build towards a climax or natural conclusion and the dialogue is not as good as death proof (another film with a lot of dialogue masturbation).
I appreciate many of the good actors in JB and the feeling he went for. It was brave to cast his main with a black 40 year old woman who was just a real person trying to get by- Not an outragous caricacture like his other movies.
I liked De Niro and Chris Tucker as well. But a lot of the other characters annoyed me. Sam Jacksons role was really annoying.
I just don't like it.

Inglorious, I think is a good movie but I find that it's parts of it that are good. The opening is amazing- As is the bar shootout. I don't like the subplot with the german war hero and the girl at the french movie theater. Way to many drawn out scenes- Should have had an element of kill your darlings.

Death Proof is also offensive with its amount of needless bloat, but I just like it a lot more than JB and Inglorious. For one, the stunts are fucking amazing. You don't see car stunts like this anymore- These girls are fucking nuts. See the behind the scenes if you haven't. They actually did these. They are dangerous as hell at the speed they where filming at- But that's what they where going for.

Hate 8 and Django are both amazing. I see them as one interconnected film. I'm not into westerns, but I really really loved these.

Kill Bill is incredible. It's a wonderful Tarantino Universe, and I hope Kill Bill Vol 3 and 4 are made.

Resi and Pulp are the classics. Cannot mess with 90s defining films. Can't touch them. They are legendary.
 

empyrean

Member
Always surprises me how much people love and rate kill bill. I find it to be boring nonsense, easily some of his worst work imo
 
Watched this on a plane, I quite enjoyed it and the hours just flew by (pun intended). After reading this thread I realized I've only seen 2 of his movies now, this and Inglorious Basterds. I enjoyed both so I should watch more.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Agreed. The 70mm roadshow was a great experience too since a group of 6 of us went...and the theater sold alcohol.

Coincidentally I just got my Mondo poster for the film framed this week. The winter storm tomorrow has me thinking about watching it and The Revenant. Lol
Pic? I'm curious how it looks.
 

Fury451

Banned
I love that there can be a thread on basically any Tarantino film and you can count on an equal number of people praising it as his best film or easily his worst.

I'm certainly surprised by people who think Death Proof is among his best. Kill Bill as well, but overall I get those two more. Death Proof had some cringey ass dialogue

That's what makes his films great though, the diverse reactions.
 

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
Nothing beats seeing Reservoir Dogs in the theatre for the first time for me. His formula and style got less original and more indulgent over time. Don't get me wrong I love all this movies (except maybe Death Proof) but Inglorious and '8 were *long*. I think he peaked with Jackie Brown. A masterpiece.

Truest statement in this thread. Jackie Brown had the perfect amount of restrain and material to cover it's run time.


But following it, it felt closer like he never has enough material to cover the length of his films where they just keep recycling old bits. H8's flashback scene, while enjoyable, did absolutely nothing for the film other than insert another QT moment. Basically, he's at the point where unless he can shake up his own directing abilities, he needs an editor to make his flicks more lean.
 
Once again, I think you're making this up. Nobody expected Jackie Brown to do Pulp Fiction numbers. Jackie Brown was highly successful with Pam Grier as lead actress.

For what it's worth I read the same thing a long time ago. Not sure if it was accurate but it's definitely a story that's out there, so he's not just making it up. And while it did well, I remember at the time people thinking it was a disappointment following the megahit Pulp Fiction, and Tarantino seems like someone who could get depressed by that.
 

Simo

Member
Pic? I'm curious how it looks.

I haven't taken a snap of it framed as I don't have it hanging up yet. Not quite sure where to place it. Lol

This is the print though.
hateful8_1024x1024.jpg
 

boiled goose

good with gravy
I enjoyed it. To me it strayed a bit too far into a cartoon in the second half.
All his movies feature shock value, but H8 strayed more than others. Kill bill can get away with it because it is not as grounded.

I like pulp fiction, the kill bills more.

I put it on par with Django and IB in my mind.
 
I like both Kill Bills because I like Uma Thurman's performance so much. She brings a ton of heart to the role, which is something Hateful Eight sorely lacks.

I mean there are two very different films in very different genres, but my point is Kill Bill is extremely cartoony hence me pointing out the contradiction in your criticism of cartoonishness being a negative. Matter of fact, it's why some people dislike Kill Bill because it relished in it.

For what it's worth I read the same thing a long time ago. Not sure if it was accurate but it's definitely a story that's out there, so he's not just making it up. And while it did well, I remember at the time people thinking it was a disappointment following the megahit Pulp Fiction, and Tarantino seems like someone who could get depressed by that.

I just find it hard to believe given he made a Blaxploitation flick in the 90's with freakin' Pam Grier as the lead for a 12 million dollar budget and grossed 75 million dollars as being a disappointment; regardless of how well Pulp Fiction did. LOL
 

Speevy

Banned
I mean there are two very different films in very different genres, but my point is Kill Bill is extremely cartoony hence me pointing out the contradiction in your criticism of cartoonishness being a negative. Matter of fact, it's why some people dislike Kill Bill because it relished in it.

That's fair. I mean, I like Kill Bill.

I think everyone has favorite films and great films. KB hit the spot for me.
 
The Hateful 8 is actually the movie that soured me on Tarantino's indulgences and made me stop and wonder if I liked his work as much as I thought I did. I felt that a little bit during Django Unchained as well, which has such a strange pace to it, but The Hateful 8 just comes off as pointless. It's an exercise in chamber piece dialogue and a slight whodunit, but it just goes in circles and reveals its hand to no fan fair, then keeps going and going and going until a flat ending. I still don't know what The Hateful 8 wants to be. Shame because Russell, Jackson, and Goggins are fantastic, and the movie has some good bits (the door gag, the atmospheric horror tinged snow scenes)

I keep waiting for Tarantino's tension to pay off in worthwhile ways instead of undercutting itself with roundabout dialogue and empty violence, but it's not happening. His method of chapter based writing, almost constructing the movies with these modular talky set pieces is wearing thin on me the more I see them.
 
I can't speak for his body of work as I've only seen (at least that I can remember), Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. Of those four though, I think Hateful Eight is my least favorite.

It's beautifully shot, it's appropriately dark, the acting is ridiculously good...but it just doesn't go places that I want to go.
 
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