The Hateful Eight (2015)

"The Hateful Eight" stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, and Bruce Dern. Released on December 25, 2015, the film is about eight strangers who seek refuge in a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass during a blizzard.

The film is directed by Quentin Tarantino, who also directed films such as Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Django Unchained, and it is nominated for three Golden Globe awards. It was originally going to be published as a novel due to a script leak back in January 2014, but with the success of the live reading, Tarantino decided to film it instead. Now this is his eighth film that he directed, which makes sense because the title is called "The Hateful Eight". Tarantino is known for expressing high levels of violence and offensive language while also creating engaging stories that reflect on the harsher side of reality. That's why I loved his last film, Django Unchained. It's violent, engaging, and very-well filmed. I managed to see a special roadshow presentation of the film on a 70 mm film format, which I will share my thoughts on later, and I got to tell you, Tarantino has done it again.

The ensemble cast delivered some magnificent performances throughout, including Jackson as Major Marquis Warren. I absolutely loved this guy. He's been in almost every single film in his career, and he's still entertaining as hell. Jennifer Jason Leigh received her Golden Globe nomination for her performance as Daisy Domergue, a fugitive who is wanted dead or alive for murder. I believe she deserved that nomination because everything about her performance was just nothing shy of perfection. Her sense of insanity and calmness is just enough to make her character believable. I hope she gets nominated for an Oscar because her portrayal was just amazing. Seriously, though, I would not get on her bad side when she's in her acting zone. One of the biggest highlights of the film was the cinematography. The way it shows the snowy landscapes of Wyoming and the inside of the stopover was brilliantly executed for the right reasons. Cinematographer Robert Richardson was known for shooting other Tarantino films like Kill Bill and Django, and his work for this film deserves another Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography. What I also loved about this film was how engaging the screenplay was. The film is about almost three hours long, but the way they showcased the twists and the characters' motives managed to keep my attention until the very end.
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Overall, "The Hateful Eight" marks another win for director Quentin Tarantino thanks to its brilliant performances, an engaging and effective screenplay, and its Oscar-worthy cinematography. It is one of the best films I've seen in 2015 and it is worth seeing on the big screen for Tarantino fans. Also, I had a great time watching it in a 70 mm film format. It is longer than the original version with a musical overture and a 12-minute intermission. It is a great tribute to the earlier days of roadshow presentations, and it's the best format to see "The Hateful Eight" if it's playing at a local theater near you.

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