The Hateful Eight - was it all really necessary?

5/1/16 The Hateful Eight, nominated Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, won Best Original Score, 2015

Any time that Quentin Tarantino releases a movie, I roll my eyes and then decide that if it is nominated for an Oscar, I'll watch it at home, and try not to hurl. Tarantino's love of violence, fake blood, the N-word and occasionally droning dialogue makes me cringe. And yet, I found myself watching parts of The Hateful Eight and thinking, yeah, that's some good dialogue or, nice plot twist, and just as often thinking, really, a head exploding and the blood sprays into her open mouth? Oy vey. Set in the years following the Civil War, The Hateful Eight stars Kurt Russell (who still has great hair) as John Ruth, a bounty hunter; Samuel L. Jackson (not in a Marvel movie) as Marquis Warren, another bounty hunter; Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy Domergue, John Ruth's prisoner, to name a few. Ruth is trying to take in Domergue in for her bounty, and is rightfully concerned that someone may try to take his prisoner, either to free her or collect the bounty. Unfortunately for Ruth, and his new fellow traveler, Warren, they are heading right into a Wyoming blizzard (a lot of movies seem to be set in Wyoming - Heaven's Gate), and they need to hold up for the night at Minnie's Haberdashery, a rest stop along the way. Different characters get introduced and we (just like Ruth and Warren) are unsure of their intentions. Trust no one is the motto here. The movie is three hours (yes, my favorite - a long movie) and there is a lot of swearing, hitting (Jennifer Jason Leigh or her double), took a lot stage punches and elbows while being called lovely names, and like Django Unchained, there was a sequence near the end where shots were flying like mosquitoes in a Minnesota summer and with only slightly more blood being spilled. It's hard to give a good synopsis of the movie without revealing too much, because there is a lot to be said for the element of surprise; like I said earlier, there are some good plot twists. There are no 'good guys' in the movie, as main characters, anyway; they all have biases, prejudices, anger and hatred that comes out in violent ways. It seems that a lot of the anger and hatred are connected to the Civil War, and which side you were on, it seems several of the characters were on the losing side and still quite bitter about it, which I suppose accounts for their use of the N word (for the record, I find that word repugnant, and while it may (??) need to be used for 'historical' accuracy, it felt like it was as overused as the fake blood). The movie was three hours, and I think was definitely room to edit it down to a respectable 2 - 2 1/2 hours; there were a couple of instances where Tarantino plays the role of narrator, and I don't think it was necessary. As I'm writing this, I was thinking the movie bore some resemblance to Rio Bravo, with the characters being trapped in one location, fighting their way out. That may be a bit of a stretch, but there is something there. Leigh was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and she was very good, and went toe to toe with the guys in terms of profanity and getting bloodied, but I didn't feel that was enough compared to Alicia Vikander's performance in The Danish Girl. Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson and Walter Goggins, as the Sheriff, were really good, as well; when Jackson shared dialogue with Goggins or Russell, it was great chemistry, sometimes even like a Lewis and Martin routine. I have Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Basterds on request from the library; I have seen them both before, but remember nothing of Pulp Fiction, and want to watch them both again so I can perhaps come up with some more astute observations.