The Hateful Eight 70mm Roadshow [open spoilers]

Cafe Society
41

I guess that makes sense and can live with that, but I agree that Jody was pretty hateful, especially if he really was who he said he was. My initial thought was that it was part of the same gag as the “8th movie by QT,” like maybe there were a few more than 8?

I love Sam and all, but I couldn’t help wondering when he was gonna ask “What’s in your wallet?” the whole time, so I agree. Also, why does his character have noticeably better teeth than anyone else? That was distracting too.

Usually I see younger guys at Tarantino movies too. I know a lot of women who don’t want to see violent movies, or who saw Pulp fiction and decided they were done with him. (Not me! :D) I was surprised that most of the people at our Saturday afternoon screening were older (over 50) couples. The trailers and commercials before the film were geared toward them.

42

I’m not particularly enamored of QT as a director. I thought his first few films (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Jackie Brown) were stylish and interesting, as was Inglourious Basterds, but the *Kill Bill *films were horrible, and I didn’t see Django Unchained.

WRT artistic achievement, The Hateful Eight is far from his best film, IMO. I didn’t go in expecting to enjoy it much, and it lived up to those expectations. (I mainly went to see 70mm in a multiplex for probably the last time.) The story mainly seemed to be a setup for a bunch of bloody shootouts. In that sense, it was extremely predictable that everyone dies at the end. *Reservoir Dogs *did it better.

A nitpick: the Lincoln letter used the word “hopefully” in the modern (and some say incorrect) sense: “Hopefully, sometime we can meet…” or words to that effect, which a writer in the late 1800s – Lincoln or Major Warren – probably wouldn’t have done. There were a few other modern idioms (e.g. “not so much”) that I found jarring for the period, too.

I admire the devotion to film and 70mm in particular, but Quentin, buddy, if you’re going to go to all the trouble of shooting and showing 70mm, FFS, go out and get some grand vistas and tell an epic story, like Lean did for Lawrence of Arabia, Kubrick did with 2001, and Wyler did in Ben Hur. The snowy scenes in *The Hateful Eight *are about the worst possible use of a large format negative, because there is so little visible detail. Only a couple of sunny shots of mountains began to use the format well. The interiors had nice contrast, but 35mm or today’s digital cameras could probably done just about as well.

It’s really a shame that what is almost certainly the last film to have its initial release in 70mm was such a poor example of the format’s capabilities. It could have been an opportunity to show the world what it was losing.

One final point: a few posters here or in the other H8 thread seem to be under the impression that you can’t do special effects if you shoot (or release, I’m not sure what they thought) in 70mm. Not true. It is entirely possible to incorporate digital effects into a movie shot and released on film, regardless of format. To be sure, you have to master at a higher resolution to maintain the image quality when you output to film, but it can be done. And probably was in this film: ISTR visual effects companies listed in the credits.

43

My understanding is the exteriors were outside Telluride, Colorado. The interiors were a well refrigerated soundstage.

44

I noticed it last night when I was watching the movie for the second time. It’s an orange shorthair, sitting on a barrel next to the table where Minnie’s working when the four passengers arrive.

Knowing how my cat would react if people started firing large-caliber pistols inside my apartment, I suspect he/she freaked out and headed for the nearest dark cubbyhole to hide for the next four or five days!

45

I find it unlikely that the Confederates would have a POW camp in “West Virginia”: First of all, the state is little other than heavily wooded mountains. Second, a movement for the northwestern counties of Virginia to remain in the Union began in May 1861, and they were “admitted” as the 35th state in June 1863.

“Western Virginia,” okay. “West Virginia,” probably not.

46

If he introduced himself as “Bob,” maybe she was slow to twig to his ethnicity. She had five other new arrivals to tend to and was already busy with something when they showed up.

Didn’t Warren or John speculate that he (Pete) had killed the real Oswaldo and stolen his papers when they first became suspicious?

47

Nitpick: He handcuffed her before she told him he was going to Hell. He was already pissed off about the final verse to the song she sang. She did say “No, no, no, no!” at that point because she knew he was going to die.

He started beating the crap out of her when he realized he’d been poisoned. Remember, he had threatened to knock out her two front teeth when they were still in the stagecoach.

Funny she wasn’t poisoned herself when he puked right into her face and open mouth down on the floor.

He also said in the stagecoach that the only way she was going to escape was if his arm were cut off. He was right about that…

48

Not “escape,” but “get away from” him, I think.

49

Quite right.

50

That would be a good explanation. Not covered in the flashback and hugely coincidental if so (since that would have happened somewhere else and had little to do with their primary goal). But I can live with it.

Though if so (and I’m remembering that scene correctly) it does bolster the claim of actually being the new sheriff. Otherwise he had some familiarity with the law of the area that is never covered in the movie (certainly possible since everybody is apparently lying about everything all of the time).

51

Another vital question that struck me while watching the credits after the movie.

Extras casting was provided by a company called Central Casting.

Was there an extra in the movie?

52

The cat? :dubious: :confused: :smiley:

53

Jesus?

54

That one guy who hid out back and the lady on the ladder? Did they have lines? I don’t remember. Would they be considered extras? Maybe there was a deleted scene in a bustling Red Rock, showing the “15 gang members” really did exist, but QT cut it out to keep things more insular and ambiguous.

55

There was also the actor who played the General’s son, who had no lines. Poor guy.

“Oh wow, you were in Hateful Eight? What part did you play?”

“I was the naked guy blowing Samuel L. Jackson.”

56

They did indeed. I don’t think anyone with a speaking part would be considered an extra.

The guy who blew Sam also had a couple of lines when we first saw him.

57

Belinda Owino…I’m just trying to figure who she was in Django. Just says Candieland House Servant.

58

Ah, I forgot. Thanks.

59

A couple of things that caught my eye: (a) The occasional homestead in the background as the stagecoach traveled through the mountains. Just how far away was Minnie’s nearest neighbor, anyway? (b) How the hell was the Haberdashery and its outbuildings lit up so brightly when O.B. went outside to dump the pistols? It should have been dark as pitch, but there were obviously electric lights of some sort (I’m thinking arc lamps) burning in the background.

60

Light pollution?