Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh in the Quentin Tarantino movie ‘The Hateful Eight’

Crime, drama and mystery are leading elements in the Wyoming set Quentin Tarantino written and directed movie The Hateful Eight (2015). Set in 1877 on the plains of the frontier west, the introduces us to the snowy plains with a mission to get to Red Rock, Wyoming that we will never manifest due to a series of vengeful, selfish humanity rife in the hallmark style of the film’s director and screenwriter.

(From left, Samuel L. Jackson as Major Marquis Warren and Walton Goggins as Chris Mannix in the Quentin Tarantino movie The Hateful Eight).

It’s on the plains, with three corpses stacked one atop another, that a stagecoach driven by O.B. Jackson encounters bounty hunter and Union veteran from the American Civil War, Major Marquis Warren, stranded. Horseless and stranded with the corpses, Warren seeks a ride on the coach. With bounty hunter John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth to ‘Crazy’ Daisy Domergue already on board and facing the same incoming blizzard, we are introduced to the tension of whether Warren will get a ride. Jackson, Warren, Ruth and Domergue were portrayed by James Parks, Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh, respectively.

(From left, Kurt Russell as John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth, Jennifer Jason Leigh as ‘Crazy’ Daisy Domergue and Bruce Dern as General Sanford ‘Sandy’ Smithers in the Quentin Tarantino movie The Hateful Eight).

Warren and his cargo get a ride, as he bonded with Ruth over a personal letter Warren carries as purportedly written by former United States president Abraham Lincoln. A bit up the road, Chris Mannix, claiming to be Red Rock‘s new sheriff, joins them. The tension baked into Mannix joining this party rests with Mannix’s father, Erskine, having led Mannix’s Marauders, a Lost Cause of the Confederacy militia that fought on the opposite side of the American Civil War to Warren. Clear animosity between Warren and Mannix over clear disagreements based in racial indignance, not to mention a bounty among sympathizers of the confederacy on Warren’s head. Walton Goggins portrayed Chris Mannix.

(From left, Michael Madsen as Joe Gage, Demián Bichir as Señor Bob, Tim Roth as Oswaldo Mobray and Channing Tatum as Jody Domergue in the Quentin Tarantino movie The Hateful Eight).

Seeking shelter from the blizzard at Minnie’s Haberdashery, the stagecoach party finds Minnie Mink, ‘Sweet’ Dave Mink, Six-Horse Judy and Gemma nowhere to be found. Señor Bob, a Mexican by heritage, is tending the haberdashery in their place. The lodge, meanwhile, is found to be sheltering cowboy Joe Gage, hangman Oswaldo Mobray, and Confederate general Sanford ‘Sandy’ Smithers. Dana Gourrier, Gene Jones, Zoë Bell, Belinda Owino, Demián Bichir, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth and Bruce Dern portrayed Minnie, Dave, Judy, Gemma, Bob, Joe, Oswaldo and Sanford, respectively.

(From left, Dana Gourrier as Minnie Mink, Zoë Bell as Six-Horse Judy and Belinda Owino as Gemma in the Quentin Tarantino movie The Hateful Eight).

Several tensions unfold at the haberdashery, with extends well beyond the introduction to the folks at the accommodations. The fact that the door needs to be nailed shut is a sure sign that unusual happenings are afoot, with the introduction of Jody Domergue, as portrayed by Channing Tatum, not coming until after the scene including references to past events having occurred in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The sequencing of revelation worked well in maintaining much of the larger mystery of the movie.

(Screenwriter and director Quentin Tarantino on set of the Quentin Tarantino movie The Hateful Eight).

The poking at larger cultural tensions through individuals, including a social commentary in the process of telling a contemporary portrait of stylized violence, provide many of the over-the-top elements fans of Quentin Tarantino seek in his movies. It is in the delivery of these points, with a moderated gratuity in language when compared to other Tarantino movies at their full throated, that standout to me. I grant The Hateful Eight as presented by Quentin Tarantino 4.0-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, May 13, 2023

Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth and Michael Madsen in the Quentin Tarantino movie ‘Reservoir Dogs’

It is nearly 30-years since Reservoir Dogs (1992), the first feature-length movie directed by Quentin Tarantino, was released in movie theatres. The film depicts events before and after a planned diamond heist from a jewelry store goes terribly wrong. The movie looks into the robbery team, the suspicions among members that ensued, and ultimately a resolution for the team along the way. An impactful point of the story is the stress responses in the points in between.

(In the backseat, Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink. From left in front, Harvey Keitel as Mr. White/Larry and Chris Penn as Nice Guy Eddie in the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs).

An early scene in the narrative for Reservoir Dogs includes introducing members of the team in the period before the heist. A notion for the protection of the members of the team seeking to perform the heist is for nobody to know the names of the other criminals involved. Thus, we meet Mr. Pink as portrayed by Steve Buscemi. We meet Mr. White, whom we later learn to be Larry, as portrayed by Harvey Keitel. We also meet Nice Guy Eddie, as portrayed by Chris Penn, whose role in the larger criminal enterprise allows him to not be named with a color. The film does include some off-color humor that gratuitously disparages African Americans.

(From left, Tim Roth as Mr. Orange/Freddy and Harvey Keitel as Mr. White/Larry in the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs).

Tim Roth portrayed Mr. Orange, who we later learn to be named Freddy. We see these two up-close from the beginning of the movie. Reservoir Dogs is not presented chronologically, which is to say that the background information for characters within the story gets shown in flashbacks to earlier points in time that suggest motivations and depth for the individual characters. That the stories of Mr. Orange and Mr. White are strongly connected and emotionally relevant is clear from the earliest parts of the movie.

(From left, Quentin Tarantino as Mr. Brown, Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde aka Vic and Edward Bunker as Mr. Blue in the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs).

Parts of the heist, including the plans for the getaway after the heist, include Mr. Blue, Mr. Brown and Mr. Blonde / Vic. Edward Bunker portrayed Mr. Blue. The film’s director, Quentin Tarantino, portrayed Mr. Brown. Michael Madsen portrayed Mr. Blonde, who we later learn to be Vic. Arguments ensue after the heist among Mr. Pink and Mr. White about getting medical care for Mr. Orange, who injuries are explained in the course the movie. Distrust runs rampant, yet transforms into something else altogether when Mr. Blonde arrives with kidnapped policeman Marvin Nash.

(From left, Tim Roth as Mr. Orange/Freddy and Kirk Baltz as Marvin Nash in the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs).

Marvin Nash is portrayed by Kirk Baltz. An interesting and brutal scene set to the song Stuck in the Middle with You by Stealers Wheels sees Mr. Blonde confronting a sadistic point-of-view in confronting a bound and immobile Marvin Nash. The commentary of place for Mr. Blonde mixed in among the other criminals participating in the heist gives the scene legs.

(From left, Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink, Chris Penn as Nice Guy Eddie and Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde/Vic in the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs).

It’s a conversation among Mr. Pink, Mr. Blonde, Mr. White, Mr. Orange and Nice Guy Eddie that precedes that planned confrontation of Mr. Blonde and Marvin Nash. It’s Nice Guy Eddie that ultimately brings his father and ringleader, Joe Cabot, into the dance for addressing the crews getaway after the heist. Joe Cabot, as portrayed by Lawrence Tierney, sees the heist at its clearest level as the mastermind of the theft coupled with the criminal with the fullest awareness of the moving parts of the robbery.

(From left and standing are Tim Roth as Mr. Orange/Freddy, Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink and Edward Bunker as Mr. Blue. From left and sitting are Harvey Keitel as Mr. White/Larry, Quentin Tarantino as Mr. Brown, Lawrence Tierney as Joe Cabot, Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde/Vic and Chris Penn as Nice Guy Eddie in the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs).

The larger story of the outcome of the heist, the disposition of the thieves are supporting characters, and the degree of loyalty and trust that were merited in the situation at hand are revealed. Was one of the robbers a police informant or cop? Were loyalties properly laid? Were the outcomes meted out just or satisfying? The positive reception for the film is best rooted in these questions. I grant Reservoir Dogs as directed by Quentin Tarantino 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Top 20 Movie “Pulp Fiction”

Top 20 Movie Pulp Fiction (1994) ranks 6th in Matt Lynn Digital’s Top 20 Movies in ranked order listing. The Quentin Tarantino directed and co-written film won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Tarantino and Roger Avary while garnering seven Oscar nominations in total. While Forrest Gump (1994) starring Tom Hanks was busy winning six of its thirteen Academy Award nominations, Pulp Fiction was the movie bringing true pulp fiction to the big screen with a Vintage Library definition for the genre that includes “[b]igger-than-life heroes, pretty girls, exotic places, strange and mysterious villains.” This sixth movie on our top movie listing brings four stories of stylized pulp violence intertwining with movie actor legend homages into tales of would-be redemption.

As has come to characterize many movies by Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction provided a pulpy, nostalgic, retroactive sense for a filmmaking or popular culture past that Tarantino, in my opinion, looked to celebrate. The narrative lines starting with Vincent Vega as portrayed by John Travolta and Jules Winnfield as portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson are two examples, as they were working at the behest of Marsellus Wallace (played by Ving Rhames) when we first meet them.

Vincent and Jules were tasked with retrieving the briefcase and other property of Marsellus from an apartment while killing the occupants. The two banter about hamburgers and escorting Marsellus’ wife later in the movie when they eventually kill two apartment occupants while letting a man in the bathroom go unchallenged. That man comes out gun blazing at Vincent and Jules and, from the reckoning of Jules, miraculously misses the two of them while emptying the weapon of its magazine of bullets. Jules takes this as a sign that it is his time to leave the business.

(Jules, left, and Vincent)

These two eventually continue their back-and-forth dialogue in their vehicle when Vincent accidentally makes a mess of their car by accidentally shooting the man from the bathroom. The two head to Jules’ old pal Jimmie (as played by Tarantino). Jimmie uses his fleeting connection to Marsellus to call in a fixer to care for the situation, wherein Jules and Vincent acquire a ridiculous shorts and t-shirt outfit as a penance for the Wolf (played by Harvey Keitel) fixing the car and the deceased apartment occupant.

(Jimmie, left, and the Wolf)

Awash in the miracle miss from the apartment, Jules and Vincent stop for breakfast at a diner that leads to the second major story. Pumpkin (played by Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny (played by Amanda Plummer) stage a robbery with murder by gun threats and a collecting of patron wallets. Jules gets the wallets back with intimidation, though lets Pumpkin and Honey Bunny keep his money without revenge since Jules sees his life after the apartment as a sign to leave the lifestyle.

At Marsellus’ apartment, the third and fourth stories get more traction. We meet Butch Coolidge, a boxer played by Bruce Willis that Marsellus contracts to lose a fight. Bruce spars with Vincent here as Jules banters with the bartender on how Vincent must escort Mia Wallace (played by Uma Thurman) for the evening.

(Mia, left, and Vincent)

Dressed normally again, Vincent takes drugs (heroin) before picking up Mia for the night. Mia prepared for the evening by having taken cocaine. At a retro 1950s club, we see Steve Buscemi cameo as Buddy Holly as a lead in for Vincent and Mia stylize dancing. Mia finds and takes Vincent’s heroin, and overdoses right there in the club. Vincent gets adrenaline and revives Mia with a giant hypodermic of adrenaline. Both Mia and Vincent agree on parting company that Marsellus needs learn nothing of this.

In anticipation of his fight, we learn through flashback to an episode from Butch’s childhood that Christopher Walken as a prisoner of war had smuggled a watch back to Butch in the USA from the POW camp in Vietnam. In the present day, we see Butch knock out his opponent in the boxing ring before being comforted by his girlfriend in a prearranged motel where she waits. Marsellus, unhappy with the loss experienced at this turn, puts out a hit on Butch.

The next morning, Butch tempts fate by returning to his apartment to grab his watch. Mixed up in another apartment scene in a bathroom, Butch regains his watch and kills Vincent, who was there to kill Butch. Upon leaving, Butch literally runs into Marsellus in the street. The second chases the first into a sleazy gun shop. The two are set to be treated quite badly by the shop owner and his friend. Butch escapes, selects a samurai sword from the first floor, and comes back to rescue Marsellus by killing Zed the friend while leaving Maynard the gun ship owner for Marsellus.

(Marsellus, left, and Butch)

Thankful for being saved and being offered revenge for the gun shop attack, Marsellus agrees to let the boxing treachery slide if Butch leaves town. Retrieving his girlfriend on Zed’s chopper, Pulp Fiction ends with Butch as the big winner in a sea of misery as he rides off to Knoxville declaring to his girlfriend that “Zed is dead.”

(Butch’s girlfriend, left, and Butch)

Matt – Thursday, December 21, 2017