1. The Hateful Eight
Nobody makes a movie like Quentin Tarantino. Nobody. He creates truly complicated characters, and here more than any of his other films has you constantly shifting your allegiance. This is an angry, vicious film filled with truly repellent people. Tarantino’s words won’t make you like them, but someone doesn’t have to be likable to be interesting. The locked room, Agatha Christie-esque story says so much about we as a society deal with race and gender in a blunt, uncomfortable way that always manages to be entertaining, even with a three hour running time. Ennio Morricone’s score booms through the theater, eliciting so much dread. The Ultra Panivision 70mm photography, subverting the obvious vista shots, lends itself so well to incredible blocking within one location. This will be a film like Jackie Brown that will gain appreciation over time due to it being very different than what people expected. For me, right now, no other film this year was more exciting a filmgoing experience.
Categories: Top Ten Lists
Reel Projection 