The H8ful Eight

Reviews from the Dark Side presents
 The H8ful Eight
  Released 12/25/15

Genius?  Madman?  Maybe a little bit of both.  There's no denying that producer/director, Quentin Tarantino, is one of a kind.  With his ninth directorial feature, The H8ful Eight (H8ful, get it?), Tarantino gives us another eclectic mix of pathos, mirth, and mayhem. 

One signature of a Tarantino film is the cast he uses.  Like many top directors, he tends to rely on the same group through thick and thin.  This time is no different as the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Kurt Russell, Zoe Bell (in a minor role), and Walton Goggins return for more whacky madness.  This time around they're joined by new names in the Tarantino carousel (Bruce Dern, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Channing Tatum, and Demian Bichir).  So, what type of story brought this "merry" bunch together?

Tarantino returns to 19th century America, the same century visited in his previous film, Django Unchained.  However, this time the audience is taken to the wilds and wintery wonderland of post-Civil War Wyoming instead of the Antebellum South.  Speeding desperately to a safe haven on the way to the town of Red Rock riding a six-horse stagecoach, we find infamous bounty hunter, John "The Hangman" Ruth (Russell) "escorting" his latest score, Daisy Domergue (Leigh), with the intention of collecting the $10,000 pricetag on her head.  Ruth is a no-nonsense kind of guy who doesn't hesitate tuning Daisy up at every opportunity when she gets out of line, which is often.  Now, before you feel too bad for Daisy falling victim to a man who gets his jollies beating women, know that she is a foul-mouthed, racist, murderous little psychopath.

Trying to stay ahead of a coming blizzard, the duo and stage driver run into Marquis Warren (Jackson), a former Union officer in one of the North's black regiments during the war.  Warren is also a bounty hunter who has been stranded in the middle of the blizzard with his quarry of "prisoners" all of whom he has killed.  Ruth and Warren are past acquaintances and, against Ruth's better judgement, he offers Warren and his cargo transport.  Still farther along the trail, the group encounters another poor soul stranded in the middle of nowhere.  This would be Chris Mannix (Goggins), who claims to be the soon-to-be sworn in new sheriff of Red Rock.  Mannix is a former Confederate renegade who ran with his father's marauders during the war earning quite the reputation as a degenerate killer in some eyes.  He convinces the two hunters that if they leave him to die on the road, they'll have a difficult time collecting their bounties with him being the new sheriff who would be in charge of paying them.  Naturally there's a conflict between Mannix and Warren for several reasons. 

The group, now five strong (eight if you count Warren's dead bodies), comes to the only building that can offer them shelter from the storm before moving on to Red Rock, Minnie's Haberdashery.  Warren knows Minnie personally and is surprised when the coach is greeted by Bob (Bichir), a mysterious man of Mexican origin (this little fact will have meaning later) who claims to have been placed in charge of watching the lodge while Minnie is away visiting her mother.  Inside the lodge, a motley group awaits the new arrivals.  There's Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), an overly friendly Englishman who says he is the actual hangman of Red Rock.  We have Joe Gage (Madsen), a quiet, brooding cowboy who says he's on his way to see his mother.   Finally, there's Sanford Smithers (Dern), a former Confederate general who's there for unknown reasons.  Over the course of a few hours, loyalties will be tested, alliances will form, and secrets will unfold.  You get that many volatile personalities under one roof and what do you have?  Why a Tarantino-style powder keg, of course.

The H8ful Eight is a bit of a departure for Tarantino in that he tries his hand at mystery for the first time that I am aware.  Not every character is what he/she seems.  Some are exactly as they seem.  As you'll discover, these people have very few redeeming qualities, but, some goodness does emerge, and it comes from places you would never expect.  Of course, some characters are just outright scumbags and are exactly who you think they are. 

And what would a Tarantino movie be without buckets of blood, gleefully over-the-top violence, and a generous use of the N-word (by pretty much everyone outside of Jackson)?  You have to admire someone who goes to places on film that most wouldn't dare.  And, he gets away with it.  Somehow the idiocy and nastiness in The H8teful Eight fits together in an intricate little puzzle works in the end.  I don't know how he does it, but, he does in just about every movie he's associated with.  When he should be offending you, he's entertaining you and making you laugh out loud at things you know you shouldn't be amused by. He has a talent.  That's undeniable. 

As racist as the characters in the film are, Tarantino also surprisingly gives you a modicum of hope.  Horrible people aren't necessarily unredeemable.  Racism is a learned behavior.  It can be overcome.  The messages in the movie go deep albeit in a twisted way.

While The H8ful Eight is still no Pulp Fiction in my mind, I do call it one of the director's better efforts.  You want to cringe?  You want to be grossed out?  You want to laugh your head off?  This film can be all of that for you.  And, at almost three hours, you get plenty to chew on.

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

****1/4 stars

Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Worth a look.  Better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. I'm doing my happy dance!
5 *= Pure eye candy. I have seen the top of the mountain, and it is good

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Reviews from the Dark Side presents
 Star Wars:  The Force Awakens
  Released 12/18/15

It's here.  The cinematic leviathan.  The big kahuna.  The hammer of Thor.  OK, it's obvious I'm running out of descriptions.  But, you all understand me.  The long awaited continuation of arguably the biggest movie saga of all time has arrived.  Of course, I can only be talking about Star Wars:  The Force Awakens.  Yes, the film whose trailer alone supposedly "broke" the internet.  But, as crazy as the anticipation for this film was, it didn't come without some trepidation in some circles.

We might as well address the elephant in the room first.  That would be the prequel trilogy, Episodes I-III.  To say there were mixed feelings about George Lucas's effects-laden tale depicting the origin of Darth Vader would be the grossest of understatements.  We all know the issues the masses had with those movies, so I'm not going to rehash them here.  George Lucas.  The man who could not make a misstep from 1977-83, was making nothing but missteps in many eyes from 1999-05.  Rabid fans of his first trilogy were disappointed by and vocal about the prequels.  Could he win those fans back with a new movie or new set of movies?  We'll never know, because he sold his baby to the House of Mouse to the tune of...well, a lot.  So, problem solved, right?  When Disney announced they would take on the monumental task of continuing the Star Wars saga, fans had to feel a little better, right?  Disney didn't spend billions to make junk.  So, of course, they would find an all-world director to helm this little endeavor.  It's only reasonable.

That brings me to the second issue, J.J. Abrams.  I personally don't have a problem with Abrams, but, many do.  Just ask the "Trekkies."  There's a contingent of those fans that believe he ruined their beloved franchise.  Speaking solely for myself, I like his take on Star Trek quite a bit.  But, I've never been accused of being a die hard fan of the franchise, so I can't deny the Trekkies their anger.  Putting myself in their shoes, I know I would be extremely upset if I thought Abrams disrespected the material I grew up loving.  We kind of saw that type of thing with Josh Trank's Fantastic Four this summer. 

As of my writing of this review, I've seen The Force Awakens twice now.  I deliberately held back my review of this film for a reason.  Like any Star Wars mega-fan, I was jumping out of my skin waiting for this movie.  I was even antsy in the theater.  Then, when John Williams' famous score hit my ears, I was five years old again seeing A New Hope for the very first time.  This was a problem.  You see, I had this very same reaction in 1999 when I saw The Phantom Menace the first time.  No one could tell me it wasn't good.  Lucas could have done a naked hula dance on screen and I would have eaten it up because it was called "Star Wars."  That's how deep my love of the franchise ran.  But, as time went by, I saw it several more times and I took a better look at it with a more discerning eye.   I realized something about Phantom Menace.  Most of that really sucked!  What was I thinking?  I know what I was thinking now.  It had been 16 years since the last Star Wars movie.  I was giddy that Star Wars was back.  Like I said, at first sight, I would have been over the moon about anything I saw onscreen.  That's why I took a step back this time.  I thought about it.  I let it "marinate" so to speak. 

So, the verdict?  After rerunning things in my head more than a few times, I can say with relative confidence that Star Wars is in capable hands.  Disney chose the right director for its first stab at the iconic series.  Abrams had what has to be the most exhilarating, and, at the same time the most frightening director's job in Hollywood.  He seems to have a love for the material which is a huge plus.   It's an homage to A New Hope in many ways, but, it also acts as an excellent launching pad for the new trilogy.

The Force Awakens has the feel and spirit of original trilogy much more than the prequels.  It's filled with high adventure mixed with a healthy dose of mythology and a tad of silliness.  And I don't mean silliness of the JJB kind if you know what I mean.  Gone are the CGI-laden sets and the feeling of "sterileness".  To be fair to the prequels, that's likely what Lucas was going for, a more polished and less war torn look given the era in this universe's history.  Of course, there's still plenty of CGI in the new movie, but it's a less polished piece of work than what we last saw from this series.  The Force Awakens has a rougher, more organic feel to it.  The lightsaber duels especially  have a crudeness and brutality to them that haven't been seen before.  The Force Awakens  just felt a little more like the Star Wars I grew up with.

Abrams has also raised the stakes in The Force Awakens as far as storyline.  Hopefully, without giving too much away if you haven't seen it, I'll say tragedy is a part of war.  While Episodes IV-VI had  loads of conflicts, in the grand scheme of things, there wasn't a great amount of tragedy that befell our heroes.  There's a scene in TFA that's going to get very real for SW fanatics.  It's sad, but, it's also a sad necessity given where I think the story is headed.

Speaking of where the story is headed, the "new guard" is introduced in TFA.  We still have our old standbys of Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), as well as, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), and R2-D2 (Kenny Baker).  But they're taking a bit of a back seat in this one (in one character's case, waaaay in the back).  But, the torch is being passed to the likes of Finn (John Boyega), a defected Stormtrooper, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), a hotshot fighter pilot, Rey (Daisy Ridley), a mysterious scavenger, and new resident baddie, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), the guy you've seen in all the previews and trailers with the gnarly crossguard lightsaber. All are introduced to varying degrees of success.  That's not to say any of the new characters are bad.  Some just pack a greater punch (Rey, Kylo Ren) than others at this point. 

As far as storyline is concerned, these are the things you need to know.  It takes place 30 years after Return of the Jedi.  Luke Skywalker has vanished under mysterious circumstances.  Both the First Order (descended from the remnants of the old Empire) and the Resistance (the former Rebellion backed by the fledgling New Republic) are looking for him for very different reasons.  Thanks to Poe Dameron, the missing piece of the last Jedi's location is stored within a small BB-8 series droid.  The main conflict of the film is getting the little droid into the hands of the Resistance before he can be seized by the First Order.  Saying  too much more would give away more of the plot than I'm comfortable with.  This is a movie you should experience and not read about.

If you have read other sources, it may have been mentioned that there are several plot holes in TFA.  That's true.  There are.  But, I believe they're  there purposely.  Some items, Rey's origins being chief among them, are deliberately vague.  And, to anyone who has an issue with that I say this is only the first part of a trilogy.  I have every confidence that Disney and company will make all things clear and flesh everything out in 2017 and 2019.  And, speaking of Rey.  The path that Abrams is leading you down where this character is concerned is very obvious.  Or, is he pulling a big swerve on all of us?  There are several hints dropped throughout.  That and the causes of Luke's disappearance from the known galaxy should keep us all tingling with anticipation for the next two years.  In the interim, there is sure to be new theories daily by fandom on each of the lingering storylines.  Be prepared.

The Force Awakens is not perfect.  There are some rehashed occurrences that remind you of movies past.  Seriously, we have another Death Star-type superweapon.  You would think the First Order would learn from the mistakes of the Empire when it comes to defending it. Admittedly, that entire plot is a little tired.  The third time isn't necessarily the charm here. But, overall, TFA is a declaration the franchise has righted itself and is now back on the rails.  Think of it as the appetizer to the steak dinner that follows.  It's still savory in its own right, but, you know something better is coming.  Rejoice Star Wars fans.  The dragon is alive and well.  It's going to breathe some unbelievable fire!

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

****1/2 stars

Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Worth a look.  Better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. I'm doing my happy dance!
5 *= Pure eye candy. I have seen the top of the mountain, and it is good

Krampus

Reviews from the Dark Side presents
Krampus
 Released 12/4/15

I'm not big on tradition.  I tend to gravitate toward things that skewer it.  That's probably why I've continued to be a fan of South Park all these years.  It's likely why I get far more excited by Halloween than I do the more family oriented holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas.  "Happy Happy" has just never had a lot of appeal to me.  There's nothing wrong with happy mind you, I just tend to like my entertainment with a sharper edge.  Guess that's the subversive nature in me. 

So, all of that said, is there any surprise that I love the concept of a Christmas horror movie?  When I first began seeing trailers for the Christmas gorefest, Krampus, my thoughts were "Oh, yeah, this is right up my alley!"  But, of course, like everything else, you have to take the good with the bad.  For every Gremlins, there's a Jack Frost.  And many a horror movie has looked great in a five minute trailer only to completely disappoint. I'm looking at you, Paranormal Activity.

So, what exactly is the Krampus?  In folklore, he's the polar opposite of Santa, a demonic entity who punishes children who have misbehaved during the Christmas season.  In this film, it's a child who has lost his faith in the holiday that summons this master of mayhem.

Max is a preteen who wants to still believe in the magic of  Christmas.  He still even writes letters to Santa.  But, it becomes increasingly hard to keep the Christmas spirit when you have the type of family Max has.  His immediate family isn't horrible, but, his parents (Adam Scott and Toni Collette) have begun drifting apart due to their busy schedules.  His sister is the typical cynical teenager. His grandmother is the only one who seems to get him these days.  She's the classic older-person-who-knows-more than-she-lets-on archetype.

While his immediate family isn't wretched (just very stressed), their holiday is about to change for the worst when the his aunt's (Allison Tolman) brood arrives December 22 planning to spend the holiday with them.  His aunt is well-meaning, if a bit frazzled.  Unfortunately, she's brought the rest of the family including her obnoxious "man's man" of a husband (David Koechner), his female cousins who would put fear into NFL linebackers, his male cousin who pretty much stares at everything and everyone as if he's catatonic, his newborn cousin, his aunt's and mom's caustic Aunt Dorothy (Conchata Ferrell), and their family bulldog. 

Everything comes to a head at dinner time when Max's cousins find his letter to Santa and read it aloud mocking him.  For Max, it's the final straw.  Destroying the letter and casting it to the wind outside, he unwittingly sets into motion events no one in the house will forget.  The Krampus has heard his anguish.  And, he's coming.

What struck me about Krampus is that it's a lot of fun.  The characters in the beginning are gloriously over the top.  You got a true sense of why Max's family is dreading the holiday.  It really is a comedy to start.  Max's mother making an elaborate, but, ultimately unappreciated meal for people who would prefer macaroni and hot dogs is priceless. David Koechner pulls everything from his "macho" bag as a father who so wishes his two girls were boys deep down. 

When the Krampus arrives, the movie does take a decided turn to the dark side.  But it still maintains a sense of humor and whimsy as the demon's will is carried out by a wide array of familiar Christmas minions including dark elves, murderous gingerbread men, possessed toys, and burrowing snow monsters.  Even Krampus himself appears as a grossly deformed Santa (almost as if he came directly out of The Ring with the distorted facial features). 

The film was written and directed by Michael Dougherty.  Horror fans may remember one of his previous outings, the cult favorite, Trick 'r Treat, from 2007.  This man does have a vivid imagination and an eye for whimsical massacre.  Through the chaos, he does try to deliver a message of tolerance and not letting others beat down your spirit.  The question is has Max, and the rest of his family for that matter, learned it too late?  You decide because just when you think Krampus has descended into sappiness, you're given a rather ambiguous WTH?  ending. 

Krampus is a wild ride through a Hellish funland of sorts with some nice, creepy special effects sequences.  I did call it a gorefest originally, but, that's not quite right.  Oh, it's macabre to be sure, but with its PG-13 rating, there aren't gushing gallons of blood spilled to alienate those who might be turned off by that sort of thing.  There's enough comedy to offset the film's dark nature for the non-horror set.  Give it shot.  You won't be sorry. 

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

***1/2 stars

Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Worth a look.  Better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. I'm doing my happy dance!
5 *= Pure eye candy. I have seen the top of the mountain, and it is good