By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
Known for his penchant for approaching racism in America with profanity-laced, gratuitous hyper-violence, Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” is a “molasses-like” saga about a bounty hunter trying to transport a killer to justice.
Set several years after the U.S. Civil War, it begins with a stagecoach hurtling through wintry Wyoming – until it’s stopped by Maj. Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), a former Union officer-turned-bounty hunter who’s hauling three dead bodies to Red Rock to collect the reward.
Inside the stagecoach is bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) with a feisty, feral fugitive (Jennifer Jason Leigh), also headed for Red Rock. Joining them later is Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), a former Confederate renegade who introduces himself as Red Rock’s new Sheriff.
As a ferocious blizzard approaches, the passengers seek shelter in a log cabin called Minnie’s Haberdashery, joining the Mexican (Damian Bichir) who’s temporarily minding Minnie’s stopover, a British hangman (Tim Roth), a Confederate General (Bruce Dern), and cowboy (Michael Madsen).
Problem is: they don’t trust one another – for good reason. As an African-American, Maj. Warren is so accustomed to being questioned that he carries a handwritten letter from President Abraham Lincoln.
With “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Inglorious Basterds” and “Django Unchained,” Quentin Tarantino has established himself as a perversely idiosyncratic filmmaker, so it’s not surprising that he immerses himself in a revisionist glimpse of the aftermath of the racial hostility between the North and the South.
In this cold, isolated setting, Tarantino’s sluggish, rambling, dialogue-driven scenes are punctuated by gruesome carnage. Despicable duplicity is revealed as vile agitators are killed one-after-another, like a cartoonish Agatha Christie “And Then There Were None” mystery.
With Channing Tatum and Zoe Bell in supporting roles, this retribution saga is set to Ennio Morricone’s orchestral score with evocative songs by Roy Orbison and the White Stripes.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Hateful Eight” is an exploitative, self-indulgent 7, a sadistic, highly-stylized Western.
In “Concussion,” Will Smith delivers a superb performance as real-life forensic neuropathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu, who identified the brain disorder called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in pro-football players, inadvertently alienating the National Football League.
In 2002, a gentle, soft-spoken Nigerian immigrant with multiple medical degrees, Dr. Omalu detects evidence of trauma damage in the brain of former Pittsburgh Steeler “Iron Mike” Webster (David Morse), who died at age of 50.
Soon afterwards, he finds similar signs in the brains of other deceased players who suffered from mood swings, violent outbursts and diminished comprehension.
Tenacious Dr. Omalu believes that pro football players are routinely concussed hundreds of times over the course of a career – but it’s a judgment which only can be confirmed posthumously.
When he and Dr. Cyril Wecht (Albert Brooks), publish their research in a 2005 medical journal, NFL officials refute their discovery, although a former team doctor (Alex Baldwin) reluctantly agrees.
Idealistic Dr. Omalu is warned: “You’re going to war with a corporation that owns a day of the week.”
After being threatened, harassed and pursued, he and his Kenya-born wife (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) are even threatened with deportation.
Although NFL player Dave Duerson (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) testifies before Congress that there’s no connection between repetitive head trauma and brain injury, after he commits suicide in 2011, his brain reveals CTE. (A recent autopsy on Hall of Fame NFL running back Frank Gifford showed that he, too, had CTE.)
Significantly, when Sony Pictures’ emails were hacked, The New York Times reported that the script and marketing campaign were changed to avoid legal fallout with the NFL. Whether that’s true remains conjecture, but writer/director Peter Landesman’s film is surprisingly ineffective, given the topic and Smith’s understated portrayal.
On the Granger Gauge, “Concussion” is a solemn 6, straight-forward and conventional.
Combining live-action with computer-generated characters, “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip” is the fourth installment in the chirpy chipmunk series that began in 2007.
As the plot unfolds, mischievous Alvin (voiced by Justin Long), chubby Theodore (voiced by Jesse McCartney) and studious Simon (voiced by Matthew Gray Gubler) are concerned that their beloved surrogate dad/manager, Dave Seville (Jason Lee), is so overly amorous with his girlfriend, Samantha (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), that he’s bought an engagement ring.
Terrified that Dave will abandon them, the furry friends reluctantly team up with Samantha’s loathsome, teenage son, Miles (Josh Green), traveling from Los Angeles to Miami, where they think Dave will propose. Problem is: en route, one of the chipmunks accidentally frees the animals in the cargo hold.
Obviously, the disruption of an airborne menagerie irks the federal air marshal (Tony Hale), who promptly threatens them with prison, placing them on the No-Fly list.
Based on anthropomorphic, strato-falsetto characters created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. and directed by Walt Becker, it’s predictably filled with pee and poop jokes which tiny tots seem to find hilarious.
FYI: there’s one amusing ‘inside’ remark: when treated disdainfully in first class by subversive, idiosyncratic director John Waters, snippy Alvin retorts, “Don’t judge me! I saw ‘Pink Flamingos’!”
On the Granger Gauge, “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip” is a tediously silly, slapstick 3 – more of the rollicking rodents
( Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
