October 11, 2021

Drank too much this weekend, meaning a few alcoholic beverages a day. My body doesn't like it after awhile. It's made me a little irritable today. Also, if I've had a few drinks, I tend to wake up in the middle of the night and have a hard time getting back to sleep. 

Things have been getting away from me a little bit. It was easier, during quarantine, to stick to a schedule. With more of the full craziness of life kicking back in, it's gotten harder to manage. I want things to be better regulated for myself, but I also want things to tilt into full chaos mode. Newness. Adventures every day. Living by the seat of my pants. I don't think it's burnout exactly. I still want to write my scripts. Make things. Stay on top of it. But I also want to... not. 

Mlog time! 

THE HATEFUL EIGHT

2015

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

Written by: Quentin Tarantino

Watched: 10/3/21

Two bounty hunters meet up ahead of a blizzard in rural Wyoming. Major Marquis Warren’s horse has died and he’s trying to take his three dead bounties into town. John Ruth has hired a private stagecoach and is taking his bounty, Daisy Domergue, into town alive. They plan on stopping at Minnie’s Lodge on the way in, as they won’t make it all the way to town before the blizzard. They also pick up Chris Mannix, a south-supporter, who will die if he doesn’t get a ride. When the four arrive at Minnie’s, Minnie and her husband Sweet Dave aren’t there. A Mexican is running the place for them while they’re gone, which Major Marquis finds suspicious. There’s an old southern general there, a man who claims he’s on his way to see his mother, and the hangman for the nearest town. There’s strife over the north/south divide, this being very near the Civil War. (1877 says Wikipedia) Marquis, a black man, manages to rile the General enough to get him to pull a trigger on him, so Marquis can kill him. This particular general killed a lot of black soldiers instead of taking them as prisoners of war. 

Then somebody poisons the coffee. John Ruth and the stage coach driver both die. Marquis and Mannix have to work together (both of them nearly drank the coffee) to figure out who the poisoner is. They figure whoever that is is working with Daisy to try to free her. It turns out everybody is working with Daisy. They’re all part of her gang, and they killed Minnie and sweet Dave and set everything up. They didn’t figure on the two extra men arriving with John Ruth. Marquis and Mannix prevail in the end. Sort of. They’ve both been shot and are going to die, but they manage to kill all the gang members and hang Daisy. 

The movie was pretty good. The n word is in it a lot, which was tough. But it was nice that, for all the times Daisy got hit in the face (or her toe shot off), there wasn’t once where sexual violence was threatened or insinuated. That was straight up refreshing. The wide snowy vistas were incredible. When the poisoning of the coffee happens, it’s not shown (the general/Marquis shooting is going on instead). Quentin Tarantino himself just comes on in voice over, explaining that someone poisoned the coffee and only Daisy saw whoever it was. This interjection works like a charm. It’s exciting, probably more exciting than if we were to see a mysterious hand poison the coffee. But also – for fuck sake. All these screenwriting books and classes giving people all these rules. “Show not tell” etc. When you look at actual movies, there are elements that are all over the place. I won’t write and expository VO for the director anytime soon, but it underscores for me how you can get away with a lot as long as you just do it with confidence. 

Rating: ★★★