The Hateful Eight

Sam Jackson (Pulp Fiction) plays Major Marquis Warren. Marquis Warren in real life was the man responsible for creating Rawhide and Gunsmoke. In the movie his character is an ex union soldier who escaped from a Confederate prison by burning it to the ground. He is currently a bounty hunter - his horse dies while he's on his way to Red Rock, Wyoming to turn in the dead men for bounty. Kurt Russell (Escape from New York) plays John "The Hangman" Ruth who brings in his bounties alive so they can hang. Curtiz directed a western called "The Hangman" about a Marshall that makes sure people hang for their crimes. Jennifer Jason Leigh (Twin Peaks) is being brought in by the hangman for murder. She plays Daisy Domergue. She plays  a song on the guitar that is a variant of  a traditional folk song "Jim Jones at Botany Bay" - kind of a similar journey Daisy is taking only on land rather than on sea. There was an actress with the last name Domerque - she starred in the western Santa Fe Passage. Goggins (Justified) plays the son of the head of a group of southern rebels and now is on his way to being a sheriff. Mannix was a tv show that revolved around a detective. Bichir (The Bridge) plays Mexican Bob. 

Tarantino - the writer, director, and narrator (Kill Bill) said, "Twice per season, those shows would have an episode where a bunch of outlaws would take the lead characters hostage. They would come to the Ponderosa and hold everybody hostage, or go to Judge Garth's place — Lee J. Cobb played him — in The Virginian and take hostages. There would be a guest star like David Carradine, Darren McGavin, Claude Akins, Robert Culp, Charles Bronson, or James Coburn. I don't like that storyline in a modern context, but I love it in a Western, where you would pass halfway through the show to find out if they were good or bad guys, and they all had a past that was revealed. I thought, 'What if I did a movie starring nothing but those characters? No heroes, no Michael Landons. Just a bunch of nefarious guys in a room, all telling backstories that may or may not be true. Trap those guys together in a room with a blizzard outside, give them guns, and see what happens."

Roth (Four Rooms) plays an Englishman Oswaldo Mobrey. Joe Gage is played by Madsen (Reservoir Dogs). Bruce Dern (Django Unchained) plays southern General Sandy Smithers. Parks (Kill Bill) plays OB the stage coach driver. Jones (No Country for Old Men), Bell (Inglorious Bastards), Tatum (21 Jump Street), and Stark (Django Unchained) also star.

The cinamatophy was great - the acted was amazing - the plot was decent. Greg Nicotero (The Walking Derad) does the bloody special effects. Problem - the first 2 hours are all a set up leading to all the action in the last hour. Like Reservoir Dogs everyone is lying or withholding some part of the truth. All in all, I say: SEE IT if you like Tarantino and want to see all his movies or if you like Django Unchained and Kill Bill series. If you are more of an Inglorious Bastards, Pulp Fiction fan then I say: SKIP IT and wait for video.