One I will watch again and again

Rating: 8/10 (9 January 2013)

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. There were some issues I had with the score and soundtrack, but other than that I liked it. It might be the first Tarintino movie I've seen that was told in a strictly linear fashion, which was surprising. I fully expected pulp fiction-esque jumping around on the plot line but this stayed as true to an old fashioned western story telling style. Foxx's character was great. I think Christopher Schultz really stole the show, though. His way of killing people with a grin really solidified him as a bounty hunter. Some of the Kill Bill style sound effects were annoying though, I think they didn't really add anything to the theater experience. I wish they would have come up with an original, identifiable score so that once this plays on cable in a few years, you wouldn't be able to mistake the music. Some of the scenes where actual songs were used, especially the hip hop song lost me. I prefer the music to match the time period for the most part. I though Leo's character was OK, not great. His terrible southern accent came off as campy. I expected more mandango fighting scenes, at least one bout style fight would have been cool. Watching the guys wrestle around on the parlor floor was underwhelming to me. If they would have done it in a tobacco drying barn or something with a cast of other mandango fighters and owners I think it would have been more believable. I liked Stephen, Samuel Lee Jone's character but he didn't get enough screen time. Some parts of the movie were really slow. The mask scene was hilarious and clever but went on about 2 minutes too long. Doesn't sound like much but once the joke is over, stop beating that dead horse! The cinematography left something to be desired. Some of the scenes could have been much more interesting if we cut out some of the close ups, stood back and really showed the grandness of the pre-war south. The place looks run down and the war hasn't even happened yet. Anyway the dialogue was pretty good, I didn't really hear any liners that are useful like tarintino's other films but I've also only seen it once so there might be some that stick with me after I see it next time. Overall, not a bad way to spend $8 but not on the same level as reservoir dogs or pulp fiction.