Best Or Worst Tarantino Film? Neither

Rating: 9/10 (15 March 2016)

I felt that The Hateful 8 was, if not Tarantino's BEST, it certainly ranks among his best work. Cinematography? Fantastic. The open landscapes slowly closing in by way of the snowstorm until finally we are trapped in Minnie's Haberdashery is enhanced and made more immediate by his choice to use the 70mm Panavision process. Script? Maybe not his greatest, but it certainly was as well written and nuanced as his previous work. Acting? Tarantino has a way of taking less well known and under-appreciated actors and bringing out their best work. Overall it's not perfect, but it is engaging in spite of its length.
What I specifically want to address is the reaction both this film and Django received over the use of certain racial terms and the violence. Although working in a different medium, Tarantino's work strongly resembles Frank Zappa's in one very specific way. Zappa made some of the most important and intricate music of the 20th century and cloaked it in some of the most misogynistic and ugly lyrics ever written. BUT those terms and images were there to make a point and to remove the closed minded in the audience at the start. Tarantino is much the same. If you cannot get past the violence and apparent racism/sexism in his work, you probably won't get or appreciate the rest. Tarantino was making a point about race relations in the US and he did it well. What he said needed saying. And I don't see many minority directors willing to go as far out on a limb as he did to say it.
Also, Tarantino is criticized for "ripping off" genres and directors. In my opinion what he is doing is very much the same as DJ and Hip Hop culture sampling earlier works and making something new out of them. By remixing tropes from earlier films, Tarantino is not only making NEW art, he is paying homage to earlier work AND he is satirizing those tropes at the same time.
I honestly don't believe Tarantino's talent will be appreciated in his lifetime. He's too far ahead of most of his audience. More's the pity for them.