Lazy revenge porn with nothing compelling to offer

Rating: 5/10 (26 April 2016)

***This review doesn't contain spoilers but does describe a particular scene.***
I used to love Tarantino movies for the vivid characters and clever dialogue and really anticipated his films. His last few (culminating in this effort) have really lacked the qualities that made his earlier films so great. Some describe this as a "whodunit" when really there is zero suspense in this film. You have to care about the characters to wonder who poisoned the coffee, and you just don't care about anyone in this film at all. It's really more of a "whocareswhodunit? thisisboringanddisgusting." There is good acting by Walton Goggins and Jennifer Jason Leigh but it isn't enough to carry the film or excuse that it was even made.
I find it ironic that Tarantino loves to fashion these movies after and pay homage to spaghetti westerns when they really have nothing in common, and he likely would have been arrested if he had created such a film back in the 1960s. Some Hateful 8 apologists think you need judge this film from the point of view of Tarantino...If that's the case what's the point of having any expectations at all? or even an opinion for that matter? Let Tarantino tell us what to think about it. And if he thinks it deserves and Oscar or even a Grammy and a Kid's Choice Award, then I guess it does.
For years Tarantino has been flirting with a revisionist history/revenge porn genre, and this just seems like the culmination of all the dark fantasies that have been rattling around in that skull of his. It's needlessly gory, utterly devoid of any compelling storytelling, suspense, empathy...or anything else that makes one want to go to the movies. Not only are all the story's characters hateful, but you will probably hate yourself for seeing it and for being a person. It feels more like a practical joke perpetrated on a gullible audience that has lost any sense of self respect.
I was asked if I would recommend it after its conclusion, and to what age groups. Even though adults with strong stomachs can handle the material, I just couldn't recommend it to anyone because there's nothing enjoyable about this film that makes watching Samuel L Jackson force another man to perform fellatio on him before murdering him, (then describing the act in detail to the raped/dead man's father, before shooting him as well) -seem worth it. But if that's what you're into, I guess you'll dig it.