My first comments about this movie have to include my ongoing disgust will almost all period movies that seem to have the overwhelming need to show non-stop constant smoking . The movie Carol, which occurs in the 1950’s, has about as much smoking as I have ever seen in any movie. You have to wonder of the actors playing these roles are actually smoking a real cigarette or some kind of a fake one, because the cigarettes sure look like they are real and if they are, then you have to worry about the health of the actors playing these roles. In my opinion, even though people smoked much more in the early days before we all knew that smoking will kill you, it still is not necessary to show constant smoking at the level they show this in many movies made today. Its also obvious that the tobacco companies are lobbying producers to show smoking in their movies and give them money to do this because it influences people in the audience. This fact, is by far the most disgusting side of effect of this unnecessary ongoing problem in the movies ad its high time to move on and ban all smoking in movies. Will this ever happen? Probably not.  There is probably too much money involved.

As far as this movie Carol, the acting was very good with Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett but this movie was very boring for a good percentage of the time. The story was told in a very disjointed and overly complicated way and it seems that the only real point that was made was that in the 50’s a lesbian couple was considered perverted and abnormal and in the case of this story lesbianism or even a close friendship with another woman was grounds for a mother in a broken marriage to have her child taken from her. In my opinion this is not a strong enough reason to create a movie and the story and subject matter was not worthy of two hours of my time, regardless of the quality of the acting.

Mainly because of the slow moving and boring story of Carol, I cannot recommend this movie.

Carol IMDB

There are many things to like about Quentin Tarantino’s 8th movie. His sharp dialog is there in a big way and very often strange, unique and funny. The way he tells a story is still there and this movie is kind of like Pulp Fiction which came out in 1994 in that the story is told in a circular fashion although his method in this movie is different than Pulp Fiction.

The problems with this movie will be immediately obvious to everyone who sees it. The repeated and constant use of the “N” word which caused great controversy in Tarantino’s last movie “Django Unchained” and even caused Spike Lee to come out and object to the constant use of this most horrible word. This movie uses the “N” word so much its almost as if Tarantino is trying to snub his nose at Spike Lee for objecting to his use of the word in his last movie. The point of all this is very obvious. How much is too much? The “N” word is probably the most horrible and hateful word in the English language and even though it was definitely used in the 1850-1900’s in this country much more than it is now, especially in the West and the South; but at a certain point you have to realize that the word is being overused and perhaps being used only for the sake of using it. I estimate that during this almost 3 hour movie that the “N” word might have been used as many as 150 times, which is way too much.

Other issues with this movie include the incredible gore and grotesque scenes of death and violence and murder which are very typical of all Tarantino movies but this one may have gone a little too far in some scenes. The only woman in this movie played by Jennifer Jason Leigh is beaten up mercilessly by her captor played by Kurt Russel almost from the beginning of the movie. Jennifer’s character, Daisy Domergue is beaten repeatedly in the head and face more than any woman has ever been beaten up in probably any movie. There are scenes of blood on two occasions being sprayed over her face, which for most would also probably be considered way over the top and too disgusting than is necesary. So how much is too much? In the Hateful 8, Tarrantino seems to be trying to find out where the boundaries are and exactly how far any movie can go without being censored. If that is not enough there is a scene of male frontal nudity followed by oral sex between two men that I cannot remember ever seeing in any movie. If there was ever a point that I thought was way over the top in any R rated movie, this was it. There is a chance that Tarrantino had to fight to keep this movie from being rated X mainly because of this one scene.

The majority of this movie, perhaps as much as 90% are played out in an old huge log cabin where the 9 inhabitants are snowed in because of a blizzard outside. From this point on, the movie is carried by biting and very well written Tarrantino dialogue as the 9 inhabitants, not 8 as is the title of the movie, argue and talk back and forth and invoke anger and eventual violence. The actor with by far the best and most dialogue in this movie is Samuel L. Jackson who was also the star of Pulp Fiction. Some of his lines in this movie surpass his performance in Pulp Fiction and he steals this movie with his acting and speaking ability, reciting some of Tarrantino’s best lines.

For fans of Quentin Tarrantino movies this one is must see. For people who hate violence this movie should definitely be avoided. For people who hate the overuse of the N-word this movie should definitely be avoided because its clear that this word was way overused in this movie.  For me I recommend this movie, but mostly because of my respect for the writing ability and hard work of Tarrantino and dialogue in this movie which is excellent. Also prepare yourself for a long movie as this one runs almost 3 hours.

The Hateful 8 IMDB

Eddie Redmayne should win the best actor Oscar this year just as he did last year for the “Theory Of Everything”. Right how he is the only actor that could have pulled off this role as a man who is married to a woman and over a period of years, decides he has to become a woman. He has the perfect physique for the role and is able to pull off an effeminate look and is very believable in the role. What is the most compelling about this story is that a sex change operation of this magnitude in 1926 had never been done before and because of this the risk involved was extremely dangerous. In 1926 Copenhagen Denmark when this movie began, a sex change operation involved 2 procedures. The first was to remove the male organs and the second was to give the patient a vagina. Either one of these operations could kill you. The main character in this role was Einar Wegener as a man and Lili Elbe as a woman. Through a series of events involving modeling for paintings, at times wearing women’s clothing, because the couple were both painters, it became a revelation that Einar’s true identity was as a woman.

At times this movie was rather slow and plodding as Einar very slowly discovered at first his preferences for wearing women’s clothing and then after a period of time his desire to become a woman, despite his very attractive wife. The love story between the two of them was always constant and at the forefront of this movie and never waned even when Einar became Lili. This was the best part of this movie.

There is significant nudity in this movie for both main characters and one scene with Einar which involved male frontal nudity which gave you a certain amount of respect for Eddie Redmayne taking a role like this in the first place. In the end the story of the first sex change pioneer was well done and well acted by both Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander , who has starred in 4 movies this year and nominated for 2 Golden Globes, the first being the movie Ex Machina, which is also reviewed in this blog. Its very obvious that Alicia has a very promising future in the movies.

This is a good movie and i do recommend it.

The Danish Girl: A Novel (Movie Tie-In)