'The Hateful Eight': A new trailer offers a glimpse at Quentin Tarantino's latest

A new trailer has been released for the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film “The Hateful Eight.” 

“Eight,” which will be released this December, stars Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and others and is written as well as directed by Tarantino (the norm for his films). The movie centers on a stagecoach stopover where multiple people, including a bounty hunter and a woman on the run, stay during a storm.

Tarantino’s last couple of films have taken place in times other than our own, with 2012’s “Django Unchained” taking place in the 1850s and 2009’s “Inglourious Basterds” taking place during World War II. “Eight” reportedly takes place some years after the Civil War.

Tarantino’s movies have a distinctive feel and are often remembered for their violence, unusual character names, and long scenes of dialogue that are nonetheless suspenseful. Many actors appearing in “Eight” have worked with Tarantino before, including Jackson, Russell, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, and Bruce Dern. 

Tarantino’s most famous early movie was 1992’s “Reservoir Dogs,” which he directed and wrote and which also centered on a group of people in one place who are unsure whether they can rely on the others. The director himself recently spoke about the similarities between “Eight” and his earlier movie “Reservoir.” “Pretty quickly I realized this is kind of a nice coming-full-circle,” he said of the similarities. 

Almost all of Tarantino’s films have been critically well-received, so few reviewers would argue that the director's recent output haven't been good films. But is the fact that Tarantino’s movies, while taking place with different characters in different time periods, often share characteristics a good thing or a bad thing? Some critics were split on this with his most recent movie, “Django,” which like much of Tarantino’s other work received mostly good reviews. Some reviewers said that no matter how he was doing it, he had created a great movie with “Django,” calling it “brilliant entertainment,” “troubling and important,” and “immensely satisfying.”

Others, however, wanted more or saw some self-indulgence, with one critic writing, “Will Tarantino, who is more talented than he allows, ever break out of his perpetual adolescence and make a movie that does more than glorify his love of schlock?” Another wrote that Tarantino is “reluctant to let go of certain bits and means that others go on too long – often it's the highly choreographed action scenes that he can't bear to end,” while yet another critic wrote that “Django” “feels too easy, too dead-center in Tarantino’s comfort zone. He’s not challenging himself in any way that matters. He has become his own Yes Man.” 

“Eight” will be released on Dec. 25.