'Hateful Eight' Named Best Movie at Capri Film Fest

Quentin Tarantino‘s “The Hateful Eight” found a lot of love at this year’s Capri-Hollywood Film Festival.

The Western was named the 20-year-old festival’s Best Movie. Stars Samuel L. Jackson and Jennifer Jason Leigh were named Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, and legendary composer Ennio Morricone received Best Score.

Brie Larson was named Best Actress for her harrowing performance in “Room,” while Best Director and Best Supporting Actor went to Cary Fukunaga and Idris Elba, director and star of Netflix’s “Beasts of No Nation.”

Also Read: How Quentin Tarantino's 'The Hateful Eight' Got Its Hellish Look (Exclusive Video)

Leigh personally accepted her prize on the Italian island Saturday.

“The experience of being in one of Quentin’s films and a part of this phenomenal cast was rewarding in and of itself, but to be honored by such an incredible institution as the Capri-Hollywood Film Festival makes it all the more meaningful,” Leigh said.

Harvey Weinstein, on behalf of “Hateful”‘s distributor The Weinstein Company who has a long history of cleaning up at Capri-Hollywood, said Tarantino was “a massive fan of Italian cinema, which he often pays homage to in many of his films. I believe that this fantastic accolade is the beginning of the road to the Academy Award Best Motion Picture nomination that Quentin thoroughly deserves.”

Also Read: 'Spotlight,' Kristen Stewart Lead National Society of Film Critics Winners

TWC also got two acknowledgments for the period film “Carol,” starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara — Best Adapted Screenplay for Phyllis Nagy and Best Production Design for Judy Becker. Another Blanchett effort, “Cinderalla,” took Best Costume Design thanks to Brit powerhouse Sandy Powell.

Best Original Screenplay went to “Joy,” written by David O. Russell and Annie Mumolo. “The Martian”‘s Pietro Scalia was named Best Editor. “Inside Out” nabbed Best Animated Movie.

Every Quentin Tarantino Movie Ranked From 'Reservoir Dogs' to 'Hateful Eight' (Photos)

8. "Death Proof"(2007)

Despite some truly audacious stunt work by Zoe Bell on the hood of a careening Dodge Challenger, Tarantino's homage to grindhouse fails to transcend that leering genre. If anything, "Death Proof" unintentionally makes the case for exploitation flicks' niche appeal with its cardboard characters and lurid set pieces.
7. "Reservoir Dogs" (1992)

Tarantino's directorial debut inaugurates the self-assured vision of a filmmaker who knows exactly what kind of movies he wants to make. Vicious and nihilistic, the crime thriller is also largely an exercise in style despite fantastic performances by Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, and Michael Madsen.
6. "Kill Bill, Vols. 1 & 2" (2003-04)

Tarantino's movies are never short of watchable, but this two-part, four-hour pastiche epic is the director at his second most fanboyish (after "Death Proof"). Tarantino himself has said of the Uma Thurman vehicle that it's "not about real life, it's just about other movies" -- and it shows. As a primer on Tarantino's favorite movies, it's enjoyable enough. As a standalone film, it fails to register beyond the over-the-top fight scenes.
5. "The Hateful Eight" (2015)

Thinly drawn characters and a three-hour-plus running time make this Western an inessential and interminable chamber drama. After the peaks of "Inglourious Basterds" and "Django Unchained," it's disappointing to see Tarantino return to pointlessly bloody form, especially given the film's promisingly fertile post-Civil War setting.
4. "Pulp Fiction"(1994)

Arguably the most important movie of the '90s, this smirking Palme d'Or winner now feels slightly rambling and repetitive. Still, its instantly recognizable lines, characters, and scenes must be acknowledged, and Samuel L. Jackson's alert but world-weary hitman gives this tale of L.A. lowlifes an emotional weightiness Tarantino's lesser efforts don't quite achieve.
3. "Inglourious Basterds" (2009)

This alternate-history cartoon is Tarantino at his most entertaining, featuring a continent full of snappily sketched characters and star-making (or -remaking) turns by Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, and Melanie Laurent. But whacking Nazis with bats and setting them on fire don't add up to much more than a hollow revenge fantasy, however funnily or majestically rendered.
2. "Jackie Brown"(1997)

Tarantino's only attempt at a real love story (sorry, "Django" doesn't count), "Jackie Brown" is in many ways the director's most human film. The soundtrack is flawless, Pam Grier's in top form, and the tangled busyness of the criminal escapades just make Jackie and her would-be bail-bondsman suitor's (Robert Forster) middle-aged melancholy that much more moving.
1. "Django Unchained" (2012)

The rare Tarantino movie to actually be "about" something, "Django Unchained" explores the still-taboo topic of black anger at white Southerners for slavery with wit, ferocity, and cinematic flair. Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio deliver career-best performances in this delirious rhapsody, and for once the director's signature hyper-violence has a point beyond its own sake. If only Tarantino would allow himself to be so ambitious with every project.