2015 Muriel Awards: Best Ensemble Performance

Another pretty tight race today, in a year chock full of loaded (though largely male-dominated) casts. Even though I didn’t vote for the winner, I wouldn’t argue with it either, considering how full of awesome performers it is.
Third place (tie):

The Big Short [68 points / 11 votes]…

… and Creed [68 points / 11 votes]

Second place:

Spotlight [187 points / 29 votes]

And the Muriel goes to…

The Hateful Eight [199 points / 30 votes]

“If there was any consensus to be found regarding the latest Tarantino joint, it fell into two paths: the resurrection of 70mm exhibition and the surgical precision with which the cast played off of one another. The two dovetail nicely because of the simple mechanics of 70: often we see the majority of the players onscreen, even when the scene in question doesn't necessarily pertain to them. It's proscenium philosophy writ large, and it rewards multiple viewings of the film (for instance- watch Jennifer Jason Leigh's Daisy any time she is onscreen and not front and center; you get multiple levels that never even break past the eyes, processing what's going on in the conversations around her. It's like her Allegra Geller in eXistenZ all over again, keeping the viewer on their toes). When working with an expensive format that can physically cover so much space, you've got to have a cast that are working it like a Broadway stage, while at the same time keeping their performances keyed in to the simultaneous remote and intimate nature of film.

“Time and time again, we've found that Tarantino has an impeccable gift for casting. He's got an impeccable eye for talent left to languish, and every time he puts out a new film, it makes the cinematic world sit up and take notice of someone they've been neglecting. Is it that no one else in the world of movies has love for Michael Madsen? Or is it just that QT understands what Madsen does better than anyone else? It boggles my mind, because the whole ‘Christmas... with Mother’ bit is the kind of moment that lives forever. And it's part of how the spell of The Hateful Eight is woven. Look at how Kurt Russell's John Ruth is both homage to and critique of his single-minded, insistent Alpha R.J. MacReady from The Thing. Check out Tim Roth's turn as executioner-style Terry-Thomas. We get Samuel L. Jackson as a Brundlefly of Nat Turner and Ike Turner, and Walton Goggins in a devastating trickster performance that proves that the most earnest politicians will always at least be one of the last left alive in a proper bloodbath.

“And that's not to omit Bruce Dern, or Demian Bichir, or Channing Tatum, or hell, even Gene Jones and Zoe Bell and the rest of the doomed patrons of Minnie's. Everyone is at the top of their game, and it's a testament to how well they all work together that the film feels so fleet on its feet on second and third viewings. It's also fascinating that because everyone is so on their toes and flawlessly integrated into the mix, it's impossible to differentiate any one person as MVP. Which is the perfect defnition of what a quality ensemble does. It's sad that the anger and disgust at the heart of the film repelled so many viewers, though it is understandable. The film is QT's Salo, and its viscerality and power, which could have seemed schematic or overwrought, is a testament to how well the cast found their places in it, the most cathartic American film since The Paperboy.” ~ Jason Shawhan

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