Revised opinions: Take two on 'The Winter Solider', 'Hateful Eight'

I have definitely gotten it wrong upon first viewing of any number of movies. For instance, I wasn't totally in love with Raging Bull the first time I saw it, but after two or three viewings I came to see it as the masterpiece that it is. I could bore you with a whole host of other titles that either rubbed me the wrong way the first time I saw them, or just didn't resonate with me quite like I hoped they would.

Two recent movies which fit that criteria were Marvel's Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. I re-watched both recently for the second time and have come to the conclusion that they are both terrific, in their own unique ways.

I revisited the first Captain America sequel as a primer for the new film, which is sort of an unofficial Avengers movie, which opens this weekend. I don't know if I'll be among the legions to buy a ticket to that film this weekend, but if the early reviews are to be believed, this movie is quite possibly Marvel's best yet.

I have had something of a love-hate relationship with the Marvel movies. I've really enjoyed almost all of the ones I've seen, but their assembly line nature and perpetual hyping of future films really has gotten under my skin. And although I enjoyed the most recent Avengers film, I have been wary of too many characters, and too many subplots destroying what was initially fun about this universe of movies.

When I first learned of this new film, I thought 'oh no, more of the same' -- this time they are going to somewhat mindlessly pit a bunch of heroes against each other. But apparently the results are more compelling than I assumed.

The original Captain America movie was fun, as in the case with a lot of these movies, the villain was unremarkable and unmemorable, but I loved the retro 1940s vibe of the film and it was one of the few that made its link to the rest of the Marvel films feel excited and authentic.

When the second film came out it was greeted with strong reviews, and I too appreciated its nods to paranoid thrillers of the 1970s (complete with the against-type casting of Robert Redford). But I was so put off by its last act brick laying for future installments that it left a sour taste in my mouth.

Watching it again that aspect of the film still bothered me, but a lot less than it did the first time around. This time I was more struck by how well-constructed the action set pieces were, how Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson were better utilized than they have been in past installments, and how adeptly the filmed played the Captain America character's goody-goody persona against itself.

While other superhero films are content to be snarky and larger than life, I appreciated a taut, character driven action movie, where something really is at stake.

Samuel L. Jackson and Walter Goggins in The Hateful Eight

The Hateful Eight is a very different breed altogether. A case could be made for its substance too, but it's on its surface much more of an exercise and style, and certainly not for everyone's tastes.

I wasn't sure if it was for mine either -- even though I am big Tarantino fan and defender. It's easily his most overwrought and indulgent film. You can practically feel him giggling with glee at his own dialogue and reveling in how much gore he can work his way onto the screen.

The film is something of a back to basics exercise for him -- it could almost have been a play, and it shares the most kinship with his breakthrough first film Reservoir Dogs. After the massive critical and commercial success of Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, Tarantino could probably have made any movie he wanted and that's exactly what he did.

If you approach the film with that mindset and an awareness that the film's racial and gender politics are undeniably problematic, you'll probably get a kick out of the film's luscious look and atmospheric appeal. I can't forgive some of his missteps (the distracting casting of Zoe Bell for instance) but this films has enough old-fashioned bravado that it has begun to seriously grow on me.

All of Tarantino's cinematic preoccupations are on display here -- race, revenge and an almost obsessive reverence for the past. Towards the film's final minutes, his penchant for aping the visual aesthetic of his inspirations reaches a new level -- it's positively De Palma-esque, and as an unapologetic fan of that director, who is also known for his over-the-top excess, I appreciated it.

Tarantino is also aided tremendously by a nearly flawless cast, a riveting score by the legendary Ennio Morricone, and amazing cinematography shot on real film instead of digital.

This film, pretentiously billed the "8th film by Quentin Tarantino" is not probably ever going to rank high on my list of the director's films, but it's definitely worth revisiting, now that initial hype (and controversy) has died down.