Have you watched any other Tarantino movies? Do you rate them? I don't think H8 was his best work, but i thought it was excellent.
Also, the SLJ speech you refer too was excellent too, that is one of the main bits that has stuck with me. The tension, the build up etc between the 2 actors while SLJ was antagonising the General was very well done. And the way the scene played out with flashbacks and scenery was very well done too - i hate the word 'dingus' now as it constantly brings me back to 'that' scene.
i know films can be subjective but for me the film was totally dire. i have watched other Tarantino films and am a big fan. i get with all his over the top scenes but this film felt like a parody - in fact i began to think he was actually trying to make a comedy (along the lines of Blazing saddles) but that it just fell on its arse.
i don't get how you found the SLJ speech tense. it was forced, fake over the top and to be frank, utterly stupid. i have seen episodes of holyoaks (i don't watch it but have seen bits!) that have more tension in them. i found it awkward and uncomfortable and just wanted it to stop - i was urging the the general to hurry up and reach for the gun......hell if i had had a gun nearby i may have reached for it myself. when you compare that to, say, SLJ's speech in Pulp Fiction - now that was tension, this just felt like a parody of that.
some of the acting was borderline god awful (unless of course they were going for the full on Blazing Saddles style parody/comedy film then the hammy OTT acting makes sense) Walter Goggins, for example, needs to stick to tv shows.
everything was too overplayed (i appreciate this is a bit of a trademark of Tarantino but there's overplayed for good reason and then there's just drawing it out needlessly) the scene where the gang rock up Minnies and subsequently kill everyone bar the general was just too padded out, the interest and tension evaporated the longer it dragged on.
Michael Madsen, i just don't know what to say about him - i guess if it wasn't for Tarantino he'd be stacking shelves at Walmart.
poor film for me in virtually every aspect.