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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Q Tarantino)


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This movie is drenched in stylization and Tarantino swagger all through an authentic sense of nostalgia.  It felt a bit much at times tbh.  But overall I really enjoyed it.  Well at least until the projector shut down in the middle of the home invasion scene.  When they got it going again, at least they rewound to the beginning of the sequence and gave us free vouchers.  Speaking of the home invasion...

 

I guess I was so dialed in that I didn’t even anticipate QT doing an Inglorious Basterds twist at the end.  That was pretty gnarly.  And damn... Cliff could easily get a gig as a bodyguard.  Even tripping on acid he was a badass.  He showed huge cajones and moxie even going into the Spahn Ranch set surrounded by off kilter hippies).

Jackie Brown is still his best work followed by Pulp Fiction.  But I might have this edging out Django.  My fave work of his will always be True Romance as it towers over the rest imo. 

Edited by thrILL!
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On 7/30/2019 at 2:52 PM, thrILL! said:

This movie is drenched in stylization and Tarantino swagger all through an authentic sense of nostalgia.  It felt a bit much at times tbh.  But overall I really enjoyed it.  Well st least until the projector shut down in the middle of the home invasion scene.  When they got it going again, at least they rewound to the beginning of the sequence and gave us free vouchers.  Speaking of the home invasion...

 

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I guess I was so dialed in that I didn’t even anticipate QT doing an Inglorious Basterds twist at the end.  That was pretty gnarly.  And damn... Cliff could easily get a gig as a bodyguard.  Even tripping on acid he was a badass.  Shower huge cajones and moxie even going into the Spahn Ranch set).

 

Jackie Brown is still his best work followed by Pulp Fiction.  But I might have this edging out Django.  My fave work of his will always be True Romance as it towers over the rest imo. 

2

I agree.

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SPOILERZZZ 

I did like how the movie didn't sensationalize or glorify the manson family. They weren't portrayed in a positive light and they weren't the main part of the story. I really liked how QT went revisionist history and killed them in the most QT way possible - gory and brutal. Loved the dog and how well trained it was. The fact Pitt was high on acid and thought he was hallucinating was perfect. I died laughing when leo went and got that flame thrower at the end

The movie was very funny at times and had some good moments. I loved Leo's preformance and he did a great job humanizing that character with the stutter and the lack of confidence. It brought a uniqueness to the character that helped separate him from other characters Leo has played recently

The cinematography was excellent, as always with QT. There were several laugh out loud moments. I loved the 'more than a brother, less than a wife' line lol 

That was the good parts. The movie had no purpose, no story really. For the first hour and a half I kept thinking 'where the hell is this going??'. There were a lot of well shot, pointless scenes, like when Pitt drives home to his trailer. It was a 3-5 minute scene that does nothing to move the story forward at all. There were lots of moments where nothing was happening and it wasn't building towards anything, but it was well put together with great actors so it wasnt unenjoyable, just a touch dull at times 

It was almost like QT wrote two separate stories then tried to connect them without really focusing on the manson side of it (for reasons stated above). He wrote the 60s homage to Hollywood but then had no idea how to add conflict and resolution so he just threw in the manson stuff to give the story an ending and make it feel like it meant something. The non historical ending was the best part, for sure, so I don't blame him, but he danced around it imo 

It just didn't have enough substance through the whole movie to justify how long it was. It lacked a clear message and purpose for 85% of the time. 

Enjoyable, but not ground breaking. I guess when you are QT, people always expect ground breaking

Edited by N4L
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1 hour ago, N4L said:

The movie had no purpose, no story really.

It just didn't have enough substance through the whole movie to justify how long it was. It lacked a clear message and purpose for 85% of the time. 

The story is about an old school actor who has already peaked and is unlikely to make the transition to the new Hollywood coming to grips with becoming obsolete.  His stuntman/best friend’s career seemingly will simultaneously follow.  The Sharon Tate + Manson family storylines help create the intersection of the time period in 1969 that Rick and Cliff are navigating.

QT and Leo really go into it and what specifically influenced the movie in that Vanity Fair video posted above.  It’s worth a look.  

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Naw, the story sucks/isn't there. They literally have a narrator tell us how half his career went and how it ended. Cliff's career was already over before the movie even started.

Edited by Bullet Club
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On 8/6/2019 at 12:12 AM, thrILL! said:

 

The story is about an old school actor who has already peaked and is unlikely to make the transition to the new Hollywood coming to grips with becoming obsolete.  His stuntman/best friend’s career seemingly will simultaneously follow.  The Sharon Tate + Manson family storylines help create the intersection of the time period in 1969 that Rick and Cliff are navigating.

QT and Leo really go into it and what specifically influenced the movie in that Vanity Fair video posted above.  It’s worth a look.  

I watched the video before I made that post. I understand the influences of the character and I already said QT did a good job setting the scene in 60s Hollywood. I just didn't see how that storyline was going anywhere, without the manson family, what would have been the ending to the movie? that storyline wasn't really going anywhere beyond where it had gone already

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I saw it and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Maybe it is because I've been watching nothing but Marvel and DC comic movies for what seems like forever, but I liked this.

Basically I thought it was a 2 hours and 50 minute character development sketch that led to a 8 minute final scene.

Along the way, I really enjoyed seeing the movie through the eyes of Q.  Angles...things like that.

I enjoyed all the pop culture.

I really enjoyed Pitt.  I lost track of the fact that it was Brad Pitt. 

I always knew it was DiCapprio, and I think that may have been done on purpose due to his character, but he was great, too.

And the Manson scene was chilling.  Little Manson went a really long way.

I"m not gonna rate this against other Q movies as I haven't seen them all.  But as far as I'm concerned, I'm pretty happy I went and saw this one.

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Just got out and I havent read any reviews.

I absolutely loved it. Probably the best QT movie behind his two classics.

The only con I have is Dicaprio and his over acting. In stuff like Django its fine, but this movie was much more subdued, and at times it was out of place.

Everything else was just magnificent.

-I know nothing about Sharon Tate other than the fact that she was killed by the Manson Family. Ive never seen a movie of hers, and I probably couldnt pick her out of a lineup, but my god, Robbie was absolutely stunning. She is a gorgeous lady, but she was shot and framed like an angel. Every nuance was graceful, and just full of hope. There arent many women in a movie that has ever been as gorgeous as Robbie in this film.

-The setting. Im a 80s baby, so I dont have any experience with the 60s, but the background was worth the price of admission itself. The way the city was framed. Every location had its own character. The cinematography from the car scenes, to the ranch, to the final shot. Excellent in every way.

-I loved how Tarantino got out of his way in this film. His last few movies have suffered from dialogue. Too many monologues, and the writing just seemed to be Tarantino trying to fit his style into a certain type of movie, but in this one, it was perfect. Every character big or small had an impact. All were written perfectly.

-Inglourious Basterds. That movie set this stage for Hollywood. Knowing that QT has no problems with rewriting history for his films made the viewer be on the edge of their seats for the entierity of the Manson scenes. Booth going into the Ranch was chilling. Not knowing if he would make it out because of the twisted mind of QT, and it was the same at the end. Who would die? Tate? Would the main two characters live or would Tarantino go against the grain and have them be the names in his Manson Family murders? It was tense up until the end.

-The finale. QT just took me on a ride. From jumping up in my seat and yelling yes when Booth, Dalton, and Brandy did their thing on the pieces of ****e. I was so freakin pumped. The good guys win....Then at the very end, you see the camera pan over the Polanski house and you see the three come out of the house to meet Dalton, and its just haunting. I broke down. fricking senseless.

-The one thing I noticed was the way Tarantino portrayed Hollywood. Dalton, Booth, and even Olyphant's character were all on their last legs. The might be stars or possibly big stars(depending on the pilot in Olyphant's case), but that didnt matter. The represented the bad side of Hollywood. Then you had Tate and the little girl in the show. They were young, beautiful, hopeful. They were seeing their dreams come true, but its just an awful cycle. When the city is done with you, you are just thrown out no matter how big you used to be, or how much the public still remembered and loved you.

I probably have more, but its late and Im tired. I loved the movie. The best Ive seen this year, and one of the best of the decade.

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On 8/6/2019 at 12:52 PM, Bullet Club said:

Naw, the story sucks/isn't there. They literally have a narrator tell us how half his career went and how it ended. Cliff's career was already over before the movie even started.

How does that mean the story sucked? The story wasnt about his career as a whole it was about him having to come to terms with the end of it. 

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6 hours ago, DirtyDez said:

I thought Bruce Lee getting worked was pretty funny.  Pitt’s character was so arrogant you thought he’d get a lesson but it was a great twist by QT.  I’ve never left a Tarantino movie feeling like I wasted money.

That part with the acid cig was a thing of pure genius. He has everything set up for everyone to die and then Pitts pitbull comes to the rescue in a hilarious way. 

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