Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood

Once Upon ATime… In Hollywood (2019)

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Margaret Qualley, Al Pacino, Julia Butters... man, friggin everyone! Also, Emile Hirsch, Kurt Russell, Mike Moh, Timothy Olyphant, Luke Perry - is there a review here? - Dakota Fanning, Austin Butler, Mikey Madison - just a list of names now? - Maya Hawke, Sydney Sweeney,, Harley Quinn Smith, Damon Herriman, Damian Lewis - ok we’re done...

Synopsis: At the close of the golden age of Hollywood, two cowboys take some names and kick some ass!

Acting: Pitt and DiCaprio are brilliant! They basically reach out of the screen, grab you by your scruffy collar and bust your ass! Im floored by those two. Best acting this year easily. Robbie’s portrayal of Sharon Tate is fascinating and she gives a magnetic performance with very little dialogue. She is normally captivating but she’s next level here. Best this year too. Easily. Mike Moh plays a different side of Bruce Lee thats pretty honest but Im just going to say is going to be drenched in controversy, more on this later and all the hippies in this flick might be the best villains in the last decade! The performances in this flick are friggin great! 2/2

Cinematography: Robert Richardson punches out a gritty and pretty picture that is a love letter to the golden age of cinema. He uses different aspect ratios to his advantage to portray different styles of the 50’s and 60’s. Its really quite a sceptical. He also uses a Bolex film camera which gives the picture a nostalgic grain to the flick. He also employs modern techniques to gives us a fresh take with old tech. Richardson has a flawless track record so this one was written in the stars five billion years ago! 2/2

Soundtrack: So. This flick doesn’t have a score. It has a track list which adds to the nostalgia but this flick, all in all is a western and a western needs a score. Its a minor critique really because while watching the flick I didn’t even notice but by golly I like to write these stupid reviews while listening to the films score and if I don’t get what I want I get awful cranky!!! Wheres my juice Quentin!!! That being said, its Tarantino’s style and its very welcome as I was watching Dumb and Dumber the other day and I was wondering why they don’t do music compilations as much any more. Money. Thats why! Those greedy artists with there fancy songs! And thats why we love them. 1.5/2

Directing: Tarantino has been the target of my hard regard for the last two pictures he put out as I’m not a fan of Django or Hateful. Two westerns that I thought where cartoony and made with little heart which I expect a Tarantino flick to have. Well, it may be those flicks could have been practise for the auteur. Yes, even the master must practise his technique. “Quintin has been turning out westerns for ever though!” Your probably screaming at your screen and you ain’t wrong but this flick is so personal that I think he really wanted to holm in his skills. Theres a ting of pain in this flick that I can’t shake. The film doesn’t seem to have an ego like others in Tarantino’s filmography. Id describe this flick as a slice of hot apple pie, satisfying in every way... unless your a chocolate cake person in which its satisfying in every way... or you might be a rhubarb pie person in which GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE WITH THAT TART GARBAGE!!! 2/2

Writing: (spoilers) This is a tough one for me to navigate. Quintin changes history again like he did in Inglorious Bastards but this time I think he changed it for himself. Its like a day dream you have about how you would do things better. Now this flick has a core of the real life murder of Sharon Tate by the acolytes of Charle Manson, a event in Hollywood history that would have ripple effects from then on. You could say that if that murder never happened certain other terrible events would never have happened, well, we would hope. So Tarantino comes up with Cliff Booth and Rick Dalton, a couple of cowboys with there own hang ups to save the day. But first we get to know the characters in the typical Tarantino fashion and by golly these two are for sure my favourite characters Quintin has come up with. We need these hero’s today. Rough and tough, variable and venerable, lean and clean? Yeah! Lean and clean asshole! Take a hike! Tarantino also takes calculated liberties with the real life characters, Bruce Lee for instance who is portrayed as an arrogant actor rather than the patient martial artist. Now my brother Danger James would disapprove and rightfully so but I do not. Lee was a man like any other and was a top superstar! You wanna tell me that never got to his head a little? He is also tested and challenged by the charismatic Booth who seems to rub everyone the wrong way. We need to see this challenge take place though so we understand what Booth is capable of; taking down a legend. Those hippy dirt bags had no chance! Its a hard flick to unpack and I will be seeing it again to really understand what Quintin is saying to me but its safe to say that the great writer has returned! 2/2

9.5/10 I actually like rhubarb pie. I like most pies.