Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood

There may never be another filmmaker like Quentin Tarantino. If there is, we surely are in luck. But in all likelihood, future generations will just be students of his, and thank God for that fact alone. He's a filmmaker's filmmaker. His love of cinema verges on fetishism. His mission in life, it seems, was to keep his celluloid memories alive and in the American psyche in a time long past it's expiration date. So long as there's a reel and a way, Tarantino will give you a ticket to the greatest shows on earth, filled with filthy language and splattering gore violence. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is his 9th feature film. It's been announced as his second to last film. Rumor has it, if the film basks in an exponentially warm reception, this could be his last film. I pray we can all sit down one last time for the number 10, but if Quentin is seriously considering it, I'll warmly and happily accept that. The truth is, it's all been leading up to this moment. Quentin's personal crescendo, encapsulating all he has learned and all he has experienced as a man living in Hollywood and a successful filmmaker from within it. He went for it, and he did it. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is the best film of 2019, and easily his best film since Pulp Fiction. For me, nothing short of perfect. Everything I wanted it to be, and yet it still shocked and surprised me. I'm convinced that after the second and even third viewings, i'll still find new things to love about it. For nearly three hours in length, it grabs you up from your seat and never lets go.

Here's the story. The year is 1969. We meet the dashing Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his frisky stuntman sidekick, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). The dynamic duo of black and white television, and old, gunslinging cowboy movies. They were the best, they were the most handsome and they were the most talented. They were the best actors in Hollywood.. until now. After an unkindly meeting with his agent, Marvin Schwartz (played in outrageous fashion by the great Al Pacino), Rick is told in no uncertain terms that his time as a leading man is over. In other words, he's lost everything. Reduced to playing walk-on roles in late-60's TV shows, and B-grade Italian spaghetti westerns that nobody will ever see. Devastated, he returns to sulk in his luxury home in the Hollywood hills, while Cliff goes home to a dingy trailer next-door to a drive-in movie theater, to feed his loyal pit-bull Brandy. California Dreaming is not all that it seems. But wouldn't you know it, Rick Dalton has a new neighbor. One Roman Polanksi and his wife, superstar Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). The contrast doesn't get much starker. As Rick Dalton disappears into the hazy California sunset, Tate and friends are dancing in the middle of it. We begin to alternate between these two stories. Rick Dalton's personal misery in landing mediocre roles, and Sharon Tate humbly enjoying her career at it's peak. She's so humble, in fact, she attends screenings of her own movies in town to kick her feet back and laugh with the audience. But in the middle of the high and hard times of show business, evil lurks in the background, ready to attack. That evil being the Manson family. Cliff, Rick and Sharon all have individual run-ins with Charlie and the gang, dismissing them as your average dirty hippies, not realizing they are all about to make a head-on collision with Helter Skelter.

From it's very beginning, Tarantino doesn't just show you how things were in 1969, he places you there right along with it. I was there with all of them. Many of the sequences here include interludes of driving with an authentic live radio blasting (not unlike K-Billy's Super Sounds of the 70's) the soundtrack of our film. Killer psychedelic tunes and radio ads narrate the few times where our characters stay silent, which in any Tarantino film, is brief. The first hour and a half of the film may even puzzle viewers with how little happens between the characters. But that's the point. Tarantino places the audience through multiple POVs in order to illustrate this time in Hollywood. It was a technique I didn't expect, but I adored it all the same, and if anything, I'll always remember these sequences first when I think of the film. DiCaprio lights up the screen as the manically depressed Rick Dalton who goes between arrogantly strutting on set as if he's still a hot shot, to wrecking his trailer in a fit of insecurity and rage. Brad Pitt is effortlessly cool as Cliff Booth. Dude is the suavest partner-in-crime since Paul Newman. Robbie plays Tate, and with the responsibility of playing the prime victim of one of the most gruesome and horrifying murders in American history, she needed to bring honor in this special tribute to her. Not only did she bring honor, but she also brought beauty, grace, wistful optimism and love. If she had a a song, it would probably be "Good Morning, Starshine", though we all know she was a Paul Revere and the Raiders fan. Tate represents here all that was good of the late 60's. That far-out, free-spirited, love your neighbor, flower power that most Californians at that time adopted.. so long as you didn't take it to the extreme. If you did, you'd turn into one of those goddamn dirty hippies.

That's the other thing that Tarantino explores in 1969. If you were worried about a film about the Manson family that glorifies them as super cool anti-heroes, you best sit down and let this film do the talking. Because Tarantino clearly doesn't just hate Charles Manson, he loathes him. The man who, in his mind, killed the 1960's and the Hollywood he loved. On that note, you might be asking yourself.. this film doesn't really reenact the events of that horrible night, does it? Well, I promise you, this is a spoiler free review, but lets just say the events of August 8th 1969 don't play out here as they did in history. What results is the biggest middle finger ever given to the Manson Family in an epic finale so mindbogglingly brutal and relentless, it will make your jaw drop.

I left the theater having felt like I drank a strong cocktail of Boogie Nights and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, ripped a bong and got awakened by a punch in the face. This is a movie, and a trip and an experience you won't soon forget. See this thing, right now. See it twice. See it three times. Invite in into your head and let it stay there and stew. Explore this tapestry of Americana, booze, sex, drugs, rock' n' roll and movies. You'll be exhausted, but you will be satisfied.

I loved both the acting and the story. Brad Pitt shows a maturity playing "The old guy", and DiCaprio is spot on as the self absorbed, insecure fading star. The ending is classic Tarentino with a twist that caught me totally by surprise. I will watch this movie again. Loved it!

It took Quentin Tarantino a lifetime of living, 5 years to write and a 2 hours 41 minutes watch. This is a love letter to a film industry that is no longer recognisable. Hippies, short skirts, westerns..... all have disappeared from our movie world. But worry not, Quentin Tarantino is here to remind us of old school film making from a once beloved industry which has been described as being on life support.

The performances are flawless. I was apprehensive about how the events of August 8, 1969 would be handled. But that is handled tastefully and respectfully, yet with the classic Tarantino flair.

Will be quite a bit for those under 40 who have no recollection of this Hollywood. Some will categorise this as an over indulgent nostalgia trip for movie geeks. And they are likely to be correct. But for those of us who complain that Hollywood is reduced to remakes and comic book films, QT delivers a unique and creative viewing experience.

Another great Tarantino film, though I do agree there are times where it feels a little indulgent and meandering. The climax of the film is fantastic though, and it does make it feel like it was all worth it for the most part. There isn't really a defined narrative, which may put some people off but Tarantino's sublime dialogue and the great performances make all of the scenes at least entertaining. It's no Pulp Fiction, but it definitely is one of the most original films I've seen in a while.

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is maybe proof that Quentin Tarantino ranks alongside Stanley Kubrick. Both started to make overlong movies and were lionised by critics, many who were afraid to be critical of them.

This might be Tarantino's most self indulgent film so far despite being a glorious period piece.

Set in Los Angeles 1969. The film is an alternate history as it focuses on Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) who was once a star of the hit television show Bounty Law. Now Dalton's career is fading. He drinks too much, he does not remember his lines and his regular work is guest starring as the villain of the week.

Accompanying Dalton is his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) who acts as his driver and gofer. Booth is also short of work as he has a bad reputation in the stunt industry.

Living next door to Dalton in LA is actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) who has just moved in with her director husband Roman Polanski. Life for her is attending parties and going to the cinema to see her latest movie.

Dalton wonders if he should take up a suggestion to go and work in Italy and make spaghetti westerns which could kick start his career. Booth gave a pretty hippy a lift to a ranch which is full of strange people belonging to a cult. Booth seemed to have rubbed them up the wrong way.

Eventually the various people cross paths in this reimagining of what might have happened on a fateful night in 1969.

There is no doubt that that DiCaprio and Pitt give their all in this film as two middle aged men fading away at an uncertain time. Tarantino seems to have given this film a conservative hue, he really dislikes the counterculture. I wonder if he is angry with the #metoo movement which destroyed his friend Harvey Weinstein and raised questions over his own conduct in the past.

Clocking in at under 3 hours this film meanders until it reaches its explosive climax. Until then you wonder what exactly is the story. The movie is a series of vignettes that hints at a director/screenwriter who is past his prime and seems to be obsessed with bare feet.