Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

[Black Narcissus]

Pitt was great. Pitt is always great. But he had one mode through the whole movie. It was a very cool mode, but it was one mode. Granted, I think there are more layers to his character than people have been picking up on: As cool as Cliff appears to be, he was pretty sad. He had no friends except his employer, who's friendship was based solely on the current state of his career. But Leo got to display a whole range of acting with his character, which was far more demanding. And he nailed it. Because he's Leonardo f**king DiCaprio.

So. Yeah. Get your crew. In the park. Midnight. Be there.

 

[Silva Surferin]

QT is a legend.

 

[Filmfan93]

Hahaha, nope! The end of the world...Bulgaria.

Greetings from another fellow Bulgarian here! (although I live in the UK).

It's really bad that it comes out so late in both countries.

 

[DACrowe]

Absolutely loved this movie. It's been in my head for days. On first viewing, I was mesmerized but also worried QT was repeating himself, specifically Inglourious Basterds. But upon reflection, I think it's his best movie since then (if not quite as good as his three best, IMO) because it builds onto that thesis and is not just about revenge, but also a wistfulness of creating a more innocent world. Plus its reflection on aging and irrelevance is quite nuanced for a man who insists he MUST retire after his next movie.

This is a movie, I think, we will talk about and reflect on for years to come.

 

[Charzhin0]

Absolutely loved this movie. It's been in my head for days. On first viewing, I was mesmerized but also worried QT was repeating himself, specifically Inglourious Basterds. But upon reflection, I think it's his best movie since then (if not quite as good as his three best, IMO) because it builds onto that thesis and is not just about revenge, but also a wistfulness of creating a more innocent world. Plus its reflection on aging and irrelevance is quite nuanced for a man who insists he MUST retire after his next movie.

This is a movie, I think, we will talk about and reflect on for years to come.

I've not seen OUATIH yet, hopefully watching on Firday, but that description is sounds very similar to how I felt about Birdman. Didnt quite get the buzz of Birdman at first but on repeat viewing that reflection on aging and irrelevance will be a timeless story.

 

[terry78]

It's a slow burn but it gives you the feel of that era, specifically that year when all that Manson **** went down. The Cliff vs. Bruce Lee fight was ****ing classic, had everybody rolling.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Absolutely loved this movie. It's been in my head for days. On first viewing, I was mesmerized but also worried QT was repeating himself, specifically Inglourious Basterds. But upon reflection, I think it's his best movie since then (if not quite as good as his three best, IMO) because it builds onto that thesis and is not just about revenge, but also a wistfulness of creating a more innocent world. Plus its reflection on aging and irrelevance is quite nuanced for a man who insists he MUST retire after his next movie.

This is a movie, I think, we will talk about and reflect on for years to come.

Agreed. I think once the opening credits started I already liked it better than his last two. My feelings aside, I do think it's better. No fat, everything is deliberate with a point.

DiCaprio and Pitt are ****ing dynamite. They aren't just two of our favorite movie stars playing off each other.

Once it ends, it hits you that this is truly a fairy tale. It's a fairy tale within this tapestry of the period. A time that showed what it was and might have been after. This is Tarantino's least pastiche film maybe since Jackie Brown.

This is my fourth favorite of his.

Inglourious Basterds
Pulp Fiction (Pulp Fiction is my personal favorite, but Basterds is his masterpiece)
Jackie Brown
Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

Absolutely loved the western scenes. It's the closest thing we'll see Tarantino do a more traditional type of western. And ****, he even elevates that!

 

[Brother Jack]

This movie shows how underrated DiCaprio is as a comedic actor. He's hilarious in this.

 

[P Supreme]

This movie shows how underrated DiCaprio is as a comedic actor. He's hilarious in this.

I wouldn't say underrated he just doesn't do any comedy movies at all
if you want to call wolf of wall street a comedy you can but most wouldn't
I found him hilarious in that movie

 

[Joe Von Zombie]

Loved every second of this thing. I hope it gets nominated for a lot of awards which it will because we all know how much Hollywood loves to suck it's own dick.

 

[DACrowe]

Agreed. I think once the opening credits started I already liked it better than his last two. My feelings aside, I do think it's better. No fat, everything is deliberate with a point.

DiCaprio and Pitt are ****ing dynamite. They aren't just two of our favorite movie stars playing off each other.

Once it ends, it hits you that this is truly a fairy tale. It's a fairy tale within this tapestry of the period. A time that showed what it was and might have been after. This is Tarantino's least pastiche film maybe since Jackie Brown.

This is my fourth favorite of his.

Inglourious Basterds
Pulp Fiction (Pulp Fiction is my personal favorite, but Basterds is his masterpiece)
Jackie Brown
Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

Absolutely loved the western scenes. It's the closest thing we'll see Tarantino do a more traditional type of western. And ****, he even elevates that!

Yes, the ending hammers home this is a fairy tale, but not out of just a sense of catharsis like IB (and Django too for that matter), but one considering the loss. It also is an amazing recreation of 1960s Hollywood and goes a long way to divorcing Sharon Tate's legacy away from Manson in a very heartfelt and tender way. I struggle with those who consider the ending misogynistic when the whole point is to literally, but more importantly metaphorically, liberate Sharon from Manson's taint.

For me it goes:

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. Kill Bill
4. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

 

[The Shape]

This movie shows how underrated DiCaprio is as a comedic actor. He's hilarious in this.

I love funny Leo.

 

[scarlet-witch]

I wasn't a fan. Brad Pitt was the best part of it though.

 

[Ninjablade]

Saw this again last night, it did not hold up on a repeated viewing for me.

 

[Web-Head]

Saw this again last night, it did not hold up on a repeated viewing for me.

I feel like it's one I'll never really watch again all the way through. At least not for a while

 

[The Shape]

Was this shot cut from the final film? I remember this scene and Leo singing, but not this shot.

 

[Gothamsknight]

After seeing this film on friday, I've loved it more and more and more and more. it's a literal masterpiece in my mind, and I want to see it again already. This is the type of film you don't see often and its an example of perfect cinema with 2 of the best leads in hollywood hanging out together for 3 hours.

 

[Kane52630]

Was this shot cut from the final film? I remember this scene and Leo singing, but not this shot.

Yeah that shot got cut.

 

[hellblazer103]

Saw it two nights in a row. Tbh, it might be one of my favorite Tarantino flicks. The chemistry between Brad and Leo is so perfect that I kinda hope they're friends irl now after this, the tone of the 60s/Manson family/etc is beautifully captured, absolutely hilarious throughout, and the twist is the friggin icing on the cake.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I hope Leo and Brad reteam one day.

 

[Man in the Suit]

I wish this was true, but Sony has an output deal with Starz...

 

[TheVileOne]

I wish this was true, but Sony has an output deal with Starz...

He could technically do it for a Starz broadcast.

 

[kguillou]

Finally got the chance to catch this. I liked it...didnt love it though. Definitely Tarantino’s most indulgent film. I loved the world of the film, I felt like i was living in 1969, the cinematography, the music, the vibe and mood was on POINT. My thing is i feel the narrative didnt really amount to much, at least for me. One thing about Quentin i always love is that although he builds and builds and builds very deliberately, his climaxes are always deliciously worth the wait, like Hateful 8 ( one of my favorite of Tarantino). I felt this climax was way too short and unsatisfying.

But i liked it overall. Middle of the road Tarantino.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Oh, I also loved the Basterds reference.

 

[Persona]

Not only does this use the same central conceit as Basterds, but like Basterds I found myself very much alternating between loving it and not caring for it.

It is certainly an impressively realized film and things I didn't like about it are intertwined with things I did, as both come from QT getting to make the exact type of movie he wanted to make and being able to take his time with scenes and shoot them and soundscape them in such a way that makes them so much more immersive than your average film of this scale. (But then you also get some editing gimmicks, on-screen subtitles, and voice-over narration that smack you right out of that carefully wrought immersion).

I was really digging it for the first 40 minutes or so but somewhere towards the middle it kind of drifts into neutral, though still peppered with scenes that are evocative in a way that's impactful (Spahn Movie Ranch) as opposed to evocative in a way that becomes repetitive and fetishistic (we spent a LOT of time listening to period soundtrack in classic cars or seeing/hearing period ads or looking at people's feet or doing all three of those things at the same time).

You could guess from the film's title that the movie was gonna take a true crime story in Hollywood and give it a fairy tale ending, or maybe I should say a "Hollywood" ending. There are some things to be said for that and the kind of wish fulfillment Tarantino is indulging in about a time and a story that has become almost a subconsious thought in our collective cultural memory, but I think Tarantino has established such a pattern of measured, pent-up plotting with cathartic finale since the Kill Bill volumes that--especially in terms of how directly the structure of this film compares to Basterds--the catharsis here is kind of cheapened by that expectation, that formula that Tarantino has kind of settled on. It's a Tarantino-verse, and it's dedicated to mimicking past pieces of our reality as exhaustively as it can at the same time that it is constantly disconnecting from that reality and making its own, one where QT is God and history becomes His Story.

Which is one thing, and lots of directors play God in their own ways, but I also think Tarantino has formed a habit of forcing narratives to bend to his more appetitive demands as opposed to letting them develop their own organic nature and to unfold fluidly. Many of his stories don't self-validate, so Tarantino tries to validate them with the extent of how he crafts them and the details created (or recreated). And sometimes that works like gangbusters, which is probably more true of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood than it is of any of his other films, even though it's probably mid-tier QT overall for me.

I'm gonna finish with one part I really liked and one part I didn't from the middle of the film.

Really liked:

Spoiler

Rick Dalton's acting scene with Olyphant's character and the way it was presented as this heightened, idealized (the ideal probably inside Dalton's head) of the TV pilot they were doing and the way the soundtrack is this authentic Western ambience that fades out when Dalton breaks character because he's struggling with the lines but then fades back in when he starts acting again.

Disliked:

Spoiler

while most of the Cliff Booth stuff was quite good, his whole ten minute roof-top fantasy about getting on-set with Rick and the whole process of that culminating in him fighting with Bruce Lee... I've tried to give it the benefit of the doubt that it brings depths to Pitt's character by showing us how imaginative he is on the inside or maybe on a broader thematic level it's foreshadowing the ways in which what we are seeing is the opposite of reality, but I just can't debate myself into thinking that it wasn't mostly a waste of time.