Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Film: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood









GENRE: Drama
RATING: R for language, graphic violence, drug use
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 58 minutes
STARRING: Leonardo DiCaprio (Revenant, Titanic, Django Unchained)
Brad Pitt (Inglorious Basterds), Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street)
DIRECTOR: Quentin Tarantino (Hateful Eight, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill)
WRITER: Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, True Romance, Jackie Brown)
PLOT: A has-been TV actor and his stunt double/driver adjust as old Hollywood changes against the backdrop of the Sharon Tate murder.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I’m a big Tarantino fan.

STORY STUFF: Not my favourite Tarantino film. Don’t get me wrong, there are some fantastic scenes with crackling dialogue, interesting camera angles, drawn out suspense, quirky flashbacks and killer song choices. Tarantino’s previous films have more gripping storylines where this one was more slice of life. Overall, the story did not captivate me, which is a shame. Also, the Sharon Tate storyline almost seems unnecessary. I would recommend reading a bit about the Sharon Tate murder before seeing this film to gain a better appreciation of what Tarantino does with it.

ACTING STUFF: Pitt and DiCaprio are stellar; they know how to nail Tarantino’s words and they create such vivid characters that are fun to follow. Everyone brings their ‘A’ game. I found Al Pacino (Godfather) an odd choice, it looked better suited for Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds) but he still did well.

ARTISTIC STUFF: It has all the Tarantino touches that I love. The visuals, the props, the soundtrack, production design, the costumes. All of it almost makes me forget what’s lacking in the story.   

VERDICT: Four stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You enjoy Tarantino films with a little less violence
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Hobbs & Shaw

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