Once Upon A Time In Hollywood... Reviews? (Spoiler alert)


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6 hours ago, JohnS said:

To have an appreciation of this film it helps to have a sentimentality for B-grade 60s television and its stars, Spaghetti Westerns and the concept of fairy tales.

This is exactly Tarantino's style. If you think about this movie and Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, reservoir Dogs, Django etc..., you will realize he is just modernizing this period of time and making it as vulgar as it it should have been back then. I don't think He has ever made a better movie than Pulp Fiction, BUT if you consider this time period, as an inspiration, the other film's production value shines . For Kill bill 2, it was and amalgamation of Enter the dragon and current Anime. It was a brilliant art piece even though it is not one of my favorite movies. I liked this movie because it was simply Tarantino with a lot of quirky-unnecessary scenes, as you should expect. 

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My feelings mirror most closely with @JohnS. I personally really enjoyed the film. I think it’s because frankly I didn’t expect it to be like anything. I really enjoyed all of the 60s nostalgia. That’s to me what it was all about. It was an ode to the 60s, it was a nod to the end of the western era, it was a little bit of history with some tinkering, it was kind to Sharon Tate, it was a reminder that there was a time when men were men, at the end for me was a delicious example of what should happen to the utter delusional that have no regard for human life. Justice.

Personally I think the film would be less polarizing if Tarantino‘s name wasn’t on it. Everybody has so many expectations. Take two steps back, pull up, be objective, and watch the film for what it is. It’s slow and methodical. Excellent character development. Lots of simple moments where the unspoken currency of trust, loyalty and respect between individuals are exchanged. Rick Dalton doesn’t acknowledge it until the very end but that’s also a fantastic moment. 
 

so.. that’s why I liked it. A huge nostalgia bomb. If you didn’t grow up in America affected by that era. Straight up, it probably isn’t for you.

...and that’s OK ? 

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1 hour ago, juri said:

I thought it was great and anyone bashing Tarantino is nuts, he’s the last real filmmaker left everything else is dumbed down giant franchise movies witch at best are live action turn your brain off cartoons ?

just like the new Star Wars movie that is getting trashed in the reviews, I’ll take a QT movie over that crap any day 

as i said earlier, understand not everyone will agree with my thoughts. 

but seriously, 'last real filmmaker'? have you seen deathcrap? 'turn your brain off'? that steaming heap of maggot excrement would rot a brain.

marvel, star wars (have not seen the latest but i thought that there were only really two top films in that entire series, but what crackers they were), 007, bourne, immobile kids sitting in a sandpit behind a screen, test pattern. i'd watch it all before i'd watch any of his rubbish ever again. and even then, i'd only watch his tosh at gunpoint (and then i'd try and keep my eyes shut).

nuts i might be but i think the bloke is an absolute fraud. he lives on the legacy of a couple of excellent early films and has robbed the public ever since. for me, anyone taken in by his charade is the one who is nuts. 

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I just remembered a secondhand QT story: I knew a guy who’s a big Tarantino fan and was going to Rice University. One afternoon he returned to his dorm and everyone had been freaking out, frantically looking for him because Tarantino had stopped by to meet him. Well apparently QT was filming “Kill Bill” or something nearby in Houston and picked up one of his coed friends there. She knew he was a big QT fan, so she begged Tarantino to stop at the dorm to say hi. He didn’t believe them, but everyone pulled out pictures of themselves with QT.

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8 hours ago, juri said:

love him or hate him but he's about the only one left making original movies basted on story and dialogue that can get an actual budget to work with and his movies get major releasees and still make money, the rest of hollywood is mostly sequel/reboot based on a YA novel superhero or toy CGI filled crap

your metric is off, plenty of great filmmaking happening outside of hollywood, including in the states. i understand that you put a bunch of conditions in that statement, but still... 

have to widen the net; tarantino is crap compared to plenty of living, working directors. yorgos lanthimos, nicholas winding refn (another polarizing figure), and paul thomas anderson to name three. and compared to filmmakers no longer producing, his name is far down the list.

i'll admit i haven't seen this movie, mostly because his last few were so terrible. not sure this thread is moving the needle on that changing.

-dobbs

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1 hour ago, juri said:

I just said he is the last of the big Hollywood directors that can get a blank check to do a passion project, my metric is fine I know there are amazing Indy and Foreign director’s out there making great movies too but they can’t get 200 mill from a studio and their movies releases aren’t big events... you are lucky to find most of their stuff on Netflix 

Yeah, I’d say that’s probably fair because of the visceral emotions (positive and negative) that people have for QT movies. For some big budget, CGI-heavy, plot-designed-by-focus-group movie made with the Chinese market in mind, we might dislike it and what it represents, but you usually won’t see Lars von Trier levels of hatred like you can with QT movies. They’re basically big budget art films: they can be Tartovsky-level boring, or have Cassavetes-type dialogue, neither of which is really for the general audience. I think only the Coen Bros. come close for mainstream weirdness.

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On 12/19/2019 at 9:57 AM, juri said:

I just said he is the last of the big Hollywood directors that can get a blank check to do a passion project, my metric is fine I know there are amazing Indy and Foreign director’s out there making great movies too but they can’t get 200 mill from a studio and their movies releases aren’t big events... you are lucky to find most of their stuff on Netflix 

as i said, a bunch of conditions. i will now say needless conditions. he's not very good.

*edit*

let me rephrase... evaluating directors on received funding is a good way to limit value to a rather uninteresting pool of content.

-dobbs

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@MoeFOH

The Spahn ranch scene was character development. It also brought the Tex and Cliff interaction to a conclusion. I’d guess there was much more at the ranch, but probably left out as they narrowed down the storyline.

I watched at home, and enjoyed it.

Part of it was also filmed at the end of my street, so I may be biased. They turned my neighborhood back 40 years, storefronts, neon, etc... They did a lot of night filming in my neighborhood that also didn’t make the cut. Because of the cast, I assume, the filming notifications I received said it was for a commercial.

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On 12/17/2019 at 8:42 PM, El Presidente said:

Imagine if we could discuss politics,religion,climate change, firearms like we discuss film/art :cigar:

What a great world that would be! Playing the ball and not the man....agreeing to disagree..bliss :D

... you can leave a theater a few bucks lighter and a few hours older with little impact on your life.

A tax audit can have a very different effect.

Speech is very free when talking about movies. Just try some of these comments above in front of a judge and see what happens to you. Fact and fiction, two different animals!

You get two stars for wishful thinking though!!! -LOL

-Piggy

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7 hours ago, juri said:

in no way did i say he was the 'best director' my point saying hes the last of the big hollywood directors is not me trying to mask his talent its just a fact,  i enjoy his movies i loved this movie hateful 8 and inglorious bastards if you think he sucks thats your opinion ... 

and i just watched the lighthouse parasite and one cut of the dead so i like to think im some what well versed in indy and foreign films his stuff might not be oscar bait and i do no think he is the BEST director working but that also doesn't mean hes not good.. what is so hard to understand here lol, he is the only guy making big budget movies left that are original love em or hate em

are we still talking about tarantino? understand the love him or hate him concept here but original? after a couple of early good films, i find him the opposite of original. he is like a bower bird stealing from so many other movies/directors. 

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33 minutes ago, juri said:

sorry but ken you cant say the last movie of his you saw then stopped watching was his worst movie and it was even meant to be tongue and cheek,  death proof was not even a solo movie it was released as 'grindhhouse' and it wasn't even the lead movie Robert Rodriguez Planet Terror was and they even had fake trailers for other goofy movies... some how you totally missed the joke there "emperor lost his clothes" on purpose,  thats like smoking the monte open and say ok i hate monte now they are trash! ?

watch the first 15 min of inglorious bastards and get back to me, one of the best scenes in modern cinema

i don't believe it was tongue in cheek. i think it was monumental crap and when he realised that his movie was utterly bereft of any redeeming features he and his sycophants started backtracking as fast as they could and suddenly it became a "joke" (a very long and totally unfunny joke, but...). not that i believe for a second that it was meant that way, but in the 0.00001% chance it was, it fell so completely flat. 100 minutes of boring repetitive faeces. so, you or anyone else who claims it was a 'joke', giggled your way through it? found it amusing. you can dress it up any way you want but it really was the worst thing ever put on film. either way, it was an epic fail. it makes films like heaven's gate and ishtar look like citizen kane and the godfather. i would say that this is as much of a "fact" as your assertion that he is the last of the big hollywood directors (actually, i think both are not so much 'facts' but opinions). 

i really don't follow the monte open analogy. if you don't smoke one, how can you say whether they are trash or treasure? 

as for IB, i got stuck once where i had to watch it. i've seen plenty of worse films (but again, like everything i have seen from him in the last couple of decades, i felt like i'd seen it done before and done better - and in fairness to him, he is hardly the only bloke ever to steal from previous work but most don't then pretend that they are some sort of innovative genius) but for me, anyone putting it or any part of it into best ever category has drunk the kool-aid and gone back for more.

i accept others will have different views - hey, there are still people out there who think roger moore was a decent 007 - and that is what makes it all fun, but for me, after those first couple, he has lived on a reputation that some seem determined to maintain, for reasons i fail to follow. i fully accept that i won't open any eyes to this - each individual will have to come to this inevitable conclusion for themselves - and no one is going to alter my view. but for me, and this is another "fact", he is the most overrated director in the business. 

 

and john, you and i agree on most things, so i guess it was inevitable we'd find something on which we part ways. hope you and everyone is having a great christmas. 

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1 hour ago, juri said:

at no time was there a point it was not meant to be a joke, one of the main actresses in his movie was her first time acting she is a real life stunt women lol, and the main character in the other movie had a m16 for a leg with a grande launcher and they were killing zombies lmao, watch the early trailers for grindhosuse and tell me thats not meant to be cheezy and total camp  

QT does genre films and this was the grindhouse exploration low budget midnight movie, in fact thats what he does alot are genre films with his own take and style so i can see how you might think his movies are 100% original but what is? hes not doing superhero movies or reboots of old franchises or sequels to fast and furious shaw and hobbs 15 starting the rock

no idea you have me defending death proof since i didn't like it ether, but its clearly a parity i think your trolling at this point lol, my only point was he the last currently working big named director in hollywood that he also writes his own scripts story characters dialogue witch is close as you can get to making a original movie, as in hes the last of his kind part of a dying breed so you have to appreciate that as something, because once hes gone there wont be anyone else left

sounds to me you have more of bone to be picked about him being overhyped and cant get past it ☹️

"at no time was there a point it was not meant to be a joke". sorry but i do not buy that for a second. unless you mean a joke on paying audiences. i can remember the release. i was delighted to see another QT film and was keen to see it. i simply don't buy it. and never again. 

you talk of it being part of a series. that is not correct. originally, it was horrendously long and got absolutely panned on release in the States and so tarantino cut it in two. made two movies therefore, making it an even bigger joke on the audiences, getting the more stupid of them to fork out twice. 

again, i don't think his movies are 100% original or anything like, despite what you might claim. i would have thought that was blatantly obvious from recent and past posts. 

i really think you need to have a more serious look at what directors are doing. plenty have been involved in the writing. always have been. no doubt will continue to be. it certainly doesn't make his stuff unique. 

as for you deciding i'm trolling, i'm happy to discuss him/his movies with you or anyone but but it is bottom of the barrel stuff to make a statement like that. same applies for you deciding what you think i can't get past. what a complete crock. you've gone past any legitimate argument you might have been able to offer and descended into the personal. and hence, it not really worth either of us wasting more time.

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3 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

and john, you and i agree on most things, so i guess it was inevitable we'd find something on which we part ways. hope you and everyone is having a great christmas. 

Why thank you, Ken! I wish you a Merry Christmas too!

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17 minutes ago, juri said:

ill just put you down as not a fan lol...if you cant admit , and when i say joke i mean not serious and on purpose stupid.... after watching this trailer if cant say ok i see what you mean no reason to waste time trying to convince you, oh and he wanted to released kill bill in one movie but the studio said it was to long if i remember correct 

"you've gone past any legitimate argument you might have been able to offer and descended into the personal. and hence, it not really worth either of us wasting more time."

about that movie, my only response is to say one bad movie dont give up on him i honestly think his later work is better then his early stuff only exception being pulp fiction  

 

i have got better things to do than watch a single second of that crap again so i'll pass.

"you can't admit it" - that is an argument they use in kindergarten. 

if it hasn't got through to you yet that you won't convince me, not sure much i can say will, so i'll stay away from this thread. enough time wasted. 

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Some further thoughts....

  • Quentin Tarantino has a style in his films that identifies him easily. In the same way Alfred Hitchcock did suspense thrillers, Stanley Kubrick did films that all dehumanise the main character/s in some way, Tarantino films include stylised, over-the-top violence.
  • Quentin Tarantino's favourite film is Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Western classic, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This includes a famous three-way Mexican standoff duel at the end between the main characters. In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, there is a Mexican standoff at the beginning of the film in the TV show 'Bounty Law' which includes Leo Di Caprio's character playing a TV Bounty Hunter, Jake Cahill. This is mirrored at the end when Brad Pitt's character, stuntman Cliff Booth takes on two members of the Manson Family in Rick's living room.
  • There is always a scene or two in every Tarantino film which includes a shot of feet. We see this in Margot Robbie's character in the cinema and Margaret Qualley's character in the car-ride with Brad Pitt to Spahn Ranch.
  • There are always extreme point-of-view shots in a Tarantino film, either from above or below. We see these shots in the car-ride to Spahn Ranch with Brad Pitt and Margaret Qualley and in the Italian spy knock-off 'film-within-a-film' in the car chase with Leo Di Caprio changing gears, for example.

 

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I do not like the director as a person. I do like most of the movies. Jackie Brown was good, From Dusk til Dawn was entertaining and not mentioned. DeathProof and Planet Terror were enjoyable if you stomach camp but I have to ask at what point is a tip of the cap to an extinct Drive-In genre really just bringing back a terrible movie....the art isn’t imitating life but just becoming more of the poorly constructed art itself...

I did not expect to like this movie and was surprised. I did not love it but felt it was a departure from his other things. I felt it paid homage to the film era while at the same time paying homage to the folks who senselessly lost their lives that night.

...a fairytale...a what if...a different circumstance from a different twist of fate... taken to the extreme Tarantino théâtre de l’absurde in the payoff.

 

@El Presidente Still waiting to see who gets a Christmas vacation on this thread. ????

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Watched it last night on my return flight from HKG and I enjoyed it all but the ending.
That End made no sense to me, but if it makes sense to QT who am I to argue ...

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I loved this movie.  I found it to be a mature ode to time and place.  One tries to experience art with a clean slate but since I’m a month late to the party, I had heard snippets like “self indulgent” etc.  I was quietly worried it would be a series of deep cuts and inside jokes but I didn’t feel that way at all.  It was a sincere paean.

My only gripe is that Margot Robbie didn’t have to go through much or transform.  And the “pretty people are insecure too” trope seems thin in terms struggle/overcoming.

Overall I loved this film.  

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