Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)
There are spoilers here but i'm probably the last person on Cult Labs to watch the film so i'm guessing you already know what happens.
A difficult film to actually rate. On one hand it was a brilliant piece of cinema paying a magical homage to the Hollywood of the sixties with nods to the burgeoning Italian film (rip off) industry of spaghetti westerns, Gialli and Poliziotteschi - all faves of Tarantino.
It's mainly a fun film interspersed with moments of real tension and uncertainty. Tarantino shows an adept hand at what can best be described as slapstick comedy in the showdown between the excellent Brad Pitt's movie stunt man, Cliff Booth, and the one and only (and rather irritating) Bruce Lee. Yet when Pitt visits the Spahn Movie Ranch, home to a commune of hippies the sense of unease especially when you know what's to come borders on unbearable.
Tarantino directs a stellar cast from Pitt, Di' Caprio and Margot Robbie (a vibrant Sharon Tate) to old faves Kurt Russell, Zoe Bell and Michael Madsen. However it's not all plain sailing.
On the other hand... At two and a half hours there are times when the film drags. It's during the extended segments of Leonardo DiCaprio's Rick Dalton filming western series Bounty Law that the film comes to juddering halts and the plot goes into standby mode.
I've heard some people don't like the finale and how Tarantino changes real life events but i was delighted by it. The film is called Once Upon a Time... which suggests something made up or fairy tale like rather than true events and besides who wouldn't want to see the three murderous pieces of shit sent to kill Sharon Tate get their glorious just deserts at the hands of Pitt, Di'Caprio and Pitt's dog Brandy.
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