Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

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Collector03601
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Finally seeing it tonight, it was hard to read this thread and not click on the spoilers, but Im pretty bumped with all the positives you guys are posting.
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ArmandFancypants
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It is, unsurprisingly, a masterpiece.

My first instinct is that
the Lee sequence is Cliffs fantasy, surely?
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Allstar
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ArmandFancypants wrote: ↑
August 15th, 2019, 11:43 am
 It is, unsurprisingly, a masterpiece.

My first instinct is that
the Lee sequence is Cliffs fantasy, surely?
I have seen people suggest this but don't think so. When Cliff drops Rick off at the Lancer set he said it’s best for him not to come around since Green Hornet guys are there or something to that effect. It is however a memory from Cliff’s POV which is biased.
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Bacon
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QT in a recent interview seems to not consider it one.
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Collector03601
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Just came back from seeing this. Such a wonderful film! The third act was fantastic and Im actually glad he did it the way he did.

But the best thing was that the theater manager screened the Tenet teaser for me. Here in our small old school theater in Slovakia! Unbelievable! LOL Nolan in front of QT, what more could I ask for? :D Cherry on top of tonights film for sure!
m4st4
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Oh boy, do I have a lot to say. Might have to sit on it for a while first, let it all settle down.

First of all, surprisingly, DiCap was my fave. Loved his portrayal of a washed out has been Rick Dalton. Pitt, on top of his majestic charisma, has a more favorable character to play with, DiCap has to be a fucking loser most of the time and it’s so good to see such a magnificent actor give it all like that, mad respect!

Margot Robbie? Hmmmm... Isn’t that the question of the day. I had a pleasure to watch this with three persons very much close to me, with various knowledge of the subject at hand, and I believe Tarantino definitely failed in, at least, one segment here.
If you didn’t know about Sharon Tate prior to this movie, I’d easily forgive you for thinking she was totally useless here. Pretty, nostalgic, cute and innocent... but also useless. Why he chose to go that route, I have no idea, not a sliver of danger aside from that hilarious driveway scene.
Would the movie work without her? Sorry but nope.
Couldn’t she be better integrated in the whole narrative? Oh, very much so.

Now, look, this is still a QT movie and of course we talked about it extensively driving back home and I do believe there’s plenty of precious here and I did like (even love) many segments. Didn’t even feel the length like my co-audience.
And yes, the finale was cathartic and QT is playing on many clever levels here, something that, in my opinion, wasn’t the case in Django and H8... in a way, this is his ‘Zodiac’ moment.
But I still believe some of the narrative joints could’ve been better ‘stitched together’, especially in regards to Mrs.Tate.

On the positive side, it feels constantly lived in, alive, more natural than perhaps ever before in a QT movie... and goddamn it did I love the main duo! Give us a whole Netflix series about those two!

I’m going to stop here because it’s too late here and I might say more (and better structured) tomorrow, but I’ll add just one more thing.
Yes, I did feel a slight relief seeing Cliff Booth ANNIHILATING those damn dirty hippies in the end. Yes, I did feel like Sharon Tate’s memory was well preserved and sacred, even with another historical switchero. Yes, I get that this is a fictional story in which QT tells us so many different things all in one go: that we are violent in nature, that USA is violent in nature and media plays along most of the time, that this is a fiction and therefore he can do whatever and, finally, that Rick Fucking Dalton deserves a cinematic happy ending, as well as Sharon, the character, the muse.
But god damn it, did it feel sour in my mouth still.

Maybe that was the whole point? Catharsis, but with a shortest charge ever.

It’s not perfect QT, not the best. I’d put it in the middle. Basterds, Pulp and Kill Bill still the best.

4 and a half feet out of five. *I was debating four, but have you seen that scene in the theatre?
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Bacon
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m4st4 wrote: ↑
August 15th, 2019, 6:08 pm
 But god damn it, did it feel sour in my mouth still.
Wait why? Did I miss something in your post or did you not explain this?
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Allstar
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m4st4 wrote: ↑
August 15th, 2019, 6:08 pm
 Oh boy, do I have a lot to say. Might have to sit on it for a while first, let it all settle down.

First of all, surprisingly, DiCap was my fave. Loved his portrayal of a washed out has been Rick Dalton. Pitt, on top of his majestic charisma, has a more favorable character to play with, DiCap has to be a fucking loser most of the time and it’s so good to see such a magnificent actor give it all like that, mad respect!

Margot Robbie? Hmmmm... Isn’t that the question of the day. I had a pleasure to watch this with three persons very much close to me, with various knowledge of the subject at hand, and I believe Tarantino definitely failed in, at least, one segment here.
If you didn’t know about Sharon Tate prior to this movie, I’d easily forgive you for thinking she was totally useless here. Pretty, nostalgic, cute and innocent... but also useless. Why he chose to go that route, I have no idea, not a sliver of danger aside from that hilarious driveway scene.
Would the movie work without her? Sorry but nope.
Couldn’t she be better integrated in the whole narrative? Oh, very much so.

Now, look, this is still a QT movie and of course we talked about it extensively driving back home and I do believe there’s plenty of precious here and I did like (even love) many segments. Didn’t even feel the length like my co-audience.
And yes, the finale was cathartic and QT is playing on many clever levels here, something that, in my opinion, wasn’t the case in Django and H8... in a way, this is his ‘Zodiac’ moment.
But I still believe some of the narrative joints could’ve been better ‘stitched together’, especially in regards to Mrs.Tate.

On the positive side, it feels constantly lived in, alive, more natural than perhaps ever before in a QT movie... and goddamn it did I love the main duo! Give us a whole Netflix series about those two!

I’m going to stop here because it’s too late here and I might say more (and better structured) tomorrow, but I’ll add just one more thing.
Yes, I did feel a slight relief seeing Cliff Booth ANNIHILATING those damn dirty hippies in the end. Yes, I did feel like Sharon Tate’s memory was well preserved and sacred, even with another historical switchero. Yes, I get that this is a fictional story in which QT tells us so many different things all in one go: that we are violent in nature, that USA is violent in nature and media plays along most of the time, that this is a fiction and therefore he can do whatever and, finally, that Rick Fucking Dalton deserves a cinematic happy ending, as well as Sharon, the character, the muse.
But god damn it, did it feel sour in my mouth still.

Maybe that was the whole point? Catharsis, but with a shortest charge ever.

It’s not perfect QT, not the best. I’d put it in the middle. Basterds, Pulp and Kill Bill still the best.

4 and a half feet out of five. *I was debating four, but have you seen that scene in the theatre?
:twothumbsup:

Surprised DiCaprio was your fave. What a duo it was though, surpassed absurdly high expectations in that regard. Rick fucking Dalton! Did you stay for the after credits bit? :lol:
m4st4
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Bacon wrote: ↑
August 15th, 2019, 6:29 pm
m4st4 wrote: ↑
August 15th, 2019, 6:08 pm
 But god damn it, did it feel sour in my mouth still.
Wait why? Did I miss something in your post or did you not explain this?
No, I didn’t explain it in detail because I’m still internally debating the way he did it, not what he did, cause I totally knew he’d do something like that.

Spoiler alert even though spoiler tag is coming...
Basically my whole problem with the finale lies within the whole structure of a movie, the entirety of almost two and a half hour before it that creates the very ground for it to happen. Tate is so obviously there to be part of that outburst of violence near the end, but than QT choses to do two things that harm the movie, in my opinion, for both lesser engaged audience members (for example my bro didn’t know about her or Charlie Manson until we got in the car and girlfriend learned it from me; we’re all Europeans and I know about the whole thing cause I’m a Fincher fanatic more than late US media history buff, lol) and the whole movie as a product of all of its narrative joints. Now, listen up, I can totally get behind the idea of the way he wanted to present Sharon as this ball of innocence, sort of anti-QT character with little to no dialogue that’s about to be pregnant and brutally murdered. But then to not even let her be near said violence, to not even get her in the zone and instead create this epically choreographed outburst of gore (which I appreciated immensely, mind you), to not let your audience members feel the need to gasp for her life right before Cliff saves the day... was a misfire. Because if you do something with her character other than what you did for the entirety of a movie beforehand, if she’s just pretty - start to finish - and there to welcome Rick like some angel at the end, well then, to a lesser historically engaged audience member, she’s just another useless pretty face who chipped away too much of the screen time from the guys we actually wanted to watch.

And that’s just me trying to see this through the eyes of my fellow co-audience. I felt sour mouthed because... I didn’t feel like it was the best fictional version that I wanted to see. It wasn’t Hitler getting a whole clip in his ugly face. No, this was a Manson murder case used to create a happy ending for two protagonists, not exactly a catharsis storyline of those two and Sharon Tate getting cinematic justice. Guess I felt, even though he was respectful the whole time... he wasn’t respectful all the way.
Just like the whole movie wasn’t masterful all the way, just in segments.

Hopefully I managed to get my feelings right here.

Edit: allstar, didn’t know there was one!
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Bacon
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With all due respect, I don't think I could disagree more.
Sharon is being presented as a glowing reflection of what makes Hollywood special. Her not being anywhere near the violence is her getting her cinematic justice. She has no reason to ever encounter them just as there was no reason for her to be murdered. QT gives every protagonist a fairy tale ending, hence the title, letting the traumatic and troubling stuff happen to the two protagonists (one of which has a direct connection with the murderers). Sharon's fairy tale ending is that she never encounters anything except the joy and love of her friends, free to live the life she was robbed of.
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