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Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood


mdmost

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It was a movie I appreciated much more as I've been thinking about it since it ended (my showing ended about 4 hours ago) than I did while I was watching it. When I watch a movie in theaters I want it to be about a destination as much as anything and I didn't really care for where it ended up but as I thought more about the performances, Pitt and DiCaprio in particular, I really liked it. I think the nuance built into their relationship was great and the scenes where DiCaprio is in the new western TV show were phenomenal (and REALLY made me want a Justified movie where DiCaprio is the bad guy opposite Olyphant). Gonna spoiler some of the things I REALLY loved the more I thought about them:

Spoiler

- The Pitt flashback where he fights Bruce Lee was not only probably the most purely entertaining scene in the movie, it serves a purpose too. Pitt's character has the flashback when he's standing on the roof fixing DiCaprio's TV antenna after he told him he couldn't get him a job. In the flashback DiCaprio goes to bat for him and gets him a gig and he completely fucks it up because that's who he is and yet, DiCaprio will still go to bat for him. It's in that moment he not only realizes why he didn't get this particular gig, but also why he'd go up on the roof for this self centered, ego maniac. Their relationship is symbiotic, he needs Leo for work, Leo needs him because he's mostly non-functioning when he's not working. There's a beautiful level of nuance there.

DiCaprio raging against hippie culture, literally taking a torch to it in the end because it's rendered him obsolete as an actor, but Sharon Tate has a hippie spirit and by saving her life he becomes friends with her and presumable can get cast in a Polanski movie which gives him the happy ending he's looking for. I thought that was fun.

I also was fascinated by the idea how you become a relic so quickly in a culture change. They point out a few times Bounty Law only ended eight years ago but he feels ANCIENT juxtaposed with the hippie culture. 

The Sharon Tate angle did nothing for me personally. I think Margot Robbie can act (she's great in I Tonya) but the part was just a whole lot of nothing. I get what she's supposed to represent, but for a movie that's 2:41 I just wasn't feeling that particular plot point.

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20 minutes ago, ATLLonghorn said:

ATL, in response to your spoiler comment, I'll spoiler a followup:

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The Pure Cinema Podcast is a podcast affiliated with The New Beverly Cinema in L.A. which is a move house that Tarantino now owns.  He was on a recent episode in advance of the film's release and talks about how there were real western actors similar to DiCaprio's character who were in the same place by the end of the 60s.  The hippie culture and its affect on everything from fashion to hairstyles made actors like him seem like relics.  Tarantino mentioned how the western look went from more classic looks like what DiCaprio was sporting (including the Pompadour hairsyle) to a more androgynous look like what Olyphant was sporting  and how there was a practice of taking former stars and making then the "heavies" to be the foil/victim to the new, up and coming stars.  I always love the Easter eggs and chock full of real life references/trivia/homages he packs into each movie.

 

Edited by mdleast
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so y’all didn’t give a 6-minute standing ovation when it ended?

No. At that point I was still trying to figure out how they made the Karmann Ghia look so fast. Had one just like it and it was not fast.


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That was one weird ass movie.  I guess I’m an unwashed mass but I gave it a C- at best.  

Pitt and Leo were fantastic though.  Tremendous actors.  But aside from witnessing the acting chops of those two, would the move have really suffered if it was 1hrs and 40 mins instead of 2:40? 

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The ending was great. Leo killed it and Pitt's best performance in recent memory. Tarantino probably told Pitt just be Steve McQueen in every scene, and it worked. 

I still left the theater scratching my head. How many times is Tarantino going to revise history? That's 2,  arguably 3,  of his last 4 movies. Where the f*** were the long sequences of dialogue? Where are the monologues? Margot Robbie literally did nothing the entire movie. Why cast her for three sentences of lines? It's a very different Tarantino movie, but it will age well. I'd compare the aging potential to Jackie Brown, but the reviews for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood have been very good. There's nowhere for it to go. It's a good movie now and it'll be a good movie in 2039. 

Edited by billfromlaketravis
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I would have liked a long dialogue scene between Leo and Pitt at Musso & Frank. It's right there for the taking, just do it.  It's not a budget thing like not filming the heist scene in Reservoir Dogs, it's a choice. Tarantino had 160 minutes, complete creative control, and a large budget to fit it in.

And almost every promotional picture of the film is Leo and Pitt talking at Musso & Frank. 

 

Edited by billfromlaketravis
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Just got out of the theater.

 

it may be one of the best film/cinematography masterpieces ever made.  To get the level of ‘69 Hollywood Hills look that real in a modern film is beyond awesome.  

 

Pitt and Leo are both awesome 

here are so many gems and nuggets that I’ll probably have to watch it 4 times to fully judge it 

I enjoyed it, but the statement I made prior is in regards to the fact  I think it may be the best filmed picture ever   Not the best movie ever, just the best filmed   

 

 

 

 

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On 7/25/2019 at 6:50 PM, tx 3 putt said:

Steaming pile of crap. Someone owes me money 

last 30 mins was ok, at best 

Read this yesterday and thought 3 putt was on the juice.  Saw the movie tonight and kind of agree with him.  The first hour is just a complete mess.  

I do wonder how Pitt is so much cooler now than he was 20 years ago.  

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I think it’s peak QT.

The cinematography and writing were amazing and the historical revisionism is what he does these days,

if Pitt doesn’t get an Oscar nod, it’s a joke. He has never been better in anything.

There are complaints about Margot Robbie’s dialogue, but this movie is short on dialogue and she conveys so much with her face.

It’s not Pulp Fiction, but it’s a masterpiece.

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7 hours ago, Trey3216 said:

Just got out of the theater.

 

it may be one of the best film/cinematography masterpieces ever made.  To get the level of ‘69 Hollywood Hills look that real in a modern film is beyond awesome.  

 

Pitt and Leo are both awesome 

here are so many gems and nuggets that I’ll probably have to watch it 4 times to fully judge it 

I enjoyed it, but the statement I made prior is in regards to the fact  I think it may be the best filmed picture ever   Not the best movie ever, just the best filmed   

 

 

 

 

Saw it last night and I'd agree with that.  The level of both micro and macro detail a masterpiece from the small details inside the houses to the cityscapes.  I liked the scene towards to the end where all of the neon lights came on.  No detail was overlooked.  The clothes, the cars, the vibe.  

The plot is about the cultural changing of the guard in Hollywood and what might have been.  He could have written the movie in any era because there's always a changing of the guard so to speak but he chose this era for one reason or another.  DiCaprio and Pitt captured their characters perfectly both in motivation and in style.

I know it's not Avengers 25 with a CGI orgy at the end but whatevs.....

I don't think it's his finest work, though.  (I'm not a fanboy and some of his movies are fairly meh.)  Pulp Fiction is prolly his best followed by Kill Bill (I consider them one movie) and Django, although I could easily be convinced to flop those.  This prolly goes in right below Django.

Edited by Aqua Buddha
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1 hour ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Saw it last night and I'd agree with that.  The level of both micro and macro detail a masterpiece from the small details inside the houses to the cityscapes.  I liked the scene towards to the end where all of the neon lights came on.  No detail was overlooked.  The clothes, the cars, the vibe.  

The plot is about the cultural changing of the guard in Hollywood and what might have been.  He could have written the movie in any era because there's always a changing of the guard so to speak but he chose this era for one reason or another.  DiCaprio and Pitt captured their characters perfectly both in motivation and in style.

I know it's not Avengers 25 with a CGI orgy at the end but whatevs.....

I don't think it's his finest work, though.  (I'm not a fanboy and some of his movies are fairly meh.)  Pulp Fiction is prolly his best followed by Kill Bill (I consider them one movie) and Django, although I could easily be convinced to flop those.  This prolly goes in right below Django.

That’s a fair assessment, but it’s deeper than that.  

 

Its not just about the cultural changing of the guard then, it’s about that right now.  It’s QT shoving much of the hidden underworld of Hollywood to the floor.

 

 Think about the scene with the little girl and how Leo “pushes her away”, and that was ad-libbed into his scene.   

This is QT giving his Leo Gatsby champagne nod to old Hollywood, and shoving the sick shit that been going on there away from him.  This is Fuck You to Harvey Weinstein 

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2 hours ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Saw it last night and I'd agree with that.  The level of both micro and macro detail a masterpiece from the small details inside the houses to the cityscapes.  I liked the scene towards to the end where all of the neon lights came on.  No detail was overlooked.  The clothes, the cars, the vibe.  

 

Agree completely.  I could have watched a solid hour of the neon lights thing.  

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He has always been adamant about the “10 movies” thing, but I really hope he doesn’t hang it up after one more. The difference between a good Marvel movie and what he does is striking and his voice is something that Hollywood absolutely needs.

That said, we got the Joker preview and then Queen and Slim, and those looked great.

Edited by VRHorn
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Just now, VRHorn said:

He has always been adamant about the “10 movies” thing, but I really hope he doesn’t hang it up after one more. The difference between a good Marvel movie and what he does is striking and his voice is something that Hollywood absolutely needs.

That said, we got the Joker preview and then Queen and Slim, and those looked great.

For the first time in my life, I bought a ticket to the 8:00 show at 8:15 so I didn’t have to watch the previews at all.  

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55 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

 

It seems like his counting method doesn’t include his Star Trek movie and Kill Bill 3 he wants to do. So, we’d get at least 3 more assuming he can get these two rolling.

He said his Star Trek movie would basically be Pulp Fiction in space.  He wants to do it.  It’s up to Paramount.  

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Just got back. Great on so many levels. For a while I was like man Tarantino is pretty tame for this one, just letting the script and actors do their thing... and then Bam! Screaming hippy psycho blasting her gun while Decaprio destroys her with the flame thrower. So great.

 

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13 minutes ago, HiggyBaby said:

Just got back. Great on so many levels. For a while I was like man Tarantino is pretty tame for this one, just letting the script and actors do their thing... and then Bam! Screaming hippy psycho blasting her gun while Decaprio destroys her with the flame thrower. So great.

 

spoiler man.  Jesus.

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26 minutes ago, HiggyBaby said:

Just got back. Great on so many levels. For a while I was like man Tarantino is pretty tame for this one, just letting the script and actors do their thing... and then Bam! Screaming hippy psycho blasting her gun while Decaprio destroys her with the flame thrower. So great.

 

People bitching about spoilers. Now that's a spoiler. 

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2 hours ago, futureman said:

https://www.nme.com/news/tv/quentin-tarantino-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-spin-off-tv-series-bounty-law-2530565

QT is writing 8 episodes of “bounty law” and wants to film them for netflix or whoever will pick it up.  24 minutes each and shot in black and white.  that sounds pretty cool. 

F*** YES!!!

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Saw it this afternoon and thought it was great. So glad I didn't read any spoilers before I went to see it. I watched with fresh eyes and no knowledge of what I was about to see. A well made movie and yes Leonardo and Brad were terrific. The Spahn Ranch was probably the closest I've seen, or could imagine, to how it really was with Charlie's followers.

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I’ve never been a huge follower of QT movies, but I have to say I really enjoyed this one. Between the music and how authentic they made 69 Hollywood look...I think I just watched with a smile on my face the whole time. After watching the previews...I thought for sure that DiCaprio was the main guy, but it sure seemed like Pitt (and the dog) stole the show. I thought he was pretty damn amazing. I’d go see it again. 

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1 hour ago, CowtownHorn said:

I’ve never been a huge follower of QT movies, but I have to say I really enjoyed this one. Between the music and how authentic they made 69 Hollywood look...I think I just watched with a smile on my face the whole time. After watching the previews...I thought for sure that DiCaprio was the main guy, but it sure seemed like Pitt (and the dog) stole the show. I thought he was pretty damn amazing. I’d go see it again. 

agree.  I thought everything about it was just fun to watch.  not really much plot, just a love letter to old hollywood and the movies.  very enjoyable.  

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I thought it was very good, but don't know if I thought that it was great. It was shot incredibly (only thing that bothered me was the speedometers not moving while they were driving). Think I would have enjoyed it more if I either lived in LA or was as big of a nerd about the film industry as QT is.

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The reviews from east coast rags have been pretty negative, angry that QT focused on the perspective of his fictional main characters and what is happening in their lives rather than make it a more myopic movie about everything that was wrong (social justice-wise) with Hollywood pre-1969. Since when is QT expected to be an instrument of political correctiveness or retroactive social judgement?

Edited by Murfdogg21
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