Once Upon a Time In Hollywood

[pinback]

This is a tough one. Other than PTA, QT makes the best movies that have existed over the past several decades. This is definitely his most "reserved" work. Not packed full of violent flourishes. Nobody even says "the n word". And the thing is, nothing ever actually happens.

So it's 2.6 hours, and you either enjoy the wonderful performances as they are happening (and they are wonderful), and dig the whole QT LA nostalgia vibe, and get up at the end saying, that was a lovely, fanciful snapshot of a time that never was, or you get up saying, what the fuck was the point of all that?

Because -- and I'm serious here, even though the movie is marketed as having something to do with the Manson killings -- nothing ever happens. There is a "twist" at the end regarding Manson (who is on-screen for maybe 30 seconds) which is amusing to no end, but even the twist is in the service of nothing ever happening. This is ultimately a film with no plot. It's a 161 minute postcard.

So there ya go. It's definitely not in his top tier, or even top five. It's a relatively bad Quentin Tarantino movie, which means it's the best thing you'll likely see this year.

Enjoy the ride, that's all I'll tell ya if you decide to see it.

[Jizaboz]

I hate all QT movies with exception to Pulp Fiction and parts of Reservoir Dogs (the ending to that one though was completely predictable and stupid).

GF wants to see this because she like DeCrapio. I do not. I will not be taking her to see it.

[Tdarcos]

GF wants to see this because she like DeCrapio. I do not. I will not be taking her to see it.

There's always Wang Chung's advice on what to do wirh girlfriends:

Take your baby by the hand
And make her do a high handstand
And take your baby by the heel
And do the next thing that you feel

[pinback]

I hate all QT movies with exception to Pulp Fiction and parts of Reservoir Dogs (the ending to that one though was completely predictable and stupid).

GF wants to see this because she like DeCrapio. I do not. I will not be taking her to see it.

You packed a lot of really terrible opinions into one small post.

[AArdvark]

So how's the soundtrack to OUATIH? I'm thinking a lot of Doors and Creedence music. But that's based solely on the setting.

THE
SUMMER OF
AARDVARK

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I really liked The Hateful Eight, and I dunno ... maybe there was a "plot" but it's like a more advanced Sunny in Philadelphia - instead of 4 idiots getting more angry and yelling at each other, there are 8 people getting angrier and yell - well, maybe it's got more in common with Sunny than not.

But where I'm going with this is - is the new movie at all like The Hateful Eight? It kind of sounds like it is, because the performances in The Hateful Eight were its reason to be, or point excalibur, as the French say.

[RealNC]

I hate all QT movies with exception to Pulp Fiction and parts of Reservoir Dogs

What? From Dusk till Dawn is one of the best goddamn movies ever made!

[Casual Observer]

I hate all QT movies with exception to Pulp Fiction and parts of Reservoir Dogs

What? From Dusk till Dawn is one of the best goddamn movies ever made!

Seconded. Also Django was awesome.

[pinback]

From Dusk Till Dawn was not a QT movie, despite what everyone thinks.

The movie is like Hateful Eight in that it is a QT movie full of excellent performances, but everything else is way, way different. Instead of taking place in a single room, it takes place all over the place. And everyone's pretty likeable, instead of being, well... hateful.

[Tdarcos]

So how's the soundtrack to OUATIH? I'm thinking a lot of Doors and Creedence music. But that's based solely on the setting.

EH, you're just feeling a Bad Moon Rising.

————
Don't go home tonight
'Cause it's bound to take your life
There's a bathroom on the right.

[Jizaboz]

I hate all QT movies with exception to Pulp Fiction and parts of Reservoir Dogs

What? From Dusk till Dawn is one of the best goddamn movies ever made!

Yeah like Pinback says.. Wikipedia says it was directed by Robert Rodriguez

[RealNC]

Oh.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

He was IN the movie.

It's a QT movie. I'll allow it.

[RealNC]

Hey, the credits say: "Screenplay by Quentin Tarantino".

You can't have QT write the screenplay of a movie and then say it's not a QT movie.

[pinback]

Was Empire Strikes Back a George Lucas movie? Was Poltergeist a Steven Spielberg movie?!!?!!?!?!??

[AArdvark]

Oh the soundtrack sucked balls, I just Googled it. QT obviously should have asked for my input.

THE
ALL ABOUT
AARDVARK

[Flack]

Saw it last night.

It's hard to review because, as Pinback said, it's not a traditional movie. There's no growth or character arc, per se. Hell, it's kind of tough to say who the protagonist even is. It's... well, I don't even know what it is. It's a love letter to an era, and more than that, a documentation of it's demise. And also like Pinback said, it's Tarantino's most non-Tarantino film. If you think about Tarantino's signature things -- blood, violence, f-bombs, n-bombs, long dialogues -- this film is missing most of those things. It traded them for social commentary.

I could have saved myself a bunch of typing by just quoting Pinback's original review and replying with "yup."

I thought it was interesting how it painted Manson's girls/family. In this film, they're mostly minding their own business until provoked. Even on "that" fateful evening, the family members get treated like second hand citizens by a member of the Hollywood elite. For 50 years I've heard and read a lot of angles in regards to Manson's motivations, but never encountered one that made me almost (almost) sympathize with them.

Of course nothing's simple with Tarantino, and the real story isn't the story, but the story under the story -- one of older Hollywood icons being traded in for new ones, and maybe the idea that when something has run its course, it'll end even if you try to prevent it. As the closing credits rolled, my thoughts were of the little Dutch boy sticking his finger in a broken dam, trying to stop it from leaking. When it's a dam's time to blow, it's time.

[Tdarcos]

Hey, the credits say: "Screenplay by Quentin Tarantino".

You can't have QT write the screenplay of a movie and then say it's not a QT movie.

You could if he wasn't the director, which in the case of OUATIH, he was. As was pointed out by Cinema Sins, Crimson Tide[*] got some script doctoring "on the Q.T." but nobody claims it was a Q.T. movie. Usually the movie is credited to the director notwithstanding who wrote it. (In the previous sentence I resisted the urge to use "irregardless" instead of "notwithstanding.")

————
[*]I don't know why that movie was called Crimson Tide; every time I've seen Tide detergent it was either white crystals or blue and white pods. I've never seen Tide in red or crimson.

[Tdarcos]

Damn, I forgot why I was posting here.

I was on the phone with my brother last night, and he happened to mention that he saw the above entitled movie, and his comment was, more-or-less "what was the point?"

I mean, I get it, the film is an examination of an alternative reality where the world changed in some fashion from ours. Like Q.T. did in Inglorious Basterds where it showed a world where certain Nazis (such as the fictional Hans Landa) changed sides and Hitler was successfully murdered, quite possibly saving lives (on both Allied and Axis sides.)

[Flack]

Damn, I forgot why I was posting here.

Best of.