ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (8/10)
8/6/2019

let me start by saying that i really enjoyed this movie and i would highly recommend watching it. with that out of the way, i'm going to dive in to the issues i have with once upon a time in hollywood. first, i felt like the narration was too inconsistent, and thought it should be more regular if used at all with it only being used only twice in the movie. the first instance was towards the beginning was almost out of nowhere and pretty unnecessary. to me, it seems like it was added to justify the second narration in the latter of the movie. instead of the narration adding to the movie it kind of came off as a way of showing being too hard so the movie told you. if the movie made the narration fit better into the movie or used more consistently, i think it would be more justified and not a problem.

the movie also lacked some personality. the movie had stylish cuts and transitions in some places but i wish it was more themed and more consistent. tarantino movies tend to have bold styles which i think this one lacked. i'm not saying it had to have an insane in your face style, but the movie seems to hint and even want to be bold. the narration, cuts, and transitions in parts of the movie try to push a theme. not to say the film had to be this way but looking back at tarantino's catalog it's almost surprising this movie wasn't in your face with it's aesthetic. not to say that the settings and music didn't give you any sense.

i wish the movie was maybe 45 minutes shorter. i feel like if this movie used more cuts and became more of a (for a lack of a better term) traditional tarantino film, it would hit harder. i think some scenes just dragged on a little too long or were plain unnecessary. the build-up towards the end feels a little too long in my opinion.

now that i'm over the negatives of the movie, here's what i liked. the sets and environments of this movie were great. whether it's the cars, buildings, signs, rooms, tv shows, all of it was convincing and amazingly done. for someone who hasn't lived in the late 60s, it felt like it was actually filmed then. the fake movies, radio stations, and media all looked from the time period too. the fake movies rick starred in were all shot and made to look perfect for the era. along with all that stuff, of course, the costumes were great too.

speaking of radio, the music was great. music for almost all of the movie came from radios or speakers. it made it feel more natural and was almost immersive. all of the picks only added to the movie and weren't distracting. one of my favorite scenes in the film is when cliff goes inside george's house to check up on him after seeing the manson family had basically appropriated his property. he walks towards his door in the house and suspenseful music is playing on the tv in the room and it really made that whole sequence special. a little criticism to add though is i do wish the movie had more original music. like some sort of theme, which is kind of used at the end of the movie.

the action, drama, emotional, and even day to day life scenes were all great. i will touch on the action and violence because it's a tarantino film. the fight scenes with cliff were all amazing from his fight with bruce lee to the guy who slashed his tire at the movie ranch. of course with the best of the action coming at the end with the mansons attempting to kill rick. tarantino's brand of stylish violence truly shines from the brutal burning of the girl in the pool at the hand of rick's flamethrower to cliff's dog responding to his clicks and viciously ripping apart the mansons, to cliff banging the ginger-haired girl over and over again into a phone making it ring each time. there's just so much to love about all of it that i would be here forever if i went on.

now the best part of this film were the characters/actors. all of the actors were great in this film. rick is shown as this actor who seems to think he's a has-been even though he's shown to be a pretty famous actor. he doesn't seem like too bad of a guy but just very out of touch. his relationship with cliff is both funny and heartwarming. cliff seems to know he's being taken advantage of but puts up with it anyway because he's a good friend. leo really shows his abilities with the emotion put into his character, personality, and even the way he speaks. i noticed he even pulled off this slight stutter ever so often which made the character so so so convincing. truly the strongest actor in the film. cliff is a badass with violent tendencies. he seems like a good guy but the movie leaves some grey area between if cliff had killed his wife. brad pitt killed it and truly embodies cliff perfectly. not to mention sharon tate, pussy, mr. shwarz, the mansons, and more. the bruce lee character might have been a little over the top but was convincing enough.

to wrap it up i didn't touch everything i wanted to in this review. i just wanted to recap some highlights but of course, there's more things i like/dislike about the movie. all in all though, once upon a time in hollywood is sure to be a classic. it has some flaws but overall it's entertainment value, time period, violence, emotion, slight grittiness, and amazing actors make up for it and some. saying that i'm almost a little disappointed that this movie wasn't a little bit more close to perfect. i wish it got a little more right because i want to like it even more than i do. for now and i could see myself both raising or lowering this rating in the future. i'm feeling an 8/10 for once upon a time in hollywood.