{"id":44034,"date":"2019-07-28T20:58:09","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T00:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=44034"},"modified":"2019-07-28T20:58:24","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T00:58:24","slug":"once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2019\/07\/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Movie review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Bob Garver<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                It has\nbeen a disappointing couple of weeks. Last weekend I had to watch a\ncontemptable reimagining of a childhood favorite in the imagination-less remake\nof \u201cThe Lion King.\u201d And this weekend I had to watch one of the biggest misfires\nin the career of one of my favorite filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino\u2019s \u201cOnce Upon\na Time in Hollywood.\u201d This film is the biggest let-down since \u201cDeath Proof,\u201d\nTarantino\u2019s contribution to the intentionally schlocky \u201cGrindhouse\u201d anthology. \u201cDeath\nProof\u201d didn\u2019t work because there was too much banal dialogue before Kurt\nRussell betrayed his hand as a serial killer, and this movie suffers from a\nsimilar lack of tension. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                Leonardo\nDiCaprio and Brad Pitt star as an insecure 60\u2019s movie star and his stunt\ndouble, respectively. Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) is being asked to take guest spots\non TV shows and star in spaghetti westerns, which tells him that his career is\nin a downward spiral. Cliff Booth (Pitt) serves as his unofficial assistant,\nhis stuntman career stunted by rumors that he was responsible for his wife\u2019s\ndeath (the one scene we get with the wife is a lame wannabe shock, and seems\nout of character for Cliff since we\u2019ve already seen him be patient with prima\ndonna Rick). Also in the mix is Rick\u2019s happy-go-lucky neighbor Sharon Tate\n(Margot Robbie), who doesn\u2019t really have an arc, but sure seems to enjoy life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                One\nday, Rick struggles to appear competent on the set of a TV western while Cliff\nruns afoul of the Manson Family. Rick finds himself outmatched by an 8-year-old\ncostar (Julia Butters), which leads first to intimidation, then pushes him to\ngreatness. Cliff picks up a hitchhiking Manson Family member (Margaret Qualley,\nand this being a Tarantino film you better believe she puts her dirty hippie\nfeet up on the dash), who leads him to the group\u2019s compound at the Spahn Ranch.\nCliff suspects that something may be amiss with old friend George Spahn (Bruce\nDern), and his distrustful nature gets him on the Family\u2019s bad side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six months pass, Rick and Cliff go to Italy and back, and\nthey arrive home on the night the Manson Family is planning something\nhorrendous. It looks like Tate and her friends may be in danger, and the same\ncan be said of Rick and Cliff, but keep in mind that Tarantino gave World War\nII a very different ending in \u201cInglourious Basterds\u201d so there\u2019s no reason why\nthis movie can\u2019t end with the Manson Family defeated and everybody cooling off\nwith a refreshing beverage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s in that ending with the Manson Family that we finally\nget some action, and the tension to go with it. Admittedly there was some of\nboth on the Spahn farm, but aside from that the most action we get until this\npoint were highlights of Rick\u2019s filmography and a fight between Cliff and Bruce\nLee (Michael Moh) where the stakes are hardly life or death. We\u2019re drawn to\nother Tarantino\u2019s movies because of the way violent criminals keep their cool\nand conversate meaningfully with other violent criminals, even when it\u2019s\npossible that they could be killed at any moment. But so much of this movie is\njust showbiz people conversating with other showbiz people, and with a 161\nminute runtime and without that trademark tension, the whole thing just seems\nlong-winded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure \u201cOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood\u201d was a blast for\nTarantino to film. He gets to recreate a lot of his favorite 60\u2019s institutions (party\nat the Playboy Mansion!) and write fan fiction with the likes of Bruce Lee and\nSteve McQueen. And arguably he\u2019s worked hard enough on his previous\nmasterpieces that he\u2019s earned the right to make a sluff-off film just for\nhimself. Just know that what you\u2019re getting is indeed a sluff-off film. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grade: C-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood\u201d is rated R for language\nthroughout, some strong graphic violence, drug use, and sexual references. Its\nrunning time is 161 minutes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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