Tarantino is Still Tarantino and and so is Once Upon A Time ... in Hollywood

Rating: 9/10 (1 August 2019)

May well be QT's masterpiece, to date anyway. Several jaw-dropping scenes are cinematic tapestries and demonstrate a master, a once in a lifetime auteur, at work effortlessly exploring new dimensions and redefining the traditional narrative perspective and focus of post-millennial American film
Brad Pitt (who knew he could act?) is sublime as Leonardo's alter-ego/ID with a conscience; never hot, cold, tepid or lukewarm. He's always just right
Meanwhile DiCaprio, as if challenged by a mentor, unleashes a rousing, and occasionally astonishing, performance as the self-doubting, about to be washed-up and TV has-been Rick Dalton. But still, threads of late 1960s Jack Nicholson are obvious on the surface
Doubtless benefitting from both the advantages of experience and chronological age (he's just old enough to remember Woodstock, Altamont, perhaps even contemporaneous TV news stories of the Manson murders that signaled the tail end of the 60s), Pitt comes out on top and wins the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award going away
Long-legged Sarah Qualley is delightful and merits special mention as the mercurial, manic hippie chick and Manson disciple, Pussycat
For those familiar with the actual, brutal and evil events of August 9 1969, Margot Robbie presents as an indistinguishable, breath-taking and alas, heart-breaking 21st century Sharon Tate. Less is more, and Robbie's hypnotic countenance is a reminder that, paraphrasing Norma Desmond, "Actors don't need words when they have faces."
That's far from suggesting OUATIA is flawless, or even consistently engaging. At 2hrs 41mins, OUATIA is LONG. Read that sentence again: OUATIA is LONG
The Godfather (9.2/10 stars at imdb.com) needs just 177 minutes to present ten tumultuous years of violent, emotionally charged family life. In contrast, OUATIA is narratively obtuse and delivers a less impactful, although pleasantly surprising rewarding, finale ... and yet, after such an arduous buildup, Tarantino's tale concludes with a payoff puttering well short of the concussive climax of say, Erich von Stroheim's even longer (reconstructed, 3hr 59min exemplar version of 1924's) Greed.
Take note: Hollywood's popcorn audiences will be left doubting whether the trip was worth the ride
Watch OUATIA (8.6/10 stars), go home and immediately re-watch Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (8.4/10 stars). Decide for yourself which movie best depicts Hollywood and which one most closely reveals Hollywood in Hollywood's image
Either way, both efforts are abiding contributions to the unpredictable art of American filmmaking