Tarantino's Best Since Vol. 2

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 2020)

The negative reviews are from people used to watching the film equivalent of popcorn (what I mean to say is that they have no attention span and expect the media they consume to be spelled out for them in large bold text). As far as cinema goes, Tarantino's last three before this one were underwhelming. Not that there weren't great moments in 8, Django, or Bast-rds, but none where a satisfying, whole experience. These films lacked humility and I would call them, for lack of a better phase, ego projects beyond Tarantino's usual sensibilities. Once Upon a Time however, while not downplaying Tarantino's ego, finds the perfect balance between character study, character drama, mystery, and suspense. If I were being objective I would rate the film 8/10, but seeing that the score is 7.7 at the time of this review I feel an obligation to rate it a 10 (especially when Joker has an 8.5; IMDB score has never been a fair representation of the quality of a film or TV show, but the site has gotten horrendous in the past 5 years).