Excellent movie

Rating: 10/10 (28 July 2019)

Tarantino's done it again with a highly entertaining movie.
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is a complete ode to sixties films and television, jammed full of nostalgia. The movie looks great, both colored and shot to evoke the era. Costume and setting is strongly nostalgic.
Yet again Tarantino shows a true mastery of film with inspired editing, music and camera work.
This is the closest the director has gotten to a pure comedy with some strongly crafted bits and dialogue. With his emphasis on more intense action-oriented films these past few years, it's nice to see him returning to a more let's-have-fun-with-this tone that he had in Pulp Fiction and his segment in the anthology film Four Rooms. (That short contribution is tragically underexposed. You should really see it if you get the chance.) As with most Tarantino films, he does a great job of catching you off-guard at moments with the plot.
Needless to say that Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are great actors, but they really knock it of the park here with the former as a comically over-the-top insecure actor and the latter as his cool, confident stunt man/chauffer/go-for/friend.
As had been his habit for some of his films, Tarantino succeeds despite his more questionable impulses. This includes but is not limited to frequent use of the b-word in regard to Hispanic Americans, the controversial use of Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch), the Manson family, and Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha). (Yeah, Polanski isn't in this or say that much, and his infamous crime doesn't factor into this, but it's hard not to think about it when he's mentioned. It doesn't help that Tarantino has defended him in the past. Yeah, Tarantino recently apologized, but you can't help wondering if he was sincere or did it for self-preservation due to the MeToo movement.)
Running at two hours and forty-one minutes, the second act is longer than it needs to be. A lot of the Sharon Tate scenes don't really add anything and I kind of felt that the role was so light that it wasn't worth an actress of Robbie's caliber.
This movie is an open range for Tarantino to spread his knowledge of film and television history. Some of it is rather interesting, but there is just so much that it feels self-indulgent and awkward.
Yeah, if you're not a fan of Tarantino and thinks he goes too far, I don't think this'll change your mind. For everyone else: I personally think this is one of his top five pictures.