Once Upon A Time...UGH

Rating: 2/10 (2 September 2019)

P.S.: I'm not a QT fan, so according to your opinions of him, this will either be extremely biased or very honest. :)
QUICK PLOT EXPLANATION
There's no plot.
But we are stuck with "three" characters. Rick Dalton, who is a "dying" actor. Cliff Boothe, Dalton's stunt double and... Sharon Tate?
Basically it's a movie about the struggles of Hollywood actors in the 60s. A Hollywood movie for Hollywood made by Hollywood.
That's the plot, even though I can't really complain about it since all of QT's movies have no plot essentially. Tarantino loves to spill blood for the sake of spilling blood and that's about it, pure entertainment, there's no secret curtain that leads to a greater more philosophical critique of violence. Tarantino just love violence, as much as he likes feet.
PRODUCTION
The production of this movie is really amazing, from camera angles to music to great acting. It really gets you in the feels when you get to see LA and how it was back in the 60s. Great cinematography though this is the only thing this movie has to offer and since QT has the money investors for that, he'll always be able to have great production.
THIS IS NOT DOUBLE STANDARDS BUT HOLLYWOOD HAVING NO STANDARDS AT ALL.
This movie, not only had a very slow pace, but it was grotesque to the point that it was not needed and made no sense. I did expect more out of it since I'm very into the True Crime Community, I wanted to see more out of the Manson Family. When we were allowed to see it, we weren't given the opportunity to understand that we peaked into the secret life of the family. Because the pace was so slow and unnecessary blood was spilled we couldn't understand what was really happening and where we were. Then again there were scenes such as the one where Cliff tries to fix the antena on the roof and then there's a shoot of Sharon just dancing. What if it was a reference to a Robert Redford film? No one got it.
At the end of the film it feels really rushed up, like someone told Tarantino he can't make a 5h movie so he has to make it quick, and that really destroyed the mood (if there was one in the first place).I like to think that maybe he rushed it up so he could make us experience the adrenaline that'll come from the "fight scene" but that is very thoughtful and I don't believe Tarantino thought anything through while making this movie.
REFERENCES
As you'd expect this movie has a lot of "Easter Eggs" from his films and spaghetti dramas from the 60s. That said if you aren't a huge nerd of the 60s era or just an old man with a lot of free time then you wont get the references. Thus I won't be explaining them cause they don't change the fact that the script was poor, bad and plain boring.
THE COMPLEXITY OF SHARON TATE
Instead of focusing on extremely unlikable characters that are the only real characters of this movie, I'd like to understand Sharon Tate's reason of being in the film in the first place. The only thing that was showcased of her personality is a short explanation of her dating life from someone else, her dirty feet and that she always smiles and dances. What a complex human being!
Sharon never got the opportunity to explain who she was and how her thought process is like, we didn't get the opportunity to explore her persona, so it made it very easy to understand why she was in the movie:
Firstly, cause a hot character like her was missing entirely and Sharon (and Margot Robbie) was the element that would complete this feverish White Male dream. In other words Male Gaze. It was a male to male gift, offering close shots of her mouth, ass when running errands downtown and her feet. That's what her whole personality comprised of.
Secondly, QT and his team understood that this movie had no "driving force", something that would sell it easily. So he chose to exploit Sharon Tate's tragic story and use it to promote a movie that has nothing to do with her. It was just a promotion with her name plastered all over it, which I find very degrading and misogynistic.
THE AWKWARD CASE OF FEET
I did mention before the scenes of feet in this movie. Both shots are uninteresting and long and even though I wouldn't have made it such a big deal because QT is a known foot fetishist, I will make it a deal because of how awkward both actresses felt about it. In the time of the "Me Too" movement actresses still have to repress their feelings about scenes, with Margaret Qualley disclosing that she had expressed her opinion on not wanting to show her feet but ultimately having to do it. Margot Robbie also got very "upset" when she was asked the question "are we allowed to put our feet up in the cinema?". I don't understand the reason of why such discomforting scenes, for both the viewer and the actresses, should be added since they offer nothing.
BRUCE LEE AND WHITE MALE POWER
Of course I can't not speak of the obvious thrashing of whatever comprises Bruce Lee's personality. It's very funny that Tarantino views him this way if you remember that he has been inspired by Asian cinema and martial arts to the point where he uses Bruce Lee's iconic yellow suit in Kill Bill! QT slandered Bruce Lee's character for a white male power fantasy action sequence and it's as degrading as it sounds.
VIOLENCE
Truth is I was expecting some bad ass fight scene with a pregnant Sharon vs the Manson Family but all I got was disappointment. The ending was not unexpected but rather confusing. It didn't fit the mood that had already been constructed. It wasn't confusing because the fight scene was bad, it was confusing because I really couldn't understand why that fight was happening, I couldn't understand what was going to happen next and why was everyone ok with such gore and smiling after everything took place.
IN CONCLUSION
At the end of the day I give this movie 2/10 because even though it left me wondering if the movie finally started or not and how much I would rather sleep, I did enjoy the acting and the music. But that's to be expected since Tarantino has an excellent taste in choosing actors and music. But then again that's the only thing he's good at.