Once Upon A Tarantino Goodbye Letter

Rating: 10/10 (12 October 2019)

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood review
The Beginning
Quentin Tarantino, one of the most well known writers and directors of the 21st century and my personal favourite writer/director, widely recognised for his obsessive use of violence and gore accompanied by extremely unique and well written dialogue spoken by characters who have been exquisitely developed. 25 years ago Tarantino released the cult classic Pulp Fiction. A movie known for having non linear seperate stories that all correlate and meet together at the end. This concept was re used in a fresh and exciting way with his 9th and final film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, with there being three stories going on at the same time, Rick Daltons movie career, Cliff Booths downtime and life and finally Sharon Tate's life. Cliff and Ricks stories connect in many occasions and this works incredibly well even though they are both quite contrasting events. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth is played by Brad Pitt, as expected they are now the best movie duo I have seen in a long time.
The Good
If someone was to ask me, what was your favourite part about Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I would answer with full confidence the character interactions. DiCaprio and Pitt play friends in a such a believable way that it creates an extreme level of immersion in the story and is not doubted for a second. They do not both change the way the character would do something because the plot demands it, and of course this is because of excellent writing, but, the duo played the parts with such passion and realism that they deserve credit for it. Margot Robbie played the beautiful Sharon Tate, which she executed perfectly with her bubbly nature and excited personality. She truly connected with the character in the small amount of scenes she was present, speaking of which, a lot of the current media has criticised Tarantino for his choice to not include Margot as much as the other two, but i really believe that it was done with perfect style, she is made in a way that shows the viewers "hey everyone this is a real person from this time and she is going to provide the more casual story" which was done incredibly well. The plot is very well done with its constant nods to 60s and 70s culture at the same time as continuing with its own take on the period. The start of the movie with Rick Dalton meeting with Marvin Schwarzt played by a familiar face, Al Pacino, was a really good way to start the story. It set the mood, the time, the attitude of our characters, our characters problem and it showed what the characters wanted. Rick is an actor who starred in a western TV show called Bounty Law and hasn't had much of a time in anything else since. He really wants to be a face in the film industry but is struggling. Cliff is Ricks stuntman and friend who drives him around to where he needs to be, Cliff is very relaxed and likes where he is. A theory going around town suggests he killed his wife so no one will hire him, so he sticks with Rick. The story sounds familiar but completely breaks expectation with its focus on what actually happens during the time not just skipping days at a time to keep the movie moving. Cliffs interactions with the hippies is really unique and was done very stylistically with them being a cult and having a strange societal system. At one point there is a large focus around Ricks work on a new TV series called Lancer in which he plays a bad guy with a lot of attitude. Rick flunks his first day and goes off in a rage that was perfectly acted by Leo and i suspect partially improvised. The next day he goes back to the set to continue filming and this time does it superbly and has to do only one take, this starts the confidence within Rick which sparks him for the rest of the story. At the end Rick is eventually noticed by a fellow famous face in the Hollywood community and there we have our characters resolution, he has finally been noticed in Hollywood. This movie is the closest of tarantino's films to recreate the incredible style that was present in Pulp Fiction with different stories coming together at the end.
The Bad
To be fully truthful i am really struggling to find what i personally found bad about the film. The only parts i could say was; the hippies motive was pretty weak towards killing movie stars, Margot Robbie's story wasn't as interesting as the others so it slowed down some of the plot at times and the last scene was a little bit rushed at certain points but it did kind of work with the dialogue over the top of the scene.
The Ugly
The Ugly section is for any mistakes i notice. Whether it be on screen FX, make up fails, costume fails, setting fails, dialogue stuff ups and character breaking moments that didn't make sense. This movie included none of this, of course it didn't it's Quentin Tarantino, the perfectionist director.
The Verdict
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was a superb watch and is the perfect note for Tarantino to leave on. This movie was his final gift to us and his tribute to the golden age of hollywood and it's did a fine fucking job.
10/10
Golden Revolver Award
(gonna use this as an award for movies that do their own style and nail it)