10/10

Rating: 10/10 (6 August 2019)

Upon a third viewing of Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood, to my surprise, I was still in this rhapsodic state similar to opening night. The movie has well-crafted characters, fictional and non, that make it easy to fall in-love with this semi imaginative world that's splendiferous. My knowledge of cinema/music was stretched and it was really nice seeing Quentin geek out with the references. I particularly felt drawn to the Hullabaloo scene which was choreographed to a tee (Leo sings better than he thinks). Brad's humor reminds of his performance in "Burn After Reading". Albeit the outrage of Bruce's depiction would make you think it was demeaning, Quentin wrote one of the best lines & directed his best shot of his career that being Lee's "My hands are registered as lethal weapons..." bit. Manson's one scene was menacing enough & I'm glad Tarantino didn't add more. Almost teared up when "Out Of Time" came on and propelled the transition Rick has, the lights of restaurants one-by-one turning on, as well as Sharon being beautifully honored. "Twelve Thirty" serves as a great transition song too, making me more emotionally invested in the story. Also, Mikey Madison was a standout to me in the final action sequence, pig impressions and all. The ending climax brought the same feelings akin to that of Basterds & Django. Phenomenal writing. Possibly my favorite film ever & I'm glad other people share the same sentiments. Now, hopefully, come award season everyone who worked on this masterpiece will be rewarded. I'll be seeing this once more in September just for good measure because you wouldn't look at the Mona Lisa just once, right? My love for it is immeasurable. Lastly, I think this quote by Sam Shepard captures the ending Quentin crafted for Rick, "The most authentic endings are the ones which are already revolving towards another beginning." His love-letter was delivered, his Magnum Opus for sure. Need I say more?