Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood [Blu-ray] [2019] [Region Free]

In 1969 Tinseltown was on it's last legs and the industry was changing, TV was killing the studios and many were closing, public tastes were changing for smaller more gritty films and Rick Dalton wants in. His TV show is going nowhere and his career might be going down the tubes. If he can get a part in a big new western he might get lucky and make it as a star in the new Hollywood. In another part of town Charles Manson, his dreams of being a singer dashed, plans another way to become famous.Spoilers ahead, watch film first!!!!Once upon a time in Hollywood (OUTIH) is Quentin Tarantinos' ninth film and like many of his films it's a slow boiler. Setting up his characters, the environment and subtle character traits (that he can exploit later) is pretty much all that happens for perhaps the first 100 minutes or so. Who these people they are, what they want, their dreams and desires, there squabbles, insecurities, where and how they live and most importantly the close and subtle relationship between Rick and Cliff. This is the meat and bones of the story, yes Manson is about as are his followers, Tate and Polanski are also present but these are really bit players. It's the Rick and Cliff show for the most part and enjoyable it most certainly is. Pitt and DiCaprio are tremendous in their respective parts, Robbie, Pacino and a host of other well know actors pop up do there bit and disappear.This section of the film is never boring, but it's also not exactly cinematic either, some scenes go on for far too long and some could have been dropped altogether or perhaps condensed. The film within a film section was far too long, and although I understand why it was there, it kills what little pace there was and didn't need to be the length it was. We know he's an actor, we know he struggles with doubt, we know he is uncertain of his abilities, we know he thinks he is over the hill, why stretch out what we already know for ages of screen time. This was one section that almost got fast forwarded during the second watch. In my humble opinion Tarantino could have just dropped 15 minutes of runtime and it will have made little difference to the film at all. The film within a film could have been covered in five minutes with some prudent cutting and editing. As a viewer. Tell me it's happening, show me a few minutes and move on, Job done, don't linger longer than is required. As you would expect with a Tarantino movie, you get great dialogue, fantastic performances from all concerned, the sets, costumes and photography are all excellent. However a big shout out has to go the production designer who so faithfully recreated a world now long gone. It all looks absolutely fantastic and totally authentic down to the tiniest detail. You are transported back to the swinging sixties!The way Tarantino decides to deal with the truly dreadful murder of the pregnant Sharon Tate is to “change history” as he has done before. She is not murdered and the murderous Manson cult members are not confronted with a helpless and defenceless suburbanite but someone far more capable of looking after himself. Even though this has been commented on by many as a cheap way out of dealing with a shocking piece of cultural history, I found the idea of the idiotic and drugged up Manson acolytes cocking things up good style and getting their assess kicked quite amusing. However the violence in these final scenes is quite brutal and wiped the grin off my face pretty quick.So we have a fabulous film that just feels and looks right, however, at least for me, is Tarantino beginning to get predictable? Does he have problems NOT making a Tarantino film and as a result does his recent output, although beautifully put together, begin to feel a bit repetitive. The similarities in structure to The Hateful Eight and Inglorious Bastards, where we are all just waiting for the “good stuff” at the end to wind up the movie in a violent and often graphic blood fest to wind things up. Do his fans (me included) feel cheated if we don't get this and does Tarantino just feed us what we want (explosive violence) in a nicely produced seemingly artistic package to assuage our guilt at actually enjoying all the mayhem before our eyes. Are the tremendous artistic endeavours made just a way of hiding the real truth that we actually come for the violence and use the art as a get out of jail free card. Is he actually saying to us, the viewer, you came here for this don't blame me for the violence, you love it and that's why you keep buying the tickets. Is he trolling his audience, is he asking them to look into themselves and ask why they like his movies and why they keep coming back for more.It may be that Tarantino fully recognises that he has niched himself to such a degree that he can no longer tell a story without the violence required by his ticket buying fans. It's telling that when Jackie Brown was released with substantially less violence than Pulp Faction, fans were not at all pleased and the film did not do particularly well. His next film Kill Bill part 1 was a crimson blood fest on steroids, so we can say with a degree of certainty that he looks for stories that can incorporate a fair amount of violence. Film ten, supposedly his last, may very well prove me wrong, but I suspect that the formulae will prevail and that his investors will want more of the same, more of what has been a success in the past, in other words what sells and makes a profit. A true artist, I suspect would not enjoy having these kinds of expectations or imposed parameters placed upon his work. A novelist could not use the same basic idea again and again and neither would they want to in all probability. Perhaps it's now impossible for Tarantino to NOT make a Tarantino movie. Maybe his artistic integrity has been compromised just too far. Perhaps after film ten, he may go into television, Netflix I am sure would be interested. Maybe he can find a new audience on a different platform, perhaps he's done with movies.OUTIH is a fabulous first watch, it's classy, has great performances, a great soundtrack, style seeping out of it's DVD case, and yes the end is very violent indeed, just what the fans want and expect, however subsequent viewings are less successful when you kind of notice the formula beginning to show through. Eighty percent slow build up and then a explosive twenty percent violent orgy with lots of blood to the end credits.Tarantino is without doubt a fantastically talented auteur film maker, but he may have boxed himself into a cinematic black hole that the fans will not let him escape from.

I'm not a huge fan of this movie but I bought it for a friend who loves it.That pretty much sums it up for me, you either love it or you don't.I can say though that it is however very well acted, great cinematography, clever camera work and cool soundtrack. Just lacks in the story for my liking. Each to their own. My friend says it's amazing.

very good

His best in a while

I first watched this film at the cinema and had rather mixed feelings about it at the time, but watching it again on this DVD has brought home to me how really brilliant Once Upon A Time in ... Hollywood is.Before initially seeing the film at the cinema, I had expected it to be about the Manson family killings at the home of Sharon Tate and being a Tarantino film would be quite violent and gory. How wrong could I be? Instead we have a film that focuses on a tv series actor, Rick Dalton, who is grappling with coming to terms that his career and popularity is waning and who just happens to live next door to Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski on Cielo Drive in Hollywood. So, I came out of the cinema with slightly mixed feelings as my expectations had led me to expect something completely different. However, I am so glad I bought this DVD version as it has enabled me to watch the film again (and again) and marvel at its many strengths, many of which I missed the first time around.Once Upon A Time in ... Hollywood has a really authentic feel about what Los Angeles and Hollywood must have been like in 1969 with its hippy culture, movie theatres, restaurant style bars, clothes, cars, Playboy mansion parties, etc. There are many different references, some more oblique than others, to the period, such as the film posters, the black and white television shows, the ads that interrupt the music on car radio stations, depictions of film genres that were so popular at the time (e.g. Spaghetti Westerns, Kung-Fu martial arts action movies, etc.) and, of course, the music of the period (the Mamas and Papas, Deep Purple, Simon & Garfunkel, Jose Feliciano, Neil Diamond, etc).In addition, the lead actors are brilliant, creating totally believable characters: Brad Pitt as stuntman double Cliff Booth has deservedly received most of the plaudits but I think Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton and Margo Robbie as Sharon Tate are equally outstanding, as are a whole host of other famous actors who appear in the film (such as Al Pacino, Bruce Dern, Kurt Russell to name just a few).In addition, many of the scenes are so memorable but for different reasons; the brief but chilling appearance of Charles Manson as seen by a shirtless Cliff Booth who is fixing a t.v. aerial on the roof of Rick Dalton's home; the hilarious scene where Cliff Booth disagrees with Bruce Lee, Cliff Booth's visit to the Spahn Ranch where the Manson Family are living, and the tension created as the dramatic and bloody, climax approaches when Tex, Sadie and other members of the Mason Family start walking up Cielo Drive on that fateful dark, misty night.So, if you haven't seen the film or want to see it again, I highly recommend getting this DVD, turning the house lights down low and the sound volume up and let Once Upon A Time in ... Hollywood take you back to the late nineteen sixties - and if, like me, you were lucky enough to have been around at this time, let it bring back all those long forgotten memories of life in one's younger, carefree days. Thank you Quentin Tarantino for such a wonderfully evocative film.