Inside Universal Forums

Welcome to the Inside Universal Forums! Register a free account today to become a member. Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members and unlock our forums features!

  • Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.

Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood

Nov 23, 2013
21,484
28,765
Seattle, WA!
Tried to find a thread, but couldn't; so I am bringing it up here so we can discuss this film..

And simply put, IMO from one viewing (I plan on watching it again): it is not only the best film of the year, it is my favorite Tarantino film made from him.

It feels like such a great tribute towards that period of time in the entertainment industry, but is one of the best acted film's made from Tarantino (with props to Brad Pitt for his performance).
 
I really hope people go out and see this. It would send a message that live-action movies with a big budget and no franchise connection can still be made.
 
It's sort of got a Seinfeld-effect. The movie doen't have a clear plot nor does it follow the typical rules about how a film is "supposed" to be made. Often times you feel like you're just watching them go about their day and the movie is sort of not about much of anything at a given time.

...But it works. It has no business being as good as it is, but that's Tarantino for you.
 
I love the first 2 hours and twenty minutes of the movie. Might need to watch the movie again to see if I'll feel any different about the ending. I know it's what people expect from Tarantino, but something about it just felt so disconnected with the beginning of the movie. I was kinda hoping for a Jackie Brown, wistful sort of ending, no need to revel in violence, just the coming end of an amazing time - I still have to admit that the end was fun to watch in the moment, but something about it just gave me whiplash. Idk.
 
I think this is such an anti-thesis to Pulp Fiction, in the sense they're a bunch of nobodies whose events and decisions lead to significant consequences, this is completely the opposite - a movie about people who should mean something to the world, yet their decisions will never matter nor be heard of, as made especially evident through the last moments of the movie.

This is also definitely Brad Pitt's movie and his best. Tension runs well and has a very weird payoff (specifically at the Manson Ranch). I'm looking forward to watching this again.
 
I have never seen a lot of Quentin Tarintino movies, just Kill Bill and Inglourious Basterds. I still have to watch Pulp Fiction, which I've never seen before in my entire life. (Please don't kill me)

Now about the movie, oh my god.
This is probably one of my favorite films of all time. The acting, the story, and the dialogue was just so good. And the ending..... oh man it was beautiful. The ending was just so Tarintino, Iove it. Brad Pitt did a fantastic job, and Cliff Booth was the best part. Ricky Dalton was awesome too. Leo did a great job to this character aswell. Once again, still haven't seen Pulp Fiction, but if I had to rank the Tarantino films I have watched, Once Upon A Time is right now #1 in my spot.
 
I enjoyed the movie, and I had one thought after watching it even though I know it will never happen. I really want a movie based on those 6 months overseas, I think it would be a hilarious buddy film.
 
Just got back from watching this at the only appropriate venue to see this on the big screen: The Hollywood Cineramadome in 70mm. Just watching it in that format made the film that much better.

This is my second favorite Tarantino film with Pulp Fiction being first. Absolutely fantastic movie. It felt like looking into a window in the 60's. Though there was a lack of plot, Tarantino really makes it work with excellent dialogue. The ending was really, really great. I hope this film does better than it is right now because people really need to watch this!
 
I liked it but I felt like I wanted more of a plot. Also the creepiness whenever the hippies came out, it felt like the start of a horror movie. The Spahn Ranch scene could've been a movie I watched all to itself.

Brad Pitt definitely stole the show. He was easy going, but when he was by myself, there was an intensity in his eyes that hid his darker urges that we saw at the end.

What did everyone think of Sharon Tate not having a ton of lines?
 
Absolutely loved this film. The ending was pretty good too imo. The blow torch was just absurd and amazing at the same time. Incredible acting by the 3 leads as well as usual. Sharon Tate not being killed or having many lines was an interesting choice, but I think she was there to almost set the tone a bit. He never let us forget what was going to be coming, but it just didn't come in the way we expected. I really dug it.
 
Tarantino to direct 5 episodes of the fiction Bounty Law show, as seen in the movie. With Sony not having a streaming service, I have to wonder where this will end up. The landscape is so large for creative adult television with Netflix, Amazon, HBOMax, Hulu, Apple TV+, and Peacock.
 
Resurrecting this thread because I finished the novel QT wrote, with the same title and story (sort of).

While this was probably my least favorite of his movies, I loved this book. I guess I shouldn't be surprised he's a talented writer, but the voice in his scripts transfers well to prose. It allows him to capture the little bits of trivia he likes to drop. Several scenes in the movie pop up again in the book, but they are richer given the characters' inner monologues. The Bruce Lee scene, for one, plays out much better in the book, addressing pretty much all the criticism leveled at the movie version. And arguably the best scene in the book got cut for a quick voice-over in the movie. It's set in a piano bar, and my guess is music rights are cheaper to publish than put on screen.

Maybe the biggest surprise was how well the book handles Manson. QT clearly did his research. He manages to humanize the the iconic serial killer, which in this case means illustrating how he was just another never-was fame-seeker turned hippie pimp. The Sharon Tate scenes, while shorter, are good as well. Unlike the movie, I see now why both were included in the story, as examples of the worst and best things that can happen in Hollywood.

Throwing this last part in a spoiler tag out of an abundance of caution, deals with the primary difference between book and film:

My biggest gripe with the movie was the ending. It felt ... wrong. Icky I guess, trying to pretend tragic real world history can be rewritten like that. The book almost completely side-steps that issue. In the middle of the book, it casually mentions the time Rick Dalton took a flamethrower to three hippie home invaders, but doesn't specifically say who they were. We last see Sharon heading home to host a pool party on the fateful night, with no coda explaining her fate. The Spahn Ranch and a couple other scenes play out like the movie, but we never get a full description of the final fight. Instead the book ends with a far more ambiguous ending, which feels more like old school QT.

Anyway, a great read if that era of pop culture at all interests you.
 
I have the book, I just have to read it..lol

I'm nearing the end of that book right now and maybe I'll pick this up and go through it....would LOVE him to do these for Pulp Fiction and Jango
 
Top