It's the story of a fading B star and his friend set against the backdrop of the death of an era of innocence.
edit: I do put the disclaimer that I'm not a huge Tarantino fan. He has some really good movies, a lot of meh ones as well. I don't think I'm biased when it comes to him.
It's the story of a fading B star and his friend set against the backdrop of the death of an era of innocence.
edit: I do put the disclaimer that I'm not a huge Tarantino fan. He has some really good movies, a lot of meh ones as well. I don't think I'm biased when it comes to him.
Essentially you just follow the two of them around and then the ultraviolent final scene happens. The tense scenes lead nowhere, the funny parts are self-contained, and there is absolutely zero narrative build-up or progression. Like I say, just a glimpse into an alternative 1969 Hollywood, which to me doesn't carry a 161 minute film.
In terms of traditional beginning-middle-end storytelling, it is all middle.
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Essentially you just follow the two of them around and then the ultraviolent final scene happens. The tense scenes lead nowhere, the funny parts are self-contained, and there is absolutely zero narrative build-up or progression. Like I say, just a glimpse into an alternative 1969 Hollywood, which to me doesn't carry a 161 minute film.
In terms of traditional beginning-middle-end storytelling, it is all middle.
The hyperbolic comedic release of tension is the point though.
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Put me down as a huge fan of Once Upon a Time... I adored every single frame of that movie on first viewing, went out and bought the bluray, and have now watched it 2 more times since. Easily one of my top 3 favorite Tarantino flicks.
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The hyperbolic comedic release of tension is the point though.
That was mentioned before when I complained about the movie at its release. If so, that contributes to my opinion that it was a poor film as there was no need to release any significant tension as none had been built until the beginning of that final scene. Everything before was so disconnected and compartmentalized that I felt it had no weight. The scene was so independent from the rest of the film that it didn't fit.
I wasn't a big fan of the ultraviolent endings of Inglourious Basterds or Django Unchained either, but they at least served the story in the ways you mentioned. A cohesiveness that was lacking in Once Upon a Time.
Look, I'm glad people enjoyed it. I'm a Tarantino fan, so any success he receives I hope encourages him to make more art. However, I firmly place this as the worst of his films and haven't recommended it to anyone I know.
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"I see as much misery out of them moving to justify theirselves as them that set out to do harm." -Dr. Amos "Doc" Cochran
Watched Dark Waters. Great movie about how disgusting the American capitalist system is. The people that control the world’s largest and most profitable companies don’t care about you or me, they only care about more profits.
Rob Bilot is a goddamn hero who should be revered and held up as an example of the best that human beings can offer to the world with regards to caring about your fellow humans and condemning the ‘big business’ model of profits above anything else and the individual idea that if I’m getting mine, #### everyone else.
Watch this movie.
Quoted to bump, very powerful film. Far better than anything I've seen in the past year and yes, Rob Bilot is a damn hero.
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It's the story of a fading B star and his friend set against the backdrop of the death of an era of innocence.
edit: I do put the disclaimer that I'm not a huge Tarantino fan. He has some really good movies, a lot of meh ones as well. I don't think I'm biased when it comes to him.
I was really on board not to like this film and I really did like it.
Finally finished Once..., the ending was classic Tarantino and obviously the best part, but the movie could have been edited down to under 2 hours without losing anything. I was on my phone for most of it and I didn't miss anything important. I really appreciate it on a technical level, the recreation of Hollywood in 1969 was spot on, but storywise it was threadbare
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Likely not the first to mention this but Prime Video has the documentary called "Apollo 11" right now which is incredible, you absolutely have to watch this.
The image quality is astounding as it was scanned using some specialized equipment built specifically for this film in order to produce IMAX quality film. There is no narrator or cuts to interviews, they sometimes have a news anchor from archival footage describing the scene at take off, the moon landing and then the return to Earth but mostly it's just the conversations happening between the mission control teams and Neil, Buzz and Michael. It all just illustrates what a monumental achievement this was.
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Watched Once Upon a Time last night, I thought it was great. I don't know if I get the complaints that it didn't really have a story, I thought it did. It was beautifully filmed, and I enjoyed the dialog.
Hemi-Cuda, I imagine if you told Tarantino that you'd been on your phone, and didn't miss anything he'd give you a big smack upside the head. You miss out on the immersion. It really felt like 1969.
Often long movies like that have my wife asking to watch them over 2 nights, but when I paused it 2 hours in we were surprised we had gone that far, and finished it. So it didn't feel like a drag to us.
I will say DiCaprio's part was the least interesting in the movie though, and could have used less of it.
Watched Once Upon a Time last night, I thought it was great. I don't know if I get the complaints that it didn't really have a story, I thought it did. It was beautifully filmed, and I enjoyed the dialog.
Hemi-Cuda, I imagine if you told Tarantino that you'd been on your phone, and didn't miss anything he'd give you a big smack upside the head. You miss out on the immersion. It really felt like 1969.
Often long movies like that have my wife asking to watch them over 2 nights, but when I paused it 2 hours in we were surprised we had gone that far, and finished it. So it didn't feel like a drag to us.
I will say DiCaprio's part was the least interesting in the movie though, and could have used less of it.
The wife and I watched it last night, and we really liked it as well.
Watched The Gentleman and thought it was very entertaining.
I had the same reaction. Definitely not overtaking Snatch or Lock Stock, but it was worth a watch for sure. I think it's probably the third movie if you were doing a Guy Ritchie marathon. But I didn't think it quite had the same soul as those two movies. Felt somehow too polished. Hugh Grant stole the thing though, really fun performance to watch.
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Originally Posted by nik-
It's the story of a fading B star and his friend set against the backdrop of the death of an era of innocence.
Yup.
I watched OUATIH as well recently, and enjoyed it. It wasn't my favourite movie of the year or anything, but it was still an excellent way to spend an evening. I am, at this point in my movie-watching existence, really into the creation of an atmosphere more than anything else, and that movie created a mood and a sensation better than probably anything he's done since Reservoir Dogs.
It was, however, quite an un-Tarantino movie, other than the sort of "fantasy" element that has crept into his style particularly since Kill Bill. And it's ludicrous to suggest that it's comparable to Pulp Fiction.
I think if you were young in the late 60's or early 70's, you probably would have watched the whole thing with a massive smile on your face throughout.
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I remember prior to watching it that everything indicated I was going to hate OUATIH.
And we all know that Tarantino has a solid reputation of being hit or miss...looking at you Jackie Brown!
But I loved it. I thought that film was fantastic, in a lot of ways it reminded me of a lighter 'No Country for Old Men' and that movie wasnt everyone's cup of tea either.
I thought Tarantino knocked it out of the park with this one.
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Watched Jennifer's Body on Netflix. Surprisingly good, would recommend!
Obviously not high art, but quite consistently entertaining and somewhat messed up in the best way. Easy to see why it's found a second life after originally completely bombing at the theaters.
Would probably go down well for female horror fans, as the story revolves around a BFF relationship between two girls.
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Watched Once Upon a Time last night, I thought it was great. I don't know if I get the complaints that it didn't really have a story, I thought it did. It was beautifully filmed, and I enjoyed the dialog.
Hemi-Cuda, I imagine if you told Tarantino that you'd been on your phone, and didn't miss anything he'd give you a big smack upside the head. You miss out on the immersion. It really felt like 1969.
Often long movies like that have my wife asking to watch them over 2 nights, but when I paused it 2 hours in we were surprised we had gone that far, and finished it. So it didn't feel like a drag to us.
I will say DiCaprio's part was the least interesting in the movie though, and could have used less of it.
IMO it's a special movie that will stand up in time for its depiction of the late 60's. I think any non-action movie that pushes 3 hours isn't going to be for everyone but for the entire movie I felt transported back in time so not a single minute of the runtime was lost on me.
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