I'm as real as a donut

Continuing my trip down Empire’s top 100 films of the century so far…

No other films to talk about here because we're on another run of two in a row I haven't seen, so we're straight on to Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.  I'd started this film once already and given up on it about 30 minutes in, so it's fair to say I wasn't exactly looking forward to trying again.

So, although it took me several attempts, I did finally made it through and, unsurprisingly, overall it's a bit of a "meh" from me.  There are components to admire about the film - the period details are very well done and a lot of the shots must have taken a lot of setting up.  But it mostly seems to be an exercise in nostalgia for an era that I (and probably a lot of Tarantino fans) don't have much affinity for - and given that Tarantino is only 5 years older than me, I struggle to imagine it really means all that much to him, so it all feels a bit like wish fulfilment to me.  I'm sure he would argue passionately and eloquently to the contrary - but get over it Quentin and admit I'm the expert here 😁 The film is also strangely disconnected between the first and second sections (although it's not quite From Dusk Til Dawn!), with the last 20 minutes in particular being quite bizarre and oddly violent, particularly given all that's gone before it.

Furthermore, I'm not the biggest DiCaprio fan but even I have to admit he can act - so why would I want to watch him acting as though he can't act for large portions of the film?  Even so, at least he gets a chance to act - unlike Margot Robbie who is totally wasted by this film.  Somewhat oddly, the best female role goes to Julia Butters (an 11 year old) who totally grabs her opportunity and acts everyone else off the screen.  And a final couple of gripes - Roman Polanski was distressingly Austin Powers at times and I found the Bruce Lee "cameo" as problematic (and unnecessary) as the internet thought it was.  

So, all in all, this is very low on list of films I'm likely to rewatch - but it has made me want to rewatch Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill for some prime slices of Tarantino (but not Pulp Fiction?!? Well, that's a story for another time...)






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