"Once Upon a Time ...... in Hollywood" Tarantino's newest film

Having seen all but two of Quentin Tarantino's movies, I consider myself a fan of his work. Yes, his movies are usually bloody and seemingly unnecessarily so but they are movies, not real life. "Pulp Fiction" remains on my top ten best movie lists of all time, perhaps even in the top five of that list. Sometimes the violence is so over-the-top cinematically that it becomes almost funny, an exaggeration of violence that seems mocking at times.

But "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood" has no blood and guts until the end and even then it seems somehow relevant to the rest of the movie, albeit in a twisted way. The basic plot is about two aging film "stars", one a B-list actor and the other a stunt man. We get an idea of their relationship from the first take and it just gets better and more personal from there. Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt are so well suited to their roles that I cannot imagine anyone else but them as Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth, respectively.  As he usually does, Tarantino has small cameo and bit parts for so many amazing actors: Bruce Dern, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Dakota Fanning, Kurt Russell, Timothy Olyphant and many more.  Plus the movie has one of the best movie dogs ever, a pit bull named Brandy.  And other plus:  there is a scene in which Brad Pitt takes off his shirt.  Oh, need I say more?

Yes, there is the side story of Sharon Tate and her friends at her house in the Hollywood Hills, but in true Tarantino style, that story is a bit warped.  I will say no more.

"OUATIH" takes place in 1969, the same year as Woodstock. The detail to that era is incredible: cars, buildings, movie marquees, TV shows, cultural references. Tarantino's tongue-in-cheek humor abounds in subtle ways. There are time shifting scenes, but not as much as in "Pulp Fiction" but enough to keep you paying attention. There are dozens of mentions of movies of that year and clips of several, some doctored to have DiCaprio's character Rick Dalton holding a starring role.

I loved this movie. Steve and I came out of the theater laughing, a tribute to Tarantino and the entire cast, to the writing, editing and the real-life absurdity of the entire thing.  I understand that many people don't like Quentin Tarantino's movies and I get that. But this movie is like a love song to the 1960's and since that's my generation, I thank him for that love song.