Movie Review – Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is, without question, the least enjoyable movie I’ve ever given an A+ to.

The writing and directing are some of Tarantino’s best. The acting was as good as you’ll see. Leonardo DiCaprio was at his best, which let’s face it: is the best ever. Brad Pitt was fantastic. My only mark against Pitt in this movie is that his character isn’t much of a stretch from many other roles he’s played.

To be fair, there were a few scenes, here and there, where I saw DiCaprio’s character from Wolf of Wall Street.

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However, even though the movie gets high marks all around, I didn’t love it. I’m certainly impressed by the acting and craftsmanship on display. I just found the setting disinteresting. It’s the 70s, for crying out loud. They thought neon was amazing. If there’s a decade that needs to be flushed down a time toilet, it’s that one.

However, I can hardly knock a movie for that, now can I?

Spoilers to come if you want them:

Click to read spoilers.

Going into the movie, all I knew about Manson was that he lead a cult, or something like that, and his followers killed some people. I didn’t know who, or why.

By the end of the movie I understood the reason for the movie title: Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Tarantino winds the story around two characters Rick and Cliff, played by DiCaprio and Pitt, with Sharon Tate and the Manson clan in the background. He does this so well I didn’t realize the ending was fictitious until the credits were about to roll.

“Wait, they killed someone, right? … Ohhh, ‘Once Upon a Time…’” I get it now. That much was brilliant. This is how Hollywood wishes things had turned out.

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July 30, 2023

My bladder thanks you so much!! App works great for telling u when and for how long you have a pee break! I didn’t use the timer function so the dialog in the movie was a great clue as to when to go. I also liked the info about each movie to know whether there was any extra scenes during or after the credits. Nothing worse than waiting for all the credits and then no extra scene.

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I guess I should go read up on the real events of the story, but I don’t think it ends well in reality. Maybe it’s best to just roll with Tarantino’s fictitious version. I’m pretty sure I’ll sleep better.

Grade: A+

About The Peetimes: There are 4 good Peetimes, nicely spaced out through the movie. Any one of the 3 will work for you, but I suggest the 2nd one, since it is the longest and has a very short synopsis.

There are extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood. (What we mean by Anything Extra.)

Rated (R) for language throughout, some strong graphic violence, drug use, and sexual references
Genres: Comedy, Drama

The Essential Tarantino – What to watch before Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Movie Review – The Art of Self-Defense

The Wolf of Wall Street – movie review

Dan Gardner

Creator and developer of the RunPee app. When something doesn’t work right in the app it’s pretty much his fault. 🙂

Aspiring author. Would like to finish his “Zombie Revelations” trilogy if he could break away for working on RunPee and the cottage he’s building for RunPee Mom.