Once Upon a Time In Hollywood Review

Right, its time for a new post on the blog and it will be a review on a new film for a change and the film is question is Quentin Tarantino's latest, Once upon a time in Hollywood.

So, how does this film stack up against Tarantino's strongest bodies of work??? Well, let's find out...

And the usual warning is coming....

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!! SO DON'T READ THIS NEXT SECTION IF HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM YET!

STORY

So, the story follows two fictional characters, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) a Hollywood actor, who was formerly the star of a 1950's TV show, Bounty Law and his good friend and stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Dalton at this stage in his career has reached the realisation that his career is on a downward turn after a meeting with a casting agent (Al Pacino) who advises him to make Spaghetti westerns, which Dalton thinks are beneath his abilities. Dalton also by this time has become something of an alcoholic and Booth as it turns out is his personal driver after Dalton has been subjected to a number of DUI's. Booth on the other hand has also had struggles to find stunt double work after rumours involving the death of his wife (which he was alleged to have killed). 

We also find out early in the film that Dalton just so happens to be neighbours to Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and director, Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha) as the film is also set loosely around the Manson murders and indeed there is a scene where Manson makes an appearance looking for a record producer.  Dalton realising how ailing his career is also longs to befriend Tate and Polanski to get his career back up and running again. 

However, Dalton's luck appears to take a turn for the better after he lands the role of a villain in a western TV show called Lancer where after a breakdown during his performance, he soon recovers himself and goes onto impress the director, Sam Wanamaker (Nicholas Hammond) and his co-star, the 8 year old, Trudi Fraser (Julia Butters).

Meanwhile, Booth picks up a young hippe hitch-hiker named "Pussycat" (Margaret Qualley) and takes her out to a ranch farm where she says the rest of her family are. It soon becomes apparent that the family are indeed members of the Charles Manson family and Booth is curious to chat to the ranch owner, George Spahn (Bruce Dern) as he once worked there on Dalton's former series, Bounty Law but Spahn doesn't recognise him. As Booth leaves, he finds one of his car's wheels has a knife in it and he beats up the man responsible, "Clem" Crogan (James Landry Hebert) and forces him to change the wheel.

And from here things take a series of twists and turns for Dalton and Booth as things are set to change for both men's careers while the ever looming threat of the Manson killings are due to rear their heads...

THOUGHTS

It has to be said that while it is an enjoyable film, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood does also remain one of Tarantino's weaker films as there are times where it just feels like he is relishing in the Hollywood period of the time a little too much. Also again there are times where the film does drag on and its almost like Tarantino had to give this film an epic run time to give that much more an "epic" feel and I think it would safe to say that there are moments of the film that could easily have been trimmed for timing.

However with all said, there is still plenty to enjoy in the film after its admittedly slow start, it does begin to pick up its pacing as it goes in and Tarantino also builds on the uncomfortable troubling times of the period with the Manson murders but of course without giving anything way, Quentin certainly has his own unique take on those proceedings. The two leads characters are also somewhat likeable and have certain amount of charm even if Dalton still has a buzz of arrogance to him and Booth is a pretty impetuous guy where his bolshy attitude get's him into trouble on Hollywood film sets.

The film of course was also notable as being controversial on different fronts, particularly regarding its portrayal of the real life celebrities, Bruce Lee and Sharon Tate. Bruce Lee's portrayal in particular took heavy flak from many including Bruce's daughter, Shannon, who saw Bruce being depicted as an arrogant guy when she said he was nothing like that. Sharon Tate's portrayal was also given criticism by Sharon Tate's sister, Deborah, who saw the film as being exploitative and told lies about the real-life events.

PERFORMANCES (No notable scenes this time!)

As for the performances, well this is of course where the film does excel as the cast are all on top form here.

Starting with Leonardo DiCaprio who is great in his role as Rick Dalton, an ailing Hollwood actor, who is worried his career might soon be over. This is Leo's second collab with Tarantino and again here he produces a great performance only this time, Dalton is a more likeable if egotistical character than his unpleasant slave owner in Django Unchained. Leo also shows he has a good knack for comedic timing and he has quite a few funny moments, particularly one scene where he berates himself in his trailer during a break from filming a scene for the TV show, Lancer. Not sure if Leo will get an academy award for this role but its still a fine performance from him here.

Brad Pitt up next is also excellent in his role as Cliff Booth, the cool-headed stunt actor, who acts a double for Dalton and Brad of course plays the charater with a laid back charm but also with a sense of danger as the kind of guy that could be dangerous when pushed.  Booth also plays a key part in the scenes involving the Manson family in the film that lead up to the film's suprising end and I won't say anymore about it than that! 

Margot Robbie is also very good in her role as Sharon Tate, who was noted as something of a B-movie actress in her Hollywood career and married Roman Polanski, who around this time had great success with his horror film, Rosemary's Baby. And Margot plays the part very well and with a kind of youthful innocence although I do kind of feel her role was somewhat marginalised a little next to the roles of the Leo and Brad's.

Of course the film has a pretty big cast, so it would be difficult to describe all the players in the movie, so I will mention just a few below for the supporting cast.

Margaret Qualley does pretty well in her role as the young hippie, "Pussycat" which Booth briefly befriends and turns out to be a member of the Manson family and she definitely portrays her character as a bit of an airhead but with a great deal of unpredictability about her. Qualley herself is infact the daughter of the actress, Andie MacDowell.

Julie Butters also provides a nice little performance as the child actress, Trudi Fraser, who acts belong side Dalton in the TV show, Lancer. And Leo and Julie both share a charming scene together while both Dalton and Trudi are on their lunch break together and Dalton reflects on his failing career.

Mike Moh despite the controversy he faced with his performance, also does very well in his role as Bruce Lee and he even manages to sound almost exactly like Bruce, if not entirely look like him. It would be fair to say though that Moh does play Bruce somewhat arrogantly here and I can see why his portrayal might have offend some people, most notably actors and people that worked with Bruce back when he was alive. Despite this though, Moh does a pretty good job with his main scene here and he himself sees Bruce Lee as one of his main idols.

Dakota Fanning also has a notable albeit small role in the film as the real life Manson family member, "Squeaky" Fromme and she plays the part with a rather sinister and abrupt manner that makes her's one of the memorable performances in the movie. Fromme in real life as one of the Manson family, later attempted to assassinate US President, Gerald Ford in 1975 and went on to serve a life sentence and was released in 2009.

Austin Butler does very well also in his part as the real life Manson family member, "Tex" who was one of the killers involved in the Manson murders and Butler certainly shows Tex to be a very unsettling character as the film becomes pretty intense toward the end.

Emile Hirsch also provides a good performance in the film as Jay Sebring, who was the former boyfriend of Sharon Tate and was also one of the murder victims in the Manson family killings. Sebring himself was a hair stylist who had befriended Sharon Tate and went on to become good friends with both Tate after they split and Roman Polanski.

Al Pacino does pretty well too in his brief role as Marvin Schwarzs, a casting agent who convinces Dalton to make Spaghetti westerns. Again this is no more than a cameo role with Pacino and given its a pretty big cast, I guess Pacino had to be squeezed in there somewhere even if he doesn't headline the film himself.

And last of all is Kurt Russell, who plays the part of Randy, a fictional character who works at Hollywood and had a serious dispute with Cliff Booth as he suspected him of murdering his wife (i.e. Cliff's not Randy's!). Russell also acts as the film's narrator but his narration doesn't come into the film until much later on.

DIRECTOR 

As for the writer/director, Quentin Tarantino does a pretty good job overall although I do admit I think he has over-stuffed the film with some unecessary moments here and there, which I will try and avoid going into too much detail just now. Tarantino of course isn't afraid when it comes to history to embellish on certain things, so if you think you are going into this one expecting a slice of real life then you are sure to be disappointed. Tarantino still does manage to keep the viewer interested for the most part but I do still think he has directed better films than this.

MUSIC

As for the film's soundtrack, again its a mixture of popular tracks of the time during the 60's from artists and bands such as Deep Purple's "Hush", Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs Robinson", Vanilla Fudges's "You keep me hanging on", Neil Diamond's "Brother's Love Travling Salvation Show" and Jose Feliciano's "California Dreamin". Its pretty much what you would expect from Tarantino in his period films, so its a decent mix of tracks that fit the period.

FLAWS

As for the film's flaws...well yep it does have some however I won't really go into them in any detail given that it is a new film.

So, for starters what I would say is that the film's running time at 2 hours and 40 minutes is just a bit too long and the film certainly does actually feel a bit boring at the start and it did take me a while to get more into it. And by that I mean there are scenes such as Brad Pitt making dinner for himself and his dog and later on where he goes up onto the roof to fix Dalton's TV aerial but this scene in itself is just an excuse for Brad to take his top off, so Tarantinto could presumably have Brad show off his abs for the ladies!

I also felt that the film does take quite a few liberties with the truths and facts surrounding the Manson family murders but again I don't really want to go into this one just now but suffice to say you won't walk out of the cinema thinking you saw a fully accurate account of those events! What I will say is that Taraninto is no strangers to embellishing certain things and he is certainly guilt of that here.

I also felt that some of the film's characters were pretty annoying at times such as Pussycat, who is just an over excitable airhead for the most part, who is more than eager to try and get into Cliff's pants (almost literally at one point!). And further to this there are also some pretty nerdy exchanges going on between certain characters in the film later on that kind of made me a cringe a bit but again I won't mention who they are but you should get the gist when you see it.

And last of all I found the film's use of narration somewhat strange as it appears closer to the end of the film as we suddenly hear Kurt Russell's voice come out of nowhere! I mean, if they wanted to include narration why not keep it a bit more consistent in the film rather than just slap it on near the end, which to me made little sense why it was even needed in this case.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is by no means a bad film, in fact it is overall pretty enjoyable and its film that has a charm of its own as the performances for the most part are very engaging and Leo and Brad do very well in their respective roles. However, I can't help but feel that Tarantino is being pretty self indulgent here as he loves to wallow in the period of Hollywood history of the time and there are times where he get's caught away with the film's run time and throwing in some inconsequential moments. And yes of course, Tarantino's depiction of Bruce Lee (or rather Mike Moh's) is somewhat questionable as he comes over more an arrogant dick than a respectful martial artist looking to make it in the Hollywood industry.

But if you can forgive the film's flaws then there is still enough to enjoy here for OUATIH (for short!) to keep you interested.

Right, so that's it for now and I'll see you in the next one!

Bye for now! 

Top 10 Dark Souls III Themes Part 2 - No's 5-1

OK, time for part two of my list of the top 10 themes from Dark Souls III, which will cover the top 5 tracks from this superb soundtrack.

So, with that said let's take a look at what themes made it into the top 5...

5. Dancer of the Boreal Valley 

So, at No.5 is the theme for the Dancer of the Boreal Valley, who is only one of the two female bosses in this game (the other being Sister Friede) and her theme is an absolute belter it has to be said.

As to why this theme is so good...well it comes down to the fact that it is by far THE most atmospheric theme in the entire game as it is very dark and brooding throughout and its pretty subtle aswell for the most part. Its also helped by the fact that the Dancer herself as a boss has some pretty creepy but at the same time very cool footsteps in the fight and this theme plays under it to perfection. But I think its basically a great marriage of the choir and the strings here once again as they just come together beautifully in this track and overal the whole thing just has a great sense of menace to it. It also has a kind of eastern feel to it aswell in places (maybe middle eastern??) as I keep looking at the Dancer's face mask it has that Indian/eastern look to it (mind you I was looking at something else too in that fight!).

So for me, the Dancer's theme really is a great one and it was one of the first tracks that really leapt out at a me as a standout in the game when I first played it and to this day still think its one of the best and for that it sure deserves its place at No.5.

4. The Twin Princes

So, at No.4 is the theme for one of the most pivotal and above all else most challenging bosses in the main game: the Twin Princes and by heck its a good un. In fact for me its one of the most emotional themes in the entire Souls series and I actually at times find it difficult to listen all in one go because of that (wimp I know lol!).

As for the theme itself, the way it starts is just superb as its got one of the strongest, most dramatic starts to any Souls theme as it highlights the danger of the theme nicely just as the Elder Prince, Lorian whacks the hell out of you with that firey ultra-great sword of his and there is a undercurrent of real menace here that works great. However, its the second phase of the theme is where it all get's pretty emotional as the choir comes in and sings those hauntingly beautiful yet very sad notes as the dynamic duo try to take you down. Its a great marriage of choir and orchestration again and it really does pack an emotional wallop here if you ask me.

So, for me the Twin Princes is definitely a real standout theme in the game and one that highlights the epic qualities of the boss fight itself as the choir and the strings work together in harmony to come with something suprisingly emotional and powerful.

So, the Twin Princes definitely deserve their spot here at No.4.

3. Vordt of the Boreal Valley 

So, at No.3 is the theme for one of the earlier bosses in the game, Vordt of the Boreal Valley and while he isn't necessarily a great boss, his theme on the other hand for totally sure is!

As for why Vordt's theme is so good, well it comes down to the contrast of styles between the two chief composers of the game, Yuka Kitamura, who scored the majority of the tracks and Motoi Sakuraba who scored this one as they both brought a different feel to the score. Yuka's music has a greater emotional weight to it whereas Motoi's is more playful and vibrant and Vordt's theme is a great example of this.

And right from the get-go, the strings kick off wonderfully in such a bold way along with synthesizers and the theme also has that undercurrent playfulness to it and in the first phase you get the feel that its all bubbling under the surface before things kick off in the second. So, when we get to second phase, the choir suddenly kicks into overdrive as the male choral voices go a bit nuts but in a really great way and there is also a nice middle eight section where things calm down a little before the track's wonderful end with the choir voices raising into their crescendo and the synths and strings calmly ending the theme.

So, yeah even I must admit this track can be a little OTT in its sound especially in the choir department but it never detracts from this wonderful and even adds to it and Vordt's theme for me is easily right up there as one of the best, so it deserves its spot at No.3.

2. Slave Knight Gael

So, in the runner-spot is this theme for what is often considered to be the final boss in the entire Dark Souls series, Slave Knight Gael and by God its a masterpiece, in fact its incredible to think a theme this good could possibly even be in 2nd place!

So, why is Gael's theme so good??? Well, for me this is Yuka Kitamura's masterwork as its hands down the best theme she ever wrote for Dark Souls or Bloodborne, period. Its just a tremendous theme with such great emotional weight attached to it and its never too sad or morose sounding, it just has a pefect mixture of danger, emotion and excitement attached to make it a superb piece of music.

And the first phase of the theme kind of acts as a kind of slow build-up with the menacing sounding strings coming in and female operatic voice singing alongside, again the two elements works wondefully here as this phase just keeps building up slowly for what lies ahead. As for the second phase, this is where the theme starts to really hit its stride and the choir voices kick in and again its wonderful mix of orchestration and all things choral and those dramatic strings are magnificent and in this phase we get what would essentially be the chorus of the theme itself. Then we get to the 3rd phase where things change to a higher key and again the choir and strings rise as one to give this theme a stupendous crescendo and it finishes the theme on a major high before the choir and orchestra deliver that final solem note. Awesome.

So, for me Slave Knight Gael's theme is a towering achievement in the Soulsborne catalog as its a theme that has got absolutely everything, drama, emotion and excitement and its a more than deserving runner-up. Just a shame I couldn't put this and the next theme both at No.1 but hey that's lists for you but either way you look at it, Gael's theme is a winner.

And so the number one theme from Dark Souls III (for me anyway) is....

1. Nameless King

Yep at No.1 is the theme for old Namless, yep the Nameless King's theme takes the top spot and it more than deserves it, as it is just an absolutely outstanding piece of music from start to finish.    

So, as for the theme itself??? Where to begin! Its just great, that's all you need to know! No, but seriously this theme is just absolutely wonderful right from the get-go as the strings kick in and that we get that amazing first section of the intro that highlights the danger of the fight and that is followed up by the second section, which perfectly captures the flight of Nameless's dragon early on. And as the first phase of the theme keeps building we get another wonderful passage played on I believe the harpsichord and it resembles something like you would hear from Mozart!

And then we get to the dreaded second phase where you take on ol Nameless himself and this again is a wonderul piece of music as it starts off fairly slow with the harpsichord playing underneath the strings as Nameless bears down on you. And the strings here just have an amazing flow to them as they are incredibly fluid and of course there is that very memorable rising chorus towards the end of the track and this is followed by a very dramatic sounding strings and horns section that punctuates the final notes of the theme itself.

So, while it took me a good while to get over the frustration I felt fighting this boss, I then took a proper listen to his theme and ever since then it has never failed to blow me away with its impressiveness. Nameless's theme is a just a superb mix of danger, drama, excitement and vibrancy courtesy of Motoi's Sakuraba and for me this is also his masterwork and its one, which I'm sure will be very hard to beat in future and sets the bar very high for future video game themes. And that is why I think it more than deserves its place right at the top of the list at No.1.

OK, so that's it for now and if you've read this post or any others a big thanks to you and I will be back again soon with another one for you all (or y'all).

Till then its bye fer now!