Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (2019) or That Sly Dog Tarantino has done it again for the 9th Time

Hello guys and welcome back for another round of movie reviews with Movie Nerd, a place where you can be nerdy about movies and that's OK!

So, finally, the time has come to review my first Tarantino movie because when his other movies came out, especially the more recent ones, I did not start this movie review business.

Before I dive into this review, I like to say that this is Tarantino's 9th feature film and I would like, for those who don't know or haven't seen his past films, to lay them out for you here, starting with the first one, of course: Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill Vol.1 (2003) and Kill Bill Vol.2 (2004), Death Proof (2007), Inglorious Bastards (2009), Django Unchained (2012) and The Hateful Eight (2015). You can see that he does have that many movies but all of them are very good, watchable and I recommend every single one of them.

Now, a bit of a synopsis for you and then the actual review: actor Rick Dalton gained fame and fortune by starring in a 1950s television Western, but is now struggling to find meaningful work in a Hollywood that he doesn't recognize anymore. He spends most of his time drinking and palling around with Cliff Booth, his easygoing best friend and longtime stunt double. Rick also happens to live next door to Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate -- the filmmaker and budding actress whose futures will forever be altered by members of the Manson Family.

So, I believe that every single american knows about that faithful night in August 1969, when actress Sharon Tate and a couple of other people were murdered by some members of the Manson Family clan. Also, everybody knows the style of Tarantino's movies and how historically inaccurate they can be and this one makes no difference. What Tarantino does with his movies, which I like, is that he takes a moment or an event from real life, from real history or based on real people and puts those beats and pieces of reality into an alternative universe, creating a story around that bit of reality which, for the most part, is fictional. He takes those tragic events and gives them a make over of his own style, adding his own signature in the process and changing that event into something more positive and uplifting. Unfortunately, especially with this movie, the reality is more grim but it gives us the feeling that that's the way it really happened.

Another thing about this movie is that Tarantino made some sort of a tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood, which was coming to an end in 1969 and I really appreciated the design, look and feel of the movie. Also, the soundtrack was top notch, as normally is with Tarantino. Also also, this movie is showing a level of maturity in film making that Tarantino did not display in his other movies, which was a nice change of rhythm. This was like the maturity exam in movie making for Tarantino and, in my opinion, he passed.

Acting wise, no problem whatsoever because, not only the movie has an impressive cast, with some great grade A actors but it also got some great performances, especially from Di Caprio and Brad Pitt. Margot Robbie is good in the role of Sharon Tate as well and the other actors do a tremendous job but these two were the stand outs.

The movie has everything you would expect from a Tarantino picture. It's got comedy, with some very good humor, it's got a great soundtrack, awesome performances, a good amount of violence but not as much as you would expect and a twist, in the end, that really boggled my mind when I saw it and the buildup to that twist was so full of tension, suspense and dread, which all of those payed of but I did got a feeling that not all people will agree or like that twist that kinda changes everything but, like I said in the beginning, the main story is fictional with the reality part hanging in the back round.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. It's long and you can feel all of the 2 hours and 41 minutes but it's really worth it and you don't get bored because the story keeps you invested. Also, what I meant with the title of the review is that Tarantino subverted and exceeded our expectations for the 9th time in a row. And the title of the movie has a meaning, which is that what you are about to see is based on a real event in Hollywood history but the main story is a fictional one and the twist at the end does nothing more than really emphasize on the Once Upon A Time.... the words that every single fairy tale has in the beginning and that is exactly what this is, a fairy tale, unfortunately. 8.2/10

OK guys, that is my review for this one. Next up, some Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark. But I am not sure when I will post this review because, this coming weekend, I am going to the After Hills music festival and I am not sure that I am going to be able to see the movie but we shall see then. Until then, take care, stay movie nerdy and keep on reviewing!