A Trip Back To the Golden Age Of Hollywood With Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood

Good day my friends!... Will you look at that, the calendar is at n end for the month of July and in less than 24hrs we will be starting a new month. Whether it be one hr, one minute, day, week, month a year or a decade there is one thing for sure that I do know.....The memories don't ever stop! There are good ones and bad ones, but they all have a purpose in making our lives interesting and leave us with a sense of nostalgia. It also helps that the movies are there for bringing back the past for us to relive history and show us some of the simpleness of a time long gone by. Now no era is perfect, even the one we currently live in, but there is just something magical about the past. And in the movie that I am reviewing this week, the 9th film by Quentin Tarantino(Pulp Fiction) we are taken back to the end of the golden age of Hollywood with Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood. The movie boasts a stellar cast list with Leonardo DiCaprio(The Departed) as Rick Dalton, Brad Pitt( Moneyball) as Cliff Booth, Margot Robbie(Wolf Of Wall Street) as Sharon Tate, Emile Hirsch(Milk) as Jay Sebring, Margaret Qualley(The Nice Guys) as Pussycat, Timothy Olyphant(Gone In 60 Seconds) as james Stacey, Dakota Fanning(Man On Fire) as Squeaky Fromme, Bruce Dern(The Hateful Eight) as George Spahn, Luke Perry(Riverdale) as Wayne Maunder, Al Pacino(The Godfather) as Marvin Schwarzs and Kurt Russell( Escape From New York) as Randy. Lets take a trip back in time to the final moments of Hollywood's golden age in this latest film from acclaimed director Quentin Tarantino.

 The year is 1969, the month is February, the place is Los Angeles, to be more exact Hollywood. The time the end of Hollywood's golden age, before multiplexes and Netflix, when there was a movie house on almost every street. When movies cost .75cents, there were iconic and well known restaurants that the stars hung out at. The Vietnam war was still going on and television started to take a downturn. This was such an iconic year for many things happening in history and on the big screen. This was also the year that a series of brutal murders in Hollywood would happen taking the life of actress Sharon Tate in her home along with some house guests and her unborn baby in August of that year by members of the Manson Family would shock the world and grab the attention of the media. But we are getting ahead of ourselves, this after all is a Tarantino movie where anything and everything can happen with his collection of characters that he has created. Such characters are Rick Dalton(DiCaprio) a fading television star who was once the top draw with his hit western show Bounty Law, but gave it all up to star in movies instead. This has not panned out and Rick has taken to doing guest roles on other shows, it comes to his attention that he is becoming a has been when he takes a lunch with producer Marvin Schwarzs(Pacino) who wants to have him act in Italian spaghetti westerns. The other is Cliff Booth(Pitt), Rick's stunt man and personal assistant. Cliff spends more time these days driving Rick from role to role, doing chores around Rick's house, being Rick's best friend and going home to his pit bull in a trailer that he lives in behind a drive in movie theatre. Cliff has found it hard to be employed as a stuntman in Hollywood for having the reputation that he killed his wife and got away with it. So, he is just happy being Rick's friend and assistant. One day Rick, at his lowest thinking that he is about to be a has been notices that he is the next door neighbour to Roman Polanski and his wife actress Sharon Tate(Robbie). Which boosts his mood in the thought that he might be able to get a role in one of Polanski's movies one day just by being his neighbour and the fact that people in Hollywood still do know who he is. Until then Rick, a staunch southern hippie hater goes to work on his latest walk on role as the heavy in a new western tv series. On the flip side Sharon Tate is enjoying married life and the success she is having as a Hollywood star. One day while on one of his errands for Rick, Cliff comes across a hippie girl named Pussycat(Qualley) that he has seen around a couple of times and gives her a ride to the Spahn Ranch where she has been living with others. Unknown at the time to Cliff this is Manson Family, who are currently planning something big. Cliff sensing that something is off there leaves after he insists on seeing the owner of the Spahn Movie Ranch, George Spahn(Dern) who he remembers from his movie days and believes is being taken advantage of by the group of hippies. Rick struggles with the fact he has become a bit player in his latest role and even his lines thanks to having a hangover. Soon enough all these stories will meet up in 6 months as Rick and Cliff go to Italy to make movies, making Rick a star over there and even finding a wife. They return to Hollywood and with new responsibilities of married life Rick decides that he cannot afford to have Cliff as his assistant anymore. The two have one last night to celebrate the end of their business relationship as a pregnant Sharon Tate and her friends are having a little party of their own too! Also 4 members of the Manson Family are about to put their deadly plan of murder into action, but this is a Tarantino movie and in an ending which I won't ruin for you turns history around in classic Tarantino style that you have to see!

Now..... that does sound good! Being a fan of all these talented actors and actresses and of the golden age of Hollywood this was a fantastic movie from beginning to end. It had a couple of slow points but it seemed to keep you interested till the climactic and surprising ending. The story was fun and original, Tarantino always gives you a full movie with detail to connect his own brand of interconnecting story lines that he does with his movies. The dialogue was both fun and serious, with a lighthearted tone. Great performances all around here as to expected by the level of talent in this film. They looked like they were all having fun doing this movie. Pitt and DiCaprio made a great team and definitely seemed to have great chemistry. A nice trip back to the end of Hollywood's Golden Age by Tarantino, that captured the essence of the decade perfectly. That is why I am giving this movie a 8.8 on the Justin Scale of Movies which earns it a spot on my Pick-It List of movies to see at the theatre right now! Heck... I may see it again it was that good! That being said it is time to call it a wrap on this latest movie review! Until next time, remember to keep that popcorn freshly popped and to save me a good seat because I will be seeing you again  at the movies!