Once Upon A Time...in Hollywood (SPOILERS)

Bring a little lovin'...

Quentin Tarantino is a household name in the Hollywood industry. Through his unique style of filmmaking, he has more than earned his place in cinema history, crafting several memorable hits such as Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Django Unchained. In this, his ninth feature film, Tarantino has taken a trip down memory lane and exposed audiences to the world of 1960s Hollywood through the lens of a washed up actor, his stuntdouble, and a hit actress whose life ended in horrific tragedy. Now personally, I have always been a huge fan of Tarantino, so where do I find myself when it comes to Once Upon A Time...in Hollywood? Well, while it's certainly not a bad movie, it's definitely for me one of Tarantino's weaker outings and one that I may not hold in such high regard as some of his other works. Let's get into why that be the case:

UPS

1. Brad Pitt steals the show, which is excellent given that he's opposite the always superb Leonardo DiCaprio. While the latter does pull off a great performance as leading man Rick Dalton, Cliff Booth is far more interesting to follow and Pitt portrays him with such charisma that you can't help but love him. 
2. The setting. The time between the 60s and 70s is such a glorious time for pop culture, and it's so cool and interesting to see Tarantino's interpretation of how that was like in the former. I'm sure many, such as my father, had heavy bouts of nostalgic joy. For me, the little voiceover of Batman and Robin that played over the credits was a nice touch.
3. THAT ENDING! Tarantino has a knack for providing an alternate take on how certain historical events play out (i.e. the ending of Inglorious Bastards.) In this case, it's the Manson Family's horrific murder of Sharon Tate. Nothing prepared me for what I saw, and that has to be one of the most insane endings to a movie I have ever seen, one that came completely out of nowhere, but in this case that's a good thing.

DOWNS

1. This movie takes a long time to really get going and becomes a little self-indulgent in its runtime, which wouldn't be bad if I didn't find myself getting so bored at times. While I already mentioned that Leo's acting was impeccable and there were a few solid scenes sprinkled throughout (such as the moments he shares with rising star Julia Butters,) Rick is easily the least interesting of the main leads involved and one who took up too much screentime while others such as Margot Robbie's Tate get the short end of the stick. All in all, if Tarantino trimmed down the runtime a bit and allotted time for each character's storyline better, the movie would have benefited tremendously.

OVERALL

While I can't say I'm the biggest fan of Once Upon A Time...in Hollywood, I do appreciate certain aspects and think it's still a movie that's worth a watch. 

And that's it for this post, guys! Tune in for more coming your way :)

Retro-Reviews: The Lion King (2019/SPOILERS)

Can you feel the love tonight?...

With Disney taking a trip down memory lane by remaking several of their old animated classics, it was inevitable that they'd tackle one of their most beloved and successful, The Lion King. With that being said, it seems like it'd be a daunting task to even try to recapture the magic of the original. Of course, I was cautiously optimistic when I saw the cast and learned that Jon Favreau would be taking over as director. Now that I have seen it twice, how does it hold up? With The Lion King being my all-time favorite Disney movie and possibly my favorite film period, I had many hopes and fears going into this. What I can say is that while it does at times feel like a dull, soulless cash grab of a remake without any of the heart and magic that the original had, my second viewing allowed me to take a step back and appreciate the things that were great about it. Now let's get into the good and bad of the 2019 re-imagining of The Lion King:

UPS

1. It is visually stunning. While there are problems with making the movie a photorealistic take, the visuals are still a sight to behold, with Mufasa in particular looking as majestic as he should. The African wild is a beautiful sight to behold, so it's nice to see that captured in this movie. 
2. The songs and most of the voice acting are great. The music has received an overall mixed reception from many, but I thought it was great for the most part. The score remains as powerful and moving as it was in the original and I like the new spin on the songs, even the shortened version of "Be Prepared." As for the voice acting, this may have been the hardest department for them to nail, but I think most of them were rock solid. Particular standouts are of course Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen as Timon and Pumbaa, and though he had the challenge of filling in for Jeremy Irons, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar. Not every performance was the best it could be, but overall, we had some great stand-ins for the originals, who are practically iconic at this point. 

DOWNS

1. The lack of emotions in the animals. It's easy to say the movie went too far in making things realistic, as the animals barely show any feelings. Because of that, many of the more emotional scenes are somewhat awkward to watch because the vocal performance doesn't match the character's facial expressions...at all.
2. There were some choices made that left me scratching my head. Particular moments were having Beyonce's song "Spirit" play out during the sequence where Simba returns to Pride Rock (which made the moment feel like that of a music video more than an actual scene within the film,) scenes like Rafiki discovering Simba's mane being padded out, and "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" being sung during the day, which I believe can speak for itself. These may feel like nitpicks, but still, they were strange things I noticed and couldn't help but question Favreau's reasoning for incorporating them into the final product. 

OVERALL

The Lion King (2019) is flawed and doesn't come close to the iconic status of the original. Still, it's nice to see this story done through a news lens. More could've definitely been done with it, but I did enjoy most of what I saw. Again, I can't say it's great nor can I say it's terrible. It's just there, and that's all I can really say.

And that's it for this post, guys! Tune in for more on the way and till then, take care :)