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Topic Summary

Posted by: RottingCorpse
« on: December 03, 2019, 03:59:13 PM »

Again, I think it's just my deep knowledge (and investment too I guess) in the Manson mythos that my brain had a hard time *not* going, "It didn't happen like that."

But yes, the violence is certainly the point. We would have been appealed by being shown how it actually happened, but we cheer because the Manson family is getting a comeuppance they never really got in the real world. It cheering about the murderer in the electric chair for murdering our loved ones, except on a weird mass cultural level. It's the same way we cheer when Shoshanna wipes out the nazis at the end of IG. The fantasy of the Manson murders felt more like a veiled denial to me than the Nazi fantasy. It had a "this is how it *should* have gone" vibe. Again, I've spent a lot of time in Mansonland so it's hard for me to shut the expert part of my brain off.
Posted by: nacho
« on: December 03, 2019, 10:16:00 AM »

The intimate gruesome violence, though, was very Manson, no? If history had run its course here, then it would have been intimate gruesome violence happening at the top of the hill. So it's fitting that the fantasy re-write sees that same violence turned on the Family. And, in fact, done with the same sort of cool, collected calm that we all imagine ythe Family to have been capable of. Which underscores your point, yes? We are Manson. It was always there.

In terms of that maturity -- I love that he kept the fairy tale aspect in check. I went through most of the movie pretty much convinced that QT was making a movie about the inconsequential guys who lived next door to a national tragedy and just cruised on by without realizing it or caring.

Posted by: RottingCorpse
« on: December 02, 2019, 01:14:44 PM »

I, too, loved this movie. I still think IG is QT's magnum opus, but this is really great too. Much more in line thematically and visually with his early work, but showing maturity and restraint.

Performances are great. How much Pitt has aged to look like Robert Redford is uncanny, and cool. I'd totally watch a Butch and Sundance remake with him in the Redford role. DiCaprio is unbelievably good here as well. It may be his best performance ever, and he's had a lot of good ones.

RE: Manson... I may have been burdened by my deep knowledge of Manson lore here. I went in telling myself to shut off that side of my brain. I had heard rumors of an IG style history rewrite at the end. In the context of what QT was saying about the death of old Hollywood (in his fantasy of it never dying), the alternate history made sense. Though I'll go the other way here and say I found it more off-putting than his torching Hitler in IG. Maybe it was the intimate gruesome violence of it all. I do like that the Manson stuff was just sort of peripheral to the Rick Dalton / Cliff Booth story.

And make no mistake OUATIH is a fairy tale romanticized version of that era of Hollywood. Yes, the Manson murders brought in paranoia, but the seedy underbelly had been there since the inception of the studio system. Hollywood has been a corrupt criminal enterprise from the beginning; California was still basically it's own fiefdom when the studios were founded. The owners of them were people who thought they were above the law and could do what they want with whom they want. If Sharon Tate hadn't have been murdered by Manson (rumored to be Hollywood's pimp du jour before he wen off the deep end) something else would have happened eventually.

But I'm sort of cynical about that whole era after spending so much time in the Manson gutters.

OUATIH is  a feel good movie, maybe the only QT movie that truly does lave you feeling warm.
Posted by: nacho
« on: December 02, 2019, 11:46:37 AM »

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was terrific! Mainly because he returned to the "fairytale" aspect that made Inglorious Basterds so amazing. Unlike that movie, this fairy tale was a little bit more subtle throughout (despite the name, and the use of the name in the credits). A much more personalized sort of fairy tale instead of the much broader fairy tale of Jewish vengeance.

As with IG, I found that this fairytale ending left me full of hope and love. The sort of thing we need from modern movies (and Tarantino). This is actually a feelgood movie!

Now, RC needs to weigh in on the Manson angle, because I thought the casting (across the board) was magnificent here.
Posted by: nacho
« on: January 24, 2016, 12:23:39 PM »

So... The Hateful Eight. We watched all three (!) hours of it last night and hated it. The worst movie he's ever done. And people going on and on about Morriconi? His music was overshadowed with modern day songs. It was weird. A terrible, awful, horrible movie.

And...utterly fascinating. We couldn't stop watching. What Tarantino did was put on a stage play. The pacing, dialogue, and characters all felt like a play you'd go to see in the 50s. We compared it repeatedly to 12 Angry Men.

Very strange...
Posted by: RottingCorpse
« on: August 12, 2015, 03:25:41 PM »

Posting without having watched.

Posted by: monkey!
« on: March 21, 2013, 12:44:42 PM »

Try some self-flagellation.
Posted by: nacho
« on: March 21, 2013, 11:38:47 AM »

I wonder if Django has soured me...  I loved Kill Bill the first time around, and later when it came out on disk. This is my first return to itn in about five years.

Actually... Inglorious Basterds soured me! Such a perfect, brilliant movie.

What I sort of realized with Kill Bill is how Tarantino has sort of been an organic director. You see the next movie he's thinking about in the current movie, you know? The Spaghetti Western/revenge saga influence on Basterds, for example.  Kill Bill is almost like some sort of turning point. It's an homage movie to Tarantino Phase 1, and an introduction/statement of purpose to the modern Tarantino.

Or maybe I'm just growing out of my childhood love for Asian action cinema... 
Posted by: monkey!
« on: March 21, 2013, 11:23:26 AM »

I watched Kill Bill earlier this year, pre-Django, and I loved it. Just the right amount of 'cheese.'
Posted by: nacho
« on: March 21, 2013, 08:41:17 AM »

Here's something interesting... Watched Kill Bill last week and, you know, I don't think it holds up. It all seemed hammy and slightly off. Weird...
Posted by: nacho
« on: January 31, 2013, 08:35:49 AM »

I stand by my thoughts...and also that I forgive Tarantino for everything, so no sweat.
Posted by: monkey!
« on: January 30, 2013, 10:19:42 PM »

I had misgivings regarding Django Unchained, having heard very mixed reviews - but I waited until the cinema for watching it, foregoing the downloaded option and I'm glad I did. Sure, this is Tarantino's more 'Hollywood' film, more 'epic' and maybe more 'mainstream' than his other efforts but it was nonetheless a great film, albeit a touch too long.

I love how Tarantino has upgraded from a Jewish revenge fantasy mixed with Nazis meets Western films to Slave revenge fantasy meets German fairytale meets western films... and it worked really well. That German Jew-Hunter from Inglourious Basterds was, once again, fantastic and I counted him as the lead character rather than Jamie Foxx. Yes, Di Caprio's phrenology speech could have been much darker, much more racially damning, but I think that it may have been too much in this somewhat light-hearted take on the horrors of slavery. Light-hearted? Sure!

Yes, the horrible aspects of slavery were highlighted, but not gratuitously so, nor to extremes - just enough to give the terrible background of abuse amidst an entertaining and often comically violent revenge romp.

I enjoyed it a lot... although I'm still not sure how Di Caprio cut his hand in that scene....

Monkey's verdict?

4/5 fingers in a vagina.
Posted by: nacho
« on: January 27, 2013, 10:55:49 AM »

It's hard for me. I'm so very forgiving of Tarantino. So much so that I excuse Death Proof...and this movie, of course. But with Django, I really do feel let down by him for the first time. Largely because I feel like he's been working on Django (the Spaghetti Western motif) for a long time. I don't like that Inglorious Basterds is a better homage to Spaghetti Western's than the modern spaghetti western is, you know? As a movie buff, I feel like Tarantino really dropped the homage ball that is usually so strong and enjoyable (and almost verging on in-jokes) in his other movies.

But that means nothing, really. I'll be excited about whatever's next, regardless.
Posted by: RottingCorpse
« on: January 27, 2013, 12:15:27 AM »

While Django Unchained is no Pulp Fiction or Inglourious Basterds, I can still find lots of good things to say about it. Like every Tarantino movie (except Death Proof), it makes me want to completely trust myself as a filmmaker. Tarantino so obviously trusts his instincts, even when they lead him astray. He's one of the most fearless filmmakers working.

I thought DiCaprio was great actually. maybe it's because I always think of him as a kid even when he's playing Howard Hughes or trying to be the new Deniro. He was one scary mother fucker in this movie. More importantly, I believed him in the "maturity" of the role which I often don't. All the performances were great actually. If there's a weak link it was Jamie Foxx in the title role, but maybe that's because the script at times made him a supporting player in his own story.

Missus RC and I both commented how we never noticed it's length which I think is the best compliment I can give it. That fucker is almost three hours long.

Anyway, RC gives his approval.
Posted by: monkey!
« on: January 13, 2013, 11:34:40 PM »

Still haven't watched Django Unchained... was going to wait for the cinema.