Once Upon a Time

Latest offering from acclaimed filmmaker, Quentin Tarantino: Once Upon a Time (in Hollywood).

Ran way over two hours, and towards the end, I was trying to decide, get up and pee, and miss a scene, or just wait. I waited. Not like I was desperate, just mildly inconvenienced.
Worth the wait, both accounts.
A post apocalyptic news cycle, I wanted some escape. Serious escape from reality, and this kind of film does it best. At the Alamo, I’m sure elsewhere, but I’m biased, just a better theaters experience. But this was a great movie.
I wasn’t sure what it was, the crisp script writing, the attention to detail and use of common vernacular, the in-jokes layered up on themselves, or narrative thread as carried — intertwined — as it were.
Not met with universal acclaim, but then, it’s not everyone’s favorite filmmaker. There was a comic sense, and a more subtle touch, which, if the old rules are right?

1) Every story teller has but one story to tell, and we repeat it, over and over, until we get it right.
2) We keep rehashing the same thing. Flogging the horse.

Not sure that’s how it worked, not for this one. As someone who only saw black and white TV in reruns, bad local TV, in its era? As an homage to that, sure.
Cameos abound, and the link back to Spaghetti Westerns, sure, but the old 1950’s TV plus whatever was running on the regular screen, and there was hippie chick with her stunning monologue about what Hollywood teaches us.
I’m not sure.
I know I enjoyed every bit of it, from trying to see what brand of cigarettes were being smoked, to the actors themselves.
Hint: stay for the credits.