By Brett Blake Every new Quentin Tarantino film is an event, made even more so by his pledge to retire from directing after his tenth picture. ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOOD is (by his particular math) his ninth, and though it is the weakest he’s made in over a decade, it is still an entertaining, idiosyncratic, and engaging piece of work, and it lives up to being billed as an “event” even if it is far from flawless. The film centers around Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), an actor and his stuntman, respectively, who find themselves unsure of their futures in the Hollywood of 1969. Dalton’s career has taken a downward turn, forcing him to accept “Guest Starring” roles on TV shows, and he feels as though he’s just about washed-up, a feeling compounded by the presence of his newly-successful neighbors, director Roman Polanski and his wife, actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie). And that’s really all that can be said about the plot. Not because of spoilers (though there are “spoilery” developments that a person wouldn’t want to know going in), but because that really is the extent of the capital-P Plot. This is one of the most narratively-unfocused screenplays Tarantino has written so far, which actually may not be a huge criticism depending on ones taste. It opens strong and closes REALLY strong, but the midsection sags in a quite pronounced way. The middle hour has a bit of an aimless, listless quality that threatens to feel like pure bloat at times (and many may find it to be pure bloat rather than just a threat of such). Tarantino is kind of known for expanded running times, and he often seems to relish taking his time and allowing the audience to just sort of exist with his characters during quite lengthy scenes, but this movie takes that to a whole other level. Nobody could be faulted for coming away thinking this second act is quite self-indulgent. At the same time, all the individual scenes are strong; it’s just that some ultimately feel less essential in advancing a plot. To the extent that there is a plot, anyway. This is easily Tarantino’s most laid-back film since JACKIE BROWN, and it seems to delight in being fairly free-wheeling and expansive with its subject. Tarantino eschews plot momentum in favor of letting scenes with these characters breathe (really breathe), and while that does result in some fabulous moments, it’s hard to get a handle on where it’s all headed (and not in a “I can’t wait to see where this goes!” way, but a “Really, where is this going?” way). It has a story -- an actor and his stuntman navigate the changing waters of Hollywood while keeping their friendship intact -- but not a terribly strong narrative. It’s more a series of semi-connected incidents... followed by an ending. Things do eventually click into place for that climax, but by that point, it’s very possible that the movie’s distinct lack of tension and intrigue up until then may have already resulted in some viewers mentally checking out. That didn’t happen for me, but it almost certainly will for some. In the script’s favor, however, is its tone, which is almost shockingly good-natured, even affable. What it lacks in a grandiose scheme or caper or mystery, it makes up for with a truly affectionate look at the cinema and television of the late 1960s. You can feel, perhaps more here than in any of his other films because of this specific subject matter, Tarantino’s unadulterated love for this stuff pouring off the screen at basically every moment. Coupled with that, the central friendship between DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton and Pitt’s Cliff Booth is really quite wonderful, perhaps even approaching downright sweet. Both performers ace these parts, and while Pitt - on the surface - has the more conventionally “fun” role, DiCaprio performs a quite impressive juggling act of making Dalton kind of comically pathetic at times, but also sad in a way that gets us on his side and keeps us there when the more abrasive parts of his personality (heightened by booze) rise to the surface. The supporting ensemble players all do some very fine work, as well. Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate is more an embodiment of an idea than an actual, rounded character, but Robbie is thoroughly charming and sunny throughout. The likes of Al Pacino and Kurt Russell, both old pros by this point, pop up for some fun cameo-style bits that remind us they’re actually quite adept at comedy. In fact, there’s a lot of comedy in here. I’d classify ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOOD as more a comedy than anything else, actually. Tarantino’s ear for dialogue remains incredibly impressive, and he crafts more chuckle-eliciting exchanges and beats here than you’ll probably find in any other movie this year. And without getting spoilery, the movie is ultimately a rather positive statement from Tarantino. It doesn’t have a rousing, crowd-pleasing finale of the sort that INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and DJANGO UNCHAINED delivered, but it also doesn’t leave the viewer with the bleak discomfort of THE HATEFUL EIGHT. I left the movie feeling like I'd been on a (very long and very winding) journey that was ultimately worth the time it took to take... but perhaps only just barely. This is clearly the movie Tarantino set out to make, and we should always appreciate when a filmmaker is given the chance to play out his vision on such a large scale, especially when the final product is, on balance, a good one.
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By Brett Blake While it still doesn’t top director Sam Raimi’s SPIDER-MAN 2, I can pretty confidently say that SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME is the best Spider-Man movie to be released since that masterpiece back in 2004. It’s far from flawless, but a pair of very strong performances and a story that really “gets” Peter Parker are more than enough to pull it across the finish line. Following the events of AVENGERS: ENDGAME, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is eager to relax with his high school classmates on a European field trip, and hopefully make his feelings known to his crush, M.J. (Zendaya). Fate has other plans, however, as Peter is soon recruited by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to help Quentin Beck AKA Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) -- a superhero from another dimension! -- defeat a series of elemental monsters that are wreaking havoc in Europe and threaten the existence of the planet itself. FAR FROM HOME is really a tale of two halves, one of which is considerably more interesting than the other. One half, which focuses squarely on Peter Parker’s high school relationships, is charming and breezy enough, but it’s pretty slight stuff. Yes, it’s nice that the movie can accommodate some breathing room for Peter, and yes, it’s entertaining to see him bounce off his high school buddies, but it’s all - with really only one primary exception - rather inconsequential. Ample time is spent with Peter and his friends, and while it’s executed about as well as it probably could be, for most of this material I was just waiting patiently for the superheroic half of the story to kick back into gear. That superheroic half, which involves Peter becoming embroiled in the world-threatening plot involving Nick Fury and Mysterio is packed full of absolutely fantastic stuff... most of which I can’t talk about because the movie’s trailers did an excellent job of side-stepping much of what’s really going on with the story here. I will, however, just say this: Jake Gyllenhaal absolutely NAILS the character of Mysterio. As a big fan of Mysterio from the comics, I have been skeptical that he could translate well into live action, but FAR FROM HOME delivers a version that is both very faithful to the core of the character, while also making him work in a 2019 motion picture. And Gyllenhaal brings layers to the part that remind us that he’s one of the very best actors working today. His Mysterio is unquestionably the highlight of the movie. The movie also does a very good job of exploring the implications of what happened in AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR and AVENGERS: ENDGAME. Specifically, Tony Stark’s fate hangs heavy over the proceedings and Peter, especially, who can sense Iron Man’s legacy looming. This informs Peter’s character arc here, which - without getting too specific - sees him taking steps into a more adult and responsibility-laden role. In that sense, FAR FROM HOME is a pretty classic Spider-Man story, as the best of those often found Peter grappling with balancing his ordinary personal life with his extraordinary gifts, and the responsibility he places on himself to use those gifts to help others... often at the expense of his personal life. This is one of the elements that makes Peter Parker such an appealing hero, and FAR FROM HOME aces this. A good amount of why this aspect of the story works so well is because of Tom Holland’s performance. He is intensely likable as Peter, and he brings some wonderfully awkward charm to the table. But he’s also adept at conveying all of the conflicting feelings and desires in Peter’s heart; there are some moments in here of wordless acting from Holland that not only show off just how much he clearly understands the character intimately, but also how truly skilled he is at hitting the heart of a dramatic moment. Holland is the complete package, and the best Peter Parker/Spider-Man we have yet seen. The action scenes are all solid... if also a bit unremarkable. Spidey’s powers are used inventively and creatively, but much of the focus is on the character battling what are, essentially, giant monsters, and this places some limitations on the way the setpieces are constructed. There are other sequences, however, such one involving Mysterio... well, showing some things to another character... that are absolutely tremendous and seem ripped right out of comic book artwork. One area of slight disappointment is Michael Giacchino’s score. His returning main Spider-Man theme (from HOMECOMING) remains effective and terrific fun, and he introduces a key new theme for Mysterio that has some interesting versatility, but for the most part, FAR FROM HOME’s score is either very light comedy stuff or thundering action, neither of which showcase Giacchino at the top of his game. He can do great work in both of those modes, but here it sounds sort of pedestrian, like he had a very short window of time to write the thing and had to take a few creative shortcuts. The score is fine, but when somebody of the stature of Michael Giacchino (an Oscar-winner and personal favorite of mine) churns out something that’s just fine... it has to be seen as a missed opportunity. This is nitpick territory, of course. If only the “high school European vacation” section of the movie was a bit stronger, FAR FROM HOME might have challenged SPIDER-MAN 2 for the crown. But even so, as it stands, this is a quality Spider-Man adventure, which should never be taken for granted, and if its final moments are any indication, there are even more interesting stories yet to come for Tom Holland’s interpretation of this character. |
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