A movie set in the 60s about an actor and his stuntman trying to make it big in Hollywood. That is what Quentin Tarantino (director of Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Django Unchained) sought out to do: make a movie that captures the highs and lows of Hollywood in the 60s, and he succeeded. Bringing together two of the biggest stars–Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt (who won an Oscar for his role as Cliff Booth)–Tarantino created a world in which there were three main characters: Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), Cliff Booth (Pitt), and Los Angeles. This movie is Tarantino’s homage to the Hollywood that he grew up with where he watched movies and shows starring famous actors such as Bruce Lee and John Wayne. This movie is not only for the Tarantino fan who enjoys Tarantino’s flamboyant style of directing but also for those who care about characterization and world-building, and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood does so perfectly. Before I talk about my thoughts on this movie, the synopsis is “Actor Rick Dalton gained fame and fortune by starring in a 1950s television Western, but is now struggling to find meaningful work in a Hollywood that he doesn’t recognize anymore. He spends most of his time drinking and palling around with Cliff Booth, his easygoing best friend and longtime stunt double. Rick also happens to live next door to Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate — the filmmaker and budding actress whose futures will forever be altered by members of the Manson Family.” From the acting to the writing, everything is masterful. Leonardo DiCaprio as always does a top-notch job at making his character seem real. You sympathize with Rick Dalton when he realizes that maybe he isn’t the same actor he was before and that as the industry changed, he didn’t. But the best acting from the movie came from Brad Pitt who played Dalton’s stuntman Cliff Booth. As the audience you understand that Booth isn’t the typical stuntman mentioned in the credits of a movie once and forgotten about. Instead, you realize that he is a friend to Dalton and that they both are trying to make it big in Hollywood like everyone else. Booth is a ride-together-die-together companion to Dalton when taking into account that without each other, they wouldn’t be where they are. The dialogue and acting between DiCaprio and Pitt made their characters even better and strengthened the overall the core of the movie which is the importance of friendship. On a technical note, this movie presents fantastic cinematography with the use of different film formats to present the movies and TV shows of the 60s in different ways, such as altering the aspect ratio, using different types of film stock, or changing the coloring of the frame, adding to the importance of film production that Tarantino is passionate about. The ending is also controversial as it alters real-life events and creates a fantastical ending. Many were mad about this ending, however, in this case it works as like the title of the move suggests it is a fairy tale, so a happy ending allows for the audience to be sucked into a false reality. The ending also is the highlight of this movie by showing off some of the violence Tarantino is known for featuring in his movies, and while it isn’t much when compared to the runtime of this movie it makes up for it by engaging the audience in perfect world-building and character development that kept me glued to the screen for the entire runtime. Overall, this movie was a great time and I will give it an A. I highly recommend checking this out over the holidays as well as some of Tarantino’s other great films. Thank you for reading my review, and be on the lookout for more coming soon!