Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” garnered four nominations at the 2020 Golden Globes, including best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, best supporting actor for Brad Pitt and best screenplay and director for Tarantino. Many, including the director, consider this film a love letter to the end of Hollywood’s golden age told through the eyes of an actor, an actress and a ... more >
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OPINION – Hollywood movies and movies about Hollywood
Why are so many films being made about the stories and talents of yesterday?
TAKE TWO – “Once upon a time in Hollywood”
Pitch perfect, maestro, pitch perfect
Leonardo Di Caprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
I think cinema, I love cinema, I see a great number of films during the year and always have. If asked to list great director names, I would reply, Fellini, Bergman, Fassbinder, Kurosawa and Kubrick. Though a hundred names would barely begin to cover it. But… and oh, yes, Tarentino. Despite not much enjoying his movies—too much violence, albeit often humorous, rivers of blood, and a permanent ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL – A very tarantinesque UPON UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD came and went (Best Acting Prize to Leonardo DiCaprio, please!)
This film is competing for the Palme D'Or
This year, there was a before- and an after-Tarantino Cannes Festival. Quentin Tarantino's new film “Once upon a time in Hollywood” was the marker. And it was also the most anticipated film of the 2019 festival. What a party! There is no other American auteur who can command the kinds of huge crowds like the ones seen yesterday in Cannes, when he and the cast walked the red carpet. The Croisette ... more >
DOWN FOR THE COUNT | Death by Quentin Tarantino
Paying homage to the dead
The work of Quentin Tarantino could be said to fall into categories: firearms and explosion/fire. That’s what this new infographic (see below) created by Vanity Fair seems to tell us, anyway, in its surveying the number of dead and the cause of death throughout Tarantino's opus. According to this graphic there are relatively few deaths in his first three feature films and people are killed ... more >
THE MAN WITH IRON FISTS trailer released
Expect lots of Kung Fu and uber gore
A trailer for the Quentin Tarantino-produced "The Man with the Iron Fists" was just released. On the menu: sex, violence, Kung Fu, and ueber gore. No wonder Tarantino's in charge. Wu-Tang honcho The RZA and Eli Roth ("Hostel") co-wrote the screenplay, the RZA directed this film. "Fists" follows in the vein of the pure Hong Kong Kung Fu which Wu-Tang spent their musical career paying tribute to in ... more >
STILLS from “Django Unchained” released
Spaghetti: it's what for dinner at this year's Yule
New stills from Quentin Tarantino's upcoming film "Django Unchained" have been released. This ode to the spaghetti western genre Tarantino held dear is the first Tarantino project since his "Inglourious Basterds" (2009). In the South, some time before the Civil War, a former German doctor (played by Christoph Waltz) turned bounty hunter frees the slave Django (Jamie Foxx) and trains him into a ... more >
Americans cause hoopla at Venice
Top Italian journalist laments raid on prizes
In a noted moment of chutzpah the Italian press, led by Paolo Mereghetti (pictured), has been up in arms about the American raid on the most consequential awards at the Venice Biennale with Sofia Coppola winning for “Somewhere” and Monte Hellman for “Road to nowhere.” I admit, I knew that neither film was a shoo-in for the top nods, especially with the wealth of prime cinema on the Lido this ... more >