Sunday Matinée at Market Chess Cinemas

Currently out in theaters, Quentin Tarantino's two-hour and forty-five minute look at real-life stars from 1969 Hollywood in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood (2019) makes for an interesting viewing. 

Tarantino films largely risk coming off as too campy and contrived, but are also oftentimes entertaining--Clearly, some more than others. And the films he has made over the last decade or two seem to be on the lower end of the entertainment spectrum for me compared to his films in the 1990s. 

And, yet, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood strikes the audience as one of the more visually-pleasing period pieces with its impressive cinematography and attention to detail about Hollywood in 1969. That attention to detail adds to the enjoyment of the film, even though we know Tarantino takes plenty of liberties with scenes involving Bruce Lee and Sharon Tate. 

Furthermore, the film does not concern itself much with revealing an intricate plot. Instead, it functions much more as an artistic, entertaining survey of what Hollywood was like. 

But perhaps the main reason I am going to recommend it due to how quickly the film flies by despite its lengthy running time. The film flows, has good comedic part, likable actors (Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Emile Hirsch, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, Bruce Dern, Al Pacino, Kurt Russell), and largely avoid some of the Tarantino pitfalls his films have fallen into in recent years.