Patrick Arlington

I couldn't tell you if my positive review stemmed from an abysmal year for film, but I was thoroughly entertained. The movie makes full use of its R rating and ends up being the most enjoyable mainstream slasher film since You're Next.

Continuing the 2019 trend of disappointment comes Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and this movie doesn't even feel like a Quentin Tarantino flick until the last few scenes of the film. This movie bucks the director's usual brand of storytelling in favor of not really telling much of a story at all. I kept waiting for the story to emerge, until some kind of narrative would rear it's head and it doesn't even bring an actual compelling conflict until the movie is near the end of it's run time. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a washed up actor that is trying to hang on to his glory days, and Brad Pitt plays a stunt man who is resigned to the fact that his best days are behind him. And honestly, that's about all you can say for their character arcs for a majority of the film. And sure, I suppose they are supposed to play second fiddle to the real star of the show, the setting. But close to three hours of characters meandering about gets a little long in the tooth when there is no substantive story to latch onto.

You know how Godzilla 2014 established the titans as a force to be reckoned with, well, this movie negates that premise. The humans begin the film having talks about whether the monsters should be spared or not. Which begs the question, when was this option ever on the table in this universe? If you want to see the monsters you know and love castrated and put into a dull film with one of the worst plots I've seen in a Godzilla film then this is the movie for you!