Dogs Bark

Print The Legend - - Once Upon A Time . . . In Hollywood (2019, USA, Color, ) - - 30 July 2019

Strongly recommended. So which does ‘once upon a time’ in the title of Quentin Tarantino's (Jackie Brown) ninth movie refer to . . . Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns or are we talking Fractured Fairy Tales of the Rocky and Bullwinkle show? Regardless, after a couple of movies that increasingly missed the mark, Q seems to have abandoned the hateful and gloriously embraced his true romance with a vengeance. He’s helped by a flame-throwing Leo DiCaprio (The Aviator) and Oscar-worthy performances by Margot Robbie (I, Tonya) as Sharon Tate and Brad Pitt (Inglourious Basterds). Actually, the entire cast is dy-no-mite. Tarantino is still the best living director at manipulating laughs and horrible tension, often simultaneously. And he understands that fans of Mark Lindsey and Jim Morrison were incompatible. But regarding the initial question, is this a movie or a myth? I’ll just ask, do you really think Brad Pitt could kick Bruce Lee's ass?

 

Power Concedes Nothing - - Glory (1989, USA, Color, 122 minutes) - - 21 July 2019, a TCM Big Screen Classic (repeated July 24th)

An essential. I would dispute the claim - - made by a few - - that Glory is just a white man’s movie (Edward Zwick, Defiance) about a privileged white boy. While Matthew Broderick’s (Election) performance, as the Civil War leader of the first African American regiment, is his best . . . he didn’t win the Oscar. It’s the ensemble acting of Morgan Woodward (Se7en), Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Jihmi Kennedy (The Dream Team) and particularly, Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq.) that makes Glory an essential. Although each character begins the story as a war-movie type, their individual battles meld into a single and higher purpose. These four characters build nobility over the course of their story, evincing the best sense of manhood. The powerful, Oscar-winning, score (James Horner, Titanic) contributes more dignity.  Glory represents the best reason to die in war. The men of the Massachusetts 54th died for liberty and justice . . . for all.