Tarantino’s sun-bleached fairytale gets the full Movie Wars teardown. I’m joined by Seth and McKenna McFadden to dig into Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: the Rick/Cliff bromance (Leonardo DiCaprio & Brad Pitt), the Sharon Tate revision, the Bruce Lee fight debate, and why Quentin himself calls this his best film.

We trace how the idea sparked on the Death Proof set while Tarantino watched the actor–stuntman bond, how Rick & Cliff were stitched from real Hollywood pairings (Burt Reynolds/Hal Needham; Steve McQueen/Bud Ekins), why it nearly became a Manson movie, and why he wrote five episodes of “Bounty Law” just to make Dalton feel real. We also hit the Sony deal (post-Weinstein), needle-drop genius (real KHJ radio airchecks), and the stunt-culture DNA that still shapes modern action

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⏱️ Chapters

• 00:03 Cold open & welcome
• 00:17 Show format + guest intro (NYU → WWE; music licensing)
• 01:57 LA golden age vs today
• 02:00 Why it's our Tarantino favorite/rankings
• 02:39 Tarantino says it's his best
• 03:29 Origin on Death Proof set; actor–stuntman dynamic
• 03:53 Rick & Cliff modeled on Reynolds/Needham, McQueen/Ekins
• 05:21 It started as a novel / novelization
• 06:54 From Charles Manson project to Hollywood elegy
• 07:38 Tarantino “universe” & alternate history
• 09:02 Tarantino wrote five “Bounty Law” episodes
• 09:20 Fincher’s Cliff Booth project (debate if needed)
• 09:52 Sony deal, $100M budget, Weinstein split
• 11:58 Bruce Lee scene discourse
• 12:30 Martial arts’ impact on action; Casino Royale pivot
• 16:25 Real KHJ radio airchecks; no original score
• 22:55 War Zone: Round 1 (mid-episode volley)
• 28:24 Randos → Questions transition
• 42:09 Questions: character & craft
• 42:50 Penultimate question: Tarantino’s “best” claim
• 51:08 Last question: Who/What won & lost the movie?
• 58:15 Influences & tone (Texas Chainsaw vibes
• 60:24 Scorecard: Yes/No
• 63:38 Final scores & sign-off

💡 Takeaways

• Tarantino almost wrote Once Upon a Time as a novel before filming.
• Rick Dalton & Cliff Booth sprang from real Hollywood duos.
• Sony’s $100M deal gave Quentin final cut and first-dollar gross after splitting from Weinstein.
• The Bruce Lee scene was meant as a satire of old vs new Hollywood, but still divides fans.
• The soundtrack uses authentic KHJ radio tapes—no original score—so LA itself becomes the music.

Movie Wars. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Movie wars podcast. I'm Kyle.

I'm Seth. And today we have a very special guest. You've heard all about her all over the podcast. She went to New York University to study film.

She now works for a little company. You might know them, they're called the wwe. And most importantly, she is my roommate. Give it up for McKenna McFadden, everybody.

Hello.

Welcome, welcome. Thank you for being here.

So glad you're here. As a quick reminder, the format of the show goes to this. We go through film history.

We're going to talk about randos, which are the most interesting things about the movie. And we're going to do the questions, which are just questions that we use to generate great convo.

And we finish out with the War Zone, which is just rapid fire. Scorecard. Yes or no. Do we dig it?

Are you ready?

Yeah. Now that you're here with the WWE stuff, it's like, it feels like we got out the intensity. Tell us about you. Tell the world about you.

Oh, God, I wasn't prepared for that. Hey, McKenna. As Seth said, I specialize in film and television.

I do the music licensing, so I do everything from listening to music, pitching it, licensing said music, and then marketing it for whatever we're doing.

Yeah, that's sick. Yeah, that's really cool. Thanks, man. A lot of people. That was a dream for a lot of people. That's awesome.

Because I know that's a really tight knit community, like in terms of the people that work for those companies. So I know it's really tough to get in.

It's a lot of lifers.

Yeah.

A lot of 30, 40 years have been with the company. We're on six years now.

Wow.

I don't know. We'll see. We'll see if it turns into decades long.

Yeah. Yeah.

Loving it so far.

Well, today we're wrestling with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

I'm so excited. This is probably my third favorite Tarantino movie, so. Yeah, yeah, I'm pumped to get this one.

Tis my favorite Tarantino movie. And man, two weeks in a row. I feel really lucky after. After a massive hangover from the Snyder verse. Two weeks in a row we've covered.

This will be the third film in two. Two recording sessions of a movie that's in my top 50. So we're doing Training Day after this.

Yeah.

All in my top 50.

Yeah. Come back next week for Training Day.

You know who else thinks this is Quentin Tarantino's best movie? Quentin Tarantino.

I thought he said that he thought Inglorious Bastards was his best movie.

He's gone back to favorite. Huh?

Best or favorite?

He thinks it's his best.

Okay.

He thinks this is his best film. Actually, one of our most viral clips on movie on our Instagram is of him talking about how he thinks it's his best film.

Oh, okay.

And there's a ton of people that disagree with him. I. I'm reading in the comments, but I agree with them.

Let's go into a little history, because this actually also, in terms of why he made the movie, is some of the most interesting, because Tarantino always has such an intentional. I don't know that there's anybody in Hollywood today that's more of a student of film. Just in general, I mean.

Oh, yeah, you hear him talk on any podcast and he's going into the history of movies. I've never even.

Yeah, his vernacular, his references, like the things that he can go deep on are incredible.

Check out his podcast with Peter Avery. I forget what it's called, but they go into all sorts of crazy, crazy films you wouldn't think about. And they go kind of like what we do.

They just go real in depth in films.

I wonder if they have more listeners than we do.

I think they probably do.

But this movie was inspired on the set of Death Proof. Kurt Russell. You know, Kurt Russell has like. He's still.

It's funny, he's still so, so busy today as an actor, but he kind of lived during this era of the stuntman actor relationship.

And Tarantino, during that movie, was observing Russell sitting in their acting chairs with Kurt Russell with his stuntman, John Casino, longtime stuntman for Kurt Russell.

Yeah.

And he always. Tarantino always had this idea of making a movie just about making movies. He's like, what? What could I do?

And he saw that relationship and thought, if I do eventually make a movie about making movies is like, I think that would be a really interesting way to do it and a really interesting premise. And so what they. What he ended up doing is when he wrote these characters, they were based on Rick, or.

So Rick and Cliff are based on Burt Reynolds and how Needham, legendary stuntman, actor, relationship. And Steve McQueen and Bud Eakins were kind of the mold. Rick himself is basically an amalgamation of six different classic Hollywood actors.

Yeah.

And I don't know all of them, but Quentin Tarantino was kind of Pulling from this classic golden era of westerns, black and white movies, kind of the golden age of the actor, and was kind of adding those to Rick's repertoire in terms of how Leo would act. So that's super interesting. So he also calls this an ode to Hollywood, an ode to a very specific era, which. It feels like that.

Yeah, I watch it, and I think this is a great. A great ode. Yeah.

Oh, absolutely. When we were watching Hollywood. Oh, yeah. When we were watching it together, I was telling her that, like, having just been to L. A.

A few weeks ago, and then seeing how he portrays it, it's really interesting to, like, have that juxtaposition of Hollywood in its golden era when everything did feel prestigious, and then going back, you know, a couple weeks ago and realizing, like, the place reeks of, like, it's a ghost town of a place that used to be this beautiful, prestigious place and is now just kind of.

Yeah, it's so true. And so this is interesting, too. Even deeper in the history.

The first five years that Tarantino had the idea for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, he really only thought of it as a novel. And so. And there. There is a great novelization that I've read. And it's. It's not actually the.

Which he did. He did the novels he did. He didn't hire that out to someone.

Yep. And he actually says that what he'll do when he's done making films is he will write. He wants to write novels.

That's cool.

That's kind of his next. His next phase. If he. If he really is done. I still don't believe he'll be done.

Oh, I think he'll be done after 10. And I think there's a reason he's taking so. Because right now he's focused on doing a play. Yeah, he's.

He's in the process of writing and directing a play. But, I mean, he's. He's always said this. He's always said he wants to end his written and directed career on a high note with people wanting more.

I think he'll probably direct more movies and he'll probably write more movies, but I doubt he'll do his own. Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.

I'd be curious, though, how his style. Into a novel.

Novelization.

Yeah.

I don't know if his. I think he's specific to the film medium. Be very hard, I think. And a play might work similarly.

Well, my experience reading Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was very much. I couldn't read it without reading it in his voice.

Yeah.

It's like, okay. Okay. So, like, you know, Rick Dalton. Okay.

What the.

Okay. He's like, go do some coke. And then, you know, it's just like. It made it very hard.

Acid cigarette.

Yeah. It actually made it hard to read because I couldn't. Every character. Every character in the book is like.

I'm just like, God, I gotta expunge Quentin Tarantino's voice from my brain. It was really difficult.

So it's great.

Yeah, it's so. He's so specific, man. So, yeah, it was a novel. And also. What.

And you may have heard some of this because you seem to be really in tune with, like, early stages of movies before they're ever a thing. But this was a. This is originally a Charles Manson movie.

Yeah.

So Charles Manson is more of a subplot and obviously has a big part in the end in this movie, but originally he wanted to make a Charles Manson movie, and he kind of was working backwards from that idea. But what ended up happening, he gets this stuntman thing in his mind, and it kind of changes.

So the Charles Manson thing went from being the centerpiece to kind of being the kind of a side plot.

Interesting.

Okay. That makes a lot more sense.

Yeah. I do wonder when he decided to start doing these alternative histories.

Yeah.

Because, I mean, this and Inglourious Basterds are very prominently known for changing what actually happened. Like, in Inglourious Basterds, they kill Hitler. Spoiler alert. In the theater instead of him killing himself with Ava Braun later in time.

And in this, obviously, that Sharon Tate doesn't get murdered. So I wonder what his thought process was. But.

Yeah. Yeah, I don't. I've wondered that, too. Like, why the obsession with revisionist history?

Yeah.

Like, as much as it's satisfying to see Hitler get his face filled with lead, it's still really awkward.

Yeah.

Just like, wow. And what is the. Anybody want frag Sauerkraut? So good.

Oh, my God. I do. I do think it's interesting because. I don't know. I've mentioned this on the.

On the pod before, but he does talk about how he makes two kinds of movies. He makes a movie that is within his kind of Tarantino universe. Movies.

Like, I'm pretty sure he said Pulp Fiction is once the real world of his universe. But then he makes other movies like Kill Bill that are movies within the universe that those characters would watch.

Like, I think he very specifically said, like, Kill Bill is a movie that. Mr. P. Right. Reservoir Dog.

So it's interesting to see this because I feel like it finally bridges the gap between what would be his real world and what other films are being.

You're thinking over there. What are you thinking?

I'm just podcasting, Just pottering.

Taking it all. Taking it all in.

Yeah.

Few more notes about how this movie was made to fully inhabit Rick Dalton's backstory. Quentin Tarantino wrote five full episodes of Bounty Law.

That's.

Of course he did.

Yeah.

We need to make those. Please make those into actual shorts.

Please.

He just wants to be a writer.

Yeah, well, and I mean, good news for you. I mean, I don't know what if Rick's gonna have a part in it, but they.

I don't know if you saw the announcement, but Quentin Tarantino has given permission to David Fincher to do a Cliff Booth movie.

And it looks like it's taking place in the 70s, so I think it's going to jump forward quite a few years.

That will be amazing. Cliff Booth, one of the best characters ever in film.

I don't know if we need it.

I don't think we need it.

Yeah.

It seems unnecessary.

Yeah.

I don't know. And. And now also I've seen set pictures come out and it. It weirdly looks like way cheaper like the set pictures I've seen. His wig looks terrible.

Yeah, well, I mean, this movie, I mean, had a hundred dollar budget, So. I mean. $100 million. 100 million. Sorry, I'm still in D Dallas buyers mode. Yeah, no, it had a $100 million budget from Sony, so, I mean, which.

That's. I don't think that's his biggest budget. I feel like Inglorious Basterds and Django had bigger budgets.

They had still not a small budget for this kind of movie.

Yeah, any period piece is insanely expensive when you just think about the number of cars they have to buy or at least rent out to make sure that the background looks like the actual time period.

I mean, Hollywood loves make Hollywood so.

And he's one of those like blank check directors like Christopher Nolan, that they're just like, whatever, make whatever you want.

Yeah. And lastly, about how this movie was made and produced and released. This. This was a breaking point between Tarantino and Harvey Weinstein.

As this film was going into production, the scandal broke and you know, there's always been questions about Tarantino's relationship with Weinstein and all that, but so because of that, they did break and Sony was the one who ended up picking it up and giving them the $100 million budget. They gave him final cut privilege. They gave him first dollar gross points and revision rights for 10 to 20 years.

Yeah. That's crazy.

And this is also the deal that people reference because Hollywood executives around. What's the director of. Of Sinners. What's his name?

Ryan Coogler.

People were really. They thought there was some anonymous executives saying that his deal was going to ruin the film industry. Yeah.

Literally the same exact deal Tarantino got for this movie.

Yeah.

So there was. That's always been a weird point of contention.

Not that he's not white. That's why they're like, it's going to. It's good.

I'm like, no, it's literally he came on and talked about that, where he's just like, no, this is the deal that so many directors get after they prove themselves. So stop acting like this is changing everything.

Yeah. Hilarious. It's the same. Almost the same exact deal Now, I guarantee you Tarantino's got more here.

But, but, but maybe your Hollywood career is fading. Maybe your stuntman maybe killed his wife.

Maybe.

And you're not sure. So you need to listen to Movie Wars.

Yeah.

You need to share it. Share this with your stuntman. Share this with the producers who are no longer letting you be the good guy.

Share it with your maybe dead wife.

Maybe. Or Bruce Lee legend.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah. Or the asshole version of Bruce Lee.

The asshole version of Bruce Lee.

Which I'm sure you got a rando about that.

I don't, but yeah, we could talk about it. His family was not happy with that.

Yeah. Not at all. And yet Tarantino is still, like, going on and defending it and being like, no, I made this for a reason. But he's also not like he.

At least in the couple of interviews I've heard, because he went in pretty big depth about it on Joe Rogan, where he made this decision for a reason. But he's like, never really explained why he thought it was appropriate to make Bruce Lee an.

Yeah, well, I will say this. I've. I did a lot of research on this part specifically because, you know, I'm a big Brandon Lee fan from the Crow and stuff.

Bruce Lee wasn't unlike that. He didn't do it all the time. And a lot of times because he was. I think at his heart was someone that, you know, believed in teaching and. And the.

Brought martial arts to the mainstream in America. And he was so prevalent with all that. I do think he. He did speak in that kind of way.

But I think what I'm reading is that very rarely did he come off as that kind of.

Yeah.

So I think what Tarantino did in that instance, not necessarily revisionist history, but took something that may have happened and exhaust. And I'm gonna try. I always struggle saying that word. Exacerbated.

There you go.

I always say. I always say that exacerbated the worst possible way. Hyperbolized it.

Yeah.

And. And. But you know, the thing is, is that you do read that Bruce Lee wasn't unlike that either. Like, he did, but I don't think it was to this degree.

And could a stuntman beat Bruce Lee's ass in Hollywood? I don't know.

Yeah, I mean, it's. It's quite possible. Obviously, as we've seen with MMA now, like, we'll just knowing mechanics about. At the same time, Brad Pitt is what, like 6:1?

Like, he's. He's not a small dude, he's a big dude. So that would be. That would be a lot to deal with.

And I think there's more to that scene than. Than. I think people get distracted by the fact that it's Bruce Lee, but there's.

I think there's more happening in that scene because, you know, Cliff is a war vet, he's a war hero. Bruce Lee is the. Is representing kind of a new age.

He's bringing in a new era of martial arts and how things are done and doesn't use a stuntman and like, it's the new period of Hollywood coming in.

Yeah.

And I think there is a. Yeah. Do you feel like this may be a subliminal tension there?

I. I think it. It just plays into, I guess. What am I saying? It plays into the exploration, I guess, of old Hollywood. The dying out Hollywood.

Yeah, exactly. That's kind of what I picked up on. What do you think?

Yeah, no, I mean, it's. If it's.

We've seen these transitional periods over many decades and they've happened many times and, and kind of crazy because like, that was almost a transitional period between like, those. Those big stars that were known for doing one particular type of acting.

And now martial arts is coming in and literally, I mean, for the 70s, that was a huge part of filmmaking was kung fu movies. And it's. Yeah, it's. It's. It's very much like the older kind of feeling. Like the newer is arrogant, but the newer is just like.

No, you're stuck in old times. Like, this is not how it's done anymore and you have to make sure you're more current. That's why you're not working anymore, Cliff. So it is a.

It is a really interesting way to kind of portray, I think.

Well, if you think about it, martial arts seeped its way into so many different types of film. Because at first it was kind of just kung fu movies. Right. That was kind of what it was isolated to and. And then it kind of spread.

Like if you look at 80s action, like Jean Claude Van Damme, a couple other action actors, like martial arts became a, a mainstay in modern action in the 80s and into the 90s as well.

Oh, absolutely.

So it started to seep outside of its own. Its own genre and became very prevalent.

Yeah. And I think it kind of stayed that way until Casino Royale.

I think that's what kind of changed the entire action genre was introducing parkour, introducing new types of martial arts that hadn't really been before because everyone was so used to the over exaggerated kind of crazy fighting.

And then it's like suddenly you have Daniel Craig doing all this crazy stuff, but then you look on the Internet and people are doing that in real life. Like it's not over exaggerating, exaggerated.

So shout out to Kayla, the girl. When I was in fifth grade and I did, I did taekwondo, she beat my ass. She was like a foot taller than me and had a red belt and she beat me to death.

Go Kayla.

Hey, Kayla. Hope you're doing well. Hope you haven't killed anybody and you're not in prison.

I think we would be remiss if we didn't discuss the, the soundtrack of this movie because Tarantino has very, has been very vocal about how he does not like having original scores for his films. But yeah, he doesn't like the idea. And I think you're going to be able to speak into this pretty well.

But he doesn't like the idea of, of handing off his baby to someone else. He would rather use the music that inspired the vibe of each scene. And this has legitimately one of his best soundtracks.

Like, it's so many good songs in it.

It's a great seg. What was that?

Oh, just definitely great soundtrack. I mean, he's incredibly purposeful about any of his music and I haven't really dived into. Dived. Yeah.

Dove. Dove. Yeah. Exacerbate.

Yeah.

I haven't explored his writing process, so I was curious and maybe, you know, if he writes with the, with these songs in mind.

So if, like, if the songs are already in pre production and he's already written it into the scene and the, maybe the entire scene Hinges on something on a song like that.

I haven't actually read any of his screenplays, so I don't know if they're like in the screenplay where it's like this song is playing on the radio. But I just. Especially with how he uses the radio almost as the soundtrack delivery mechanism because. And I noticed this in Reservoir Dogs.

Like the only time in Reservoir Dogs there's music is when someone has the radio on and it transitions sometimes between scenes where people are listening to the same song. And it happens in this a lot too where they're listening to the same song on the radio. So I would very much guess he's got at least a.

A style of music.

Yeah, I'd be cute. Explorer.

I have an answer for this in the form of my first rando.

Here we go. Perfect transition.

It actually is. I don't know how you sensed it. Maybe because we've been doing this long enough. But you. You had a perfect sense.

We're on the same wavelength. Finally.

That was my impression of a wavelength. This is an exacerbating wavelength.

I missed that. What was that?

Yeah, yeah, I'm clip that out.

Matt.

I'm not intelligent. I'm not intelligent.

That out so short.

The. The segments. Those are real. The. All the radio music you're hearing are. It's real. So that's not what would have been playing. Yeah.

And the way he did it and papas and yes. And he went. It's called khj. And he said that was very much the radio that played when he was a kid in the area during this era.

Oh, that's cool.

And he went out and found. Because he said they don't keep these tapes around. So he had to go out and find some like 12 year old recorded tape that somebody kept around.

And he said that he found it eventually. That someone had these tapes laying around that did record it and keep it.

And so everything you're hearing is really what was being legitimate recordings.

That's cool.

Those are the real radio recordings. That's awesome. Yeah.

When was he born? I'm assuming he was born in the 60s, I think.

Yeah. Like 50, maybe 59 or 61, something like that.

Okay. Yeah. Then he would very vividly have remembered.

Yeah.

That type of stuff. That's really cool.

Yeah.

I'm curious how the licensing went down for that.

I am too.

Yeah.

I'm sure you have a really. I'm sure your brain is really moving. It's like.

Because. Yeah. I'm assuming he would have to license the song and the broadcast, like, separately.

Like any time there's a DJ talking, he would have to license that. But would they have to license it if that company no longer exists?

I think they'd have to find an estate or find a company that essentially bought out that old company.

Do you know if there's like, a fair use situation where it's like, if the copyright holder, be it the entity or the person, doesn't exist and no one else has been able to. To get their hands on the copyrights, does it just fall into fair use?

No, I think you could. You could if you wanted to use it. If you can't find anyone, you could probably use it and then just risk the potential of somebody coming after you.

But anything, nothing really falls into public domain or free use until, what, 70 years? I think.

I think it's 80 years after the death.

Yeah. In the US after the last estate holder.

Yeah, something like that.

Beethoven would be pissed. Interesting stuff now, like. Like your. Your career, like, came in, like, the big time just now.

Yeah.

Like. Like the fair use. I was like, whoa, we have an expert on the panel.

I did. I did find it interesting that anytime he did use instrumental music, it was from old TV shows and movies.

Yeah.

Like, he was literally going and finding old music that. That was tone setting. No. Like singing or anything, but he would use that. And it's.

I. I couldn't tell you, like, which movies they were from specifically, but I sat there, I was like, oh, I've definitely heard this somewhere else before.

Maybe the best use of needle drops.

Yeah.

Ever. I mean, there's two people who compete over this at Scorsese and Tarantino when it comes to needle drops. Like Goodfellas. Needle drops is like.

And then this. It's like, those are probably the two best examples.

Yeah.

Of needle drop music. Because, like, Goodfellas is just amazing with that.

Sunny to see it. Oh, we'll put it on.

My second favorite movie of all time.

Nice.

This is crazy. I didn't realize this. Quentin Tarantino doesn't love a lot of improv. He doesn't include a lot of it.

He.

He likes his script. He likes executing on that. But Leo convinced him to let the trailer scene.

When he goes to his trailer after, he feels like he did a horrible job and he's screaming and freaking out. That was all improv.

Nice.

So Leo. Leo's just going nuts in there.

He's probably drawing from real, real life.

Experiences, and it's some of the funniest shit ever. And the fact that it's Leo is even better the. This show to me, like the self defeatist. Like, because Leo, handsome guy.

Oh yeah.

Dates 19 year olds. Like he's got this. He's got this aura around him. But seeing him actually be able as a character be self defeatist.

Yeah.

And low down on his luck like that really played really well. And I think that scene was kind of the epitome of.

Oh, absolutely.

Within the first five minutes of the movie, you see the on screen version of him where he's this, you know, super confident, like, oh, yeah, this is how I do it. And this is my stuntman and this is that. And then it switches and you just see he is the most like anxious douchebag you've ever seen.

And he's just like, oh, I don't know. I don't know. But I'm also great, but I also suck. I don't know. Yeah, it's so funny. Yeah, it's over.

Good buddy.

He's so good. Like he. And the way he and Brad Pitt play off each other is this movie.

When he plays it so comedically. Brad Pitt, I guess less so. He's still a little. A little funny.

He's funny, but he's definitely the straight man of the two.

Yeah, like he's.

He's very reserved and subtle.

Playing it up.

Yeah, it's straight man. Funny. Like the, like the whole part when he says, you know, what's your name again? Is it Rex? He goes, and I'm.

Or does he say, I was sent by the devil to do the devil's business? And there's the long pause. He goes, no, that's not it. Yeah, that's the funniest part of the movie. It was Rex. It's the pause. It's that long.

And Brett, because, you know, Brad's like both of them.

And I'll just say it now, I mean, I know we have the scorecard at the end, but somehow I think this is Leo and Brad individually, their best performances ever. And the fact they are doing it together, two people I consider to be two of the greatest actors of all time, especially Brad. I just love him.

And they both have similar arcs as actors. Both early heartthrobs, both at one point said, no, I'm an actor.

Yeah.

And they end up like Seven was that movie for Brad Pitt where he's like, get ready for me to do some serious and Fight Club. And then, you know, with Leo, of course he had the Basketball Diaries, which was really interesting.

But you know, he eventually becomes, you know, he leaves the Titanic. Because the Titanic could have really easily pigeonholed him.

Oh 100. I mean he did Romeo and Juliet right. Right around there as well. So he definitely was in the like Romantic.

Yeah.

Genre at that time.

And they've both. I. I heard a stat. This is crazy. This was this or not this one. But Leonardo ignar. Sorry.

Leonardo DiCaprio has done 17 movies with award winning directors.

Nice.

So the overwhelming amount of his repertoire is now with Nolan, Tarantino, Scorsese. He's only. Cameron. Yeah. He's like he only. And he's in the greats. Love working with him. So it's really interesting. But we'll talk about more.

I just had to get that out there. I don't know if that's controversial, but I just think this is two, this is two of the greats doing their best work together with one of the greats.

Yeah. It's kind of unfair actually. So.

And I mean you have Margot Robbie in there too and she's like one of the new greats as far as like she's, she's picked some. Obviously she's had a couple like you have Suicide Squad that didn't turn out so well. But.

Right.

She's done a pretty good job at. At picking roles that she feels deeply connected to. I mean the fact that Barbie made a billion dollars.

Right.

Absurd and incredible all at the same time.

What'd you say?

She was so good in Barbie.

Yeah. And I had this funny thought. I'm like Tarantino actually doesn't have a lot of sex in his movies. But then you find out about his massive foot fetish.

So in a way his movies are some of the most pornographic movies ever. From his point of view.

I will say very proud of him in this. He was a pretty equal opportunist foot guy. He had both male and female naked feet.

Yeah.

Though we did notice all the guys feet were pretty clean and all the girl's feet were gross and dirty.

Makes dirty feet.

Yeah.

They were excessive. Like. Was it Margaret Qualley?

Quailey. Yeah.

Yeah. Was it her? Her feet on the window windshield?

Yeah.

No, I did not like that.

Full on hippie. Full on hippie. Gross.

I thought it was just completely unnecessary for Margot's scene in the theater.

Oh yeah.

Like for her feet to just be up.

Cause I'm just like, I hate those people in general.

That's disgusting. Incredibly rude.

I don't want to be sitting behind you and just see your feet.

Yeah.

It's great. Come on.

Great segue into the final rando this is super micro. So to me, most. Most of the information that I loved was in the history. Right. But the.

So Margot Robbie, as Sharon Tate, picks up a copy of a book called Test Day Ubervilles, I think that's a French title or something in the bookstore. And she gave that to Roman Polanski. And so in real life, she gave that as a gift to Roman Polanski while they were in Europe.

The real story she told Roman Polanski, she was like, this is a movie. I would love to star in this book. And then she was murdered in real life.

So that's why Polanski went on to make the movie Tess, because it's a dedication to Sharon Tate.

Okay.

Yeah.

I don't know if this is in or around the time where in Jack Nicholson's house, he, you know, did the thing that got him kicked out of the country permanently. But what. Yeah, I think she was, what, 14? I don't know. But in Jack Nicholson's house, which was Marlon Brando's house.

Really?

Yeah. He lives. He lived in or still lives in Marlon Brando's house.

I'm surprised you don't have a rando about the fact that Trent Renzner used to live and recorded what. What album was it? With Nine Inch Nails.

Oh, God.

Was it their debut album?

No, it was the second album.

Top 10 band spiraling down, so. Downward Spiral.

Downward Spiral. He recorded that entire album in the house where Sharon Tate was murdered.

You're kidding.

Yeah, he lived there. He lived there for a while.

I didn't know that.

Yeah, we started looking it up. She sent me a bunch of articles.

It's really interesting.

Damn, Trent, that's dark.

And then took the front doors, and when he moved out, took the front doors with him and put him in his, like, nowhere studios.

Yeah.

What a wild guy.

But he.

He moved out because by total happenstance, he ran into Cher, and she was like, don't you think it's fucking disrespectful for you to be living in that house and be doing.

Profiting off my sister's death?

Yeah. And he said it more.

I. I actually am not surprised. I'm a big Dinah Nails fan. And just everything I've read about him, I mean, he. He was raised by his grandma.

Like, he had a very, very kind of lonely, weird childhood. Heroin addict. And I could see that. Just, I don't know him personally.

Yeah, just, you know, Pat would love to meet you.

Hey, Trent. I'm not going to be able to make the show on the 8th, but I'll see you next week at the diner.

The show last night was great.

Really good stuff. Apparently they're on their best tour ever. Like, apparently this new tour is killing it.

Incredible.

Have you seen?

Oh, I went. Yeah, I went last night.

Oh, I'm so mad I didn't go. I wanted to go. One of my absolute favorite. But, yeah, that's really wild. That's a great rando. Yeah, you randoed my rando.

Boom.

But anyway, those are the randos. The question. Rando.

We didn't do it.

We didn't do it. Rand. Go ahead. Randos.

Rand.

Yes.

Oh, I like that approach. Whisper the questions. The questions. Questions. I got two of these for each actor. But is this Leo's best film?

No.

What is Leo's best film?

I am personally pretty fucking partial to Inception.

I knew you were gonna say that.

I. And, and. And sure, he's probably had. Had better stuff since, but that one, just seeing him, who had really come into his own as an actor.

But then he started working with Christopher Nolan, and the two of them really ended up collaborating on the finished story of that. I think because he was able to bring that storytelling expertise to it, it added a whole other layer.

Also, they came out the same year, I think that totally destroyed Shutter Island. I think Shutter island, while good, nowhere near as good, especially with the kind of mind fucky type of ending with. I think Inception's way better.

And I think he brought more depth to the character in Inception than I've seen him do in a lot of other movies. He's oftentimes he is accused of just playing the same character.

Yeah, he does. Again, he gets that.

And I think. I think Inception, and I mean, this. This is close. This is because this is a very, very weird character for him in. In his repertoire film.

But, yeah, I just think there was a little more depth in Inception.

I was just looking at his filmography, and I don't know if I can say if it's his best, but also, I'm trying to compare it.

Yeah.

To what's Eating Gilbert Grape.

Wow, forgot about that one.

Have you seen the American dad parody of squirrels?

No.

It is the funniest thing. John Krasinski plays Johnny Depp's character as a squirrel, though, and it is.

I need to see that. I'll check that out.

Show it to you after.

Please do.

So funny.

I'm partial to Titanic, Leo, just because as a kid, I watched that, I think, daily after preschool. I loved that movie. Man, this is. This is a good one. Inception is also very, very good.

I'll admit though, I've never seen some of the other major films he's done, like the Departed or his worst performance ever.

Yeah, the worst Scorsese movie ever.

Noted.

Yeah.

And then Revenant. I never actually saw Revenant.

I do. I hate that movie. And I'm a Scorsese lifer and I. It's his worst movie ever. And Jack Nicholson somehow is also horrible.

Yeah, it's weird.

You said. What's the other movie?

You said the Revenant never ended up seeing it.

I refuse to knowing that the director almost killed seven crew members. You're a piece of. If you put crew members in that kind of danger and you shouldn't be making movies anymore.

Yeah, that CGI Bear was wild. I am going to go on a lim and say the Revenant is. Is a fantastic film, but it was not his Oscar film.

Yeah.

That almost felt like he was nominated though. He won best actor one for that and he barely talks in it. Now. Granted, he does a good job in it, but just this movie alone is.

Is trounces that performance. I mean, Tom Hardy was the best actor in the Revenant. Yeah, it is not even close.

But in terms of like believability, he's believable as Dalton. Yeah, yeah.

Shockingly he's believable as an anxious asshole.

But I think it also worked well in Wolf of Wall Street.

Yeah, Yeah.

I think he did a great job. He was, I think something that's very different from anything.

Yeah.

Normally seen out of Leo.

He kind of had a similar like reconnaissance that Matthew McConaughey has. He just like for a solid five years doing like Inception, Wolf of Wall Street, Revenant, like just all these top notch roles.

Yeah. I'm gonna go out on the limb and say absolutely his best role. I love, I love Inception.

Funny enough, one of my favorite roles is when he was younger, which was Basketball Diaries, which was actually for his early career before his pre Titanic. Yeah, yeah. He was a baby. Plays a drug addicted basketball player back.

When he was age appropriate to date 19 year olds.

Yes. Back when he was closer to his. His preference.

But yeah, I. I think he shows a dynamic here that I haven't seen with the anxiety with him being down on his luck, the way he plays off Brad. There's so much here. I love it. Even the ones where he's alone making a margarita.

Like even just his energy and listening to headphones while the murders are almost happening in the house. There's just A lot of non verbal here too.

And honestly, one of the best scenes, I think, in film history, not just in this movie, but is the scene where the little girl tells him that's the best actor she's ever seen.

It's so good.

Every time that damn scene gets me. It's beautiful and, and I feel like Leo's tears are believable. Him acting as an actor. Acting is kind of a weird seam in the simulation that is life.

And it's really good. Like the scene where she says it's the best acting that they're filming together is really good. And Leo is really good playing a guy. Playing a guy.

And I just think there's a lot of layers and dimensions. I think it's not even close. And he's had a lot of great roles and I'd say it's top five for me. Yeah, it's good. And I don't know why. I just, I just.

The first time I saw this movie, it like really, it impacted me. I just was really impacted by Leo's performance here. You know, as someone that aspires to be a creative and an artist and succeed at it.

Watching someone as a struggling artist, although it's a little hard to separate from who Leo really is, is. It was. It resonated with me. You know, it's interesting how, how the world moves on to me.

And I think what he killed in this movie was the world will move on from you.

Yeah.

And some people evolve and some people continue. Like, Keanu Reeves has been a successful actor and he's created a franchise basically in every decade for the last 50 decades.

Yeah, yeah. He doesn't age.

He doesn't age and he gets nicer. And now, now Gen Z is in love with Keanu Reeves.

It's just, I mean, they should be.

Because he's the best.

Because he's the best as an actor and a person. Yeah, but that's rare.

Yeah.

You know, and this movie nails it down whether you're a writer, a poet, a musician. Like you can evolve. And some people do, but some people don't want to evolve and they just want to do what they want to do.

And I think this movie really, I think Leo so perfectly plays that, that a guy who's like, I'm not relevant, but I am an artist and I am good at what I do, but how do I exist in this world? That's changed. Yeah, I love that.

I think I prefer his performance in Django, but I, I definitely can admit that this is some top notch from him.

What's hard about Django is just how he's perfect and so hate. Once he pulls out the skull and starts pointing, you're like, holy.

He is great meme content, though.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Maybe the most used meme I've ever seen.

Yeah.

Is that that one from Django or. I mean, or the one from. From this movie of him pointing?

Yeah, I love that.

Good.

Is this Brad Pitt's best? No, no, no. Great.

Great. But not his best.

Particularly distinct.

Yeah. I mean, he's so understated and subtle in this role. I mean, even. Even with the weird what's in the box? Moment.

I do think his performance in 7 is absolutely crazy.

It's phenomenal.

It's so good. I do love him in Inglourious Basterds, and weirdly, one of the only guest stars I really liked on Friends.

Yeah. Oh, he's a really good.

He was a great, great guest star.

Especially since he was dating Jennifer Aniston at the time and they hated each other in the show. It was funny as hell.

Yeah.

But, yeah, I mean, I might even put Fight Club over this. As far as his best performance, I don't think Fight Club would be his best one, but it would be.

It's a great performance, though.

Yeah. I think this. I think this might be top six for me, but those others are probably.

Yeah. If you ever eat one of them sauerkraut sandwiches again. What about you? What do you think?

No, not his best, but, again, I don't know if I could name his best. I think, though, as Tyler Durden.

Yeah, it's pretty great.

Great role.

Say what you want about that movie and that movie, and you and I have talked about this a lot. Like, it was a great movie, and then society.

Yeah. And then society kind of ruined it. Yeah.

And they don't. And it's like, you don't. You guys don't get the purpose.

Now, I'm a avid Chuck Paulanick reader, and I've read that book, like, three times, so I'm like, I. I get it, man.

Yeah.

So, but, like, seeing, like, bros kind of be like, oh, yeah, Fight Club. It's like, dude, that movie's about you, bro. Your dad works for J.P. morgan.

You know, it's like the people who. Who very much, like, idolize Patrick Bateman. I'm like, no, this is literally making fun of you.

Yes. This is literally the antithesis. This is what he thinks of you.

Yeah.

Again, it's crazy to say it, and I don't take these words Lightly. But Leo's best. Brad's best. Here's. Here's where I actually give the edge to Brad a little. Just as an actor in general.

One thing I forgot to talk about in Leo's thing, and this is one area where Leo hasn't conquered yet. He's never done just a straight up. Not that I'm aware of. Low budget indie film. Have you. Can you think of one?

I'm gonna do some digging.

Christian Bale. Brad. So here's where I'm going with Brad Pitt, the Assassination of Jesse James.

I didn't see.

Oh, I haven't either.

It's one of the slowest movies, but it's gorgeous and it's Casey Affleck. It's so well written. It's so beautiful. And Brad Pitt is just like. He barely talks in it. And it's just Brad has shown where he can go places.

And I also think Brad has the best duds like Interview with a Vampire. Being a dual vampire with Tom Cruise.

I also haven't seen and I need to this Holly this Halloween.

Yeah. And even in the movies where he was a heartthrob, you know, Legends of the Fall, A River Runs Through It.

Troy.

Good movies, but, you know. What'd you say?

Troy.

Troy. Oh my gosh, Troy. It was the ass end.

Gilbert Grape is 100. A technically indie 11 budget.

Oh, I didn't know that.

Yeah.

Interesting brand, wasn't it? Oh, no, you're Leo.

I'd like to see him as an adult, though. Do one. I'd love to see him better with.

Well, that's. I'm trying to look now because for some reason I feel like. I mean, catch me if you can.

Yeah, I guess was a studio film, but it was still kind of a under the radar studio film.

And it lives on tbs.

Was J. Edgar not a independent movie?

No, I don't think so. Black and white cost a lot these days.

Yeah, fair.

But I think Brad's best and. And both of these guys are in my top 10 actors. I just think, you know, I just love him here. And yeah, Brad.

Brad Pitt's best work out of a lot of great work. Seven, by the way. I'm so glad you. You're. I'm not alone in that. Seven was like. And that was so good. And that was his demarcation.

Point of like, I'm doing serious now.

Yeah.

You can only take one. Brad or Leo's performance. You have to take one.

Oh, I would take Leo. This one.

Really?

Yeah. I just. Brad played characters I've seen him play before in this. This was nothing like I've ever seen Leo.

I've never seen him play the underconfident, super anxious, super self critical. So I, I think it, it took watching his arc over the film, I think took a little more work than I feel like it did he and I. It's.

This is kind of his purpose. But he is the foil character. He doesn't change at all for the whole movie. He is just the same guy at the beginning that he is. Acid. So.

Yeah. Which is awesome.

Yeah. That's probably his greatest acting ever. Was just the acid scene.

No, that's not it.

I just. Yeah.

I love it.

I'd go, Leo.

Yeah.

Or I'd keep Leo. Yeah. Similar to your points, I think. I think somebody else could have played Brad Pitt's role.

Yeah.

If you wanted Leo seems like written for Leo.

Yeah.

Then it was.

Yeah. Quentin Tarantino definitely had these two in mind. He didn't know if he could get them.

He says like in the special features he's like, I didn't know if I could get them, but they were the guys.

Yeah.

Granted he'd worked with both in such big capacity, but fake.

Cool. Yeah.

Pay me what you can.

Yeah. And a lot of people do take pay cuts being Quentin Tarantino movies.

Same with Christopher Nolan movies.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They just want to be a part of it.

Exactly.

Yeah. I, I do. Even though I. My favorite performance is Brad's, I do say Leo has the better performance.

Yeah.

I think Brad's perfect. And I think Cliff is probably one of my favorite teran. Probably my favorite Tarantino character ever created.

Okay.

He's funny. I love the physicality. I. And I love the mystery of did he kill his wife? Kind of looming over.

And him being the one that confronts the Manson children while on acid was just so perfectly done.

Yeah.

But Leo does the full range. And once I found out that trailer scene was improv and twin Tarantino does not allow improv really in his films.

It was one of the best improvs I've seen. It was hilarious, believable, self defeatist. I do give it to Leo. Even though Brad's is my favorite. But Leo was. His range here was perfect.

Are these the best driving scenes in any movie?

No. Drive.

I mean, yeah. I mean, but think about these. Dry. I mean, dude, it's so the wind, the, the. The radio, every driving scene. I don't like to drive.

Like if I ever got rich, the first thing I would do is get a butler to drive me around. I'D rather. I would rather live in a trailer and have a butler.

Yeah.

Than live in a mansion.

And have to drive.

And have to drive. Like, that's how I'm built. But the wind and the streets and the sun and the. The radio that's playing, I mean, this is.

Those driving scenes are still Drive for me. Yeah.

Drive is the best car movie there, I think.

I tend to agree, actually.

Yeah. I don't know. There's just. Both are set in la, but very different times of la. A different. Very different vibes of la.

And.

Yeah. I just. I just think. I think Refin nailed it with Drive. Yeah.

You know how I feel about R. Yeah. What do you think?

Did not see Drive.

No. I'm just. I need to fix that.

Maybe. Maybe drive your ass to the video store and go pick up a copy.

Hollywood video. Yeah. To be quite honest, to answer your question, I don't remember, like, any of the driving scenes. So I don't. I would say.

No, they're not very distinct.

Okay, well. Yeah, that's an answer. Yeah, that's an answer.

I don't recall them.

Oh, they're driving.

They're driving.

There's music, There's.

I guess maybe it's that. It's like there's nothing. I mean, the only one that you.

Pointed out this whole time was Margaret Quality's feet on the windshield.

Yeah, it was just the feet.

Yeah.

And armpit hair.

Yeah.

Well, that. Whatever.

That makes sense. You do you.

But, like, also, she's. You're just asking to get your leg bones, like, through your chest.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

If you have your feet up on the.

Not a good look for a person.

I mean, granted, they didn't have airbags back then, so she would have just gone straight through the windshield.

I love that. All right, last question before the final question. Quentin Tarant. Quentin Tarantino thinks is this is the best movie he's made?

Yeah.

Is it the best movie he's made?

Not for me. Top three. Absolutely. Django is way better now that I've seen Reservoir Dogs. Reservoir Dogs actually takes number two for.

For me.

Reservoir Dogs is so well done. The way that he kind of starts the story where you're like, what the hell is happening?

Yeah.

And then you get into the meat of the story and it all slowly unfolds itself with very tasteful flashbacks. Nothing felt egregious. Nothing felt out of place. Like, it's so Good. But Django, 100%, it is, in my opinion, the perfect Tarantino movie.

It has everything you Want from a Tarantino movie. Over the top, like dialogue and acting. The humor's on point, the violence is crazy, but also still never feels super out of place.

It fits in the universe he's created. It's. It's a masterpiece.

Tell the people how you saw Reservoir Dogs.

I saw Reservoir Dogs at Quentin Tarantino's New Beverly Cinema a couple of weeks ago when I was in LA on 35 millimeter film at midnight.

I definitely fell asleep at least once just because it was one o' clock in the morning and I was a little drunk from having to kill, like, three hours of time between dinner and that movie. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was an incredible experience. Met some really fun people that we were all just chatting before the movie started.

Like, it was.

Yeah.

So good.

If you have to wait to see the movie your whole life, you saw it the right way.

I think so. I definitely. Yeah. The only way it could have been better is if Tarantino showed up and did a Q and A, which I found out.

So they released the movie in. I think it was 94. No, 93 when the movie came out.

And as soon as it was out of its regular theatrical run, that's when the New Beverly, before Tarantino, had anything to do with the theater. They picked it up for its indie release afterwards. And without telling anyone, Tarantino and the entire cast showed up to do a Q and A. Wow.

And just as soon as the movie ended, obviously, he came in and told the owner. He's like, hey, let's do this. But, like, just walked up on stage with the cast. Like, everyone was there. Tim Roth, Michael Madsen. And yeah.

Just did a Q A at the theater.

He showed up. Listen, okay. This is my movie, okay. There's nothing you can do about it. Okay. I just did a whole lot of coke. And, you know, they're feet.

You got any feet?

Rip. Mike. Mike Madsen.

Yeah. Who had a wonderful little cameo in this one.

Yep.

Yeah.

He's so good.

Tim Roth was in the movie and his scene got cut. And that's why he was special. Thanks. And credited uncredited at the end.

So sad that he's dead.

Yeah. Tim Roth.

No, Mike Madsen.

Yeah. Mike Madison was like, tim Roth's not dead.

All the people who died. I'm sor.

Except for that one.

Here's.

We're not sorry about that guy.

Here's something comforting. More people have died at this point than have lived.

It's true.

So let that be a comfort to you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Going out on a positive note here. What do you think Tarantino's best.

No, no. What do you think about the film? Or his.

What's his best film?

I mean. Okay, so to be fair, I have not seen the entirety of his filmography. I am.

Because you haven't seen Reservoir Dogs.

Haven't seen Jackie Brown or. Jackie Brown or Death Proof. Is there a second Kill Bill. I saw Kill Bill, Volume one.

There's volume.

They're lumped together, though.

And it's one long movie that. Yeah. He considers that to be one movie.

I loved Django unchanged.

Yeah.

I think it's probably the epitome of what film is exactly, but maybe also the stereotype of what a Tarantino film is.

Yeah.

Definitely lives up to it.

Yeah.

And I've only seen it very recently and once, but I think Inglourious Basterds. Yeah, I would say it's.

I think that would be number four for me.

Yeah. What I. What's interesting is running the social media, like, seeing the comments on that video one. A couple people have pointed this out.

Like, they won't say their favorite. They said, just the fact that a man can only make this many movies and stimulate this much discussion. It's pretty wild.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I think what's funny is I think people don't give Death Proof enough credit. Like, it's a lot of fun, and Kurt Russell is amazing in it.

Nice. I've heard nothing but terrible things.

Really. It's fun. I like it. Only miss it is not.

So no judgment for me, but a.

Tarantino miss is still better than 80% of the dog out there.

Fair.

But. But I enjoy it. But this is my favorite. I just think. I just think he found his footing here as about. In terms of balance.

I think he really found it here. I think there's. There's a lot of character study here, actually, that he kind of limits. I think sometimes character study.

He doesn't give a lot of room to breathe for characters in all of his movies.

I don't think you're given enough time to necessarily fall in love with a character because you don't know how long you're gonna have with them, usually. Because usually they find their end.

I feel like Pulp Fiction's the only one where you really get in depth with each of them.

Yes. Yeah. You're He. The way he films is. You're dropped into the story.

Yeah.

Right. But I feel like here. Like, this is because it's a love letter to Hollywood. Like, he's opening the door and you're seeing just a lot of cool stuff.

And I just feel like I fell in love with these characters. I will say, like, Django is probably second and I think it's incredible. And I think Christoph Waltz actually made me cry in that movie.

Christoph Waltz is phenomenal.

So good.

That's probably the best performance he's captured is Christoph Waltz in the Django.

I love the fact the meme that's been going around that's like Christoph Waltz is the only actor to have won an Oscar for playing both a Nazi and an anti racist.

Yes. It's pretty incredible. It's pretty incredible. And he basically. He gave Christoph Waltz his career. I mean, Inglorious Bastards launched him.

And I think, God, it's so hard to pick a third. I won't do it right now. But yeah, I think this is my favorite.

Yeah.

But I think I, I'll be honest, I haven't seen a movie by him. I hate fair. So I want to, I want to find one. I've watched them all multiple times.

He's got one more. He's got one more. He's got one chance.

Boy, the pressure is on.

Honestly, I think if he had followed through with the film critic, it would have been terrible.

I did too.

I. Every time he was. I heard even the little bit of information he was giving out about it, I was like, this, this. What the are you doing?

Right?

This sounds so boring.

Yeah.

I also want to bring up the potential of the Star Trek project, which.

I heard the script is insane.

I think he is absolutely not the correct choice to direct a Star Trek film.

You don't think so?

Maybe direct. But I really want to see that script.

Script.

Like, sure, it's probably interesting, but I, I don't think the films he creates matches up with the philosophy. I wouldn't want it.

But see, his, his writing has been. See, this is, this is why I, I make the differentiation between. There's directed by Tarantino, which, like Four Rooms is a good example.

Or some of the shorts in Sin City is a good example. There's written by Quentin Tarantino, which you could have. What's. What's the really big one?

True Romance.

True Romance. He wrote that. That's nothing like a written and directed by Tarantino movie.

Like, there's a very specific brand where he is the God figure of the movie.

And when he's writing and he knows someone else is going to direct it or if he's directing someone else's script, I think it takes on a vastly different tone.

Are there. What are the other significant films, though? That he's directed and just directed.

There's not. There's definitely not a.

There's more that he's written.

Yeah, there's definitely more that he has written. Let me pull it up real quick.

He's also script polished. Like the Hunt for Red October.

Yeah. Like he.

Or. Sorry, Crimson Tide. Not the. Yeah, Crimson Tide.

I guess it would just. I think a Quentin Tarantino Star Trek movie would be a very stylized and particular movie. I don't think it would be fall in canon.

He helped write Natural Born Killers. He's written some CSI episodes.

I guess it's all films I have not seen or television.

True Romance is his best written.

Yeah.

That he's not directed.

But I mean, in addition to just straight up writing stuff, he's like. He said he kind of script doctors a lot of stuff, especially back in the day. Oh, he looks like they might be putting out Bounty Law.

Oh, really?

Yeah, it's. It's upcoming on. On.

That would be amazing.

That would be awesome. But he's. He's. Yeah, I guess so. He also wrote the Adventures of Cliff Booth sequel that's coming out. So. But I mean, yeah, he. I don't know.

To me, there is just. There's a big difference between his baby, which is written and directed by. And then written by. Or just directed by.

Last question. Who or what won the movie for you and who or what lost the movie for you in the spirit of war?

I think. I think what lost the movie for me was the feat.

Yeah.

Just not a foot guy too much. Don't understand the foot. The foot thing. Like, I just. It's. It's too much. What won the movie for me. And I was especially wanted to get into this once.

Once I hit the work hard. But really what won this movie for me was the entirety of the supporting cast. Like, I don't. I think Matt.

Not Matt, but Leo and Brad Pitt could have played their characters exactly the same, but if every other supporting actor hadn't blown it out of the park. Also, with how many people that Tarantino found before they actually got famous, Margot quality is blowing up. Austin Butler's blowing up.

Sydney Sweeney's blowing up. Like so many people that he pulled in that.

That are now blowing up, but at the same time, people he was pulling in like Dakota Fanning and Kurt Russell, who've all kind of had the heydays of their career, but he's still pulling them back in to do fun stuff. I think that's really what sold the world for me was the fact that every other character, everyone just. Just nailed it.

What lost for me, and we had talked about this when we watched it, was the inconsistency of style. I'm trying to find the right. Or the right words to call it what it is.

But I guess what I didn't like was there was not enough of Kurt Russell interrupting and, like, breaking the fourth wall to tell us, like, why. Why Leo's character was, like, not cool. Why he didn't like him.

Yeah. I think it literally happened twice.

Oh, Cliff.

Yeah. Like, it just. That felt inconsistent. I felt that something of the. Either breaking of the fourth wall or, like, making some sort of meta commentary.

Or, like, the captions.

Yeah. Needed to happen earlier and maybe in a smaller way to introduce, like, okay, this is the kind of film we are.

Like, we are going to interrupt you and interrupt the story to tell you something else.

Yeah.

That felt inconsistent to me also. Yeah. With the kind of, I guess, interstitial titles.

Yeah.

You really. I think we only got them at the Playboy Mansion. And then introducing the three people who were at the party who we'd, like, never see from again.

Like, sure, you set a setting, but that doesn't appear anywhere else in the film and.

Yeah.

Or even later in the party scene.

Yeah.

Like, there seems to be, like, significant people talking about. Or there's that one scene between the two talking about.

Everyone else.

Yeah, everyone else. Or Pitt's character. Yeah. It was inconsistent, and I wanted. I mean, he's known for his style and stylization, and it just didn't feel complete.

And I don't know if that was. Maybe it was cut out in editing. What? 1. I think ultimately just the composition of it all. Like, the acting and the production design were incredible.

And, I mean, he's always, again, very, very good with his production design.

Very meticulous, very.

There is a point to everything. In, like I had said, I think there was a certain sign at the restaurant that they were at that was fitting of the scene.

Like, he cares about the composition of every one of his shots, which I think is very important. Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah. The oldest in Hollywood or something. Yeah, I was. I. I think composition, including music.

Yeah.

It was all. It all came together.

Yeah. I. What one for me, kind of what you said, the performances across the board.

We talked a lot about Leo and we talked a lot about Brad, but we got Al Pacino here.

Yeah.

Granted, he's being Al Pacino, but no one's better at being Al Pacino than Al Pacino, so. Love seeing him here. He. No no one pulls in random famous people like Tarantino and gets them to do 30 seconds in a movie and does it better.

But, yeah, Austin Butler. And you can go back and find it. I called it the day they announced that they were going to remake American Psycho.

You don't know if you remember this.

Yeah, I do.

I said Austin Butler would be cast the day they announced it. And people were like, you're fucking stupid and fat and I hate your podcast. Every. Everybody who everybody can get a microphone.

Now, a week later, who got picked to play Patrick Bateman in American Psycho? Austin Butler.

Really?

I called it. I knew it. I just knew because I just. I remembered him here.

I watched Elvis the week before and I was like, austin Butler is going to be the next Patrick Bateman. Plus, I fucking. I have read American Psycho twice. Yes, I've Dared it twice. I know the material. I know. I know who they're going to cast.

But anyway, I love Austin Butler here. I just think, like, there's a lot of great performances here. It's hard to find something that lost for me. But I'll pick two little things.

Roman Polanski is a piece of shit.

Absolutely.

And I. This is not about Roman Polanski. But I didn't love. Zero commentary on Roman Polanski here. I just, you know, he was not great to Sharon Tate.

He was a serial adulter, and then he went on to be a pedophile and isn't allowed in the country. Granted, made some of the best movies of all time. Rosemary's Babies. Like, you know, it's. It's in the echelon. But he was a piece of.

And I just kind of didn't like. And I'm not saying.

Did you try the Town?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is top 50. Even though Polanski is a piece of shit. The thing is, is that.

And I'm not saying, you know, a lot of people like, oh, Tarantino's accountable for this, whatever, he's a racist and all that stuff. I just think. I just didn't like seeing Polanski in a positive light at all.

So, see, this is where I would actually disagree with you. I feel like the only person who saw. The only two people who saw him in a positive light were Cliff Booth. Cliff Booth, Rick Dalton and Sharon Tate.

That's true.

Because that whole scene where Damian Lewis is at the pool party and is talking about everyone. It's very clear. No one likes Roman. Yeah, Everybody hates him.

So I think because this was not a Roman Polanski story, he tried to get it in the subtext of what was going on in people's attitudes when they were talking about him. But I do agree. I think it could have been a little more overt.

Well, yeah, you couldn't really have Sharon Tate in the film, and you had to portray him somehow, and it was, I guess, as minor as it could be.

Yeah.

Yeah. And you're both right. And maybe it's just my own discomfort with his crimes, you know, and. No, you know, and it hadn't happened yet in this.

At this point in the storyline. But I don't know of.

At least allegedly.

Yeah. At least that we don't know. Yeah. And the only other thing is, it's not necessarily a thing that lost it.

But I want to know more about what this was as a Charles Manson movie.

Yeah.

Before it changed, because we only see Charles Manson. Watts and the guy they cast looks exactly like Charles Manson. And whoever that was, I wish I knew. His name was incredible.

Yeah.

I just want to know, like, what was the story going to be before it turned into this Rick and Cliff movie? So that. That's not necessarily a loss. I just feel like maybe we missed out on a little bit of Quentin Tarantino talking more about Manson.

Shout out to Damon Harriman.

Incredible job.

Though. I did appreciate that they filmed at Spawn Ranch.

Yes. And Tarantino said he wanted it to look like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

So that film there.

No, but he wanted it to feel like that. He wanted. Because it was a once vibrant location for filming and because it was a band. And he wanted the. The.

The desert and all the houses and stuff to feel like Texas Chainsaw Massacre Fair. So. All right, we're going to close out with the war zone here. Rapid Fire. Remember, we've changed the war card. We have four categories.

We have cast, writing, directing, the composition of the film, which is includes all the cinematography, music, stunts, editing, all the things, the mechanics of the movie. We'll start with you. What do you think?

So real quick, I got.

I just got to give a nice shout out to all the supporting cast this movie, because we got Emile Hirsch, we got Margaret Quality, we got Timothy Olyphant, we've got Dakota Fanning, Bruce Dern, Luke Perry, Damian Lewis, Al Pacino, Samantha Robinson. I mean, the list goes on Lena Dunham, Damon, Mickey Madison, who is also popping off recently. I mean, so many people.

Maya Hawk, Rumor Willis was in it.

Raphael.

Yeah.

Like, so many playing real people.

Yeah. All playing real people. I think for cast, it is 100% A. Yes. They're Everyone incredible in this.

And like I said, I think what really sold the three main characters was the supporting cast writing. I think overall, the writing is fine. Like, there's nothing. There's no. There's no problem I have with the writing, but it's.

It's definitely not his best written work, in my opinion. It kind of comes down to the same thing you said.

Those inconsistencies of, oh, we're just gonna have two moments of interrupting narration and that's it. But it was fine. Not enough for me to give it a no. So it's definitely a squeak over. Yes. Directing. This is quintessential Tarantino.

It's him being a pretentious artistic fuck, and I love it. So it's a strong yes for me. And composition. Like, yeah, it just. It all comes together so well.

So, yes, across the board.

Yeah. Four to zero with a squeak over for writing.

Put that in the Cliff Notes.

Yes.

A squeak.

I guess I would say yeses across the board. The only.

Where.

I mean, are they all Fuck. Tons.

Oh, no, those. Are you. That's more of a joke than anything.

Yeah. Okay.

Straight up. Yes or no.

Okay.

Unless you feel very convicted about something.

Yeah.

So, yes. Directing. Great. It's a Tarantino film. It's just 100% a Tarantino film.

The writing, I think, was the only thing that was maybe that I was teetering on. There was nothing that would make me say no. Again with inconsistencies. It felt a little slow. Sometimes we broke a lot, I guess.

No, this is very much a character development film than, like, a plot development film.

Absolutely.

And you're not paying attention to the characters and that development. Nothing really happened.

So the breakaway from the main story to show the clips from the Bounty show, like, any of that development was kind of took me out of it, but I understand that that was part of the style. So squeak over on that writing was probably a squeak.

A lot of squeaking going on.

Cast. Yeah.

I mean, there's always a great cast with Tarantino. Like you said, it's kind of. Anyone wants the chance to work with him, Like Yolin. Composition. It's a great composition. Composition.

He's a master at that.

Love it. So a couple squeaks, but ultimately a 4 0. Yeah. Okay. I go heavily. Yes. In every category.

Tons. All across the board.

I Honestly, yeah, I. I love that when we, when we decided to cover this, because I've just been waiting to analyze it from a Movie wars perspective for a long time. I don't dislike any of Tarantino's work. I even love Death Proof. Yes. I, I. Not in the same echelon.

When you judge it as a Tarantino movie, it probably is at the bottom. But when you just judge it as a movie, it's a ton of fun.

Yeah. Not a fuck ton of fun, though.

Yeah, it is just. Just a ton of fun. But I.

First of all, this cast, I think somehow he gets Leo and Brad to do their best performances, in my opinion, and then pulls in, you know, Al Pacino and, you know, Bruce Dern. Is George Spawn, just randomly pulling in great people and getting great performances across the board. A young Austin Butler here is unknown.

He goes on to be Elvis not too long after and. And becomes very well known for that and is now Patrick Bateman, Margaret Qualley. Fantastic. In terms of writing, I think it's his best writing.

I think it's his most interesting writing. I agree with you. I think every Tarantino fan or movie, if I had to say they suffer from one thing, is there is always some period of lag.

He just builds it into every movie. I don't know why I felt like this had the least of it. I even think Django has a little bit of bloat to it.

Oh, see, that's where I disagree with you.

Yeah.

I think that's where I'm like, Django is the perfectly paced Tarantino film.

Yeah. I think Inglourious Basterds has some bloat to it. Like, I actually think he has a little bit of bloat in other movies.

To me, maybe because I am so pulled in by the visuals and the performances, I'm not seeing it as much for some reason. I don't know. I'm just used to Tarantino doing random weird movies at the breaking of the fourth wall. Didn't bother me.

Yeah.

But it's because I've also just seen him do weird like that in a bunch of other movies. Movies.

And, and it's not necessarily that the appearance and presence of that bothered me. It's that it just. It was not carried throughout the film.

Yeah, that's a good point.

Yeah.

But I think the. I think the comedy here is pretty brilliant. I think some really great comedic timing as a comedian. I just think the writing is spot on.

And lastly, the composition is incredible. We have been transported to a different time. The use of the radio station, not just emulating the radio, but using the real radio.

Yeah.

Was a great touch.

That's a cool.

That's a beautiful touch. Yes. And so, you know, visually, I'm just. I'm pulled in. Couldn't take my eyes off the movie. And, yeah, it was completely engrossed. So Heavy fours.

Heavy four for me on that scorecard.

Hell, yeah.

Once Upon a Time in Movie wars, we just gave Once Upon a Time in Hollywood a. A pretty solid rating here. We're gonna take a break, and then we're gonna do Training Day with our friend here.

Yeah.

I'm Kyle.

I'm Seth McKenna. See you next week.

Movie Wars.