The MoFo Top 100 of the 2010s Countdown

The main arc is populated by Rick Dalton's dreams of becoming more than just a B-grade actor, feeling insecure with himself and feeling he's lost it. Leonardo Dicaprio brings a level of sincerity and admirable dedication to the role. Dalton is a starving artist. He's clearly got a lot of talent, but never gets a chance to fully utilize it. When he eventually even struggles to remember the simplest of lines, he loses it in what is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Yelling at himself in the mirror to lay off the alcohol and do the god-damn job an actor's supposed to do is hilarious and very relatable to anyone wanting to be taken seriously as an actor. Sometimes when I'm recording lines and I just keep doing takes of the same line over and over and over again I feel like I'm going insane. Is something wrong with me? When am I going to be good enough? Thankfully in this case, this results in Rick doing the best damn acting job he's done in his whole life. The scene with him as the mustached villain holding a little girl hostage threatening to cut her throat is legitimately intimidating. He finally found the confidence he needed to be truly great.

Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019) 7/10

Washed-up TV star Leonardo DiCaprio and his driver/stunt man Brad Pitt live a pop culture cornucopia in the late '60s, intersecting with the Manson Clan.

Didn't Like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Gratuitous violent bore. If it wasn't a Tarantino film it would be nowhere near this list.

The violence in it is highly stylized, sure, but that doesn't mean it's gratuitous. Like, the final act is the entire point of the film, both in regards to the emotional resonance of Sharon Tate's fate and for completing Rick Dalton's character arc. Both those elements come together very well during the Manson sequence. And aside from the final act, it doesn't even have much violence in the first place (or, at least, not as much as you'd normally find in a Tarantino film).

Fair points, I'd happily just call it a 'bore' in that case.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, 2019)
(Rewatch)

I've seen a lot of reviews that accuse this movie of being slow, overly long, self-indulgent, and self-congratulatory and I don't disagree with any of that. But I also don't see those things as being faults. As its title suggests, this movie is a fairy tale. A sweet, blissful fairy tale - albeit one with a lot of profanity and drinking - that meanders through an atmospheric and mostly rose colored depiction of 1960s Hollywood while keeping its focus on a fictional washed up actor and his stunt double buddy. The majority of the film is far more soft and sedate than you expect from its director, but then it rewrites history in a big bloody, fiery, gruesome, and very Tarantino way.

I think this was my third or fourth time watching it and I wouldn't quite say I love it, but it is a lot of fun and I like it a lot. Not a lock for my ballot - though another Tarantino is - but it is a contender.

Blade Runner 2049 was not on my list, however, I think it’s great. Perhaps it could have been with a rewatch more.

When I first saw it at the cinema, I wasn’t really that much of a fan of it. I thought it was okay. But something somehow clicked on the rewatch and I thought it was pretty amazing the second time around. So yeah, I’m glad to see it in the top 10.