After eight feature-length directing credits and more than 20 years atop the Hollywood hierarchy, director Quentin Tarantino has earned a reputation that makes any project he’s working on a big deal. The famed auteur’s next film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, uses the infamous Manson Family murders of 1969 as its backdrop, and now we have the film’s first official trailer. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a nostalgia-inducing ode to Los Angelas and classic film. This director/screenwriter teases the story from this very real 1969 tragedy- the brutal and cruel murder of Sharon Tate and her friends by the Manson family. Although the storyline develops at a leisurely pace, Tarintino nevertheless delivers an engaging snapshot of a moment in time with a thrillingly ruthless ending inn this valentine to Hollywood. And the title Once Upon a time in Hollywood refers to a whole collection of movies with similar titles. Two of the major ones were made by a big influence on Tarantino’s career: Sergio Leone, who made Once upon a time in West and Once Upon a time in America, both epics about different eras in American history.

The plentiful footage of Mike Moh as Bruce Lee has us wondering. Quentin Tarantino’s film Inglorious Bastards rewrote history by having the heroes kill Adolf Hitler in a movie theatre Django Unchained certainly had elements of altered reality, as a former slave gets to take revenge on a slaver. The style just continues at Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the film where the most important female character (Margot Robbie’s Sharon Tate) is well understood as a kind of vision of old Hollywood glamour, an occasionally unknowable cipher, And where some of the other women in this news live mostly to be punished. Take, for example, the one-off portrayal of cliff’s woman, who died at some point before the movie starts. (some people think drop defeated her, but he’s never existed convicted.) She’s hectoring him on the boat that once we find her, at yet another uncertain flashback whose veracity is impossible to define. Then as things put today, Once Upon a time in Hollywood ranks as Quentin Tarantino’s second most commercially successful film, trailing behind 2012’s Django Unchained. It finished its theatrical race with $ 425.4 million worldwide, with a similar split between the national and world runs as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. One of the biggest surprises at Quentin Tarantino’s “ Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ” was that lack of Charles Manson, played by an Australian actor. Tarantino had warned fans prior to the movie’s release that “ Hollywood ” was not the Manson film, but more moviegoers expected this notorious serial killer to have a larger role in the narrative. Herriman’s Manson pops up shortly within the incident at which he roams this place of Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), But, besides this, Manson is only talked about by members of his cult.

Seeing the class title of Cult Film on the registrar made me immediately excited and the level of excitement has sustained throughout this class up until this epidemic that turned everything upside down. When we first received the syllabus I was excited to see I knew two or three of the scheduled screenings but the best ones we watched had to be the ones I haven’t seen yet. Being able to view these movies in a movie theater Esque setting was also a huge highlight of the class. I have never taken a film class in Alfred yet nor have I had a class in the giant lecture space, getting able to do so was the highlight of my senior year since the shit hit the fan with senior shows.

When I showed my mom the syllabus she got very excited as she has seen almost all the movies on the list. Growing up my mom’s side of the family communicates through movie quotes and most of them went completely over my head until the screenings in this class. The lecture style of the class was refreshing in the way that it’s not the teacher just droning on, having a professor, as well as students who are very passionate about the topic, presented helped as well. Getting to ear everyone’s arguments about what movie they believe to be a cult film was also very entertaining and enlightening, many of the movies presented on I wouldn’t think of arguing for but after the presentations, I was right on board. My favorite screening of the class was probably pink flamingo, although I wish I sat I the back so I could see people reactions, hearing the gasps and disgust coming from behind me put an even bigger smile on my face.

If I were to add a movie or two, Murials Wedding would absolutely be at the top of the list along with Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!, a movie that has incredible pacing to it along with an amazing underlying biblical allusion throughout the film. Having limited internet access and time available, my effort and enthusiasm for the class severely dropped. Not being able to screen the movies and participate in some of the canvas chats was very disheartening, as well as the lack of response to emails reaching out for help. Overall I had a great time with the class and would happily take it again if I had a guarantee there wouldn’t be an epidemic this time around. I wish I was able to do more with the class and screen more of the films on the roster but I am happy with how the class was running pre-COVID.