Spoiler warning for the ending of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Like many others, I was concerned when Quentin Tarantino announced he was making a film based around the infamous 1969 Tate murders. Tarantino’s notoriously gleeful approach to violence seemed like the worst possible way to depict a real-life tragedy and I was gearing up for some uncomfortable exploitation. Except, that’s not exactly what happened. Tarantino’s 1969 isn’t the real 1969 but an alternate reality in which the Manson family are foiled and Sharon Tate survives. Our two leads, fading movie star Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth, are Tate’s next-door neighbours who end up being targeted by the Manson family instead and - through Tarantino’s typical, borderline slapstick goriness - come out on top. So, that’s alright then? Tarantino doesn’t depict the murders, doesn’t revel in their morbidity and doesn’t exploit the deaths of actual human beings. Which, yeah, I guess that's true. But the endin...

Considering the essentially non-existent readership for this blog, there’s little reason to apologise for not posting for three months. However, I still feel the need to say sorry - even if it’s only to myself - and to make up for the drought in content with this incredibly rushed summary of every film I failed to review during that time. Out of Blue Oh dear. Director Carol Morley’s ambitious sci-fi noir is a bit of a mess, juggling far too many threads and themes for any of them to reach a satisfying payoff. It doesn’t help that the writing, directing and acting decisions are frequently baffling. Morley is perhaps going for surreal but more often than not the film just feels awkward and unnatural. It’s a shame, there’s a lot of potential, but Out of Blue never really comes together. Unicorn Store Brie Larson’s directorial debut is colourful and whimsical but not exactly abundant in substance. Its central message of holding onto your childlike spirit is one that’s been...