Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino, July 26, 2019) Movie • Page 55

Saw this again last night. Even better on a rewatch.

 

Everyone talked about their rewatches of his filmography before the newest one, but I started with Reservoir Dogs last night. It is still rough and amateur; everything he wanted to do with Reservoir Dogs was done better in the three films that came after. It is a rough draft of things to come.

 

Watching IB right now and while this is top-tier, my one criticism is the casting of Eli Roth. I don’t mind Roth as a person or a director. I get that him and QT bonded over their love of exploitation films and QT helped by producing Hostel, but Roth just isn’t as intimidating enough to earn the title of the Bear Jew. Not sure which actor would be a better fit.

 

I agree with the first part of what you are saying, but for me, it isn't even so much that Eli Roth isn't intimidating enough for the part, but more that he is just not a good actor. At all. He is actually pretty bad.

IB is STACKED with incredible actors giving fantastic performances under Tarantino's direction, and in my opinion, Eli Roth's performance sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

This is officially my favorite Tarantino after five viewings.

 

Would’ve been interesting if he got Sandler like he wanted.

 

Eli Roth's bad acting is kind of charming in that role. Brad Pitt is hamming it up too. I look at the Basterds as more of a throwback to cheesier war films while the real story is Shosanna and Landa.

 

I don’t really know what anyone would change about Roth’s performance. Part of the reason the Nazis fear the Basterds is exactly because they steep to the level of the Nazi’s depravity and apathy towards the opposing side, and the Bear Jew steeps the lowest by using the bat to make the killing that much more personal. He’s a depraved juvenile loudmouth, which is obviously the joke, since the Nazis build him up to be some stoic sociopathic killing machine. To that end I feel like Roth played the role perfectly fine. Landa knows he’s intimidating enough as it is, so he has no problem toying with his prey by being outwardly cordial or off-putting. The Bear Jew meanwhile tries extremely hard to be as intimidating and in-your-face as possible.

Plus like tetra said, between Pitt’s accent and Landa and Hitler and Mike Meyer’s silly British character, his one scene of actual acting and character development seemed to totally fit within the rest of the cartoonish IB world

 

Eli Roth is the worst in everything he does

 

I dream of the alternate universe where we got Sandler in a QT movie.

 

finally forcing myself to take the trip into Philly this weekend and catch this in 35mm. also will be rewatching a bunch of the filmography soon. should have done it leading up.

 

I would change the actor playing the role to someone who can actually act. Brad Pitt may be hamming it up in the role, but he is a very talented actor - you swap Eli Roth in for Brad Pitt and the movie is almost unwatchable. The odd Mike Myers cameo may be on the level of Roth's acting, but I would say that Mélanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Daniel Brühl, August Diehl and Diane Kruger all give absolutely stellar performances. The guy who plays the ill-fated German soldier / new father even turns in a fantastic performance in his one scene.

 

Instead we got QT in a Sandler movie

 

Arguably the better film

 

This tells me nothing. Roth isn’t playing Pitt’s or Waltz’s or Fassbender’s characters. He’s playing the Bear Jew guy. You’re claiming that his inability to act somehow doesn’t do that role justice or takes away from the film in some way. I’m asking how.

 

TIL there's somebody out there who doesn't unconditionally love Sgt. Donny Donowitz

 

I'm stewing in that post-first watch feel right now but on first impressions this is probably my favourite Tarantino movie since Jackie Brown

already want to see it like five more times

 

this is one of the best I've read in recent memory

 

Eli Roth a) looks like he can throw down in that movie, and b) gives the role the acting chops needed to bring the character to life. The part probably could have been transcended more w/ a better actor, but he didn't really drop the ball once. And the fact that it's hard to think of another actor to replace him w/ probably speaks to the quality of the casting. And no, Sandler wouldn't have been better lmao. How would it even be possible for it to not feel like a happy gilmore meltdown every time he busted heads? Hilarious, but the intimidation factor isn't there and it would be a bit too gimmicky for the movie that IB is.

 

Sandler is actually a fantastic actor when he tries though

 

i don’t really have an issue with Roth’s performance but Sandler woulda been freaking incredible. still holding out hope him and PTA do another film together

 

He should be great in Uncut Gems

 

Yeah since his rage is one of Sandler’s most well known gags I’m not sure if him doing it as an enforcer would come across well. The Bear Jew is a much different type of aggression than Punch Drunk Love

 

An Ex-Manson Family Member Reviews ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’

 

I find Eli Roth's acting to be so bad that it is distracting, to the point where whenever I watch that scene I am taken out of the scene and just sit there thinking about how bad of a call it was for Quentin Tarantino to stick his buddy in there instead of finding a talented yet physically intimidating preferably Jewish actor.

Tarantino loads his films with actors both well-known and relatively unknown - at least in the US - and oftentimes brings an actor who may have slipped from the limelight a little bit back to the public consciousness. The common denominator for me is that almost all of his actors seem to be invigorated in working with him and usually bring something very special to their performances.

Inglourious Basterds was my introduction to Christoph Waltz, Til Schweiger, August Diehl and was honestly the movie that made me really start paying attention to Michael Fassbender.