The Belcourt’s excellent summer epics series, Weekend Classics: Beat the Heat, ends this weekend with Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a movie I could live inside of. The 2019 hangout dramedy is an ode to the power of movie stars, driving at night with the windows down and the Stones blaring, L.A. during the American New Wave, neon-lit theater marquees, the grind of the character actor, dusty old Westerns and whiskey sours. Leonardo DiCaprio is my favorite actor, and his portrayal of the verging-on-washed-up Rick Dalton just might be his finest hour. It’s hard to argue against the athletic theatrics on display in The Wolf of Wall Street or his tortured nervous breakdown in The Departed. But watch Leo’s face during the scene on the set of the in-universe TV show Lancer when his tiny co-star Trudy (a whip-smart Julia Butters) tells him that’s the best acting she’s ever seen in her whole life. It might be Leo’s best moment. Come for Leo (and Margot and Brad), but stay for the future of Hollywood (Austin Butler, Margaret Qualley, Mikey Madison, Sydney Sweeney, Maya Hawke) popping up throughout.
Aug. 28-30 at the Belcourt
2012 Belcourt Ave.
