Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is a film which comes written and directed by Quentin Tarantino who some may know for films such as The Hateful Eight (2015) or Pulp Fiction (1994). The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Dakota Fanning and Al Pacino. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is about a fading Hollywood actor and his stunt double who are striving to achieve success in the final years of the Hollywood golden age.

Before going into this film, I must admit I was quite excited about it. This is the 9th film from Quentin Tarantino, who is one of my favourite directors of all time and the cast is filled with so many great actors there’s no reason to not want to see this one. Even though my expectations for this film were set very high, I came out of the cinema incredibly happy, very entertained and extremely impressed with what I just saw. Quentin Tarantino has truly delivered something very special this year and I highly recommend going to see it.

The way the story is told is very interesting. The audience follows the career of Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is trying to maintain his stardom and Hollywood status in a time when things are changing. The actor is trying to transition from being a major TV star to a Hollywood actor, but it’s very difficult. On top of this, Rick Dalton is ageing and he is no longer in his prime, he’s sort of becoming obsolete. Cliff (Brad Pitt) is sharing a similar fate with his career tied to the success or failure of Rick’s. In contrast to these two, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) is a character who is everything good about Hollywood in 1969, her personality is welcoming, she helps people and she’s friendly. Quentin Tarantino’s Sharon Tate is the ideal Hollywood star of the time.

Quentin Tarantino with this film captured the spirit and essence of Hollywood in 1969. I felt like I was watching real people going through real things. The attention to detail on each of the characters and also watching them develop as the film progresses was very well done. This film also one has of the best endings and is maybe the best film that I’ve seen in 2019.

The actors were all great, I really enjoyed watching Leonardo DiCaprio in this film. The actor has a very wide range of things he could do as his character Rick Dalton is going through quite a lot and there are a lot of different emotional elements. On top of this, as a character who is an actor, Rick is seen acting in other films within this film as different characters he is playing. There are some very good performances within this film from Rick Dalton and in some ways, I wish I could watch the films that he was making within this film. Brad Pitt does very well and so too does Margot Robbie. Dakota Fanning surprised me a lot in this film as I didn’t even recognise her as Squeaky Fromme, she was only in the film for a bit, but for that time she was, she was very impactful.

Overall, I have no further comments to make about this film without having to go into major spoilers discussing all the different elements of it. It’s hard to write a long review for a film when everything was awesome in it. The directing, acting, writing, music and everything else about Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was awesome and Quentin Tarantino exceeded my expectations for this film. It may just be one of his best ones yet. I highly recommend going to see it at the cinema this week or as soon as you can. I am already wanting to see it a second time and probably will re-watch it on Blu-Ray when it’s released.

Crawl is a film which comes directed by Alexendre Aja who some may know as the director of The Hills Have Eyes (2006). The film stars Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper.

Crawl is a film about a young woman named Haley (Kaya Scodelario) who attempts to save her father (Barry Pepper) who is trapped in his house during a category 5 hurricane. Tremendous damage has occurred to the home and the surrounding area during the storm, with the streets slowly flooding But that’s not the only danger to be wary of, the flood waters have paved the way for dozens of alligators to come into town and they’re ready to feast on anyone still around. Will poor Haley and her father survive though?

Going into this film. I was actually quite excited. I do enjoy these action films where there’s some creature out there and it’s preying on whatever character the film is about. This film is a little similar to The Meg, but it most reminded me of Anacondas (2004). All of these films and Crawl included wouldn’t be ones I’d say were legendary films, but gosh, I definitely have fun watching them!

Crawl as a story is about survival. There are themes all throughout it related to man vs nature and also the idea of the apex predator is scattered all throughout it. Both characters in the film are constantly challenged and struggle to survive in the a town getting torn apart by the storm.

The main reason most people would go to see Crawl at the cinema would be for the action and that’s the same reason I wanted to go along and see this one. I wanted to see what the alligators could do and I wanted to see some people get eaten up. Did I get that? I certainly did! Did I need much more out of this? Probably not.

As for Crawl being scary. I’m not too sure, I find it all quite fun. But there are people who this would probably frighten a little. Much of the film is cgi and for what it is and for the type of movie this is I think it was just the right quality. They didn’t try to go too big like in The Meg where the cgi seemed to struggle in certain areas. Although the limitations of the cgi are visible in Crawl, it’s not too bad in the end.

The acting in Crawl isn’t too bad. Kaya Scodelario is who you’ll be watching for basically the entire film and she delivers a pleasant performance. Some may recognise this actress from her appearance in The Maze Runner (2014) where she played Teresa. Hopefully there is more to come from her in future films.

The tone of the film, while at times can be a little intense with all the danger out there did actually feel a little light. Alexandre Aja seemed to keep the tone not too serious and embraced the silliness of it all in certain areas to keep it light and fun. But it was also tense and scary when it needed to be.

Overall I had a good time with Crawl at the cinema last week. This isn’t a film that is going to blow anyone away with how good it is, but it’s something to see for a bit of fun over the weekend. You get to watch two characters try to survive a massive hurricane and not get eaten by alligators. Crawl was 1 hour and 27 minutes of fun!

Are you ready to Get Famous?

Taking inspiration from The Sims 1 Superstar and The Sims 3 Showtime, your sims can now be famous! Starry-eyed sims can flaunt their talent, attend awards nights and even top secret VIP parties.

Del Sol Valley

A new world filled with Bright Lights and Big City Dreams awaits. Featuring alikeness to Tinsel Town itself, Los Angeles including “Starlight Boulevard” with a Walk of Fame where your sims can solidify their “status” in the sidewalk. “The Pinnacles” is the Gated Community where the biggest names in all of Del Sol Valley reside. There is also a “downtown” area, complete with a shoddy neighbourhood vibe. This is where all aspiring sims to start their career close to the shine of the Big City. If your sim takes the career path of an Actor, they will be able to access the “career lot” to star in the next big commercial, or film on real set; complete with hair and makeup.

Acting Career

Your sims can be famous in many different ways. From painting and music to cooking and social media, but Acting is the new career in The Sims 4 Get Famous. Start out by finding a talent agency and they will provide you with a list of auditions that your sims can attend. Depending on your sim’s “talent” and skills, you might have to complete a few simple tasks to ensure they are getting the best opportunity from the audition. Once the audition is complete, your sim is invited to the Career lot to complete the audition. Starting in Hair and Makeup, on to Costumes, then your sim can put on a show on the main stage and WOW the director.

Create-A-Sim and Build and Buy Mode Additions

New items to hold up the theme of “Celebrity” include new furniture with a lavish style to flaunt your new wealth. Gold plated everything, even the toilet! My favourite is the “Mid Century” collection which goes quite well with The Sims 4 Bowling Stuff accents. Unfortunately, the clothing options for sims aren’t great in my opinion. Perhaps I am old fashioned, but I don’t understand the clothing choices. There are colours that don’t compliment each other (red and green, guys, really?) and some really tacky options in my opinion.

Perks and Quirks and Fame, OH MY!

From Notable Newcomer to Global Superstar; Your sims can get famous doing almost anything. Celeb sims gain Fame Points as they climb the ladder to stardom. Collect fame points by schmoozing with the rich and famous, plan publicity stunts, perform in public and signing autographs. The higher you climb on the ladder of fame, the more perks your Celebrity Sims will receive. Traits such as “Instant Besties”, “Networking” and “Star Treatment” are there to help make things easier for your sims, but there are also negative quirks to go along with the perks. “Vain Street” keeps your sims looking in mirrors, “No touching” means that a sim will become upset if someone touches them, and so on.

Search for Stardom

After playing this pack for a while, I did find it was quite repetitive and similar to other packs that The Sims team have already released. The Acting career is similar to the active careers from “Get Famous” and the Celebrity points are similar to the “Vampires” game pack. However, I do enjoy that you can be a “Bad” influence or a “Good” influence celebrity. Most of the items included are extravagant and absolute luxe. It would have been nice to see some more shabby-chic objects for those “wanna-be” starter celebs.  The other thing that almost “bothered” me about this pack is the starter neighbourhood, “Mirage Park”. There is only one lot that’s empty (and it’s HUGE) and the other has a very basic house pre-built. I feel like I need to spend more time on this one, but so far it does what it needs to do for a Celebrity Expansion Pack.

The Sims 4: Get Famous Expansion Pack is now available on EA Origin.