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Well, I finally got around to watching A Marriage Story on Netflix and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood courtesy of "on demand". I'm not sure they are comparable. I liked both more than I suspected, so there's that.
1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino's alleged last and final film, starring Leonardo Di Caprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Nicholas Hammond, Bruce Dern, Kurt Russell, Rumor Willis, Luke Perry, Timothy Olyphiant, Al Pacino, Damian Lewis, and various others...works better if you are at all interested in 1960s and 1950s Hollywood, specifically "B" Westerns on Television and in film, and know something about the backgrounds of Sharon Tate, Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood, Carlton Ruse, Sam Wanamaker, James Stacey, and Steve McQueen. If you don't and you aren't that interested in this stuff or find it duller than dirt? This movie won't work for you at all. It's also somewhat violent and gory at the very end (although if you could make it through The Witcher, The Good Place or Buffy, you should be fine. The violence is comedic and hard to take too seriously. I found it hilarious but I admittedly have a dark sense of humor -- since I found The Trolley episode of the Good Place hilarious, and the Cohen Brothers films to be funny.)
( spoilery review )
Overall, I enjoyed the movie more than expected, and while I understand why Hollywood is giving it awards. I wouldn't have. (I liked Avengers:Endgame better...)
2. A Marriage Story - is directed and written by Noah Bombauch, who did The Squid and the Whale, and Frances Ha. He's not for everyone. Bombauch specializes in films about New York Upper Middle Class Angst. This one focuses on the divorce of a mildly successful theater owner, and his actress wife. Although how the divorce plays out -- reminds me a great deal of the people I've known who got divorced in my lifetime. So I can see why this film has gotten so much recognition - it is a realistic portrait of a divorce told for the most part from both sides of the equation. Although I felt that the male perspective often took more prominence than it should, and it was clearly written and directed by a white man. He attempts to show the other side of the equation, but it's not quite as evident nor does it feel as real. Actually, it feels a bit forced in places, although Scarlett Johannsen and Laura Dern, as the wife and her attorney, respectfully, are quite good as are Adam Driver, Ray Liotta and Alan Alda. But, well, this feels like too familiar territory.
( mild spoilers )
I wouldn't have lavished it with awards. But I did enjoy it far more than I expected, but I do tend to like Bombach's films on average, even though I find his characters difficult to relate to or like all that much.
1. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino's alleged last and final film, starring Leonardo Di Caprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Nicholas Hammond, Bruce Dern, Kurt Russell, Rumor Willis, Luke Perry, Timothy Olyphiant, Al Pacino, Damian Lewis, and various others...works better if you are at all interested in 1960s and 1950s Hollywood, specifically "B" Westerns on Television and in film, and know something about the backgrounds of Sharon Tate, Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood, Carlton Ruse, Sam Wanamaker, James Stacey, and Steve McQueen. If you don't and you aren't that interested in this stuff or find it duller than dirt? This movie won't work for you at all. It's also somewhat violent and gory at the very end (although if you could make it through The Witcher, The Good Place or Buffy, you should be fine. The violence is comedic and hard to take too seriously. I found it hilarious but I admittedly have a dark sense of humor -- since I found The Trolley episode of the Good Place hilarious, and the Cohen Brothers films to be funny.)
( spoilery review )
Overall, I enjoyed the movie more than expected, and while I understand why Hollywood is giving it awards. I wouldn't have. (I liked Avengers:Endgame better...)
2. A Marriage Story - is directed and written by Noah Bombauch, who did The Squid and the Whale, and Frances Ha. He's not for everyone. Bombauch specializes in films about New York Upper Middle Class Angst. This one focuses on the divorce of a mildly successful theater owner, and his actress wife. Although how the divorce plays out -- reminds me a great deal of the people I've known who got divorced in my lifetime. So I can see why this film has gotten so much recognition - it is a realistic portrait of a divorce told for the most part from both sides of the equation. Although I felt that the male perspective often took more prominence than it should, and it was clearly written and directed by a white man. He attempts to show the other side of the equation, but it's not quite as evident nor does it feel as real. Actually, it feels a bit forced in places, although Scarlett Johannsen and Laura Dern, as the wife and her attorney, respectfully, are quite good as are Adam Driver, Ray Liotta and Alan Alda. But, well, this feels like too familiar territory.
( mild spoilers )
I wouldn't have lavished it with awards. But I did enjoy it far more than I expected, but I do tend to like Bombach's films on average, even though I find his characters difficult to relate to or like all that much.