Tarantino's evolving legacy in 'Hollywood'

Several weeks ago, Devon Sawa tweeted a photo of a multiplex marquee advertising several new movies, among them a remake of "Aladdin" and new installments of the "Toy Story," "Men in Black" and "Godzilla" franchises. "Dear children of today," he wrote, "like it or not, you're really '90s kids." An actor who came of age in the '90s himself, Sawa was hardly the only one to notice the movie industry's bittersweet embrace of that fondly remembered decade, a phenomenon that could be chalked up to a dearth of originality, an excess of nostalgia or both.

Wild originality and intense nostalgia are by now well-known hallmarks of the work of Quentin Tarantino, up to and including his haunting new film, "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood," now playing in theaters. Although his creative and commercial vitality has endured well into the present century, it's worth recalling that Tarantino, now 56, made his reputation as the ultimate '90s kid. Starting with the bloody one-two punch of "Reservoir Dogs" (1992) and "Pulp Fiction" (1994), his exhilarating pop fusion of old-school cinephilia and new-wave attitude remains one of that era's defining cultural legacies.

Neither of those two movies is being remade or rebooted, which is a relief, since both have already spawned enough gun-toting, time-twisting neo-noir copycats to last