Posts Tagged ‘Megalopolis’

LOOKING BACK AT 2024: THE “NAUGHTY” AND “NICE” LISTS! NOW THE NAUGHTY!

I take a look back at the year that was at the movies. From an apocalyptic musical and a haunted pool to a sinfully dull exorcism movie and mysterious masked marauders, the movies gifted us the best and worst–the naughty and nice, the champagne and lumps of coal–of what Hollywood and elsewhere has to offer.

Here is the Naughty List, a compendium of my least favorite films of the year, presented alphabetically.

“Argylle” has so many twists, not even Chubby Checker could keep up. It is an outrageous, twisty-turny idea trapped in a movie that is afraid to really cut loose.

Amy Winehouse was a singular artist, a fearless performer who made her own rules, and dug deep to create her art. So, it’s a shame her biopic “Back to Black” is such a standard cautionary tale that only skims the surface.

“Borderlands” shares the bright and bold aesthetic from the video games that inspired it but smooths down the rough edges of the game, leaving behind a PG13 rated movie that is neither fan service or anything new.

“The Crow” is back, but, unfortunately, never really takes flight. For a movie about soulmates, and with a villain who dooms souls to hell, the new film feels soulless.

“Damaged” is a feature film that feels like episodic television, right up to a cliffhanger-y ending that should come with a “To Be Continued” end credit.

For all the free-wheeling vibes the movie emits, Ethan Coen’s “Drive-Away Dolls” is a bit of a slog, even at its abbreviated 84 minute runtime.

“The End” is an audacious film, with very committed performances from the cast, but this bleak study of guilt becomes overwhelmed by pretension and wears out its welcome well before the end credits roll.

Russell Crowe’s considerable star power goes a long way to keep “The Exorcism” watchable, but the film’s lack of overall lack of drama and scares is a sin. 

“The Fabulous Four” means well but is a less than fabulous film that doesn’t deliver the goods.

The Quebec-set “French Girl” may be the only rom com to feature Mixed Martial Arts as a plot point. Other than that, it’s a standard romantic comedy, heavy on the romance but light on the comedy. 

“Here” is ambitious, but its technical aspects, like the dead-eyed digital de-aging of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, overwhelms whatever heart is embedded in the story.

For better and for worse, “Joker: Folie à Deux” mixes romance and show tunes with law and order in what may be the bleakest jukebox musical ever. It is ambitious and bold, like All That Jazz filtered through a funhouse mirror, but it’s also frustrating.

Origin stories are tough, and unfortunately, “Madame Web” isn’t up to the task. By the time the end credits roll, you’ll wish you had the power to see into the future, like Cassandra Webb, so you’d know to skip this one.

“Megalopolis” is idiosyncratic a movie as we’re likely to see this year.

Drenched in metaphor and allegory, the dark comedy “Mother, Couch” breathes the same air as Charlie Kaufman and Ari Aster, but director Niclas Larsson allows the metaphysical aspects of the movie to overwhelm the story’s true emotion.

The idea of drowning is terrifying, especially if someone or something is pulling at your legs, or pushing your head under the surface, but in “Night Swim” you’ll find yourself playing Marco Polo in search of actual scares.

A Christmas movie with product placement for the whole family, from Hot Wheels to Bulleit Bourbon, “Red One” a formulaic action film, with generic CGI battles and Johnson in automaton mode.

In “The Strangers: Chapter One,” irector Renny Harlin squeezes whatever juice is left out of The Strangers IP, building a bit of tension here and there, but the film’s slow pace, repetitive action and decidedly non-gruesome violence sucks away the menace of the premise.

MEGALOPOLIS: 2 STARS. “experimental in execution, baffling in its intentions.”  

SYNOPSIS: “Megalopolis,” a new fable from legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, now playing in theatres, is a mix of Ancient Roman politics, sci fi, and even a little bit of mime.

Visionary artist Cesar (Adam Driver) has plans to build a utopian city to inspire hope within the rotting framework of New Rome. “When we leap into the unknown,” he says, “we prove that we are free.” He’s up against the corrupt Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), agent of chaos Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf) and the threat of partisan warfare.

CAST: Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D. B. Sweeney, and Dustin Hoffman. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

REVIEW: As idiosyncratic a movie as we’re likely to see this year, “Megalopolis,” the forty-years-in-the-making passion project from Francis Ford Coppola, is equal parts hammy and hopeful, dense and dazzling. It’s the work of a filmmaker with nothing left to prove, and brims with imagination, ambition and, unfortunately, self-indulgence.

Coppola, who says he rewrote the script for “Megalopolis” at least 300 times, empties out the idea drawer, producing a script that overflows with his thoughts on legacy, survival and hope for the future. Using lessons learned from the intrigue of Roman history, he throws in a dollop of sci- fi—Cesar Catalina (Driver) can stop time with a flourish of his hands—to tell a story of utopian values pitted against city hall.

It’s a mix of Ayn Rand and Marcus Aurelius, and not unfamiliar ground for the director. He has essayed the effects of power, political paranoia and the bloom of love in previous films like “The Godfather,” “The Conversation” and “One from the Heart.” The difference is, those movies, while often epic in scope, didn’t take a kitchen sink approach to the storytelling.

“Metropolis” is overstuffed to the point of bursting. The grand vision of warring billionaires and politicians is rendered almost incomprehensible by scenes that never lift off or, worse, feel randomly inserted into the narrative.

Coppola sets his story against a city in a fall of the Roman Empire decline, which should bring along with it very high stakes, but there is never a sense of danger or tension.

Instead, head-scratching line readings, spontaneous Shakespearean monologuing, and unintentionally funny, heightened performances distract from the actual story. “Megalopolis” is operatic in its ambition, experimental in its execution and rather baffling in its intentions.

Perhaps the film’s most telling line is a quote from Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius: “The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority.”

And so it goes with “Metropolis.” Despite the presence of big-name talent like Adam Driver and Aubrey Plaza, this is a deliberating non-commercial film. Coppola’s vision is experimental, difficult to penetrate, impossible to pigeonhole, and occasionally thrilling, but mostly a slog.