In the works since the 1970s, Francis Ford Coppola's self-funded passion project arrives in theaters and Dreamworks' latest stars a robot trapped in a world for which she was never made.
Huh, I'd been kind of dreading THE WILD ROBOT and its long, long advertising campaign that ensnared my kids early on. But maybe a family trip to the moviehouse is in order (I will, of course, be seeing MEGALOPOLIS by my lonesome as God intended).
I'm seeing MEGALOPOLIS Saturday night, in the Ultimate version that includes a lip-syncer. My wife has not heard much about the movie so I'm hoping to keep that a surprise.
I’ll come back to this MEGALOPOLIS review and read it (along with all the other ones) after I have a chance to see it for myself. (I already have my ticket to see it in IMAX tomorrow night.) Good or bad — it doesn’t appear to be a film engineered to garner a response of “indifferent” — I feel I owe it to Coppola to go in with as little foreknowledge as possible.
Me probably not will rush out to see Megalopolis on opening weekend, but it hard to look at these two movies and argue that Marvel era killed idiosyncratic filmmaking. In fact, me would argue that personal artistic visions have persisted where big franchise machines have stumbled.
I've basically been anticipating it to be Youth Without Youth XXL since the first notices came out, so I'm not really put off by this or the other reviews - I know what I'm getting into, more or less.
Your comment about Apocalypse Now having Conrad for a spine is funny, because of course Megalopolis theoretically DOES have something like that in the historical Catilinarian conspiracy, but Apocalypse Now also didn't spend four decades swimming around in his head accumulating detritus.
Having been to see it, I can now report my main criticism is that it doesn't sustain its craziness all the way through - when that 20 minute Coliseum sequence is the center of your movie, then the end needs to involve full-scale apocalypse (now) and/or literal supernatural intervention (I kept picturing the hand of God from the end of The Stand setting off an ICBM warhead)
I feel like we can just say: budget for Adam Driver's CG for his healing wound. Also the weird implication during Plaza's kneeling pledge to give up gold and him going Doctor Strange thanks to his zretvat jvgu Zrtnyba (juvpu jr yrnea vf onfrq bss uvf qrnq jvsr naq haobea gjvaf). The weird implication was he was barely functional and yet Jon Voight was still a spring chicken and then abruptly faking his own illness to hide a tiny child's bow.
At times, Megalopolis plays like a great satire, and those are its best moments. Plaza alone recognized and embraced this side of it, to her exclusive credit.
I wish I could read this Megalopolis review right now, but I'm seeing it tonight and I'm going in mostly cold. The only thing I've seen was a Letterboxd jab describing it as "Southland Tales if Southland Tales was directed by an octogenarian wine baron."
Having now seen the movie, I can say that the author of that Letterboxd jab did my boy Southland Tales a grave disservice. Aubrey Plaza innocent, though!
I don't know if MEGALOPOLIS is a good movie but I did have a good time. For those who want the full experience you should see it at an AMC IMAX (Regal IMAX will not have the full experience, as it were)
Huh, I'd been kind of dreading THE WILD ROBOT and its long, long advertising campaign that ensnared my kids early on. But maybe a family trip to the moviehouse is in order (I will, of course, be seeing MEGALOPOLIS by my lonesome as God intended).
Yeah I saw the image and thought "Iron Giant knockoff?" but it's getting good reviews it seems.
I was a bit worried it would be a bit too IRON GIANT, too. IRON GIANT is definitely in the mix of influences, but the movie's its own thing for sure.
I'm seeing MEGALOPOLIS Saturday night, in the Ultimate version that includes a lip-syncer. My wife has not heard much about the movie so I'm hoping to keep that a surprise.
Wait, what? Is this real? What does that even mean!
Don't look it up any further! Or do, if you're not planning to see it in theatres anyway.
I’ll come back to this MEGALOPOLIS review and read it (along with all the other ones) after I have a chance to see it for myself. (I already have my ticket to see it in IMAX tomorrow night.) Good or bad — it doesn’t appear to be a film engineered to garner a response of “indifferent” — I feel I owe it to Coppola to go in with as little foreknowledge as possible.
Me probably not will rush out to see Megalopolis on opening weekend, but it hard to look at these two movies and argue that Marvel era killed idiosyncratic filmmaking. In fact, me would argue that personal artistic visions have persisted where big franchise machines have stumbled.
I’ve lost track. How many movies deep were we supposed to be into the Dark Universe series by now?
I've basically been anticipating it to be Youth Without Youth XXL since the first notices came out, so I'm not really put off by this or the other reviews - I know what I'm getting into, more or less.
Your comment about Apocalypse Now having Conrad for a spine is funny, because of course Megalopolis theoretically DOES have something like that in the historical Catilinarian conspiracy, but Apocalypse Now also didn't spend four decades swimming around in his head accumulating detritus.
That's a very good point regarding the Catilinarian conspiracy. And also an evocative point about "accumulating detritus"-- great phrase!
Yeah, that's a perfect description. I'm really curious to know what the first draft of this looked like, compared to what it eventually became.
Having been to see it, I can now report my main criticism is that it doesn't sustain its craziness all the way through - when that 20 minute Coliseum sequence is the center of your movie, then the end needs to involve full-scale apocalypse (now) and/or literal supernatural intervention (I kept picturing the hand of God from the end of The Stand setting off an ICBM warhead)
Yeah, that's what puzzled me with that third act. Would love a spoiler space to discuss further...
You should use rot13.com to do spoiler stuff.
Good call, thank you Scott!
Nqnz Qevire whfg qvfnccrnef sebz gung guveq npg naq jura guvatf frrz gb or tbvat gb fuvg gur tbbq thlf whfg jva naq rirelguvat erfbyirf vgfrys arngyl? Naq gura gung uhznavfg cyrqtr bs nyyrtvnapr gb raq gur zbivr? Jrer vg abg sbe Nhoerl Cynmn qbzzvat Fuvn YnOrbhs naq sbe Fuvn'f hygvzngr sngr (trggvat fubg va gur nff naq fgehat hc yvxr Zhffbyvav) gur jubyr guveq npg jbhyq'ir gnaxrq gur zbivr.
I feel like we can just say: budget for Adam Driver's CG for his healing wound. Also the weird implication during Plaza's kneeling pledge to give up gold and him going Doctor Strange thanks to his zretvat jvgu Zrtnyba (juvpu jr yrnea vf onfrq bss uvf qrnq jvsr naq haobea gjvaf). The weird implication was he was barely functional and yet Jon Voight was still a spring chicken and then abruptly faking his own illness to hide a tiny child's bow.
At times, Megalopolis plays like a great satire, and those are its best moments. Plaza alone recognized and embraced this side of it, to her exclusive credit.
I wish I could read this Megalopolis review right now, but I'm seeing it tonight and I'm going in mostly cold. The only thing I've seen was a Letterboxd jab describing it as "Southland Tales if Southland Tales was directed by an octogenarian wine baron."
I'm so stoked.
Having now seen the movie, I can say that the author of that Letterboxd jab did my boy Southland Tales a grave disservice. Aubrey Plaza innocent, though!
I don't know if MEGALOPOLIS is a good movie but I did have a good time. For those who want the full experience you should see it at an AMC IMAX (Regal IMAX will not have the full experience, as it were)