Megalopolis

“I’m Francis Coppola. Welcome to my Ted Talk.” The social media meanies are saying that this is a “piece of shit” and “the worst movie ever made.” Neither of those things are true. It’s bad. Yes. But it’s more dull and dumb than sickeningly awful. The loose plot structure involving inventers, urban planners, mayors, and rich assholes serves only for the characters to stand atop interesting sets and pontificate about the state of the world and the future. It’s an essay. 

At first it seems like the hero is Adam Driver (“Cesar”) but in fact, as Kristen Haldeman Kauffman pointed out,  the hero seems to be Natalie Emmanuel (“Julia”) the rich, well-read, party-girl daughter of the mayor. She falls in love with Cesar the inventor, and seems to re-direct her purpose in life to build him up, serve him, and bear children. But she also brokers peace between the families and factions. This is heroic (ibid). It’s no coincidence that this seems like the role that Coppola’s wife Eleanor played for him - the doting wife; the supporting role of the genius. 

But, I mean… It’s like it was edited with farm equipment. Scenes go on way too long. Pointless scenes stay in. Bad lines stay in. The music starts when it shouldn’t and ends when it shouldn’t. And there’s WAY, WAY, WAY too much Shia LaBeouf in drag. At times it feels like a William Castle prank, like when an usher at our theater “participates,” paying homage to Rocky Horror. Is it bad? Yes. Am I recommending it? No, I am not. But it’s possible that within this ugly chunk of marble there was a beautiful sculpture that the old man just didn’t have time to finish.

From Russia With Lev

Does this count as a movie? I’m not sure. Rachel Maddow seems to think so. Lev Parnas and his wife Svetlana Parnas recount his weird trek into tRump’s inner circle and how he was sent to Ukraine to dig up dirt on Hunter Biden. He’s a direct and convincing man who was hypnotized by the “glamour” of the former guy and all the golden toilets and stuff. An epiphany forces him to blow the whistle. There were efforts in the editing room to make this “nuttier” and more farcical, which weren’t needed. Just point the camera at Lev and Svetlana and it’s captivating.

The Killer's Game

The hit man anti-hero. The wise old man. The damsel/dame. A murderers row of goons and henchman. “Rules,” i.e. self-imposed ethics relating to the world of assassins. It’s another one of this year’s “hitman’s greatest hits.” The tone of this is wildly inconsistent. At times, it's a serious, dramatic thriller where death is feared. At times it’s like a Stephen Chow kung-fu comedy, packed with nutty, colorful assassins, weird weapons, and over-the-top cartoony kills. It’s like the director wanted this to be his “directing reel.” “Look! I can do action, I can do funny action, I can do artsy, I can do drama.” But all at the expense of an interesting plot or heroic characters. The quest of the hero is just to survive the night. But there’s absolutely no heart or subtext here. When John Wick starts massacring baddies, we love it because we CARE. I think it’s a cautionary tale. Adopt a tone and a style and stick with it. Get the audience behind the hero. Efforts to create hilariously creative set pieces in this come off as disingenuous. All that being said, Dave Bautista is a likeable if funny-looking hero and can carry a movie – even a dumb one.

Damsel

I was surprised by this well-written and well-produced princess vs dragon tale on Netflix. The plot is full of twists, reveals, and reversals. The acting is adept. The fairy tale effects are admirable. And as sappy as it is to say: there is a positive message to young women about being suspicious of traditions. There is a woman vs woman theme here, though – a fairy tale convention. Only a hint of the women trying to get on the same page at the end, but satisfying, nonetheless. Yet another movie that seems like it should have been in theaters (nothing against Netflix).

Jim Henson Idea Man

Good Ol’ Ron Howard, out there making the safe choices, as usual. Making a loving documentary about a beloved person is about as artistically safe as it gets. But old and new interviews are insightful and the animation and playful interludes are cool. Of course, it gets meepy at the end. When the big, yellow bird who was one of your best friends as a kid sings “It’s not Easy Being Green” at Henson’s funeral. It’s an inspiring doc about an artist with an incredible legacy.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

It’s hard to know how long you can wait before you make a sequel. Is 37 years too long? Apparently not if most of the cast, the director, and the composer are still around. Some of the attempts to involve the father without including the “cancelled” actor from the original are awkward. But otherwise, everybody looks like they’re having a blast. It loses a little steam in the middle, but the Jimmy Webb conclusion is so inspired and nutty, I was in awe. Kudos to all involved. A fun night at the movies.

Annihilation

Finally caught this 2018 body-snatching sci-fi from Gen X dystopia wiz Alex Garland. The simple plot isn’t wildly original and could just as easily have been an old Roger Corman movie. But this is all about style, all about flourish. Filmmakers take their time, establish characters, and establish MOOD. And man, oh, man can these folks create a mood. All the filmmaking/film authoring techniques are required: movement, light, sound, music. All intended, it seems, to make alien assimilation appear to be beautiful. Oh! And also terrifying. The cast of mostly A-list stars is top-notch. It’s risky to make the kids sit still through some of this as it creeps along. But the climax is scary and the conclusion is a fun riff on an old sci-fi trope.