Megalopolis - Review: Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing

When you're a legendary talent like Francis Ford Coppola, the man who's directed some works that are referred to as the greatest of all time, such as "The Godfather," "Apocalypse Now," and "The Conversation." He's also directed some that are referred to as some of the worst of all time, such as "Twist," the arguably bad "One from the Heart" and the infamously terrible "Jack (1996)." With a career as expansive as his, any new films, regardless of concept or origin, should be cause for celebration. His latest movie, "Megalopolis", certainly falls into one of the two previously mentioned groups. Unfortunately, it's not the good one.

Billed as "A Fable" with Coppola's own name directly above it, "Megalopolis" stars a cornucopia of actors. Adam Driver (“Marriage Story,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”) leads the pack as Cesar Catalina, an architect and leader of the Design Authority, who wants to build a massive city in New Rome made of the mysterious material Megalon. He's opposed by the mayor Franklyn Cicero, played by Giancarlo Esposito (“Breaking Bad,” “Do The Right Thing”), whose daughter Julia Cicero, played by Nathalie Emmanuel (“Hollyoaks,” “Game of Throne”), slowly begins to fall for Cesar. Meanwhile, behind all of this, Cesar's cousin Clodio Pulcher, played by Shia LaBeouf (“Holes,” “Transformers”), attempts to wrestle political and monetary power for himself, while television presented Wow Platinum, played by Aubrey Plaza (“Parks and Recreation,” “Agatha All Along”), tries to romance Cesar's uncle, the elderly bank magnate Hamilton Crassus III, played by Jon Voight (“Midnight Cowboy,” “National Treasure”), into giving his fortune to her. All of this is also loosely narrated by Cesar’s chauffeur and personal assistant Fundi Romaine, played by Laurence Fishburne (“The Matrix,” “Boyz N The Hood”).

Coppola, who's written and directed the film, has talked plenty about his inspirations for the film; there's a clear line to be drawn from "Megalopolis" back to the fall of Roman and of the Catalina Conspiracy event. He’s also been toiling with this film in some respect since the 80s, eventually forgoing any studio involvement and selling some of his wineries to self-fund the $120 million budget and make the movie his own way.

This does mean that the film we're left with is an epic example of the power of critique and criticism. So many directors in the history of cinema have been ruined simply because no one stepped in and said no. By freeing himself from any critics during the production, yes Coppola has made exactly the vision of this film he's always wanted to make. It also means the film has its head shoved so far up its own ass, it can see what it had for lunch that day.

There's a self-important air throughout the entire film, from the way it’s staged and edited down to the dialogue. At random intervals, there are bits of text shown on the screen carved into giant slabs of marble like one would see in ancient Rome. Cesar's introduction scene with the rest of the cast has him reciting about half of the "To Be or Not to Be" monologue from Hamlet. It gives the film an identity of something deeply important, but it never builds to anything. Even if the characters seem almost unchanged by the end of it all, there doesn't even seem to be a grand statement about civilization made. At one point, Cesar literally says, "We are in need of a great debate about the future" and the film simply doesn't offer anything more to say than "Boy, America sure does seem like a Roman empire, doesn't it?"

The entire cast is unfortunately let down by the man behind the camera. While so many of them have been fantastic in other works, they all just seem left out to sea here. Driver in particular has the biggest struggle; his way of playing larger than life characters with such minutia works when there's a good script to back him up. But unfortunately, the script here makes him come across more as a pompous high school theatre kid than a trained actor. Emmanuel just seems lost, like she has nothing to react against, as if she was filmed against a green screen and digitally added in after the fact. The oldest members of the cast, like Voigt and Dustin Hoffman (“Kramer vs. Kramer,” “The Meyerowitz Stories”), seem like they've gone senile and are just stumbling around the set haphazardly. LaBeouf might be the worst of them all, reducing his role to the kind of stereotype of "annoying manchild with effeminate tendencies" that we thought was left behind decades ago. The only one who comes out semi-unscathed is Plaza, who does so simply by cranking up her delivery to the point where she seems to believe she's in a comedy skit that could turn into a porno at any moment, and by extent she seems like the only person involved who's having any fun.

Given the gargantuan budget, the film would at least be expected to look the part. And for the most part it does, and yet so much of it appears as though it's the first draft of a visual effects company. An early moment has Cesar and Julia standing on top of a floating clock overlooking the skyline of New Rome, later revisiting that same site with additional floating girders, suspended thousands of feet in the air. Why are these things here? Who knows! But they do look absolutely gorgeous while they're up there. And yet, later on we see amateurish and garish blemishes, like poorly composited green screen effects or just bad looking CGI. It's a comically mixed bag of visual stylings, betraying a largely gorgeous cinematic look from cinematographer Mihai Mălaimare Jr. (“The Master,” “The Harder They Fall”).

There's so much bad here and so much bizarrely well intentioned as well. But it all comes down to the film's ending. So much can be forgiven if the tale being told at least wraps up in a satisfying way or has something interesting to say. Coppola has nothing to say, seemingly, if one goes by the way the film ends. It feels like a half-gorgeous retread of the last four decades of "rich and powerful madmen" stories, as if Coppola wrote the script and simply tossed it in a drawer until he finally got the cash to bankroll it. There's a lack of a subtlety; this is a film where a Russian satellite named "Carthage" crashed into an American city named "New Rome" after all, but the biggest crime at the center of "Megalopolis" and its most depressing one: it's just kind of boring. Even draped in this bizarre visual style, dialogue, and performances, the story at the center of it all just doesn't excite or invigorating like something of this scale should.

There’s a longstanding belief that some of the best writers, directors, and creatives in any entertainment industry are great because they know how to control themselves. Infamously, many blame the unfettered and unquestioned support George Lucas received from 20th Century Fox for the state of the Star Wars prequels. Even some of the greats have spoken about how their works are so great because they have people with them willing to say no. “Megalopolis” is the ultimate example of that kind of power: yes, it is a singular vision from a filmmaking legend, exactly the kind of film he wanted to make. But it’s also garish, confusing, full of wooden and terrible performances, and either building to nothing or told so confusingly that the point it is building to is lost amongst everything else. As so many fables end with a lesson for it’s audience, and this is billed explicitly as a fable, it seems that the lesson to be learned here is the power of saying “no.” 1/5

The Wild Robot - Review: The Best Film DreamWorks Animation Has Ever Made

 

In October of 2023, it was publicly announced that “The Wild Robot” would be the last film animated in-house at DreamWorks, with all subsequent films being animated by outside studios with the internal teams being shut down. This is not uncommon in the industry, but for a studio that’s been around for 30 years, this is monumental. It’s as if Disney or Pixar or Studio Ghibli announced they would no longer be animating their own animated movies going forward. It’s a massive blow to the animation industry, and an unfortunate result of nothing but pure cost cutting measures from corporate board members and studio CEOs. It’s also unfortunate because this very human tale of a robot is without a doubt the best film to ever bear the studio’s name. 

The film follows a ROZZUM unit, also known as Roz, voiced by Lupita Nyong’o (“Us (2019),” “12 Years a Slave”) who finds herself stuck on an island inhabited entirely by animals. After befriending some of them, such as a Fox named Fink, voiced by Pedro Pascall (“The Last of Us (2023),” “The Mandalorian”), Roz finds herself raising a runt gosling named Brightbill, voiced by Kit Connor (“Heartstopper,” “Rocket’s Island”), and attempting to prepare him for his winter migration. The film’s ensemble cast also consists of Catherine O’Hara (“Beetlejuice,” “Schitt’s Creek”) as Pinktail the opossum, Bill Nighy (“Love Actually,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest”) as Longneck the goose, Matt Berry (“What We Do In The Shadows (2019),” “Garth Marenghi's Darkplace”) as Paddler the beaver, and Ving Rhames (“Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” “Lilo & Stitch”) as Thunderbolt the falcon. 

Writer/director Chris Sanders (“How To Train Your Dragon,” “Lilo & Stitch”) has many years of experience working with animated tales filled with big emotions, and his work here is no exception. Roz’s tale of parenthood and naturalistic love is explored with thoughtfulness and maturity, without betraying its ease of understanding. It manages to be easily digestible without dumbing things down or coddling its audience. There are often frank discussions involving death throughout the film, without ever lingering on them or brushing too fast past them. It all builds to a film that feels remarkably adult and mature, without being crude or immature. Even the way Roz emotes has an added layer to it, forgoing giant eyebrows, a mouth, or other facial features for simple eyes and colors, all backed by her fantastical vocal performance. 

It all results in a kind of film that invites you in, enveloping you in its tale. At barely over 100 minutes, its scope and pacing feel like it tells a grand and massive tale, without ever dragging or overstaying its welcome. It leaves you with just enough, making you want slightly more but not feeling unfulfilled or underdeveloped. It’s even, somehow, almost devoid of pop culture references and poop jokes, a rarity in almost any kind of animated film nowadays. 

Nyong’o’s vocal performance is absolutely phenomenal, one packed with nuance and an evolution throughout the film. You can actively hear her inflections and nuances change as her character shifts and evolves in her new naturalistic home. Even if that change wasn’t as pronounced, her emotion and performance helps to craft Roz’s emotional journey in a fantastic way, helping to quite literally bring the character to life in a way as immediately iconic as the likes of Tom Hanks as Woody or Mike Myers as Shrek. The rest of the cast is just as good, coming across as legitimate voice acting talent, rather than celebrity voice acting stunt casts. Pascal and Connor in particular match Nyong’o’s emotional journey fantastically, and small performances from Nighy and Rhames make big impacts thanks to the strength of the casting and voices matching their characters. 

There’s a brush stroke, watercolor aesthetic to the world and animation that bring the world to life in a painterly way. It isn’t just a gorgeous look for the film, but it showcases the animal and naturalistic world in a the continues to bring it all to life. The hard metal design of Roz mixes with the world of these animals in a fascinating way, and the musical score from Kris Bowers (“Bridgerton,” “King Richard”) brings these two worlds together by fusing an orchestral score with the electronic beats inspired by Roz’s presence. 

But there’s also something here, beneath the surface, something “in the sauce” as the kids say, that sets the film apart that feels borderline unexplainable. “The Wild Robot” has that immediately timeless feeling that allows virtually anyone of any age to sit down and enjoy it to its fullest. It practically dares you not to fall in love with Roz, Brightbill, Fink, and the rest of this island. Each of the film’s individual elements build to something that is more than the sum of its already fantastic parts, and it's no hyperbole to describe the film as one of DreamWork’s best films ever, if not the best it’s ever made. 

“The Wild Robot” is a spectacle of visual beauty and deep, gorgeous emotions. Sanders has delivered a film that feels like a mission statement on the kind of universal storytelling animation can create. With his fantastic voice cast, including a career best (live action or animated) from Lupita Nyong’o, breathe life into a heart wrenching and truly spectacular tale of family, love, nature, and emotion that stakes its claim as one of the best films of the year. If this truly ends up being the final film made internally at DreamWorks, then it goes out as one of the best, possibly the best, films the studio has ever made. 5/5 

Transformers One - Review: More Mature Than Meets The Eye

 

Since the 1980s, there’s been one major toy line showing more than meets the eye. “Transformers” has always existed somewhere in pop-culture, whether in comic books, video games, the aforementioned toys, or the numerous television series or films. Now, after almost two decades of live-action films, these robots in disguise return to their original medium of animation for an origin story and their best film in decades. 

Set before they became arch-enemies, the film follows Orion Pax, voiced by Chris Hemsworth (“Thor,” “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”), and D-16, voiced by Brian Tyree Henry (“Atlanta,” “Bullet Train”), two bots working in the Energon mines in the city of Iacon on the planet of Cybertron. Their leader, Sentinel Prime, voiced by Jon Hamm (“Mad Men,” “Top Gun: Maverick”), is out searching for the lost Matrix of Leadership which will help bring their planet to prosperity. Determined to make a difference and help their planet, Pax and D-16, along with Elita-1, voiced by Scarlett Johansson (“Black Widow,” “Marriage Story”), and B-127, voiced by Keegan Michael-Key (“Wonka,” “Schmigadoon!”), leave their city to try and find the Matrix themselves. 

Despite initially feeling like typical Hollywood celebrity stunt casting, the entire vocal cast ends up being remarkably fantastic, getting better as the film goes on. Hemsworth and Henry not only have fantastic chemistry with each other, but their own voices slowly shift as the film goes on, eventually ending up closer to the original vocal types of Optimus and Megatron. Michael-Key makes B-127 just as much of a hyperactive character as he’s been in the past, but he doesn’t feel annoying or overstay his welcome. And Johansson has a surprising level of restraint given how the film positions Elita-1's character in the overarching storyline. Hamm also makes for a great hero with more going on under the surface as Sentinel Prime, using his charming “good guy” sounding voice to expert effect. 

With someone who’s worked in animation as long as Josh Cooley (“Inside Out,” “Toy Story 4”) has directing, the film not only manages to excel with a fantastic sense of fullness and a gorgeously animated style, but it eventually shakes off some creaky opening points to really come into its own in a surprisingly mature way. The first ten-to-fifteen minutes really is the film’s weakest part, mostly because it's when the film most clearly engages in plenty of “kid’s movie” cliches. It doesn’t at all mean that the opening is bad, but it slowly morphs into a more engaging, mature, and even darker version of this story. Writers Eric Pearson (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Godzilla vs. Kong”), Andrew Barrer (“Ant-Man and the Wasp,” “No Exit (2022)”), and Gabriel Ferrari (“Ant-Man and the Wasp,” “No Exit (2022)”) weave tons of fanservice and deep-cut lore into a tale that embraces decades of Transformers material without ever disrespecting it or requiring that knowledge to enjoy it. They also manage to zero in on the most fundamental tragic idea of this tale and, with the help of Hemsworth and Henry’s performances, absolutely nail the brother versus brother tragedy that evolves from it. 

It cannot be understated how truly gorgeous the film looks. After decades of detailed but complicated designs, the visual aesthetic of the film is clean and retro, without sacrificing the robotic building blocks. Even the environment of this interpretation of Cybertron takes inspiration from the franchise’s 80s origins, with a sun and horizon that looks ripped from decades old VHS tapes and retro-wave stylings. Brian Tyler (“Furious 7,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron”) crafts a score that helps bolster the look of this world, bringing in big orchestral moments coupled with the electronic. It's clearly inspired by the likes of Vangelis, but it's hard to care too much when it compliments everything this well. 

Given how long the Transformers films have somewhat ignored the implications of the war and battles between these robotic people, it's refreshing to have this film treat the material with a surprising level of maturity. The film’s third act, while not devoid of silly one-liners and still entirely aimed at the twelve-year-old crowd, also manages to effectively nail the inevitable betrayal at the center of these two leads’ long lives. When it really matters, Cooley and his writers know that these kids know that there’s more than meets the eye and they treat them with the respect that they deserve. 

“Transformers One” isn’t perfect, but it is pretty great and it’s easily the best a “Transformers” movie has been for decades. A strong visual style, voice cast, and sense of maturity by the end help to smooth over its initial struggles. Once the film gets out of its own way, it barrels down the highway of fun, action, and intense stakes, amounting to an adventure and tale of brotherhood that anyone can enjoy, whether they know the difference between a Deception or an Autobot or not. 4/5

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - Review: The Ghost With the Most

 

There are few things more attractive to Hollywood than the pull of nostalgia, and now that we’re in the full swing of decades later sequels for the likes of “Ghostbusters,” “Scream,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Top Gun”, it only makes sense that the film that popularized the “fake poster tricking moms on Facebook” trend finally gets its own actual next installment. With Burton, Keaton, and Ryder involved once again, it's time to say his name for a second time with the cleverly titled “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” 

Set a few decades after the events of the first film, this latest installment follows television psychic Lydia Deetz, played by Winona Ryder (“Stranger Things,” “Girl, Interrupted”), returning to the town of Winter River with her daughter Astrid, played by Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday (2022),” “Scream (2022)”), and hapless boyfriend/manager Rory, played by Justin Theroux (“Mulholland Drive,” “”), in tow after the death of her father Charles. While back in town along with her stepmother Delia, played by Catherine O’Hara (“Schitt's Creek,” “Home Alone”), she encounters the bio-exorcist demon Betelgeuse, played by Michael Keaton (“Spotlight,” “Birdman”), once again as he attempts to hide from his soul-sucking ex-wife Delores, played by Monica Bellucci (“The Matrix Reloaded,” “Mozart in the Jungle”), and former-actor-turned-dead-cop Wolf Jackson, played by Willem Dafoe (“Spider-Man 2,” “Poor Things”). 

It’s quite a cast, not just in terms of new and returning star power, but in terms of size as well. And that’s not even including the myriad of small cameos, as well as Astrid’s love interest in the form of Jeremy, played by Arthur Conti (“House of the Dragon”), or the number of shrunken headed grunts working for Betelgeuse. It’s quite a stuffed film and that’s honestly its biggest flaw. For as fun as it can all be, at just over 100 minutes, co-writers Alfred Gough (“Shanghai Noon,” “Wednesday (2022)”), Miles Millar (“Shanghai Noon,” “Wednesday (2022)”), and Seth Grahame-Smith (“Dark Shadows (2012),” “The LEGO Batman Movie”) have delivered what feels like too much of a good thing. There are something like three different antagonists, with each of them capable of standing on their own. By the time the third act hits, they all feel as though they get the short end of the stick, leading to an ending that feels strong thanks to the titular demon, but weak in the antagonists’ resolutions. 

Even if it has a few too many characters, those characters are all a blast to be around. It cannot be overstated how Keaton and Ryder simply slip back into these roles, seemingly completely in step with how they were decades ago. O’Hara is also excellent, keeping the same bizarro line deliveries she’s made a career staple for years now. Ortega is a fun addition to the cast, keeping in step with Ryder, although she’s a smaller part of the film than one might initially assume. Bellucci, as good as she is, feels wasted given how little she ends up on screen, and Dafoe hams is up almost too much every moment he’s on screen, a hard thing to do when you’re in a “Beetlejuice” film. Theroux meanwhile feels weirdly underbaked, a compelling antagonistic force filled with slimy buffoonery, but yet he lacks a real identity besides being a sleazy wimp. 

With Tim Burton (“Batman (1989),” “Edward Scissorhands”) back in the director’s chair, it's safe to say that the film’s effects and sets live up to his madcap sensibilities. Each moment is bent wall-to-wall angles and otherworldly locations, leading to a real tactile sense of fantasy throughout. Danny Elfman (“Men in Black,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas”) also returns to compose for the film, and he also steps right back into the world without missing a beat. It simply looks, feels, and sounds exactly like the world of the original film, but just expanded in some very natural ways. 

This also works as a fantastic example of Burton returning to form. While of course it makes more sense given that this is a world he’s previously inhabited, he slides back into it effortlessly. It makes the last two decades of works like his live action “Alice in Wonderland” and “Dumbo (2019)” films and "Dark Shadows” feel like they were made by a completely different person. It’s a joy to just watch him play, and even if the film has narrative issues and feels a bit overstuffed, watching a skilled director play in a space he’s so familiar with makes a lot of those issues go over much smoother. 

The cleverly titled and playful “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” might not be as much of a lightning strike as the original, but it's hard to deny the pure joy on display throughout the entire adventure. It’s a return to gothic form for Burton, and Keaton and Ryder slide back into these roles fantastically, surrounded by a tale that makes great use of virtually every practical effect and set technique in the book. It’s exactly the kind of adventure you’d expect, and despite a few too many characters giving it an overstuffed feeling by the end, it’s still a film full of ghoulish delights. 4/5