Megalopolis & The Substance
Megalopolis & The Substance
Plus the Introduction of "Retro Recs"
Fall movie season is always my favorite time of year. After sitting through the attempted (and often successful) crowd-pleasers of the summer, you get the bold swings of the fall.
With a bold swing comes high risk, but also high reward. If you pull it off, the film will be cemented in cinema history. If you don’t, the film will likely be forgotten to time. Or worse, it becomes a laughing stock.
Todays newsletter will prominently feature one of both from this early fall movie season. Then to close things out, I will touch on two other new releases that are worth your time before finishing with a new segment of the newsletter - Retro Recs.
Enough talk, let’s get to the movies!
Megalopolis (Directed by Francis Ford Coppola)
Premise - “The city of New Rome is the main conflict between Cesar Catilina, a brilliant artist in favor of a utopian future, and the greedy mayor Franklyn Cicero. Between them is Julia Cicero, her loyalty divided between her father and her beloved.”
Noteworthy Cast - Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, and Laurence Fishburne
My thoughts - Have you ever been writing something for so long that you can’t objectively look at it anymore? After so many hours staring at it, you no longer can even make sense of it or point out the flaws.
Now imagine that instead of it being hours, you have been starring at it for forty years.
Imagine just how blind you would be to its flaws.
Every time you pull someone else in, they tell you that it doesn’t work & needs to be scrapped. You make changes & start the process all over again only for it to get shot down it. Over and over again the cycle plays out.
Most people would walk away from the idea at that point. Then there are some (well, maybe just one) that are so egotistical & insistent that they are onto something that they sell part of their winery business & put up $125 million of their own money.
That sequence of events is genuinely the only way you can end up with a movie as bizarre as “Megalopolis”.
So what do you get when you cram 40 years of rewrites into a film that no production company or studio would finance? An incoherent mess that at no point creates a cohesive story during it’s painfully long run time.
I saw one person accurately compare the film to when you listen to your grandpa tell a meandering story that makes you want to fall asleep, but you love him, so you keep listening.
Nothing better describes “Megalopolis” than that.
There isn’t a single redeeming thing about the film, except maybe the sincerity behind Coppola’s heart for the film. You would think that the performances would be at least one positive, but the dialogue is often so clunky, Shakespearean, and silly that it can never win you over. Adam Driver is the only actor in the film that seems to actually be giving his performance a full go. The comparisons of America to Rome are so overused & forced that it hurts. Even the gimmick of having an actor in the theater talking to the screen fell short. Sure it was cool, but that scene lasted a whole 30 seconds & added nothing to the shell of a story that “Megalopolis” already was. Heck, I don’t think the actor ever even actually talked. He was just lip-syncing to the movie audio.
It is evident that Coppola sees “Megalopolis” as a self-portrait and that he is passionate about putting it out into the world. I just don’t think that the world is any better off having seen it.
Rating - 1.5/5
The Substance (Directed by Coralie Fargeat)
Premise - “Elisabeth Sparkle, renowned for an aerobics show, faces a devastating blow on her 50th birthday as her boss fires her. Amid her distress, a laboratory offers her a substance which promises to transform her into an enhanced version of herself.”
Noteworthy Cast - Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid
My thoughts - The Substance is many things - outrageous, grotesque, pulsating, and breathtaking (just to name a few).
But above all, it is a breath of fresh air.
You have no choice but to be in awe of its insanity and originality.
It handles the screenplay in such bold, visceral, and disgusting ways that you are left either gagging at its grotesqueness or applauding by the end.
From the opening scene, there is no subtlety in its satirical take on aging, how society forces women to face it, and how they deal with that internally. Yet, it never feels overbearing or heavy handed. The performances and screenplay are having enough fun with it & tackles the source material in a way that makes it far more entertaining than it has any right to be.
Don’t get me wrong though, there are moments that are still as disturbing as movies can get.
The film works on many levels, but one of the deepest is how on the nose the whole premise is. If the Substance were a real drug, there would be lines out of the door for it. If anything, you could make the argument that the most unrealistic thing about the film is that a huge chunk of the population isn’t hooked on it.
As much fun as the unrelenting nature is, it is inevitably going to be too much for many to handle (especially the last 30 minutes). Then again, it’s also the bold, entirely original, swinging for the fences sort of spectacle that doesn’t come along very often.
Absolutely bananas in the best way possible. No other way to describe it.
Rating - 4/5
Rebel Ridge (Directed by Jeremy Saulnier)
Premise - “A former Marine confronts corruption in a small town when local law enforcement unjustly seizes the bag of cash he needs to post his cousin's bail.”
Noteworthy Cast - Aaron Pierre & Don Johnson
My thoughts - I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fired up “the new Netflix movie that I didn’t even know was coming out” only for it to be clear it’s total garbage about 30 seconds in. So many times I’ve lost track. In fact, so many times I rarely do it anymore. Normally there is a very solid reason why I had never heard of it.
That is, until this remarkable movie miracle came along and rocked my world. A familiar genre with a contemporary feel. Physicality in every moment & every performance, yet a sincerity that shines through it all. Fleshed out characters & themes, some killer exposition, and one of the most enjoyable performances of the year given by Aaron Pierre.
So glad it exists.
Rating - 3.5/5
Beetlejuce Beetlejuice (Directed by Tim Burton)
Premise - “Three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River after an unexpected family tragedy.”
Noteworthy Cast - Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, and Willem Dafoe
My thoughts - For a legacy sequel, it had the potential to be much much worse than what we ended up with. That’s not to say this was particularly great, just that it gives you enough to not completely disappoint.
WAY too many plots/characters, some phoned in performances, & didn’t feel like the same world as the original. However, when Keaton is on screen you forget all of that and get transported back to the magic of the original. Even if those moments are few and far between, they are enough to put a smile on your face.
Rating - 3/5
Introducing “Retro Recs”
Today I am excited to unveil a new section that will be included in most newsletters going forward. “Retro Recs” will explore films not released in the current year, but worth checking out.
I love covering and discovering new release films, but sometimes it can feel like finding a great new release is similar to looking for a needle in a haystack. There are obviously thousands of remarkable films from previous years that are worth checking out, but so few of them have I gotten the chance to write about. Hopefully this will help change that!
My goal with “Retro Recs” is not to write about films like “Casablanca” or “Citizen Kane” that everyone knows they should watch, but instead try to spotlight some more obscure movies that are worth the watch. That being said, if you have been watching movies for a long time, there is certainly going to be some editions of “Retro Recs” that you have seen, but hopefully it will give you a new perspective & make you want to revisit the film.
Also, I am applying a loose definition to retro. It won’t always be movies from 20-30 years ago. Sometimes it may be a movie from just a few years ago. My hope is to explore everything from the 50s all the way to the 2010s and eventually the 2020s.
So without further ado, the first “Retro Rec” is:
Sicario (2015) (Directed by Denis Villeneuve)
Premise - “After rising through the ranks of her male-dominated profession, idealistic FBI agent Kate Macer receives a top assignment.”
Noteworthy Cast - Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, and Josh Brolin
My thoughts - You can really see certain shots throughout this where Denis is starting to get reps in for what he ultimately perfects in Dune Part 2.
There is so much I adore about him as a filmmaker, but the thing I keep coming back to is his understanding of tone. He never wastes any time making sure the audience is on the same page with him about the tone of the film.
In the Netflix-era of movies, the algorithms point to drawing in your audience in early in the movie or the audience will turn to their phone. For most movies that means some silly set piece to open. I love that Denis is much more interested in making you feel the tone rather than constantly needing to show you.
Just an absolute banger of a film from start to finish.
Rating - 4.5/5
How did it do at the box office? - Grossed $84.8 million ($46.8 million domestically) on a $30 million budget
Where to watch - Currently streaming on Tubi, Hulu, and Amazon Prime
That is all for now!
As always, enjoy some great films until next time!
Aaron Nolan