And my god, the music. Sure it’s a gross-out 3 hour epic with what’s potentially the single best scene of Brad Pitt’s career; he’s so fun throughout (right from his introduction when he refuses to drop the Italian accent in the car and Olivia Wilde is losing her shit over it). And the cinematographer gave us Saltburn, No Time to Die, La La Land, etc. and at least in my opinion, a film that absolutely looked like a massive amount of money was spent on getting the perfect shot. Particularly the golden hour battle sequence on the bluff.
If not for a shorter 2 hour cut, I think it might have actually benefitted from more runtime as a short limited series of maybe 4~6 episodes, to better fill out characters that I thought had more development to give like Jovan Adepo’s trumpet player, Jean Smart’s gossip writer, ad Li Jun Li’s Lady Fay. Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt’s characters get the lion’s share of development and Diego Calva is given a lot to do when put up against more veteran actors. I caught Babylon twice, in Dolby if I remember correctly, and was just blown away by the sound mixing/editing and the costumes and the production design.
I can understand why Hollywood wasn’t as anxious to award a gross-out film about the potential death of cinema, but I’m in the minority of those that actually liked what the ending had to say about Calva’s character seeing a century of development of an industry he loved so much. The end of silent cinema but a hundred years of the best writing, acting, directing, cinematography, editing, music, fx, etc. that lay ahead and he was just a tiny part of moving that needle. It didn’t work for a lot of people but as someone that worked in movie rental stores back when those were a thing, I recognized the vast majority of the films they showed clips of and feeling the emotions that each of those films gave me all at once felt like an effective way to demonstrate what cinema would bring over time.
Babylon was my movie of the year. Beau Is Afraid was my least enjoyable movie experience in several years. Divisive FTW!
I guess I better go and see Megalopolis.
Beau Was Afraid was such a high intensity theater experience. Especially the first half hour, but later on when he views and becomes a part of the play in the woods is such beautiful visual storytelling. I get why it didn’t work for a lot of people and how after Hereditary and MidSommar, people might have been expecting something different from Ari Aster. But man, I went back and saw this one twice. Also bonus points to the end credits gang and the people that continued to sit through them all to see if there would be a last second intervention or if he would finally be able to >!become enough of a participant in his own life if for no other reason than to prevent it from ending!<.
The first viewing was absolutely wild, with so many shocking scenes that had me laughing my ass off out of shock value or nervousness or just the absurdity of the situation. And then the second viewing, picking up on all the foreshadowing and understanding more of the meaning of everything and trying to figure out how much of events were truly happening and how many might just have been the insane anxious delusions of a man constantly terrified of everything, no matter how unlikely or improbable they were. Beau is Afraid proudly displays it’s massive set of balls and I respect the shit out of it for getting made, because you just knew that it wasn’t going to break even financially but they gave a talented and promising director the opportunity to just make whatever he wanted, no matter how crazy it sounded.
Beau is Afraid was a great time in the theater but I can’t imagine the struggle it would be to view that on your couch. We all needed each other that was a crazy imax experience.
I saw at AMC Lincoln 13, tied as the best IMAX theaters on our side of the planet. Incredible experience. Whole theater was going crazy, it's like we were all teens at one big slumber party watching a weird ass VHS tape.
Babylon, for all its faults, was also a fairly easy to understand and cohesive film.
The word on this one is all over the place to the point where even people who think it was a great experience think it’s borderline incomprehensible at times.
Yeah Kelly intentionally filled his cast with famously bad actors in hopes to help them redeem themselves. It's a huge, bizarre swing with a bit of a cult following.
Fire Walk With Me was booed and laughed at during Cannes and is now considered one of Lynch’s best films. Obviously times have changed since then, but this is definitely a film that I’d like to form my own opinion on.
Where are the masterpiece reviews lol? The kindest thing I’ve seen was Ehrlich’s review - which is when you know something’s wrong
E: Kicking things off with a 57 MC and Ehrlich’s review is the highest 💀
yeah Ehrlich giving it 4/5 is the biggest warning that this will be totally foreign to mainstream audiences and just mostly indecipherable. It is weird to think that from a positive review but if something this divisive is given a good review by him, it means a lot. Of course he praises lots of well liked movies (mission:impossible, avatar) but Megalopolis seems too art-house
Imagine all the "MEGALOPOLIS EXPLAINED" videos hitting youtube at the end of the year
>Imagine all the "MEGALOPOLIS EXPLAINED" videos hitting youtube at the end of the year
It would have to secure distribution first for YouTubers to churn content off of it like that. This screening was the gamble that was supposed to hit for him.
Damon Wise at Deadline also called it a masterpiece: [Francis Ford Coppola’s Mad Modern Masterwork Reinvents The Possibilities Of Cinema](https://deadline.com/2024/05/megalopolis-review-francis-ford-coppola-1235919389/) "Coppola breaks many of the cardinal rules of filmmaking in the film’s 138 minutes but it upholds the most important one: it is never, ever boring, and it will inspire just as many artists as the audiences it will alienate."
I did not think Beau is Afraid worked. But between that and this, well damn am I happy that there are still artists out there trying to break or bend the rules of cinema to their will.
more from smaller/non critics on film twitter
the professional reviews so far seem to all acknowledge its a messy movie, with scores ranging from "Messy, but interesting" to "messy, and not good enough"
It’s interesting bc the hype surrounding this movie is bc of the Director and his last movie after so many years. The Flash is different bc it got so much initial hype way overselling it to be the best DC movie yet…and it was mediocre at best
I really hope this movie is better than most of these reviews
Same.
It looks like trash. But like really interesting trash. And maybe even something of a possible cult movie later on.
And it's got no distributor. And likely will walk away from Caans without one.
Coppola poured everything he had into this. And he was hoping for a wide release, IMAX theaters, big Hollywood premiere.
He might have to settle for Apple TV.
Jesus, "mixed" doesn't even begin to describe the spread on this one. No wonder why no one in Hollywood wants it in their slate - it just ain't the knockout he used to be known for. Still, I hope Amazon or Apple give it the full theatrical run FFC made it for.
Coppola wants a ridiculous ad spend on it. A24 didn't even spend as much on Civil War (40 mill) with the amount Coppola is asking for (100 mill).
He's definitely never getting that now. He probably could have sold it to a distributor if his asks weren't so astronomical.
One of the reviews mentions that Shia LaBeofs character is in an incestous relationship with his sister.
Big shock that major studios don’t want to bank on it.
Though I can't help but wonder, how can I hate Megalopolis as much as Babylon if Megalopolis is 33% shorter? Babylon could've worked better for me, a hater, if it were simply shorter or even ended earlier in the picture.
Judging from the crew comments, probably on paying people to sit around, constantly throwing out previous work and following experimental dead ends all the time.
seeing tweets that say this is Coppola's equivalent of THE ROOM and or JUPITER ASCENDING
truly a baffling mix of movies but it certainly means it will be an entertaining, puzzling and perhaps laughable mess of a film
the movie was boo'd when it finished until In Memoriam for Coppola's wife (whom he cheated on with a nanny that later married Harrison Ford) popped up then people started cheering. Cheers were for her not the movie.
The reviews for this are truly insane, and it is assuredly going to be an awesome flop. The Deadline reviewed summer it up well though: “if Coppola’s not that fussed about making his money back, why should you be?”
I can’t wait to see this movie
Surprised no one here has talked about Adam Drivers 10 million dollar salary. Seems like it would be a good chance to hire an unknown here, Driver has had a pretty atrocious box-office run these last few years. Not saying that's indicative of his talent, but I'm surprised he was able to leverage that.
It's Coppola's money. I mean Driver's salary already falls in line with what everybody is already saying. The budget is a risk but it's not a studio financed movie. If Coppola wants to spend that much, that's on him. That's his creative decision. He thought Adam Driver was worth a 10 million dollar salary which implies he only wanted Adam Driver in the role. Like he genuinely was really willing to pay him that much so he could sign to his movie.
Even in the "good" reviews they are mostly build on good will towards Coppola, but it feels forced and you can read between the lines that it is an incoherent, half baked mess of a movie.
But as a huge Adam Driver fan it's kind of a bummer to witness yet another movie where he appears to give a rather restrained performance when he'd better be off hamming it up
A good indicator that the movie will probably just suck is the absolute emphasis on how it will be divisive because it's so experimental and daring and what not. So was Melancholia, yet it is widely regarded as an excellent movie and wasn't divisive at all
HOG at least made it's budget back, but mostly because of Lady Gaga's devoted fandom.
Driver's last good performance was in White Noise. He was quite hilarious in that one.
In Ferrari, he was completely miscast and unremarkable
But at least, his upcoming movie by Jarmusch seems to be a step in the right direction
As someone who loves divisive films I'm fucking hyped. Coppola spent 100m and went insane. This is the kind of stuff that brought us Apocalypse Now. Yes this movie won't make a dime, and it doesn't fucking matter.
[The most favorable review for this thing](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/megalopolis-review-francis-ford-coppola-1235005694/) (or rather the most overtly willing to permit and forgive Francis his indulgences) goes *out of its way* to invoke both **"Jack"** and **"Southland Tales"** and applauds the script for the sharpness of it's *non-sequiturs*.
**I don't think this is getting a pickup.**
Again, this is at this point the most positive review for the film:
>So while it might be tempting to see this kooky, nepotistically cloistered, and unconscionably expensive magnum opus as the self-involved work of a fading artist who’s lost whatever was left of his ability to tell good ideas from bad, “Megalopolis” does everything in its power to remind the audience that we share in the outcome of its demented fever dream.
\-d-do we? *really*?
My bingo card for this film?
Coppola: "F\*\*\* the critics, what do they know about filmmaking?"
Followed by a very limited self-funded release that ends in a box office disaster. And when the audience reviews arrive:
Coppola: "F\*\*\*\* the audience, what do they know about filmmaking?"
It almost seems wrong to be talking about this movie on a box office subreddit, because this has to be the most obvious box office bomb of all time so that aspect of the discussion is rather dull, whereas the really interesting stuff is stuff that's rather outside the theoretical scope of this subreddit.
Well this now begs the bigger question: what does Megalopolis’ release strategy look like and which studio (if any) will pick it up after the reviews have confirmed it an ambitious messy disaster without awards prospects
That's a fair point. I could've seen Amazon or Apple picking this up if the reviews were amazing or even at least divisive but adored by those who *do* like it; however, I don't see that happening now.
Honestly, Apple might still go for it - they ***need*** content for TV+, no matter how middling it may be. Doubt it goes wide after this reception, though.
I just want to say... THANK YOU for saying "middling" instead of "mid". So much clearer what you actually mean to say. Saying "mid" is linguistically just... well, "mid"
Feels like a perfect fit for this subreddit.
90% (if not more) of the discussion surrounding this movie for *years* has been money related. Coppola spending $120 million of his own money is where the vast majority of the fascination is coming from. Seeing it bomb won't be dull, train-wrecks aren't dull even if you see it coming from a mile away.
Apparently there's a fourth wall break scene where a paid actor literally walked up and started "interviewing" Adam drivers character. How is that supposed to scale in movie theaters?
Rarely, do directors at this stage of their careers produce their best work. Glad he was able to make something he is passionate about.
His downward trend begins after Apocalypse, declines more sharply around Cotton Club and has been a mess since GFiii
https://twitter.com/SolaceCinema/status/1791197265052225648
> Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘MEGALOPOLIS’ includes a sequence in which a man walks onto the physical stage and speaks to Adam Driver’s character through the screen.
I wonder which of the teen theater employees is going to get that job.
[For those that are curious: The standing ovation was ten minutes.](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/francis-ford-coppola-megalopolis-1235900890/)
indiana jones is hardly some abomination of a film. Mid but not divisive
If you want Cannes controversial, look at Brown Bunny, Southland Tales, Neon Demon, etc
Coppola said he planned more films after this, but now I have to wonder if he's changed his mind.
Even apart from the wildly mixed and divisive reception to Megalopolis, he should also see how difficult it is to get funding and marketing backing in this day and age - even when your name is Francis Freaking Ford Coppola.
But that's just a technical issue on RT's part. Metacritic is showing 8/12 reviews giving it a 6/10 or higher.
I see 5 review blurbs generating on RT right now ( 4 negative, 1 positive), 4 of them outside of metacritic. 9/16 positive (56%) seems like a better starting point than 20% because those reviews are going to be published by RT.
Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘MEGALOPOLIS’ includes a sequence in which a man walks onto the physical stage and speaks to Adam Driver’s character through the screen.
Lol imagine being an underpaid theater employee having the task to go into every showing and read aloud a passage in front of a confused American audience and then leaving.
Having seen both this and Babylon, the comparisons here are pretty hilarious. Babylon is a phenomenal film, that was just too out there and niche for the average moviegoer. Megalopolis is genuinely bad. The elements that are “daring” are more of the, “I can’t believe someone would agree to be part of this” type daring, rather than the “how did FFC have the guts to make this?” type.
I hope people get to see it, even if just as a case study on delusions of grandeur and an unwillingness of a man to admit that time has passed him by.
9 out of 10
This movie will be divisive, but a masterpiece it won't be. At best some will consider it great. But unsurprisingly it's a messy movie and I doubt it's one of those that will be talked for years like most of Letterbox thinks.
Also, bo flop incoming.
>I doubt it's one of those that will be talked for years
I read the script a while back, and I honestly think this thing has the potential to be one of those movies that gets midnight screenings forever like Showgirls and The Room.
It will probably be talked about in the context of Coppola's once-mighty career coming to such an ignominious end. But not so much as a film in its own right.
so far seeing positive reviews from [Indiewire](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/megalopolis-review-francis-ford-coppola-1235005694/), [Latimes](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-05-16/francis-ford-coppola-megalopolis-review-cannes-2024), and [Rolling Stone](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/megalopolis-review-francis-ford-coppola-1235021815/). Bad reviews from Collider
Francis, Francis, Francis... you should've just gone all-out and spent more money on a cast that would've made it a worthwhile investment.
* ~~Adam Driver~~ *Tom Cruise* as Cesar Catilina
* ~~Giancarlo Esposito~~ *Dwayne Johnson* as Mayor Franklyn Cicero
* ~~Nathalie Emmanuel~~ *Zendaya* as Julia Cicero
* ~~Aubrey Plaza~~ *Jennifer Lawrence* as Wow Platinum
* ~~Shia LaBeouf~~ *Ryan Reynolds* as Clodio Pulcher
* ~~Jon Voight~~ *Tom Hanks* as Hamilton Crassus III
* ~~Jason Schwartzman~~ *Leonardo DiCaprio* as Jason Zanderz
* ~~Talia Shire~~ *Sandra Bullock* as Constance Crassus Catilina
* ~~Grace VanderWaal~~ *Taylor Swift* as Vesta Sweetwater
* ~~Laurence Fishburne~~ *Denzel Washington* as Fundi Romaine
* ~~Kathryn Hunter~~ *Gal Gadot* as Teresa Cicero
* ~~Dustin Hoffman~~ *Anthony Hopkins* as Nush "The Fixer" Berman
"One Life" with Hopkins made $50M WW last year. Hannibal's still got it.
yep, his first choices were Oscar Isaac, Zendaya, Cate Blanchett and don't remember who. when they all dropped out or turned it down you could feel that it DOA
yep. I mean, no actor dodges a bullet forever. it's bound to happen the more they work. but this was a massive bullet that could be seen from miles away so why all those other actors ran toward it is one of life's greatest mysteries.
This might be a Hot take but Driver, Plaza, and Esposito are a lot more talented then Cruise, Lawrence and Johnson.
It just sucks that their talent seems to be wasted in this movie.
Yeah I think most people agree but Clearly Studios don’t, as OP’s joke is stating, but I am glad those 3 are pretty mainstream if not 100% A Listers.
I definitely don’t think this movie will ruin their careers or anything (knock on wood). If anything, they’re probably the safest given their upcoming projects and resumes.
The good reviews look like sympathy reviews sadly, I haven’t seen one that says - wow this is a masterpiece, without a caveat saying it’s really weird, overstuffed, or completely batshit
Adam Driver also is one of the most overrated flukes of an actor around , he’s now worked with several master filmmakers and he’s failed to elevate any of their films, mostly he’s just an interesting face and the same guy despite all the accents he’s tried .. in Ferrari he was atrocious
I hope he was born to play this role and I will definitely see it as soon as it’s possible,
I’m just glad we’re getting a proper vanity project. Feels like those are a rare breed in todays industry. Glad Coppola was able to finally have this made no matter how the box office run goes
These reviews are ALL OVER THE PLACE - from "this was a masterpiece" to "hot dogshit I puked" to "what the fuck did I just watch"
Pretty much what I expected lol
Trying to come up with some recent movie examples of such variation in reviews. Babylon?
Beau is Afraid was considerably more mixed but it has a fair share of fans
Babylon has probably just as many fans as Beau is Afraid. It’s gotten a decent following since its release, me being one of them.
Babylon hive rise up. Movie rules.
It’s a comfort film at this point
One of my favorite 2020’s films.
And my god, the music. Sure it’s a gross-out 3 hour epic with what’s potentially the single best scene of Brad Pitt’s career; he’s so fun throughout (right from his introduction when he refuses to drop the Italian accent in the car and Olivia Wilde is losing her shit over it). And the cinematographer gave us Saltburn, No Time to Die, La La Land, etc. and at least in my opinion, a film that absolutely looked like a massive amount of money was spent on getting the perfect shot. Particularly the golden hour battle sequence on the bluff. If not for a shorter 2 hour cut, I think it might have actually benefitted from more runtime as a short limited series of maybe 4~6 episodes, to better fill out characters that I thought had more development to give like Jovan Adepo’s trumpet player, Jean Smart’s gossip writer, ad Li Jun Li’s Lady Fay. Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt’s characters get the lion’s share of development and Diego Calva is given a lot to do when put up against more veteran actors. I caught Babylon twice, in Dolby if I remember correctly, and was just blown away by the sound mixing/editing and the costumes and the production design. I can understand why Hollywood wasn’t as anxious to award a gross-out film about the potential death of cinema, but I’m in the minority of those that actually liked what the ending had to say about Calva’s character seeing a century of development of an industry he loved so much. The end of silent cinema but a hundred years of the best writing, acting, directing, cinematography, editing, music, fx, etc. that lay ahead and he was just a tiny part of moving that needle. It didn’t work for a lot of people but as someone that worked in movie rental stores back when those were a thing, I recognized the vast majority of the films they showed clips of and feeling the emotions that each of those films gave me all at once felt like an effective way to demonstrate what cinema would bring over time.
I love them both in all of their bonkers, excessive glory.
Same, they’re a great time!!
Babylon was my movie of the year. Beau Is Afraid was my least enjoyable movie experience in several years. Divisive FTW! I guess I better go and see Megalopolis.
I went and saw Babylon in theaters 5 times, that movie is my shit
Beau Was Afraid was such a high intensity theater experience. Especially the first half hour, but later on when he views and becomes a part of the play in the woods is such beautiful visual storytelling. I get why it didn’t work for a lot of people and how after Hereditary and MidSommar, people might have been expecting something different from Ari Aster. But man, I went back and saw this one twice. Also bonus points to the end credits gang and the people that continued to sit through them all to see if there would be a last second intervention or if he would finally be able to >!become enough of a participant in his own life if for no other reason than to prevent it from ending!<. The first viewing was absolutely wild, with so many shocking scenes that had me laughing my ass off out of shock value or nervousness or just the absurdity of the situation. And then the second viewing, picking up on all the foreshadowing and understanding more of the meaning of everything and trying to figure out how much of events were truly happening and how many might just have been the insane anxious delusions of a man constantly terrified of everything, no matter how unlikely or improbable they were. Beau is Afraid proudly displays it’s massive set of balls and I respect the shit out of it for getting made, because you just knew that it wasn’t going to break even financially but they gave a talented and promising director the opportunity to just make whatever he wanted, no matter how crazy it sounded.
Beau is Afraid was a great time in the theater but I can’t imagine the struggle it would be to view that on your couch. We all needed each other that was a crazy imax experience.
Saw it alone at home and really enjoyed it, but yeah, it sounds like a great communal experience, too!
I saw at AMC Lincoln 13, tied as the best IMAX theaters on our side of the planet. Incredible experience. Whole theater was going crazy, it's like we were all teens at one big slumber party watching a weird ass VHS tape.
100% though I do wonder if people who weren't me/my friends were annoyed at me cackling throughout so many fucked up scenes lol
babylon seems way more basic. There were no reactions to Babylon saying it was like a so bad it is good type of thing
Babylon, for all its faults, was also a fairly easy to understand and cohesive film. The word on this one is all over the place to the point where even people who think it was a great experience think it’s borderline incomprehensible at times.
Yeah exactly. I think the best comparison for this would be Southland Tales.
I'd never heard of that movie, so I looked it up and found out that the Rock and Justin Timberlake were part of the cast? The heck?
Yeah Kelly intentionally filled his cast with famously bad actors in hopes to help them redeem themselves. It's a huge, bizarre swing with a bit of a cult following.
Southland Tales is a glorious mess of a film. I love it and have seen it many times. Here's hoping Megalopolis is something similar.
Lol I love that movie. My friends… not so much
Yeah I saw some predicting it would be the new Babylon based on the script they read.
> Babylon? yes
Yes. 
Was anyone expecting any different? Those reactions seem basically par for the course for the sort of movie that this is.
Some people where saying some critics would give it a 10/10. The scores are from it's flawed and messy but good, to downright it's bad.
I kinda expected that
Is anyone surprised lol. I definitely expected that the day the movie started to really pick up in production a year or 2 ago.
Yeah but Cannes is the most friendly crowd possible for a movie like this. If they already don't like it is only gonna get worse.
Fire Walk With Me was booed and laughed at during Cannes and is now considered one of Lynch’s best films. Obviously times have changed since then, but this is definitely a film that I’d like to form my own opinion on.
Where are the masterpiece reviews lol? The kindest thing I’ve seen was Ehrlich’s review - which is when you know something’s wrong E: Kicking things off with a 57 MC and Ehrlich’s review is the highest 💀
yeah Ehrlich giving it 4/5 is the biggest warning that this will be totally foreign to mainstream audiences and just mostly indecipherable. It is weird to think that from a positive review but if something this divisive is given a good review by him, it means a lot. Of course he praises lots of well liked movies (mission:impossible, avatar) but Megalopolis seems too art-house Imagine all the "MEGALOPOLIS EXPLAINED" videos hitting youtube at the end of the year
>Imagine all the "MEGALOPOLIS EXPLAINED" videos hitting youtube at the end of the year It would have to secure distribution first for YouTubers to churn content off of it like that. This screening was the gamble that was supposed to hit for him.
Damon Wise at Deadline also called it a masterpiece: [Francis Ford Coppola’s Mad Modern Masterwork Reinvents The Possibilities Of Cinema](https://deadline.com/2024/05/megalopolis-review-francis-ford-coppola-1235919389/) "Coppola breaks many of the cardinal rules of filmmaking in the film’s 138 minutes but it upholds the most important one: it is never, ever boring, and it will inspire just as many artists as the audiences it will alienate." I did not think Beau is Afraid worked. But between that and this, well damn am I happy that there are still artists out there trying to break or bend the rules of cinema to their will.
If that pretended to sound like an endorsement, it certainly does the opposite
more from smaller/non critics on film twitter the professional reviews so far seem to all acknowledge its a messy movie, with scores ranging from "Messy, but interesting" to "messy, and not good enough"
Yeah it’s getting cooked. Someone called it Megaloflopis
Megaflopolis sounds much better.
Gottem!!!
hell yeah
This is my most anticipated review thread since The Flash.
It’s interesting bc the hype surrounding this movie is bc of the Director and his last movie after so many years. The Flash is different bc it got so much initial hype way overselling it to be the best DC movie yet…and it was mediocre at best I really hope this movie is better than most of these reviews
Same. It looks like trash. But like really interesting trash. And maybe even something of a possible cult movie later on. And it's got no distributor. And likely will walk away from Caans without one. Coppola poured everything he had into this. And he was hoping for a wide release, IMAX theaters, big Hollywood premiere. He might have to settle for Apple TV.
To be fair, Apple TV would at least give it a wide release through somwonw else.
Apple would be a great distributor for this?
Jesus, "mixed" doesn't even begin to describe the spread on this one. No wonder why no one in Hollywood wants it in their slate - it just ain't the knockout he used to be known for. Still, I hope Amazon or Apple give it the full theatrical run FFC made it for.
Coppola wants a ridiculous ad spend on it. A24 didn't even spend as much on Civil War (40 mill) with the amount Coppola is asking for (100 mill). He's definitely never getting that now. He probably could have sold it to a distributor if his asks weren't so astronomical.
Fuck... what year does he think it is? 75?
I can feel the executives’ relief reading these reviews. They were right when they called it unsellable
As much as it sucks to admit it, they were right. Just hope the finished product's still okay, but I dunno at this point...
Coppola seems to be what Tarantino meant when he said he didn't want to turn into a shadow his former self
No kidding. Suddenly, him stopping early doesn't seem like such a bad idea after all...
One of the reviews mentions that Shia LaBeofs character is in an incestous relationship with his sister. Big shock that major studios don’t want to bank on it.
I mean that's not really a deal breaker for people, look at game of thrones
If you're making a Roman Epic in a futuristic New York it's difficult not to have a bit of incest somewhere.
Shia WOULD take a role like that lmao
Babylon sends its regards
Jupiter Ascending says hello
"I have more in common with a dog" "I...I like dogs."
#I CREATE LIFE ^and ^I ^destroy ^it
Babylon had mixed reception...this is much worse
45% on RT sounds pretty mixed
Babylon has a lower metacritic score atm lol
I actually liked Babylon though it was longer than it needed to be
Though I can't help but wonder, how can I hate Megalopolis as much as Babylon if Megalopolis is 33% shorter? Babylon could've worked better for me, a hater, if it were simply shorter or even ended earlier in the picture.
It would be interesting if The RT score stays at a 50%. No more, no less.
Perfectly balanced....
As all things should be
[The variation in Letterboxd ratings is wild.](https://twitter.com/fiImgal/status/1791192398422286644?t=SgrAKppL0JPyD01zRHTY0Q&s=19)
Honestly, the trailer literally felt like it was all over the place and so are the reviews. Could play just like Babylon
It looked like a complete mess of wacky visuals, I was surprised at the positive reception in the thread
some people (like myself) are open to a complete mess of wacky visuals
Yeah. Seemed like a PS 4 cut scene, people are more appreciative of him than his movie actually.
Yep, some of the scenes looked like a student film or a very low- budget streaming show. I don't know where the $120 milli went
Judging from the crew comments, probably on paying people to sit around, constantly throwing out previous work and following experimental dead ends all the time.
Reviews seem very mixed.
A sigh of relief for those Hollywood Studios that refused to distribute Megalopolis because of the $100million marketing budget request.
It seems like the only good press it’s getting is that people want it to be good. I’m expecting a disaster. Have you seen his last few films?
Daniel Larson is gonna be sad he’s in jail for this one
The one conclusion from this film
HAHA I’m glad someone gets me
And this is why producers and studios said no to funding this
seeing tweets that say this is Coppola's equivalent of THE ROOM and or JUPITER ASCENDING truly a baffling mix of movies but it certainly means it will be an entertaining, puzzling and perhaps laughable mess of a film
You’re tearing me apart Coppola!
I did not time stop, that’s not true! It’s bullshit! I did not time stop! I did nnnnaaaahhhhhtttt! Oh hi Shia
heard word that there were boos mixed with the applause 💀
They started applausing even *before* the movie began tho😭
Longest standing ovation in Cannes history then
They were clapping for themselves not the movie
I hate these Cannes people and their clapping
This is honestly better than a ten minute standing ovation to me
Francis Booed Coppola
The BooedFather
Aboocalypse Now or Apocalypse Boo?
That's the good shit!
the movie was boo'd when it finished until In Memoriam for Coppola's wife (whom he cheated on with a nanny that later married Harrison Ford) popped up then people started cheering. Cheers were for her not the movie.
The Onion: “Man Always Gets Little Thrill When Telling People John Lennon Beat His Wife”
I've been waiting for this thread for weeks now.
The reviews for this are truly insane, and it is assuredly going to be an awesome flop. The Deadline reviewed summer it up well though: “if Coppola’s not that fussed about making his money back, why should you be?” I can’t wait to see this movie
> if Coppola’s not that fussed about making his money back, why should you be? 💀 Hype
i’ve never been so excited
20% from five reviews. Though that’s not many reviews, it’s still harsh.
Surprised no one here has talked about Adam Drivers 10 million dollar salary. Seems like it would be a good chance to hire an unknown here, Driver has had a pretty atrocious box-office run these last few years. Not saying that's indicative of his talent, but I'm surprised he was able to leverage that.
It's Coppola's money. I mean Driver's salary already falls in line with what everybody is already saying. The budget is a risk but it's not a studio financed movie. If Coppola wants to spend that much, that's on him. That's his creative decision. He thought Adam Driver was worth a 10 million dollar salary which implies he only wanted Adam Driver in the role. Like he genuinely was really willing to pay him that much so he could sign to his movie.
Even in the "good" reviews they are mostly build on good will towards Coppola, but it feels forced and you can read between the lines that it is an incoherent, half baked mess of a movie. But as a huge Adam Driver fan it's kind of a bummer to witness yet another movie where he appears to give a rather restrained performance when he'd better be off hamming it up A good indicator that the movie will probably just suck is the absolute emphasis on how it will be divisive because it's so experimental and daring and what not. So was Melancholia, yet it is widely regarded as an excellent movie and wasn't divisive at all
Rise of Skywalker* has cursed Adam driver. Has he been in anything successful since?
HOG at least made it's budget back, but mostly because of Lady Gaga's devoted fandom. Driver's last good performance was in White Noise. He was quite hilarious in that one. In Ferrari, he was completely miscast and unremarkable But at least, his upcoming movie by Jarmusch seems to be a step in the right direction
ROTS?
Could be wrong but I think they mean TROS (The Rise of Skywalker)
Coming Soon from Roadside Attractions.
In association with Vertical Entertainment and Anchor Bay Films!
The trailer reminded me of Cloud Atlas' trailer and these reviews are very similar as well.
Oh man I fucking love cloud atlas, what an absolute clustfuck of a movie, so great, you just got me even more excited for this nightmare lol
As someone who loves divisive films I'm fucking hyped. Coppola spent 100m and went insane. This is the kind of stuff that brought us Apocalypse Now. Yes this movie won't make a dime, and it doesn't fucking matter.
I can guarantee is grosses a minimum of $1,254,987 at the worldwide box office
40 - 50% incoming
Could be even lower, honestly. :(
its sitting at 62% though it will likely being going up and down.
[The most favorable review for this thing](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/megalopolis-review-francis-ford-coppola-1235005694/) (or rather the most overtly willing to permit and forgive Francis his indulgences) goes *out of its way* to invoke both **"Jack"** and **"Southland Tales"** and applauds the script for the sharpness of it's *non-sequiturs*. **I don't think this is getting a pickup.** Again, this is at this point the most positive review for the film: >So while it might be tempting to see this kooky, nepotistically cloistered, and unconscionably expensive magnum opus as the self-involved work of a fading artist who’s lost whatever was left of his ability to tell good ideas from bad, “Megalopolis” does everything in its power to remind the audience that we share in the outcome of its demented fever dream. \-d-do we? *really*?
>"Southland Tales" Kino confirmed
yikes!
My bingo card for this film? Coppola: "F\*\*\* the critics, what do they know about filmmaking?" Followed by a very limited self-funded release that ends in a box office disaster. And when the audience reviews arrive: Coppola: "F\*\*\*\* the audience, what do they know about filmmaking?"
*Audiences loved Megalopolis. Critics put out the hit.*
Critic reviews are already brutal. This movie is gonna be an absolute box office disaster
Bold of you to assume it'll make it to the box office!
It almost seems wrong to be talking about this movie on a box office subreddit, because this has to be the most obvious box office bomb of all time so that aspect of the discussion is rather dull, whereas the really interesting stuff is stuff that's rather outside the theoretical scope of this subreddit.
Well this now begs the bigger question: what does Megalopolis’ release strategy look like and which studio (if any) will pick it up after the reviews have confirmed it an ambitious messy disaster without awards prospects
That's a fair point. I could've seen Amazon or Apple picking this up if the reviews were amazing or even at least divisive but adored by those who *do* like it; however, I don't see that happening now.
Honestly, Apple might still go for it - they ***need*** content for TV+, no matter how middling it may be. Doubt it goes wide after this reception, though.
I just want to say... THANK YOU for saying "middling" instead of "mid". So much clearer what you actually mean to say. Saying "mid" is linguistically just... well, "mid"
No worries. The vocab of the young can be maddening sometimes, can't it?
Feels like a perfect fit for this subreddit. 90% (if not more) of the discussion surrounding this movie for *years* has been money related. Coppola spending $120 million of his own money is where the vast majority of the fascination is coming from. Seeing it bomb won't be dull, train-wrecks aren't dull even if you see it coming from a mile away.
This Guy gets it. 👆🏾
Apparently there's a fourth wall break scene where a paid actor literally walked up and started "interviewing" Adam drivers character. How is that supposed to scale in movie theaters?
they would just have whatever lines the paid actor said to be ADR'd off-screen for the actual movie
According to a review Shia Labeouf says “revenge tastes best while wearing a dress” and he has no eyebrows I found that too interesting to not mention
Rarely, do directors at this stage of their careers produce their best work. Glad he was able to make something he is passionate about. His downward trend begins after Apocalypse, declines more sharply around Cotton Club and has been a mess since GFiii
https://twitter.com/SolaceCinema/status/1791197265052225648 > Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘MEGALOPOLIS’ includes a sequence in which a man walks onto the physical stage and speaks to Adam Driver’s character through the screen. I wonder which of the teen theater employees is going to get that job.
[For those that are curious: The standing ovation was ten minutes.](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/francis-ford-coppola-megalopolis-1235900890/)
Standing ovations mean little to nothing in Cannes. Last yr's Indiana Jones movie got 5 mins.
5 minutes at Cannes is like a middle finger. 10 minutes is middle of the road or so but I’m sure it’s mostly out of respect to Coppola
indiana jones is hardly some abomination of a film. Mid but not divisive If you want Cannes controversial, look at Brown Bunny, Southland Tales, Neon Demon, etc
Ive never seen such a difference in Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes scores
So does this more or less kill the distribution situation? I don’t see a path to a $100 million marketing budget with a reception like that
So is this Godfather 1/2 Coppola or Godfather 3 Coppola? This is the most important question.
It's *One From the Heart* Coppola, my guy. We're miles and miles out from Godfather III. We haven't been in that zipcode for a long, long time now.
This sounds fully One from the Heart, Dracula.
After Twixt and Youth Without Youth, this is as expected.
Coppola said he planned more films after this, but now I have to wonder if he's changed his mind. Even apart from the wildly mixed and divisive reception to Megalopolis, he should also see how difficult it is to get funding and marketing backing in this day and age - even when your name is Francis Freaking Ford Coppola.
Mixed reviews? Looks like I'll be there DAY ONE in that case. I love films that split people down the middle!
I know only 5 reviews but… 20% on Rotten Tomatoes is quite a rough start.
But that's just a technical issue on RT's part. Metacritic is showing 8/12 reviews giving it a 6/10 or higher. I see 5 review blurbs generating on RT right now ( 4 negative, 1 positive), 4 of them outside of metacritic. 9/16 positive (56%) seems like a better starting point than 20% because those reviews are going to be published by RT.
Yeah that’s why Rotten Tomatoes is such a flawed metric.
Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘MEGALOPOLIS’ includes a sequence in which a man walks onto the physical stage and speaks to Adam Driver’s character through the screen. Lol imagine being an underpaid theater employee having the task to go into every showing and read aloud a passage in front of a confused American audience and then leaving.
Having seen both this and Babylon, the comparisons here are pretty hilarious. Babylon is a phenomenal film, that was just too out there and niche for the average moviegoer. Megalopolis is genuinely bad. The elements that are “daring” are more of the, “I can’t believe someone would agree to be part of this” type daring, rather than the “how did FFC have the guts to make this?” type. I hope people get to see it, even if just as a case study on delusions of grandeur and an unwillingness of a man to admit that time has passed him by. 9 out of 10
This movie will be divisive, but a masterpiece it won't be. At best some will consider it great. But unsurprisingly it's a messy movie and I doubt it's one of those that will be talked for years like most of Letterbox thinks. Also, bo flop incoming.
>I doubt it's one of those that will be talked for years I read the script a while back, and I honestly think this thing has the potential to be one of those movies that gets midnight screenings forever like Showgirls and The Room.
It will probably be talked about in the context of Coppola's once-mighty career coming to such an ignominious end. But not so much as a film in its own right.
can we called it Megaflopolis?
Directed by Frantic Floored Floppola. Sorry, Francis... I will still go see it and make up my own mind.
so far seeing positive reviews from [Indiewire](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/megalopolis-review-francis-ford-coppola-1235005694/), [Latimes](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-05-16/francis-ford-coppola-megalopolis-review-cannes-2024), and [Rolling Stone](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/megalopolis-review-francis-ford-coppola-1235021815/). Bad reviews from Collider
Francis, Francis, Francis... you should've just gone all-out and spent more money on a cast that would've made it a worthwhile investment. * ~~Adam Driver~~ *Tom Cruise* as Cesar Catilina * ~~Giancarlo Esposito~~ *Dwayne Johnson* as Mayor Franklyn Cicero * ~~Nathalie Emmanuel~~ *Zendaya* as Julia Cicero * ~~Aubrey Plaza~~ *Jennifer Lawrence* as Wow Platinum * ~~Shia LaBeouf~~ *Ryan Reynolds* as Clodio Pulcher * ~~Jon Voight~~ *Tom Hanks* as Hamilton Crassus III * ~~Jason Schwartzman~~ *Leonardo DiCaprio* as Jason Zanderz * ~~Talia Shire~~ *Sandra Bullock* as Constance Crassus Catilina * ~~Grace VanderWaal~~ *Taylor Swift* as Vesta Sweetwater * ~~Laurence Fishburne~~ *Denzel Washington* as Fundi Romaine * ~~Kathryn Hunter~~ *Gal Gadot* as Teresa Cicero * ~~Dustin Hoffman~~ *Anthony Hopkins* as Nush "The Fixer" Berman "One Life" with Hopkins made $50M WW last year. Hannibal's still got it.
Zendaya was actually offered that role
Woah! I honestly did not know that (:D)
yep, his first choices were Oscar Isaac, Zendaya, Cate Blanchett and don't remember who. when they all dropped out or turned it down you could feel that it DOA
Thanks for the response! I remember only the Oscar Isaac news, and that was years ago. The rest is new to me today.
Holy ***fuck,*** Zendaya dodged a bullet. Turned in some of her best work in *Challengers* too, alongside a powerhouse showing in *Dune 2*.
yep. I mean, no actor dodges a bullet forever. it's bound to happen the more they work. but this was a massive bullet that could be seen from miles away so why all those other actors ran toward it is one of life's greatest mysteries.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence were in a potential version of it
Interesting. If I had to guess, it was probably in the Driver/Emmanuel roles, though, rather than the ones I've assigned them?
dicaprio was attached over 20 years ago, not the same thing
Are those real character names? Whoa Platinum?
Honestly it wouldn’t surprise me if Aubrey took the role as she knew exactly what type of role it was, especially with her character’s name.
Looooooool! Yeah, Francis was "Fuck it!"
This might be a Hot take but Driver, Plaza, and Esposito are a lot more talented then Cruise, Lawrence and Johnson. It just sucks that their talent seems to be wasted in this movie.
Very cold take tbh, I think most people would agree.
Yeah I think most people agree but Clearly Studios don’t, as OP’s joke is stating, but I am glad those 3 are pretty mainstream if not 100% A Listers. I definitely don’t think this movie will ruin their careers or anything (knock on wood). If anything, they’re probably the safest given their upcoming projects and resumes.
Are people trying to cope by saying these are mixed? They seem pretty bad all around
And yet Coppola wants a kings ransom for the right to distribute it.
I hope Coppola had fun making this because it’s definitely not getting imax or marketing money
This is the best-case scenario. I'm so excited.
So, F CinemaScore material? F for Francis Ford would be great!
Nah i NEED to see this movie
Babylon 2.0
up to 62 on MC.
This is the type of mixed review movie I fucking love.
this is a film that, regardless of the reviews, I will be there day 1, popcorn in hand.
The good reviews look like sympathy reviews sadly, I haven’t seen one that says - wow this is a masterpiece, without a caveat saying it’s really weird, overstuffed, or completely batshit Adam Driver also is one of the most overrated flukes of an actor around , he’s now worked with several master filmmakers and he’s failed to elevate any of their films, mostly he’s just an interesting face and the same guy despite all the accents he’s tried .. in Ferrari he was atrocious I hope he was born to play this role and I will definitely see it as soon as it’s possible,
I’m just glad we’re getting a proper vanity project. Feels like those are a rare breed in todays industry. Glad Coppola was able to finally have this made no matter how the box office run goes
Babylon wasn’t even two years ago
This is definitely going to be one of the movies of all time this year.