Movie Review Megalopolis

 Megalopolis 

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola 

Written by Francis Ford Coppola 

Starring Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Jon Voight 

Release Date September 27th, 2024 

Published September 30th, 2024 

I was very excited about Megaloopolis at the time it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The reaction from critics and audiences at Cannes was divided to a remarkable extreme with some calling it a work of genius and others calling it a complete disaster. In my experience, movies that are that divisive tend to have value in that they are unlikely to be boring. As someone whose profession often centers around watching mainstream, cookie cutter, movies, the notion of a genuinely original and completely unpredictable movie is very exciting. 

What a disappointment it was then, to watch Megalopolis and feel nearly nothing for the movie. While I remain impressed by the intention and originality of Megalopolis, the dominant feeling I have after watching Megalopolis is apathy. Disappointment is a close second but not the disappointment of being let down by Francis Ford Coppola but rather, the disappointment that Megalopolis left me so indifferent. I wanted to feel invigorated by a feeling of either the joy of seeing a visionary epic or by seeing something so utterly incomprehensible as to cause awe. 

Neither of those feelings emerged. Instead, the lasting feeling inspired by Francis Ford Coppola’s deeply personal $120 million dollar gamble is emptiness, a complete lack of any significant emotion whatsoever. And that feeling sucks. I know that isn’t the most elegant way of stating my feelings but it is honest and to the point. I hate that Megalopolis left me feeling next to nothing. Not pity for the actors stranded in Coppola’s muddled vision, none of the giddiness inspired by seeing something truly original, simply nothing whatsoever. 

Megalopolis stars Adam Driver as Cesar Catalina, a visionary architect with a dark past. Living in the country of New Rome, and functioning as the country’s chief designer, Catalina finds himself at the center of controversy over his newest creation, Megalopolis, a city of the future that may or may not displace many from the poor neighborhoods of the capital city. Catalina’s chief critic is the Mayor of New Rome, Franklin Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). Cicero believes that Catalina is mortgaging the struggling present of New Rome in favor of the expensive pipedream of Megalopolis. 

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal.Media linked here. 

Movie Review Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) 

Directed by Wes Ball 

Written by T.S Nowlin 

Starring Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Giancarlo Esposito, Aiden Gillen

Release Date January 26th, 2018 

The problem with the first two movies in The Maze Runner franchise was simple mediocrity and blandness. The films weren’t terrible, they weren’t poorly made; the movies’ just didn’t leave much of an impression. The expansive, bland but handsome teen cast was too large and not well developed enough as individuals to be memorable and lead Dylan O’Brien wasn’t bad either but the script did him few favors.

Now that we arrive at the final movie in the franchise, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, we get the first genuinely bad entry in the series. The Death Cure is an utterly moronic and misguided action movie that relies heavily on you remembering the two previous movies which may not have been terrible but were far from memorable. And on top of the homework the producers expect you to do in order to follow the plot; the film is 2 hours and 25 tedious minutes long.

Maze Runner: The Death Cure opens with an incredibly poorly staged action sequence. Our hero Thomas (O’Brien) and his allies are attacking a train owned by the evil, post-apocalyptic corporation WCKD, pronounced Wicked. I assume the evil corporation is called Wicked just in case the audience is dumb enough not to realize who the bad guys are.

Thomas and his team are here to rescue their friend Minho (Ki Hong Lee) whose name changes at least seven times throughout the movie, depending on which character is talking. I’m not kidding; at various points in the movie, Minho is called Minnow, Mean-Ho, and Meano. My best guess is that his name is pronounced Min-Ho but I can’t be sure about that. I spent a good deal of time considering the name because I had little else holding my interest.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal. Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal. 

Movie Review Last Holiday

Last Holiday (2006) 

Direted by Wayne Wang 

Written by Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman 

Starring Queen Latifah, LL Cool J Jane Adams, Timothy Hutton, Giancarlo Esposito 

Release Date January 13th, 2006

Published January 12th, 2006 

Sitting down to watch the Queen Latifah comedy Last Holiday I had low expectations. My expectations were exceeded mightily by a good natured sweet comedy about life, love and the ever looming specter of death. Okay, I added the specter of death thing. This is, after all, a comedy.

Last Holiday is a comedy about a woman who is told she is going to die soon and chucks it all -job, friends, bills- and runs off to wile away her last days in a resort in the alps. The specter of impending death never really enters the film because Queen Latifah is such a joy to watch and director Wayne Wang such a carefree auteur that he eschews making a real movie and focuses his attention on making his star look good.

Queen Latifah stars in Last Holiday as Georgia Byrd, a small demonstration cook with dreams of running her own restaurant. For now she spends her evenings watching Emeril Live and cooking great meals she doesn't eat. She cooks for practice and occasionally for a teenage neighbor but mostly she cooks for the joy of cooking.

At work Georgia fends off an ever menacing middle manager (Matt Ross) whose ambition threatens everyone's job, and finds time to gossip with her pal Rochelle (Jane Adams). The gossip most often turns to talk of the handsome new grill salesman Sean (L.L Cool J) who has his eyes on Georgia though she refuses to believe it.

The plot kicks in when a head injury at work sends Georgia to the hospital where her doctor gives her a prognosis of imminent death due to a brain tumor. Georgia has about two weeks to live. What would you do if you only had two weeks to live? For Georgia Byrd, the answer is to quit her job and run to a fabulous European resort with every cent of her savings and spend her last days indulging the finest food in the world from one of the world's greatest chef, Chef Didier (Gerard Depardieu).

Flashing what little cash she has for the best room in the place, the best table in the restaurant and the finest clothes in Europe naturally draws the attention of her fellow guests that coincidentally include a Senator (Giancarlo Esposito) from Georgia's own district and the owner of the store Georgia worked at (Timothy Hutton). The less said about this convenient plot, the better.

Based loosely on a British comedy from 1950, of the same title, Last Holiday is an ebullient film full of vibrant life and surprisingly big laughs. Director Wayne Wang is not working with much of a script which forces him to rely mostly on the charms of his lead actress. The effervescent Queen Latifah rescues what would have likely been a very dull picture with a terrifically self-effacing and brave performance that earns big laughs and loads of pathos.

If you can't sympathize and laugh riotously with Queen Latifah clearly you are far too cynical.

As the one true draw of Last Holiday Queen Latifah had a lot riding on her and you never once see her sweat. Whether she is sassily rebuffing the advances of the lecherous Senator or wrapped head to toe in a mud wrap and needing a bathroom break, Latifah's every move is pure charm, she is just that lovable.

Sure, Last Holiday is mindless and often forgettable. The plot is a joke of coincidence and predictability. Who cares! When you get to spend 90 minutes with a movie friend like Queen Latifah that makes up for a lot of problems. Queen Latifah is simply that much of a pleasure to watch in Last Holiday, so much you forget how bad the picture as a whole truly is.

There are few actors or actresses who can make you forget you are watching a bad movie and simply focus on them. Queen Latifah failed to pull off that trick in awful films Taxi, The Cookout and Bringing Down The House but she really pulls it off in Last Holiday, a bad movie made pleasant even entertaining by a star truly coming into her own.

Last Holiday is like candy, it may not be good for you, it may rot your teeth or your brain, but while you're enjoying it nothing else matters. This is a movie for candy lovers.