Throwing Copper

You might want to spoiler tag that paragraph. This is the first time I have ever had a new movie spoiled this badly for me on here.

And you know that not very many people have seen it yet.

RichC2

People really hate spoiler tags on this forum.

Hazel Motes

Sorry. My bad.

Crocker Jarmen

Perkinsun Dzees pretty much captured my reaction to the movie note for note. I thought it was close to great for the first 90+ minutes, but then it went on and on, so that all the not-great parts are beginning to accumulate, until they're overwhelming. I left the theatre wishing the movie had ended an hour earlier when I still liked it.

It needed less characters. The trumpet player deserved to have a story that felt as major as Brad Pitt or Margo Robbie's. Instead he's relegated to a B-story told (poorly) in a couple of broad strokes. The scene where Brad Pitt's close friend dies had no impact, because he was just one of two dozen characters given a minute or two of screen time over the course of two hours. It took me a minute to figure out who they were talking about, and then my reaction was, "Oh, I wouldn't have thought he cared about that."

At least it stole from Singin' In The Rain better than the Downton Abbey movie did.

But man, that first hour was filled with fantastic scenes and lots of huge laughs. That part is definitely one of the best films of 2022.

whotony

What does this mean?

The Cow

Jaime Pressly, although I don't know how his post was related to this thread.

Dan

Completely absurd.
Shamefully indulgent.
Pure chaos for at least two of its three hour running time.
Disjointed.
Pretentious (and I hate the use of that word).

Yet... I think I loved nearly every minute of it.
Sure, there are things I'd cut, but I'm not a madman like Chazelle, so I'm glad he left that stuff in.
And the score is perfection.

Dr. DVD

After being shut out of the big categories at the Golden Globes I would wager there's zero chance of this getting a nomination in any acting or major categories. Cinematography, art direction, and costume design are probably its best chances. Of course the cinematography is a bit tainted due to

EEz28

It won Best Score.

Dr. DVD

Corrected

Crocker Jarmen

It's a great score. I saw the movie earlier in the week and I've still got the two main pieces of music running in my head.

Throwing Copper

Babylon drops on VOD tonight at midnight eastern, or whatever the usual time is.

Throwing Copper

I was surprised just how much I enjoyed this. It was wildly entertaining throughout, even though it does shift to a drama for the final hour.

I wonder how many edits it took to not get an NC-17? Some of the stuff they left in the film is definitely NC-17 material and then there’s some super quick shots and cuts of some serious debauchery, you just don’t usually get a long look at it.

Only part I would for sure cut is the final ending, the last 10 minutes.

It’s a messy film at times but it’s always entertaining and there is some excellent stuff in here.

Asian lady singer and black musician should have extended scenes on the cutting room floor, would like to see them. Way too brief.

DJariya

I'll wait until this hits Paramount Plus in a month or so. No interest in shelling out $20 for a digital rental. Since the reviews weren't exactly glowing, it's easy to wait.

TomOpus

Yeah, I want to see it but not spend a lot for it.

Dan

Y'all all missing out. It's a movie that, not unlike LaLaLand and First Man, practically demands to be seen as big and as loud as possible.

Throwing Copper

Ive never had a sound system at home. So I recently bought a simple Sound Bar, and this jazz score just pulsated though the room, sounded awesome for Babylon.

Why So Blu?

Since I am blind buying this on 4K disc, I'll skip the $25 itunes price tag and go for the best possible presentation. I'm so backlogged with media right now, I might be ready by the time it releases on home video.

rexinnih

Yes.
Just saw this yesterday in the theater. I've enjoyed La La Land and First Man so had an idea of the directing style going in and tried to stay away from spoilers.
Now I did see it in the 21+ dining theater and may recommend ordering food after the initial elephant scene and before Margot fills up at the party.
Other than that, enjoyed it. Yes, pretentious and overblown but it is a movie about Hollywood. And it was, warts and all. Will get the 4K and watch again but recommend giving it a shot.

dex14

This will be on Paramount+ starting on February 21.

OldBoy

She’s good in Bombshell. And of course, The Wolf of Wall Street. She was sexed up, but no Harley Quinn. Z for Zachariah ain’t bad either. Or I, Tonya I quite enjoyed if I remember correctly.

Why So Blu?

Just watched this on P+ and I enjoyed it. The only section I would delete would be the stuff with Toby McGuire. Everything else was fine. Yes, it's outrageous to the max but that's what I liked about it. I'm not a big Chazelle fan, but this was entertaining as hell.

The P+ presentation is in 4K DV/Atmos. I will definitely get the 4K disc once it goes on sale, but not buying it day 1 now.

DeFan

Terrible movie. Relies on references to better movies to try and make it's point. Margot Robbie shows she can cry on cue early so is unsympathetic

I find these big orgy scenes are just for movie titillation. Do people actually act like that in real life?

Crocker Jarmen

Yes, but it's just a clumsy mess, not cinematically choreographed.

GoldenJCJ

Man, I don’t know what to make of this movie. I went in expecting it to be a mostly serious drama about 20s/30s Hollywood but about 10 minutes in I had to adjust my expectations because this felt like a full-on mad cap comedy. I actually enjoyed the hell out of the first 90 minutes. It was fast-paced, frenetic, and pretty damn funny. It also had great cinematography and camera work. Everything in the first hour and a half worked for me.

Then the send half kicked in and it seemed to lose all its steam and humor and turned into a clichéd melodrama that lost sight of what it was about. The last 10 minutes or so was so dumbfounding, I couldn’t believe it was even in the movie. A “What we love about the movies” montage following 3 hours of Hollywood debauchery, corruption, and heart break was an odd choice.

Samara Weaving was completely wasted and Tobey Maguire’s cameo could have been cut in half (there was no need to bring them to that underground party). Margot Robbie was great on this but her character was never very likable. I kept wondering why Manny was attracted to her. She was toxic from the first second he met her.

Theres a decent 2 hour movie in there somewhere but in this version, the tonal changes and overlong run-time just doesn’t work.