Babylon

[Brian in Mesa]

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[Brian in Mesa]

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[Chaplin]

Extremely bloated and way too long, Babylon still has a lot going for it. The acting is uniformly excellent, as is the script. The problem is that Damien Chazelle goes way over the top when portraying the hedonism of early Hollywood. Yes, I'm sure there was some crazy stuff back then, but he really goes all out from the opening scene on. You haven't lived until you've seen an elephant crap all over a couple actors.

There were a couple really great set pieces, the 2nd major scene which takes place on the sprawling outdoor movie set for an epic silent movie is absolutely fantastic. But there is a lot going on and it feels like he's trying to have multiple main characters, but two of them have a few scenes that focus on them and then they are gone for 45 minutes until they pop up again in little more than extended cameos.

All in all I'm glad I saw it, but man, 3 hours and 20 minutes is pretty long for what is essentially an independent film.

 

[Stout]

Extremely bloated and way too long, Babylon still has a lot going for it. The acting is uniformly excellent, as is the script. The problem is that Damien Chazelle goes way over the top when portraying the hedonism of early Hollywood. Yes, I'm sure there was some crazy stuff back then, but he really goes all out from the opening scene on. You haven't lived until you've seen an elephant crap all over a couple actors.

There were a couple really great set pieces, the 2nd major scene which takes place on the sprawling outdoor movie set for an epic silent movie is absolutely fantastic. But there is a lot going on and it feels like he's trying to have multiple main characters, but two of them have a few scenes that focus on them and then they are gone for 45 minutes until they pop up again in little more than extended cameos.

All in all I'm glad I saw it, but man, 3 hours and 20 minutes is pretty long for what is essentially an independent film.

Yeah, I was considering this one, but the run time was such a hard pass.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Chazelle’s attempt to be Paul Thomas Anderson attempting to be Martin Scorcese.

A copy of a copy of a copy, substituting Hollywood for Porn/Mob.

MASSIVE in scope, some fine performances, DEFINITELY too long… those last fifteen minutes past the trumpet solo… good God… but ultimately failed to live up to its rather obvious inspirations. And I think there were two reasons for that. Most important, Chazelle just didn’t create the characters/dynamic between his three leads that made Goodfellas and Boogie Nights’ trifecta of leads so incredible. So when the worms turns halfway through the movie and the descent towards hell starts, I just wasn’t invested enough in the leads here to care all that much. Second issue is the tone gets REAL heavy handed. Especially for the lead character. And did I mention there’s 15 minutes AFTER the movie should have ended that just drags hard after the heavy handed finale down in Dante’s inferno. Oh I did? I’ll do so again because of how much I wanted the movie to end and was a microcosm of the bloat/tone issues I had with the film.

That said, glad I saw it in the theater. It’s definitely an experience. But one I can’t imagine a lot of people outside the industry enjoying much… which probably explains why it’s a colossal bomb.

 

[Stout]

Speaking of industry films, one that I loved that hearkened back to the days of the old studios was Hail Caesar!

Sorry for the interruption. Carry on.

 

[Absolute Zero]

Chazelle’s attempt to be Paul Thomas Anderson attempting to be Martin Scorcese.

A copy of a copy of a copy, substituting Hollywood for Porn/Mob.

MASSIVE in scope, some fine performances, DEFINITELY too long… those last fifteen minutes past the trumpet solo… good God… but ultimately failed to live up to its rather obvious inspirations. And I think there were two reasons for that. Most important, Chazelle just didn’t create the characters/dynamic between his three leads that made Goodfellas and Boogie Nights’ trifecta of leads so incredible. So when the worms turns halfway through the movie and the descent towards hell starts, I just wasn’t invested enough in the leads here to care all that much. Second issue is the tone gets REAL heavy handed. Especially for the lead character. And did I mention there’s 15 minutes AFTER the movie should have ended that just drags hard after the heavy handed finale down in Dante’s inferno. Oh I did? I’ll do so again because of how much I wanted the movie to end and was a microcosm of the bloat/tone issues I had with the film.

That said, glad I saw it in the theater. It’s definitely an experience. But one I can’t imagine a lot of people outside the industry enjoying much… which probably explains why it’s a colossal bomb.

Thanks for the review, was planning on skipping this one and will stick with that. The trailers and the massive PR push just made me sick of this one before it was released, like they are trying to force something that isn't really there.