Go back to previous topic
Forum namePass The Popcorn
Topic subjectBabylon (Damien Chazelle, 2022)
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=6&topic_id=746631
746631, Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2022)
Posted by bwood, Thu Nov-17-22 08:56 AM
Saw this shit yesterday. It's A LOT. At 3 hours and 8 minutes, it's definitely too long.

This is like a cross between THE FABELMANS and THE WOLF OF WALL STREET. It's better than the former, not the latter. Chazelle definitely studied Scorcese.

Diego Calva is gonna EAT off this.

Gotta marinate on this more. Hope I can catch a 35mm print.

Drops Christmas.

Here's the trailer: https://youtu.be/1diR6JO6KGQ
746744, Liked it even less the second time.
Posted by bwood, Thu Dec-01-22 01:52 PM
Very interested to hear what literally everyone else has ro say.
747048, Mixed bag. Too derivative, not audacious enough. Robbie's great.
Posted by Frank Longo, Fri Dec-23-22 12:09 AM
Robbie's terrific. Genuine movie star shit here. Exudes power and charisma. Easily the best part of the movie.

Adepo's really good too, even though his role feels like it could've easily been cut? Pitt does the Pitt thing for the majority of it, but he gets a couple big moments and does good work for those. Diego Calva... I honestly thought was a total dud. Not really fair that he has to share the screen with Pitt and Robbie, but he just can't remotely hang.

A few audacious moments made me smile (especially the last 5-7 minutes or so), but man, for the most part, the movie just goes beat for beat through Boogie Nights, Wolf of Wall Street, Singin' in the Rain, Goodfellas, and a bunch of other better movies that will make you think, "I wish I was watching those better movies." The Tobey Maguire in particular is such an obvious Boogie Nights rip that I was kind of shocked. Like, if you're gonna make this movie, it's gotta be a movie where you stamp Your Directorial Style on it-- not just rip of Scorsese and PTA ad nauseam.

Props to him for trying to do a lot, and some of it works, but yeah, the pacing is subpar, the stories lose track about halfway through, and I just don't know that the thing works as anything other than a star vehicle for Robbie. Vastly preferred Whiplash and First Man to this.