Finally watched last Saturday (Megloplas postponed to next week). It's was very good. My wife who has a weak stomach sat through it and enjoyed it, although as a womon she felt it lacked some internal substance with the Demi Moore character, something a bit deeper. I found the film also very loud and visually bombastic, but it is very entertaining and surprisingly pretty funny at some strange moments (i.e when a male character is walking to the appartment bathroom to address some strange nosies). Lots of easter eggs throughout, from Gollum, frankentien, Dr jeykell to Carrie. I love your nod to “bigger than life”. I also agree with you that the film went on a bit long and tried to hammer the message home loud and clear at the end. I generally have a problem with films that set out to give a direct messages, like Barbie did last year. I always look back at that famous Hitchcock quote, “mesages are for western union, not my films”. However, the film is definately an enteraining and an important artwork work that looks to discuss female vanity and image neurosis.
@@heartofcinema3454 ah yes Megaflopolis as people seem to be calling it already (I really want it to be good). Glad you managed to catch it and enjoy it (wife too!). You're right it is darkly funny at parts, especially when Demi Moore is in full 'witchy/hag' mode. I usually don't have a problem with 'message' movies, and I am charitable to them even if they tend to hammer them home as some audiences really miss stuff unless it is presented right in front them.
11:56 you mentioned the expectations "via men and also women", but I saw the film last night and there are no women in the film who apply that pressure, it's exclusively the male characters. In fact, there are no women with any dialogue except Elisabeth and Sue (unless you count the waitress who takes Elisabeth's order). You also speak about this being a broad societal expectation, when the film is set specifically in the microcosm of the entertainment industry. I just think it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking of this film as a broad social commentary, when it actually fails to communicate that and instead only presents particularly lecherous men acting as the gatekeepers of the entertainment industry.
@@randolphcarter4560 I see your point however I think the film goes at great lengths to also show Sue's supposed empowerment due to internalising these very expectations. So kind of in the same way men are also victims of patriarchal values that they themselves perpetuate, Sue does the same. She sells the dream of idealised body image. This is what makes Sue inherently unlikeable in contrast to Elisabeth who is the (end) result of said perpetuation of ideals. Your point about the entertainment industry being gatekept by men though is definitely depicted in the film! I think the producer character's name is even Harvey! Just to get that point home more.
I finally got around to the film today and so now I can come back watch this review. This film is an absolute revelation considering the state of cinema in this day and age. I am glad that it has done well financially. Demi Moore gave such a visceral performance here and for me I took demi to be a highly sympathetic protagonist who feels like she's chained to this life. The likes of Dennis quaids character and his band of shareholders are such a clever satirical take on men in powerful positions. The body horror was absolutely horrific to look at but I felt sympathetic nonetheless like cronenbergs the fly. Unlike cronenbergs fly which presents ageing as something quite terrifying I think this film presents ageing as something that if you allow it to be very liberating.
Glad you really enjoyed it DoubleA! There has been some drawback and interesting discussion on the film in its usefulness as a feminist critique which has made me think through the film more. Can't wait to revisit it. I feel like one of the 'lessons' of the film is we create our own prisons which others are only too happy to exploit. The adage 'be careful what you wish for' is the irony here in which beauty standards are endlessly relative for women in a hyper-competitive individualised society.
@@reel_reflections - I thought it was pretty good but wish I had watched it at a better cinema as there was zero surround sound and the volume didn’t even seem loud enough. Better quality audio would have made a big difference imo. I watched the only breakdown video I could find on UA-cam the following day and must say I appreciated the movie more than my initial reaction after walking out of the auditorium. Sometimes when watching back-to-back movies where there is little to no breaks in between you don’t have time to fully digest the previous movie before starting to watch the next one. I’ve booked to watch five movies this weekend at Cineworld’s flagship Leicester Square multiplex. 4DX, IMAX and Superscreen. 😎
Finally watched last Saturday (Megloplas postponed to next week). It's was very good. My wife who has a weak stomach sat through it and enjoyed it, although as a womon she felt it lacked some internal substance with the Demi Moore character, something a bit deeper. I found the film also very loud and visually bombastic, but it is very entertaining and surprisingly pretty funny at some strange moments (i.e when a male character is walking to the appartment bathroom to address some strange nosies). Lots of easter eggs throughout, from Gollum, frankentien, Dr jeykell to Carrie. I love your nod to “bigger than life”. I also agree with you that the film went on a bit long and tried to hammer the message home loud and clear at the end. I generally have a problem with films that set out to give a direct messages, like Barbie did last year. I always look back at that famous Hitchcock quote, “mesages are for western union, not my films”. However, the film is definately an enteraining and an important artwork work that looks to discuss female vanity and image neurosis.
@@heartofcinema3454 ah yes Megaflopolis as people seem to be calling it already (I really want it to be good). Glad you managed to catch it and enjoy it (wife too!). You're right it is darkly funny at parts, especially when Demi Moore is in full 'witchy/hag' mode. I usually don't have a problem with 'message' movies, and I am charitable to them even if they tend to hammer them home as some audiences really miss stuff unless it is presented right in front them.
Watching it this Saturday, so will listen to your review afterwards.
Cheers mate! Enjoy the film.
11:56 you mentioned the expectations "via men and also women", but I saw the film last night and there are no women in the film who apply that pressure, it's exclusively the male characters. In fact, there are no women with any dialogue except Elisabeth and Sue (unless you count the waitress who takes Elisabeth's order).
You also speak about this being a broad societal expectation, when the film is set specifically in the microcosm of the entertainment industry.
I just think it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking of this film as a broad social commentary, when it actually fails to communicate that and instead only presents particularly lecherous men acting as the gatekeepers of the entertainment industry.
@@randolphcarter4560 I see your point however I think the film goes at great lengths to also show Sue's supposed empowerment due to internalising these very expectations. So kind of in the same way men are also victims of patriarchal values that they themselves perpetuate, Sue does the same. She sells the dream of idealised body image. This is what makes Sue inherently unlikeable in contrast to Elisabeth who is the (end) result of said perpetuation of ideals.
Your point about the entertainment industry being gatekept by men though is definitely depicted in the film! I think the producer character's name is even Harvey! Just to get that point home more.
I finally got around to the film today and so now I can come back watch this review.
This film is an absolute revelation considering the state of cinema in this day and age. I am glad that it has done well financially.
Demi Moore gave such a visceral performance here and for me I took demi to be a highly sympathetic protagonist who feels like she's chained to this life. The likes of Dennis quaids character and his band of shareholders are such a clever satirical take on men in powerful positions.
The body horror was absolutely horrific to look at but I felt sympathetic nonetheless like cronenbergs the fly.
Unlike cronenbergs fly which presents ageing as something quite terrifying I think this film presents ageing as something that if you allow it to be very liberating.
Glad you really enjoyed it DoubleA! There has been some drawback and interesting discussion on the film in its usefulness as a feminist critique which has made me think through the film more. Can't wait to revisit it.
I feel like one of the 'lessons' of the film is we create our own prisons which others are only too happy to exploit. The adage 'be careful what you wish for' is the irony here in which beauty standards are endlessly relative for women in a hyper-competitive individualised society.
Watched this myself last Friday as part of a movie triple-bill at the cinema.
@@cheekster777 Nice Cheekster! What were your overall impressions?
@@reel_reflections - I thought it was pretty good but wish I had watched it at a better cinema as there was zero surround sound and the volume didn’t even seem loud enough. Better quality audio would have made a big difference imo.
I watched the only breakdown video I could find on UA-cam the following day and must say I appreciated the movie more than my initial reaction after walking out of the auditorium.
Sometimes when watching back-to-back movies where there is little to no breaks in between you don’t have time to fully digest the previous movie before starting to watch the next one.
I’ve booked to watch five movies this weekend at Cineworld’s flagship Leicester Square multiplex. 4DX, IMAX and Superscreen. 😎