Now, a lot of people like to pretend as though David Cronenberg is some kind of genius, and although he has made some great movies in the past, he's... I don't think he's all that great. Calm down, I didn't say he's a terrible director. He's a director that's capable of making both great and terrible movies. Now, this one wasn't absolutely terrible overall, but there were some pretty terrible moments within it. Most of the actors didn't really pull off their performances very well. It was difficult to imagine them as their characters and instead, I just saw actors delivering lines.
Now, that being said, Julianne Moore's performance was pretty good. It was nice to see her mannerisms and overall disposition to be quite different from a typical Julianne Moore role. Mia Wasikowska's performance was also pretty good, but with pretty lame performances from the teenage actor and John Cusack, those were pretty much cancelled out. Robert Pattinson was completely neutral and he did not do a great job or a terrible one. I felt myself annoyed by the repetitive and clichéd "Oh no, I see a ghost" scenes. If you're going go tackle something so overdone, then it would have been so cool if you try to add something new to the table. But nope, it's just Predictable.
Speaking of predictable, the outcome of the scene with the gun was pretty fucking predictable. Still speaking of predictable, the outcome of the scene in the bathroom was also pretty predictable. Something that I noticed about this movie and that I also noticed about "Cosmopolis", is that the background sounds are way too quiet.
The shot composition is pretty good and there was one pretty good scene, but there was one absolutely terrible computer-generated fire effect in what seems like it should have been an important scene, and I'd be absolutely shocked to find a single person who says that that didn't take them out of the movie completely. Cronenberg, you had some good stuff going on in the 80's , you know what the 80's were really good for? Practical effects! You know how you would have filmed this scene in the 80's? With real fire and stunt people!
Well, the soundtrack had that cheesy clichéd 80's synth, so it seems as though you kept the worst part of the 80's and got rid of the best part of the 80's.
This movie is not the worst thing in the world, but there were no good parts of it that didn't get outweighed by the negatives. And I'm giving this one a five out of ten.
I love movies about movies so I really dig this. A less weird Mulholland Drive.
I heard about this film because Julianne Moore was getting some Oscar buzz for her performance and that it compared to that of Cate Blanchet in last year's Woody Allen film (she was good but nowhere near Blanchet). I didn't expect much from it but I ended up really enjoying it.
Interesting and compelling film in some ways, with a few funny lines, but overall it's a bit slow and dull. I didn't find the Hollywood character journeys that interesting. Maybe because they have such shallow lives in this movie. It's almost as if this movie thought it would be interesting enough just because it's about Hollywood. The last 20 minutes seemed stupid.
Women in fire. Bad effects.
Little plot and some stabs at Hollywood certainly don't make a great movie but I enjoyed the tone and odd characters.
Shout by manicureVIP 4BlockedParent2022-01-04T19:22:10Z
All in all, a mediocre film that could be mistaken for a straight-to-TV Friday night thriller. At some point, it just felt like they were tired of playing with their toys and dumped the whole thing in the compost bowl. I am not even sure the ghost story elements had any meaning. I feel bad for Julianne Moore, as she had to fart sitting on the toilet and play the "lousy dyke" at 54, but her acting was a bit too over the top for me to actually give a damn thing. However, I still think Cronenberg deserves some credit for his natural ability to induce repulsion towards his characters, as well as his courage to deal with uncomfortable themes without compromise. I just wish they spent more time on the script and more money on photography instead of hiring famous actors for stupid roles.