Megalopolis is an upcoming American epic science fiction drama film written, directed, and produced by Francis Ford Coppola. We have our first reactions and reviews of the movie now available.
I did some remodeling work on Mr Coppola's home back in the 90s and got to talk to him quite a bit. He was very polite and talkative, told me quite a few stories. Great guy.
Studios will waste money on Indiana Jones dial of dickweed, terminator dark fate (pretty prescient title), and The Flash (more like The Flush), but they won't take a gasp of a chance on a literal titan of cinema, even in this "new age of the auteur." Some things never change
@@GaminHasardthey aren’t insane because their job isn’t to make great movies but to make money. If people stop supporting shit and support the greats instead or even support A24 films you’ll see more films like that get made
No kidding . Just put it out and get Coppola to do the rounds of youtube creater interviews and show clips . Screw traditional marketing . Who is watching any of that stuff anyway ? Unless it's aired on a live sporting event , no one watches commercials ? It will be competing with the freiken" Fall guy ' and some woke crap ? Why is everyone stupid?
My condolences to Mr. Coppola for the death of his wife, artist & accomplished filmmaker Eleanor Coppola. Likewise, he lost his oldest son Gio in a tragic boating accident during the production of "Gardens of Stone" in the 80's. The "commercialization" of his 80's movies, which was briefly mentioned, was the result of some difficulty in Coppola's life at the time. He had to "sell out" to make more mainstream Hollywood movies because of the disastrous losses incurred when he tried to create his own movie studio, akin to the old MGM, Fox, & WB "Golden Age of Hollywood" studio system, where his actors, film crews, pre & post-production teams, & every other personnel were under contract to the studio. The old studio system had crumbled, but Coppola thought he could succeed where the others had failed, because he approached it completely as an artistic endeavor instead of a business. He took influence from the mentality of United Artist's original intent, which gave nearly unchecked support to the creativity, making a haven for austere directors like Coppola & Scorsese to blossom. Unfortunately, it's reliance to that end resulted in director Michael Cimino to run it into the ground with his runaway production of the infamous "Heaven's Gate." Coppola didn't learn from the UA/"Heaven's Gate" debacle & created his own with the disastrous "One From the Heart" as mentioned in the vid. He ran out the funds to such a degree that he was unable to pay his employees. Because of this, he had to take jobs as a "director-for-hire" to get himself out of the hole & repay investors. Nowadays, he's become a "wine magnate" with wineries in California & Oregon. In fact, he sold some of his wineries to fund "Megalopolis." He's paid for it completely out-of-pocket & has a lot riding on its success. We'll see how it plays out.
Exactly ! Some woke crap or the Fall Guy . Or Coppala's possibly great, or not , last film? And by the way, if you're gonna rehash an old Lee Majors vehicle, why the Fall Guy & not the Six Million Dollar Man ? And why, for the love of God , is everyone stupid?
Yep they are worse than gamblers, their minds can fail so miserably trying to get what it craves(money) so I can’t take their opinions (even about commercial movies) seriously
Wait, you've never seen his 1980s classics ''Rumble Fish'' and ''The Outsiders''? Even the highly underrated ''The Cotton Club'' and ''Tucker: The Man and His Dream'' are well worth watching.
Shia labeouf: all I’m doing is waiting for Adam driver so I could- Francis Ford Coppola: why are you waiting for Adam Driver ?Adam doesn’t do anything. You just walk right out of the thing. Shia storms off angry
This is *great* news to me! Every great Francis Ford Coppola movie has been "in trouble"! The Godfather, he was fired and re-hired several times, once in the same day. Part 2 he didn't even want to make it, and it was a headache. Apocalypse Now, there was a revolution in the Philippines, nervous exhaustion of Coppola, heart attack for Sheen...I can't wait to see the "troubled" Megalopolis!
Coppola is in a different category. his movies were art movies really. Apocalypse now is really bizarre. The Conversation... his movies made a lot of money when people wanted to watch art movies... Star Wars changed the film business. Movies never got dumber... the target audience intelligence level just went down in efforts to capture everyone with a mid product instead of a weird experimental movie.
It reminds me of Jodorowsky's failed attempt to bring his version of Dune to the screen. Between the ambition and the realization there was an insurmountable abyss which he could not bridge. I imagine it would have been a massive pretentious mess---but I wish it existed. The documentary is fascinating and his enthusiasm to bring this project to life is very infectious. As far as Coppola goes I'd have to go all the way back to Apocalypse Now for a film of his I genuinely enjoyed and still watch periodically. I did like Peggy Sue Gets Married. It's lightweight but was fun. His Dracula is laughably campy and I still wonder if it wasn't a very expensive practical joke. I'm curious about Megalopolis and will go in with an open mind. I don't know if he has formally announced that this would be his last film, but I never take anyone at their word---although I do hope Tarantino does retire after his next movie.
I think that I will adore Megalopolis. I am no stranger to loving experimental filmmaking (Charlie Kaufman is the greatest filmmaker to ever live in my opinion) and the fact that studio heads think that this film is too inaccessible actually increases my excitement dramatically. Some people will adore this film and call it a masterpiece, others will be turned off and hate. I am expecting Megalopolis to be the Synecdoche, New York of the 2020’s (which is my favorite film ever made)
One of my favorites George C. Scott may have been a horrible human being. But he was one of the greatest actors of all time. Anyone who hasn't seen it needs to check it out. Garanteed it'll be the best movie you will see all year.
@@alanbeam7187 Well, Patton could be pretty horrible as well maybe that's why he played him so brilliantly. A great actor playing a great general, no matter their flaws, they were exceptional at their craft.
The recent revision and re release of Godfather 3 proved worth the purchase. But he changed the ending from the original theatrical release! Always keeps us guessing, and always worth the wait!
He changed the ending so when this becomes the colossal flop it's going to be he can come back and do Godfather 4, "Michael's Revenge" and buy his vineyard back. 😅😅
From internet: Some early reviews of Apocalypse Now were negative, with one user on Metacritic calling it "a pretentious load of nonsense, badly acted and full of ham-acting performances". Another review on Reelviews Movie Reviews criticized the film's ending as "anticlimactic and disappointing" and the final half-hour as "borderline-incoherent, badly written".
At the end, that is the reason Zoetrope studios was put up, to make films outside the rules of Hollywood. This is his ultimate independent film, and he can afford it. It is his biggest "up yours" to the hollywood system.
Yeah, but that's the problem. He CAN'T "afford" it. He has literally gone broke making this money and it's already being called the biggest flop in movie history.
@@williamlangeii4012 I believe he can afford it, he reportedly sold majority of his Coppola winery for over 500M and still kept his luxury wine brand Inglenook. So even if he doesn't recoup the 120M investment he is still doing ok.
@@williamlangeii4012 I don't think it will flop. It's being shown in Imax, and I don't think he made the movie for money either. People love to bitch about everything. I'm sure it's not as horrible as they say
it might be that the movie is against the woke ideology. or not even against it but runs contrary to corporate leftist ESG score globalism on some level. If it was pro esg globalist it would've been funded probably. There would be something rebellious possibly.. at least that's part of the independent promise, that we get thoughts that run contrary.
People's problem is they go to see it thinking of immortal classics like The Godfather or Apocalypse Now and how his last few films were awful, although TETRO was not bad . Now keep in mind he wrote this film back around the time he was still making good films like his hidden gem Rumble Fish, along with The Cotton Club and The Outsiders. People need to also realize that every great movie he did was met with uncertainty that it would make a profit. Coppola is the definition of what it means to do what you love and not for what you can get in return. If all directors thought like this maybe we would get a great film atleast once a year instead of having to wait now the standard 5 years or more for something that will never hold a candle to this mans work. Most people don't know what they want in a film until you give it to them. Keep in mind that every Coppola film that people adore was met with the same speculations. I wish his film the best although It would of been amazing to see Dicaprio in it instead.
I for one can't wait to watch every big, messy, confusing second of this film. Coppola's always been a much better director of scenes than he is a crafter of story structure or even basic clarity. But whatever. We're not going to get something pedestrian here, so I'm in. Remember Warren Beatty's disastrous return to filmmaking after eighteen years? Neither does anyone else.
The problem is i think, what is the point, Megalopolis. It clearly sounds like a film about a massive city with a even bigger society. But in this day and age, that kind of film isnt necessary or groundbreaking. Infact it has been done before. Ridley Scott did it in Blade Runner, George Lucas did it in the Star Wars prequels. Is it going to be a dystopian society where everyone is driven my commercialism and consumerism? Theyve made movies like that already too. This may have been a groundbreaking and ambitious idea in the 70s, making a movie of a massive city with bug set pieces to illustrate just how huge things are. But now its not so impressive.
We should by now have a better understanding of their idea of a good movie. After the track record of Hollywood execs for the past decade,we still taking their “professional opinion” and giving it credence. It is amazing how much we are conditioned to believe in anything someone in a “position of authority” has to say, regardless of their results!
No kidding. This whole trope is stupid and annoying . I think there jiob is to make sure no one can actually put out anything good . It either has to be woke garbage, or a bafflingvremake of an old mediocre TV series no one cares about . And no more comedy is allowed, .at all ! Why is everyone stupid ?
Coppola has guts, I believe he said Megalopolis will stand the test of time. Also Grace Vanderwaal is in the movie and she is a genius level singer songwriter. On imdb she is credited with original music for the film.
''Bram Stoker's Dracula not bad'' ???!! Are you playing with a full deck? It's a masterpiece of film making! Don't know where to begin with its brilliance! Apart from Keanu's poor performance, which didn't so much hinder the movie it is a unique, profound homage to the world of cinema, not just horror and romance! 😲 I believe in Megalopolis, I believe in Coppola's genius!
I feel that he's without a doubt in my mind has made his mark. And his mark with his most successful movies becoming instant classics and highly acclaimed award winning films. That have now become a list of must see, landmark films in film history. With films like The Godfather 1 and 2, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now. I mean just them four movies alone are absolutely dominant and possibly the most well known and celebrated films ever made in cinematic history. So whether or not his new movie is good or bad. If it is a success or a flop. I feel it doesn't matter. As his work he created in his prime speaks for itself. The movies this man has made are legendary. And will never be taken away from him. He set the bar very very high when he was in his prime. Them four movies are movies that not many ppl making movies, in the entire history of making movies, have been able to top. His fingerprints will forever be involved in directing and creating some of the greatest movies ever made that will still stand the test of time as ppl today are watching and discovering these movies for the first time and now have a new favorite movie. And this will happen for generations to come. It can't be erased.
I say this with the utmost respect for Coppola and his work: it's not surprising, even if it's heartbreaking, that he can't find a distributor. His last few movies were pretty awful, and the few before that ranged from forgettable to bad. If only he hadn't squandered his early career going many millions over budget, defying studios, and driving his cast to heart attacks, he might have earned some good will in the industry. I hope to see the film some day and I hope it's great, but the reality is that there is no film that "deserves" to exist and be viewed and praised. Hollywood is a business
Lol have you seen current marvel movies? Have you seen recent star wars movies? Holly wood isnt a business its a monopoly. They can literally spemd 60-100 million and kill it and not bat an eye. I think you need to stop parroting billionaire talking points when you have no real idea how anything truly works in that economic level.
Most of these early screening critics will fellate any capeslop movie that looks like it's gonna make big bucks. The fact that some of them can't tell who's the good guy or bad guy is very interesting to me, as that implies a level of nuance that is hard to come by in big movies today.
All the controversy is intriguing. Distributors only care about profits and losses. Auteurs care about content and style. I will watch it with an auteurs eye. I don’t care what the “experts”say: I will watch this film and make my own determination. I suggest that you all do the same.
I don't give a shit if it's good or bad: it's a legendary independent auteur pecker-slapping corporate Hollywood with an expensive piece of algorithm-fucking art. That alone makes it worth *watching* at least. And at his age, to drop a new monument and possibly ending his career with a $120M middle finger is noteworthy. Although I do wish we still had Paul Newman to be in it though. Coppola said in the commentary on TUCKER that he was always bewildered that Howard Hughes was such an anomaly: a wealthy man of vision and intelligence who used his money to innovate and explore new ideas; most of the wealthy people he knew were only interested in making more money. I know that you can talk about Thiel and Musk etc. today, but most--if not all--of them are interested in making money from forging a new world in their image rather than enabling humanity to grow as a whole. I also think that corporate Hollywood is nervous about a wealthy artist changing the dynamics of the public's relationship with media. They know that the public doesn't like the new crop of films and are concerned that an indie filmmaker showing them their ass might prompt the creation of a New New Wave that isn't rooted in corporate visions. I can see that preventing them from marketing the film.
WOW - some tasty insight here. Very honest and a realistic view of Coppola. He has always been an outsider with just enough patience to placate the suits and bean counters. Say what you want about Coppola, but he knows how to tell a great story because he understands history. He doesn't look down on people, he talks TO them because he finds mankind endlessly fascinating .He produced an incredibly talented daughter. I wish the best of success for this film, but like most of his great work, it will take the world about 20 years to catch up to it. And him.
Based on the experimental comments after the screenings, I think I will LOVE IT (eg I loved Annette with Driver), but is it true that for that amount of money an experimental film is almost impossible to be profitable instantly.
Francis isn't exactly Michael Bay. He is an artist with a vision. It doesn't matter if the film is a smash hit. I don't think that that is the point. It's called movie making. Some people sketch cartoons others paint the Mona Lisa.
One From The Heart had money probkems..Coppola built Vegas in an old Mint in San Francisco. An incredible amount of neon and sets. Back then it never occurred to me to not see it because it was hard to make. You're either a dedicated fan or you ain't. You go. Tarkovsky's The Mirror would make about 10 grand if it was released now. If that. But the film is considered incredible.
Coppola was a one hit wonder if you consider the first two Godfather films as one. Otherwise, his films run from pretty good: Apocalypse Now or just interesting BS's Dracula, Rumble Fish, to the majority of his films which are forgettable.
Market principals describe it as a disaster because it won’t rack up money in a superficial viewpoint. Can’t tell who the bad guy is, is so cliche Marvel. Cool movies like these that are outside the box will never be made, then cinema will never be able to innovate further.
Id like to see this , and Im a huge Shia LaBeouf fan , great actor , who's personal bar is set very high . Looking forward to this film , guessing I'll be going alone as I cant imagine anyone I know would be interested to see it .
I will go see this, no question. One look at the state of movies today tells you we need some risk taking, and Coppola is certainly doing that and should be rewarded.
@@cwega2463 Did any the producers sell their vineyards to fund it? Also, did any of them make a movie like Apocalypse Now? Please send me the list of those producers releasing movies…
Dracula had its moments but was a sprawling, overlong, undisciplined mess like Apocalypse, Cimino's Heaven's Gate, Oliver Stone's Alexander, Orson Welles's Other Side of the Wind, Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut and Ridley Scott's Napolean. Coppola's last great film didnt have be an overblown epic that cost him his winery. He had the genius to write and direct a groundbreaking film on a pin-money budget of 10 million or maybe less. It doesnt take a billion dollars to make a wonderful film: it takes a great filmmaker like Copplola to reign himself in.
it's a shame coppola didn't combine elements of this ancient roman love triangle with real life robert moses, who was in fact a visionary architect who greatly influenced the design of post ww2 nyc. had he fictionalized the melding of both stories (maybe even added that nyc got partially bombed during ww2 much as london had, making that it's man made urban disaster) in a less futuristic setting, he could have gotten this film made decades ago at a far lower budget.
On his name alone, he gets his money back at worse. As the narrator so eloquently states thier are legions of fans who based on his rep alone wiil pay to watch it.
What I’m wondering right is how the hell didn’t some cinephile billionaire with money to burn just pony up the distribution costs? They literally spend trillions on art and the greatest director of all time can’t scrape together a measly 100 million for what he claims is his magnum opus and he was working on way back in the 70’s? The fuck??
Sadly I’m more than certain it’ll never see the light of day at least not while Coppola is alive or an edit that’s as close to his original vision as possible. Although the fact that he or anyone else who’s seen it can give a clear one paragraph summary of the film is such a red flag that the corpse of Vladimir Lenin got an errection that could be seen from space.
I’m definitely interested in seeing this movie.I like to see visions of the future and,unlike some people,I’m not necessarily looking for that vision to predict what that future will be(sometimes,when people evaluate an early vision of the future,they seem to do it only on the metric of how accurate predictions were,not how good or imaginative the story was,for example)but only what it might be:Wishful thinking as apposed to extrapolationThis brings me to an idea as to how it could be marketed.Talk about how it is made by the same man who created certain cinematic landmarks.talk about how he believed in this project so much that he took steps others might not have to ensure it got made.Finally,mention how it is a bold move because he(the director,of course) is venturing into territory he really hasn’t stepped into before(futurism.Yes,he helped George Lucas produce THX-1138,and May as far as I know have helped him direct it,but this is the first such movie he has directed on his own) and putting his own unique stamp on it by combining it with a historical story,set in that future.
I haven't watched Coppola movies aside from the main ones but my guess he's a great artist but he's not that good of a writer and to make a great movie you definitely need a great script and screenplay
THEY are only talkin'' bout ''Business'' & ''Money'', but have no idea of real art....remember what they said about during the making and after its release of ''Apocalypse Now''?
