Ken and Robin Consume Media: Megalopolis, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, The Substance
October 1st, 2024 | Robin
Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.
Recommended
Heat Lightning (Film, US, Mervyn LeRoy, 1934) The arrival of her fugitive ex (Preston Foster) disturbs the settled life of the proprietor of a desert service station (Aline MacMahon.) Sweltering crime melodrama, unusually snappy for a stage adaptation of its era, gives MacMahon a rare chance to anchor a film.—RDL
King of Kings: Chasing Edward Jones (Film, US/France, Harriet Marin Jones, 2022) French documentarian pieces together the life story of her seldom-discussed grandfather, who turns out to have been the king of Chicago numbers rackets from 1930 to 1946. As good as a talking-head doc can get, with clever animation and as much location shooting as HMJ can manage; the talking heads also include a wide range of Chicago accents and Quincy Jones (no relation), which is nice. My personal interest was more in the rackets; HMJ’s more in her grandfather’s story in American racial context.—KH
Kingdom 2: Far and Away (Film, Japan, Shinsuke Sato, 2022) Pursuing his goal of future generalship, Shin (Kento Yamakazi) takes his superhuman martial arts prowess to the decisive battle between the Qin and the Wei, forming a tentative alliance with an equally puissant but standoffish vengeance-seeker (Nana Seino.) Part two of this manga adaptation ups the ante into a thrilling, clearly explicated, full-blown war movie.—RDL
Still the Water (Film, Japan, Naomi Kawase, 2014) On the idyllic island of Amami Ōshima, a teen mourning her shaman mother’s approaching death wins a declaration of love from her withdrawn sweetheart, but struggles to break through his emotional barriers. Beautiful observational drama underpinned by a quiet attention to place and community.—RDL
The Substance (Film, France/UK, Coralie Fargeat, 2024) When fading star Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is fired from her workout show, she starts using a substance that grows a younger, hotter self (Margaret Qualley) from her back. It also has some bad effects. Stanislas Reydellet’s production design and Raffertie’s score follow writer-director Fargeat’s lead in never just doing when you can overdo, but it’s Moore’s unflinching performance that keeps this Jekyll & Hyde morality play upright.—KH
Good
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Film, US, Tim Burton, 2024) Accompanied by her disaffected daughter (Jenna Ortega) and manipulative boyfriend/manager (Justin Theroux), TV ghost hunter Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) returns to the home where an ebullient trickster demon (Michael Keaton) once plotted to marry her. Burton movies rise or fall on the coherence and momentum their screenplays impose on him; this containment unit for goth kookiness is made from a satisfying ratio of new to recycled material.—RDL
Okay
Three Musketeers – Part I: D’Artagnan (Film, France, Martin Bourboulon, 2023) Dashing young provincial (François Civil) arrives in Paris to join the King’s Musketeers, winning a spot among his heroes Athos (Vincent Cassel), Porthos (Pio Marmaï), and Aramis (Romain Duris), and a central role in deadly royal intrigue. Dour retelling less interested in swashing buckles than in placing Dumas’ novel in historical context.—RDL
Fascinatingly Terrible
Megalopolis (Film, US, Francis Ford Coppola, 2024) Visionary architect Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) tries to build a new city from the miracle metal Megalon despite opposition from mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), whose daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) falls for Cesar. We explained this film to ourselves, sort of, as an adaptation of a multivolume manga based on The Fountainhead. Driver and much of the stacked cast thespiate in all directions, many of them compelling if not convincing, and there are moments of pure kino throughout. Reading too much into its “fascism but make it couture” message is probably a mistake, but so was spending your winery fortune making a hero out of Psychic Robert Moses.—KH
