Megalopolis - I generally liked this, but very clearly this is a product of the creator of One From the Heart and Bram Stoker’s Dracula rather than Godfather or The Conversation. I still need to catch up with late Coppola, but I get the impression he’s moved even more heavily into postmodern camp in his past few films. This one is consistently engaging and I liked the artifice and strange pacing. But I think it blends camp and political sincerity in a way that ultimately I just find annoying and tiresome. Similarly with the visual style, which is mostly awful bad 2000s CGI with heavy orange and blues; I’m sure that’s an intentional quotation or commentary on contemporary aesthetics but tbh hard not to feel like you’re just being asked to “get it”.

The Substance - Sometimes it feels really good just to hate something with intensity! FUCK I hate this. A masterclass in how you can make a film insufferable from editing, pacing, and duration - there was probably a decent 45 minute Tales From the Crypt style morality tale somewhere in here, but this is so drawn out, heavy handed, and repetitive I felt nothing but contempt by the end of 140 minutes. I’m sure the VFX people had a good time making this but this is a dumb movie for dumb children