BABYLON MOVIE REVIEW

Director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) helms this crazy, hard-R, chaotic look at the late 20s in Hollywood just as it was transitioning into sound films. Brad Pitt plays Jack Conrad, a superstar actor and party staple who has trouble keeping his romantic relationships from imploding (not that he seems to care). Margot Robbie is ingenue actress Nellie LaRoy who has arrived in Hollywood full of energy, talent, and wildness who is so sure she’s going to be big that everyone else around her is too. Diego Calva is Manny Torres, a Mexican-American production assistant who gets swept up in Nellie’s rise and becomes a major player in the scene himself. Around them is a very colorful cavalcade of characters who seem to be composites of people from the time. It’s clearly inspired from writer/director Kenneth Anger’s famous sleaze-dishing books Hollywood Babylon and even the style of filmmaking at points puts an exclamation mark on the comparison. But Chazelle is here for more than just filming crazed parties and film sets gone out of control. Never has a movie been more a love letter AND a poison pen letter to Hollywood. It’s as much declaiming the system as it is apologizing for it by praising the products it has made. And that makes it a little confusing. Chris, Wright, Marco, and Frank tell you about it’s conundrums, bizarre excess, disturbing vulgarity, delicious cinematography and performances, and weird montage ending and sum it up with a final thought.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Damien Chazelle

STARRING: Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, Tobey Maguire, Lukas Haas, Max Minghella, Samara Weaving, Olivia Wilde, Spike Jonze, Katherine Waterston, Flea, Jeff Garlin, Olivia Hamilton, P.J. Byrne, Rory Scovel, Eric Roberts, Telvin Griffin, Chloe Fineman, Phoebe Tonkin, Troy Metcalf, Jennifer Grant, Kaia Gerber, Patrick Fugit, Pat Skipper, Marc Platt

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others). You can also check out Chris in his videocast, along with Martin Thomas and Danni Danger, that One Of Us does with our friends at Bell of Lost Souls: Crossover Event. He also regularly guests on the video game website Rage Select. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his