MEGALOPOLIS (American Zoetrope/Lionsgate – Sept. 27): Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited, much-discussed return to epic filmmaking, self-financed to the tune of $125M+ (he’s paying for the marketing as well as the production) is, alas, a hapless failure in every way. Its fatuous pretentiousness might be excusable if it were a dazzling piece of cinema, but it falls painfully short in even basic respects. It’s set in “New Rome,” which is basically a slightly futuristic New York with an overlay of the ancient ampire, so characters sometimes have old-time names and haircuts and wear toga-like garments. (There are chariot races in Madison Square Garden.) The hero is Cesar Catalina (Adam Driver), the world’s most brilliant architect. But he’s more than that: Cesar has invented a miraculous new substance called Megalon, which can be used to build vast developments for the middle-class and poor at low prices. Also, he apparently has a hell of a midichlorian count, because he’s got magical powers like the ability to stop time. In short, he’s the potential messiah of New Rome. Of course, he faces opposition from the city’s corrupt, unethical power brokers, personified by the city’s mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) and his henchmen, who want to put New Rome’s resources into building expensive casinos. It gets much more complicated than that, including plotlines involving Cesar’s uncle Hamilton Crassus (Jon Voight), the richest man in New Rome; Crassus’s arrogant fascist failson Clodio (Shia LaBoeuf); a scheming TV host with the surreal name of Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza); and the possible murder of Cesar’s late wife. Also, the mayor’s playgirl daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) meets Cesar and almost immediately gains a sense of principle, and they begin an idealized romance. You can’t say there’s a lack of incident in Megalopolis, but that doesn’t keep it from being tedious, because so little of it makes sense. It’s hard to watch the film, with its inspirational artist besieged by the selfish, indifferent monied class, without seeing it as Coppola’s metaphor for all his years dealing with Hollywood studios, especially when you know that the idea for Megalopolis first came to him when he was seeking to create his own world of independent, unfettered art, during that interregnum between Apocalypse Now positioning him as the industry’s earnest prophet, and One From Heart turning his dreams to dust. But despite Coppola’s unquestioned personal commitment to the material, Megalopolis is inert and sometimes even borderline inept. Cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr., who’s been working with Coppola for 15 years, applies a brownish veneer to all the images, presumably for a mythical touch, and the CG verges on the cartoonish. The dialogue is so stylized and pompous, and the action so out of keeping with human behavior, that even the excellent actors on hand are at a loss. Coppola is 85 years old, and if this is his final artistic statement, you have to respect his decision to go out on a gigantic scale. The problem is that he was so concerned with being visionary that it made him blind.
MILLERS IN MARRIAGE (no distrib): It’s hard to imagine now that in 1995, when The Brothers McMullen won the Jury prize at Sundance, and became Fox Searchlight’s first release (and a small-scale box office hit), Edward Burns was considered to be an inheritor of the indie film lineage of Woody Allen, Steven Soderbergh and Spike Lee. Burns has worked consistently in the three decades that followed, with 15 features under his belt, but lightning hasn’t struck twice, and the mild dramedy Millers In Marriage won’t change that. It concerns the romantic lives of three middle-aged New York siblings. One-time singer/songwriter Eve (Gretchen Mol) comes to terms with the fact that her talent manager husband (Patrick Wilson) is an obnoxious alcoholic jerk after she meets a charming journalist (Benjamin Bratt). Artist Andy (Burns), having recently been left by his narcissistic wife (Morena Baccarin), is attempting a relationship with their mutual friend (Minnie Driver). Bestselling author Maggie (Julianna Margulies) is soothing her dissatisfaction with hyper-critical husband Nick (Campbell Scott) in the arms of a local caretaker (Brian D’Arcy James). Millers moves smoothly enough between its mostly separate stories (the editing is by Janet Gaynor), and all of the cast members get a showy moment or two. It’s a pleasant enough watch. But the drama is no more piercing than an episode of A Million Little Things, and the comedy feels half-hearted. While not cynical, Millers In Marriage is soft and superficial.
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