#Isabelle Kusman

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The Fabelmans (2022) Steven Spielberg

May 3rd 2025

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Megalopolis | First Look Clip

Synopsis

Adam Driver stars as the idealistic architect and artist Caesar, planning to rebuild a city that has fallen to ruins, and Nathalie Emmanuel as the socialite daughter of his nemesis, a corrupt mayor (Giancarlo Esposito), who likes his municipal kingdom the way it is.

In his official logline for the film, Coppola describes Driver’s character as having the “power to stop time,” while Emmanuel’s character is caught between the two, deeply in love with the artist but loyal to her hard-charging father, “forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.”

[milliondollarbaby87]

Megalopolis (2024) Review

The attempts to rebuild the metropolis of New Rome by Cesar Catilina a visonary architect. ⭐️ Continue reading Megalopolis (2024) Review

[wildcmbcrsupdates]

Havana Rose Liu, Isabelle Kusman, Olivia DeJonge and Stella Rose Gahan attend Celine's Cannes Dinner, 05/23/2023.

[filmap]

The Fabelmans Steven Spielberg. 2022

Ditch Day Point Dume, Cliffside Dr &, Birdview Ave, Malibu, CA 90265, USA See in map

See in imdb

Bonus: also in this location

[wouldshesnip]

Claudia Denning and Monica Sherwood (The Fabelmans)

American girls in the 1960's would already see circumcision as the default, but their reaction to finding out a classmate is circumcised confirms it.

Would She Snip?: Yes, yes

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

MEGALOPOLIS (2024)

Starring Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D. B. Sweeney, Isabelle Kusman, Bailey Ives, Madeleine Gardella, Balthazar Getty, Romy Mars and Haley Sims.

Screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola.

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Distributed by Lionsgate. 138 minutes. Rated R.

Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project has been about 40 years in the making. Despite the fact that the guy has helmed some of the great films of all time – The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, Peggy Sue Got Married, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, etc. – no studio had been willing to put their support (and their money) behind Megalopolis.

Therefore, the filmmaker decided to make it himself, spending over $100 million of his own money so that he could have complete control of the film. And this is after he nearly destroyed his entire career and trashed his studio 42 years ago by sinking all of his money into the historic bomb One From the Heart and he swore he would never, ever do that again. In fairness, I always have kind of liked One From the Heart and it has gotten a better reputation over time. Also, Coppola has been mostly financing his films in recent years through sales from his popular vineyard, in fact he sold the vineyard to get the money to make Megalopolis.

He even uses the idea as the tag line for the movie poster: “If you can’t see a better future, build one.”

So, here is Coppola’s mega-opus – and quite probably his last film. Coppola decided to pull out all of the stops, and damned if he hasn’t. This film is completely Coppola’s baby, and he has complete control, for better or worse. He spent a ton of money and a ton of time on it, and he was going to make it his way. On the plus side, Megalopolis looks stunning. It is full of fascinating sets, props, effects and massive, epic scenes.

Too bad that the storyline makes little to no sense, that dialogue is stilted and hackneyed and some very talented actors make some very questionable acting choices. (I assume that they were directed that way by the auteur, but it doesn’t make it any less jarring to watch.)

Megalopolis is supposed to be – I think – Coppola’s expose of corporate greed and politics and his wish for a purer, more artistic and loving world. And those things are definitely there, front and center, but they are at service of such a complicated and honestly kind of ridiculous story that they become melodramatic and cartoonish.

The Megalopolis of the title is New Rome, which is basically supposed to be a magic version of modern New York in an odd alternative timeline where the old Roman Empire never fell.

The film basically revolves around three families (although it has a cast of dozens) who are fighting for control of New Rome.

The hero – or as close as this film comes to a hero – is Cesar Catalina (Adam Driver), a city planner who is trying to use magic to create his own Utopia. He can stop time and create things through pure will because… well I don’t know how, he just can. It’s not like Coppola has to come up with some kind of an explanation for his hero’s superpowers (although, yeah, really, he should).  

Because Caesar is pushing for pure change and beauty, he runs afoul of the slightly corrupt Mayor Franklyn Cicero of New Rome (Giancarlo Esposito), who doesn’t like the man’s fresh idealism, or the fact that he is sleeping with the Mayor’s daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel).

And finally there is commerce, with elderly banker Hamilton Crassus III (Jon Voight), his scheming wife Wow Platinum (played by Aubrey Plaza, and yes, that really is the character name) and his trans, rabble-rousing wannabe street politician grandson Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf) trying to exert their will on the city.

Clodio and Cesar are also cousins, and Wow was Cesar’s former mistress, just to show how incestuous this all gets. (I won’t even get into Clodio and Wow’s affair… oh, wait, I guess I just did.)

All of this leads to some highly over the top melodrama over the fight for the city, with some spectacular brawl scenes and some truly insane (in a good and bad way) world building. And then, for no particular reason, a character will recite a whole Shakespearean soliloquy, just because they can.

Well, Megalopolis is finally here, and good for Coppola for getting it made after all these years. And good for him for not leaving a thing that he wanted to try undone, this truly, for better or worse, is a magnum opus. But I’m afraid Francis Ford Coppola is in for another critical and financial drubbing. I have to hope that this is not the film that this great director goes out on. However, if he does, then he goes out on his own terms.

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: September 27, 2024.

[chrisnaustin]

If only I were she!

[genevieveetguy]

You do what your heart says you have to. 'Cause you don't owe anyone your life. Not even me.

The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg (2022)

[somosorigen]

Los Fabelman… Los Años Maravillosos.

No cabe duda como en anteriores ocasiones lo he mencionado, ROMA de Alfonso Cuarón ha sido todo un parte aguas, a tal grado que ha influenciado a directores para hacer una revisión de su vida y dedicar una película a sus años más amados. Los Fabelman es un viaje en el mismo sentido, los años maravillosos de Steven Spielberg. (more…) “”

[rookie-critic]

The Fabelmans (2022, dir. Steven Spielberg) - review by Rookie-Critic

The Fabelmans was better than I was anticipating it to be. It wasn't the perfect movie, and Spielberg has a tendency to lean a little too much into the big sweeping moments of triumph or emotion. This was something that really worked for the big spectacle movies of his heyday (i.e. E.T., Close Encounters, etc.), but hasn't necessarily aged well and kind of detracts from those moments now more than adds to them. The whole movie also has what I've been calling the "Spielberg Sheen." It's not something I really know how to describe, but I feel like if you've seen any of Spielberg's films post-Munich you get what I'm talking about. It is beautiful and gives a lot of the movie a dream-like quality (I'm not entirely sure if that was the desired effect or, if it was, what significance that holds, but that's the impression I got from it). It's mostly innocuous, but I felt myself becoming distracted by it a lot, and I'm not certain that's a good thing.

However, the story surprised me. You walk into a Steven Spielberg movie expecting a certain sentimentality, at least, a lot of the most popular Spielberg films carry that frame of mind. I was expecting Fabelmans to have a lot of that sentimentality towards the art of making movies, the trailers sure marketed the film that way. However, while definitely having its moments of sentimentality, this takes the approach of showing a slightly uglier side of the artist's struggle. The ways in which the artist's brain can take instead of give, how the total dedication to a craft has the ability to consume and shut out, and that a happy ending one way doesn't necessarily mean a happy ending all around. It's an interesting, darker (albeit slightly) side to Spielberg's film making, one that doesn't come out but maybe once every 5th or 6th film. We saw it in Munich, you see it in Jaws, if you go real far back into his catalogue you can see it in a TV movie he did called Duel, and, although it wears the mask of his more grand movies, you can see it in The Fabelmans as well. Spielberg is undoubtedly a great director, and I wish he'd feel a little less beholden to himself sometimes and really allow his movies to breath their own air outside of just being quite-so "Spielbergian," because the best parts of The Fabelmans are the parts where he breaks away from that mold, and it puts it right on the borderline of being great.

Score: 7/10

Currently only in theaters.

Shoutouts to Seth Rogen and Paul Dano, who really stand out. Also, to David Lynch, who really steals the show in the final scene of the movie.

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The Fabelmans (2022) Steven Spielberg

January 14th 2023

[demifiendrsa]

Megalopolis - Teaser Trailer

[milliondollarbaby87]

The Fabelmans (2022) Review

Sammy Fabelman growing up in a post World War II world in Arizona is about to realise his dreams of being a filmmaker as he must deal with growing up and everything a family can throw at you in this delightful coming of age drama. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (more…) “”

[porquevi]

"Os Fabelmans" (the fabelmens) - cinema.

Cine-Bio do Spielberg, não precisaria dizer mais nada, né? Steven Spielberg moldou o cinema por muitos anos. Seus filmes de verão são clássicos e mais tarde assumiu um lado mais adulto com grande sucesso. Esse filme diz ser o mais pessoal e íntimo.

depois de ver: curioso ver no começo Spielberg agradecendo nossa presença no cinema. enfim, filme bastante pessoal e o diretor sabe contar uma bela história. se puder, vá assistir no cinema e deixe Spielberg feliz, ele merece!

[webbergirl]

Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Fabelmans’ To World Premiere At Toronto Film Festival⁣

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Steven Spielberg’s The Fablemans, the director’s semi-autobiographical movie based on his own family and upbringing, will world premiere at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. The 47th edition of TIFF runs September 8-18.⁣

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The bow will mark Spielberg’s first-ever appearance at the Toronto fest, which comes in the critical fall festival corridor that also includes Venice and Telluride. An exact date for the Fabelmans premiere has not yet been set, but it comes ahead of the Universal/Amblin film’s platform release November 11. It opens wide November 23.⁣

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The Fabelmans centers on a young man’s discovery of a shattering family secret and an exploration of the power of movies to help us see the truth about each other and ourselves. Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Gabriel LaBelle, Seth Rogen, Jeannie Berlin, Julia Butters, Robin Bartlett, Keeley Karsten and Judd Hirsch star in the pic penned by Spielberg and Tony Kushner.

The cast also includes David Lynch, Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord, Birdie Borria, Alina Brace, Sophia Kopera, Oakes Fegley, Sam Rechner, Chloe East, Jonathan Hadary and Isabelle Kusman.⁣

Kristie Macosko Krieger, Spielberg and Kushner are producers.⁣