Babylon (2022)

Three hours and nine minutes is too long for most movies and this one is an unrelenting mess with frenetic scenes of orgies and other debauchery, set in late 1920s Hollywood. The trivia is fascinating, with Margot Robbie's flamboyant starlet inspired by Clara Bow and others, and Brad Pitt's movie star based on John Gilbert and more, but watching the whole thing is quite a task. So glad Jack and I were alone in our house so we could catcall at the screen and take several breaks. Diego Calva is arguably the protagonist, as a young man with dreams of moviemaking, aided and abetted by a cast of hundreds, plus the rear end of an elephant making an explosive appearance towards the beginning (I was warned about that one in advance). No animals were harmed in the making of this movie.

I'm not sorry to have seen it but ... it's a lot. 

The good news is that there are some wonderful big band numbers, with some of the players having plotlines. Chazelle's musical collaborator Justin Hurwitz' Oscar-nominated score can be streamed on Apple Music. That album, too, is unusually long, clocking at over an hour and a half, and mostly doesn't include these songs.

More good news: Florencia Martin's production design and Mary Zophres' costumes were deservedly nominated for Academy Awards, with 41 wins and 144 other nominations listed on imdb.

Robbie was last blogged for Amsterdam, Pitt for Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood which shares some thematic elements but is way way better, Chazelle and Hurwitz for First Man, Martin for Blonde, and Zophres for La La Land which earned her another nomination.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are pretty much in tune with us, averaging 56 and 52%, respectively. Jack and I watched it on April 16 with our subscription to Paramount+. If you're curious and have the time to spend, it also can be rented on Prime or Vudu.