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After Dark: Megalopolis Controversies, Shyamalan 4Ks, Wiping Sequels from Memory

The Filmcast: After Dark is the bonus show where we talk about a variety of random topics that didn't make it into the main podcast - including your questions and what's going on in our lives).

In this episode, David, Devindra, and Jeff discuss the recent controversies surrounding Megalopolis, and debate whether there are any sequels they would wipe from their memory.

PATRONS: You can get this audio in your podcast app by going to patreon.com/filmpodcast, going to the "My Membership" section, and copying and pasting the RSS link to your podcast app.

After Dark: Megalopolis Controversies, Shyamalan 4Ks, Wiping Sequels from Memory
After Dark: Megalopolis Controversies, Shyamalan 4Ks, Wiping Sequels from Memory After Dark: Megalopolis Controversies, Shyamalan 4Ks, Wiping Sequels from Memory After Dark: Megalopolis Controversies, Shyamalan 4Ks, Wiping Sequels from Memory

Comments

Jeff's opinion was that the execution was poor but the concept was sound. If you can't differentiate between those positions then I'm not sure what to tell you. Dave and Devindra said the concept was mean spirited and unfair. The marketing people charged with finding negative reviews failed at their job. That is totally irrelevant to the idea of a campaign based on the concept of showing how negative reviews might look bad in hindsight.

Hank Patton

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills listening to two film critics argue that film critics should not be the source of film criticism. Yeah, other people CAN critique films. But film critics' job is to do that. No one gives a shit what my opinion is on The Godfather. Putting my opinion on it in a trailer does nothing. That's the entire point. I'm legitimately baffled.

Hank Patton

Dave's analogy referencing "gaming podcasters" is a bit nonsensical to me. I'm sure that if there were quotes from movie podcasters and movie websites and Slashfilm that could have been included, they might have been--but a) none of those existed yet, and b) even if they had existed, they're still all just critics. I don't know why he seems to think that podcasting or websites exist in a sphere outside of the rest of professional media criticism. "[The trailer references] none of the other voices at the time writing about movies," quoth Dave, feeling offended that his profession had been targeted so unfairly. Well, Dave, who else was writing about movies at the time? And if you were cutting a trailer for Megalopolis and wanted to find such quotes to include, where would you go to find them? Critic quotes are the quotes that were included BECAUSE critics were the ones expressing opinions about movies at the time. One of the wildest parts of this whole kerfuffle to me is that it's so easy to find actual, non-AI quotes from actual critics/publications that malign Francis Ford Coppola's movies. Just go on Rotten Tomatoes, click on the rotten reviews: Writing for Vogue, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. described The Godfather as "overblown, pretentious, slow, and ultimately tedious." Writing for the Washington Post, Gary Arnold described Apocalypse Now as a "stupendous failure", "ruinously pretentious", and "a colossal egocentric blur." Finding those quotes took me about a minute because there's a whole site (several whole sites, actually) dedicated to collating and categorizing quotes from critics specifically--because when it comes to assessing the quality of media, critics are the arbiters. I think we can all agree that, if the trailer had included a quote from some guy named Steve from Jacksonville saying "Apocolips Now [sic] dont respect the military" then the viewers might care less than we do seeing a quote out of the Washington Post. (Even if, when you read the full Washington Post review, Gary Arnold's viewpoint is essentially the same as Steve's.) Anyway, this was a stupid argument, and Jeff was 100% right. I hope Jeff reads these comments. For some reason, Jeff always gets called out when he says dumb stuff, but Dave and Devindra tend to escape scott-free, and it bugs me.

Luke Watkins

I feel like this happens on an alarmingly regular basis, but sometimes it feels like Dave and Devindra decide, in the moment, to disagree with Jeff for the sake of being contrarian or just because, and I feel bad for Jeff every time because 9 out of 10 times I know where he is coming from.

Steven Kennick

Devindra should realise that saying “sure” in a high pitch condescending tone doesn’t add at all to any conversation. I 100% agree with Jeff on this one. The point he was trying to make is that, ASSUMING THE QOUTES ARE REAL, then it is just citing facts and is fair game. Studios do this all the time with the inverse - cherry picking positive reviews to sell the movie. I dont understand why Devindra kept going back to the point of quotes not being real, Jeff acknowledges that multiple times, but is trying to have a different, more interesting discussion.

Dean Pramualphol

I agree they do - and it’s just as objectionable!

Lahiru

But movie trailers do the inverse all the time - carefully selecting positive quotes from a mass of reviews that might be broadly mixed or even negative - to craft a narrative that the movie is worth your time and money. Sometimes the quotes are pared down to make it seem positive when it was actually negative (e.g. “A breathtaking waste of time” becomes “Breathtaking…”). This is just as egregiously false and deceptive as what the Megalopolis trailer would have been doing (if the quotes were real). The Megalopolis trailer was an inversion of the standard practice.

Cameron Stewart

Isn't the number 1 rule of being a critic is to not be sensitive?

Ryan Goodwin

Lmao at Devindra calling watching a movie/comic/tv adaptation “intellectual curiosity” and equating it to book bans.

Cece

I have to admit, I LOVE how the Fast and Furious film series, despite the awful entry of 2 Fast 2 Furious, still utilised it and it made the series better. Or how Thor: The Dark World, at the time considered the worst MCU film, became integral to Endgame. The bad ones need to be utilised and embraced for better films in the future!

Simon Columb

Surely, the reality is critics adored Godfather, Conversation and Apocalypse Now even at the time - so it is false to claim otherwise. Even if there are negative reviews, it wasn't consensus. They all won Best Picture/won awards AT THE TIME

Simon Columb

Gwen Stacy is an example of fridging but the word comes from GL

Joel Leagans

Wow just got to the fridging discussion…guys are just embarrassing themselves this week 😂

Tyler Parker

Agree. Naive and insecure at the same time.

Tyler Parker

I will never not call it Chad GPT from now on!

Erik Fisher

Fridging comes from the Green Lantern comics - he found his girlfriend's dead body in a fridge. Gwen Stacey died when the Green Goblin threw her off a bridge and Peter tried to save her.

Mesfin Mebrate

By the way, hard agree with Dave on Bill Maher. That dude used to host an interesting show (usually more because of the panel discussions than Bill's bits), but the pandemic seems like it broke him the way it did others (Elon Musk, for instance). Maher has been unwatchable for a couple years now. Now he sounds like the stuff you'd see on Fox News half the time.

Stranger2Reality

I’m with Jeff on this one. If the quotes were real then it feels like a perfectly legitimate advertising campaign. I specially remember the marketing for one film (that frustratingly can’t remember the name off) had a line that said ‘not since Titanic have critics been so out of step with the general public’.

Duncan

But the caveat is being too kind. The PR team thought the best way to dismiss the bad reviews the movie will get on release (which let’s be clear, the movie is bad- saw it a Melbourne film fest two weeks back) is to dismiss critics before they even start. So it’s maliciously minded, but then if you go into that mindset to attack critics, and you don’t do the work, it’s also lazy as well. The caveat implies these people were willing to work to prove a point- and they weren’t. You can’t take out their lazy malicious attempt and say without that part it wasn’t a mean spirited thing- it’s the reason for the blow back. AI or not, this is going out to millions of people- do the damn work or move out of the way

Jay Wood

Er.. he caveated that. His enture point was that "if the quotes were real". As Dave outlined, stuff gets mocked up with AI, if you have a problem with AI being used in things, I doubt there is much media you could watch today at all.. you don't normally realise that it was AI generated. the issue is they didn't replace the mocked up stuff with the real stuff.

Joel

And who would give a rats arse about some random movie goer on the streets opinion. Critics exist, they give their opinions, they are the ones that you quote. Obviously they don't all agree, which is why this is "fair" in a rather odd attempt to market a movie that is clearly a dud..

Joel

Yep 100% team Jeff on this one. If the critic statements were real (a caveat he said multiple times), the campaign approach is 100% valid - it is literally the job of critics to express an opinion, and if people disagree with it, they can get called out. Obviously it is a rearguard action on a probably rubbish film, but still want to see it, and the campaigns intent is to say "don't listen to how bad this is, judge for yourself".

Joel

I agree - they didn't seem to grasp what Jeff was saying and seemed to be lacking self-awareness of the situation. If they were real statements the campaign was 100% valid.

Joel

Irresponsible fridging explanation and Jeff doesn’t say the Gwen Stacy thing sounds wrong?

Seth Offenberger

I was thinking just the opposite I was thinking how Jeff was the one who made the most sense.

Jeff H

Maybe it's just me, but Dave and Devindra came across as very insecure about their work as film critics with their argument. Almost like they want to be free to critique (sometimes brutally so) the work of others, but then do not want people to criticize them for their opinions. It seems like they especially don't want anyone to bring it up if their initial response to a movie is later seen as some hilariously bad take because virtually everyone else disagrees with them and will act in hindsight like "what were they thinking?!" It's kind of an ironic position for a critic to have, to feel like their criticism is above criticism. They were sounding like they don't want their own critiques to one day be used to market a movie in a way that embarrasses them for having been so far off from the general consensus about a movie.

Stranger2Reality

How was he way off? Jeff was right. I would like to hear your argument against his position since it made perfect sense to me.

Nick Clemente

Gwen Stacy was found in a fridge and originated "fridging"?? How did no one not blink twice at that!

Julius Kane

I love you, Jeff, but today you were off. I always appreciate you being able to provide a great counter view from the other two hosts but during the topic of megalopolis you just made no sense sorry love you

AJ Karim

Yeah from way back I know all the lore I’ve been here since the Adam Quigley days. That is no excuse to not know about fridging.

Reynaldo K. Cruz

He is more specifically "Marvel Zombie", it's from a green lantern comic in 1994? not sure Jeff was on the pulse of that at the time. I didn't know it came from that even though I've heard the term fridging before, everyone has their knowledge gaps.

Jacob Chimilar

I didn't read this comment until after I replied to another one talking about the "Fast" franchise and I compared it to this very thing! If anyone is ever interested in the show it's easier to say watch until season 5 and if you are satisfied get outta there!

Jacob Chimilar

Devindra said TV footage, i guess newspapers too, but finding 70-80s coverage of people coming out of a Coppola movie that was misunderstood at the time? sure it's there but you'd have to DIG to find it. Reviews even back then are still fairly easy to find by comparison and it's marketing, not investigative journalism.

Jacob Chimilar

I think some TV shows benefit from that too. the Sherlock show after season 2 wasn't very good and not that essential either. Supernatural basically ended it's arc in season 5 (although im told it does have some great episodes in later seasons), Suits had 2 main characters leave in i think season 6, I stopped watching the show but it did tie things up a bit more in the final season but again not enough for me to want to keep watching, the original reasons for the show existing had completed.

Jacob Chimilar

I'm on Jeff's side. think it's clear that Dave and Devindra seemed to take personal offense at the idea of critic reviews ever being criticized for marketing. Which is ironic and very thin skinned, like how dare they critique our critique. Who else would a movie source an opinion from if not a critic. If it's a published opinion, that makes the person who put it out a critic.

Nick Clemente

David, I am very confused by your position on the citations of critics reviews in trailers. Since trailers exists, we see citations of critics opinions on trailers. I would be surprised if I would see Mr. Beast opinions about film or Joe Biden for example on a trailer. Of course it had always been positive comments but even then, a positive comment from a John Doe has zero weight if compared to Siskel, Sims, Ebert or Ebiri. Jeff's point here is totally valid. If one day, let's say in a future marketing campaign for Rebel Moon Part 2 DVD they prepare a similar campaign like Megalopolis and cites Devindra's negative comments on it. Would you not consider fair game? Or to be fair game they would need to get comments from NON-CRITICS also citing negative opinions? If you felt confident publishing a negative review of a film, isn't it fair game for that review being addressed by the studio in a possible marketing campaign? I see movie critics as sport pundits. I don't care what my aunt think of Mbappe or Messi but when I watch sports shows where we have pundits, specialists, even if they have an opinion that goes against what I think of that player or match, I do tend to respect it. Devindra is right when saying that people in general sees movie critics as sometimes pedantic, full of themselves but this is kind of the same thoughts we have about music critics, arts critics, pundits, food critics isn't it? Giving opinion of art is not a product review or investigative journalism . It will always be a combination of experience, sensibility, knowledge and personal preference. Sometimes the large audience can disagree with an arts specialist, don't you think so? Anyway, I just felt compelled to support Jeff on this topic.

Erick Pessoa

I agree with you, Jeff!

Luana Silva

As they discussed, the use of the AI quotes was more likely a mistake than “lying.”

Cameron Stewart

I also find it ironic that Jeff is annoyed at the out of context quoting of Coppola, when the whole critic quotes angle that he was defending would’ve been doing the exact same thing (if the quotes were real) - cherry picking bits of the critical community to create a false narrative. I get that one is marketing and the other is reporting, but so what? Why should marketing get to be dishonest?

Lahiru

I don’t agree with Jeff on the point that it’s a “fair” spin. There almost certainly are real negative reviews of Coppola’s films, but picking from 5% real negative reviews to create the sense that critics didn’t recognise his genius at the time when the remaining 95% (I’m making these numbers up for the sake of argument, my understanding is that Coppola struggled with studios but was generally lauded by critics) did is absolutely a false narrative and tacky marketing designed to create the false sense of Coppola being some sort of persecuted genius enduring against the arbiters of quality and taste. And it totally feeds into the “snooty critics who don’t know what they’re talking about” angle. (I do agree that it’s a potentially effective and somewhat clever approach, even if dishonest)

Lahiru

Jeff is totally wrong because they lied about what the critics said.

Aidan T

Laughed maniacally when I saw that Megalopolis trailer with the negative quotes in front of STRANGE DARLING.

Donald Ward

I think it's HILARIOUS that Jeff is excited for the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes raw cut, even though we all know he'll never see it because he refuses to buy physical media. Lmao

Papool Chaudhari

Well beat me to it Also “nuking the fridge” is like “jumping the shark”

Caleb Peters

We need an after dark on this: https://x.com/wetafxofficial/status/1828175591234752519?s=46

James Clarke

Totally agree, especially the part about "including other voices". For us Muggles we consider anyone who's commenting on a movie in a professional capacity to be a movie critic. The idea of seeking pull quotes from hairdressers and airplane pilots feels weird and baffling. And if those professions seem too far afield, then I TRULY do not understand what Dave and Devindra are even suggesting!

Kai Ellis

Couldn't agree more!!!

Kai Ellis

On the Tarantino note: I stopped the Fast & Furious saga at Fast Five. Thought it was a great way to end things. I’ve had no desire to see the others.

David Jones

Agree with Jeff — the goal of the trailer was to raise up Coppola as a visionary not always appreciated in his time. The use of critics is incidental to that goal and they are the natural choice as professional cultural arbiters. Not sure what Dave means when he says “there were many people they could have chosen from” and refers to the “other voices writing about movies.” Who else was writing publicly about movies in the 1970s other than critics?

DarmineDoggyDoor

This post totally echoes my own thoughts.

Garry L

Only the Green Lantern example involved an actual fridge. But it’s come to mean a female character who is harmed or killed in order to give dramatic motivation for the male character.

Cameron Stewart

Jeff acknowledged a dozen times that they were not real quotes. The argument is over the *intent* of the ad. Dave & Devindra bizarrely think it was meant to belittle critics, which I do not agree with at all. I think Jeff is correct that it was to show how art is often not appreciated in its own time and requires distance and hindsight. The AI quotes were a big fuckup, which is acknowledged, but I don’t think it changes the debate over what the ad was attempting to do.

Cameron Stewart

Jeff! You’ll never read this but please have the courage of your convictions when you’re being bullied (in the most respectful way 😉) by Dave and Devindra. Don’t EVER apologize for having a point of view you might have or sharing it. I’ve heard you do this a couple times over the years and your perspective matters.

AF

To address something Jeff said that *isn’t* about the trailer, I agree with him that more isn’t always better. The example I like to use for this is the show Supernatural. The first 5 seasons of that show are some of the most entertaining TV I’ve seen. If you just cut the last 2 minutes of the finale of season 5, the could have closed the book as one of the best shows ever. But they kept going. For 10 more seasons. To be fair, not all of it was bad, but it certainly wasn’t all good either, and I think is a good example of more not always being better.

Eric Webster

Classic Jeff move you love to hear it

April Reid

If they actually did the work and find ACTUAL quotes rather than using AI, sure, Jeff’s right. But to take that element of the conversation is missing a big element of the outrage

Jay Wood

I don’t side with Jeff at all. The second the ad making team worked with AI rather than reading the reviews- it’s negatively out of context and mean spirited

Jay Wood

1000% on Jeff’s side about the Megalopolis trailer and I thought I was going insane listening to Dave & Devindra argue it. I’m relieved to see the opinion here is overwhelmingly (correctly) for Jeff. I’m hoping that this is brought up on next week’s show. Movie trailers have always historically used positive pull quotes from movie critics. “A triumph!” “Four Stars!” “Tugs at your heart…a wonderful film” etc. edited between shots. The Megalopolis trailer is deliberately referencing this format but ironically inverting it to use negative quotes. It only uses quotes from critics because that’s what regular movie trailers do! The repeated assertion that it should have used lines from other sources is baffling and there’s a weird thin-skinnedness to the idea that it’s somehow attacking critics. Jeff is totally right.

Cameron Stewart

Jeff is correct in my view too. The “main character,” as it were, in that trailer is Coppola and his movies, not the critics, as the voiceover makes clear. And the notion that they could/would use contemporary non-critic opinions is absurd on its face. Who else but critics at the time had their opinions published or documented in any preserved or recognizable way? It feels like to argue otherwise is bigger devaluing of critical opinion than using the (mis)quotes themselves.

gorbinplade

I came here to say this lol

Brian Deaton

i side with jeff! dave said that they only quoted critics but failed to say who else would have the authoritative voice that they could have quoted to make the point they were going for. insofar as disrespecting critics i think it's more in the predisposition of the viewer, not in the message of the trailer. watched the trailer, if those quotes were true it would have been a decent piece of marketing!

Del Nakamura

Also oof on a comics guy (Jeff) not knowing “fridging” origin.

Reynaldo K. Cruz

And just to be clear, Gwen Stacy was not found in a fridge. Much like in ASM2 her neck was snapped as a result of Spider-Man’s attempt to stop her fall. It had nothing to do with a refrigerator

Gareth

I actually agree with Jeff on this. If the quotes were real, I would not feel like it is targeting critics at all. I think the plan could have been to present critics’ opinions because they are often considered more culturally valuable. “Look! Even well known movie critics you may respect didn’t like some of FFC’s films! Therefore you should give this new one a chance!” I personally value critics, so I must concede that impacts my read here. If I didn’t like critics then perhaps it’d be much easier to read the other way?

echofar

Hard agree with Jeff for once haha

Tyler Sexton

As one of those snooty people who negatively reviewed Megalopolis: I actually mostly agree with Jeff’s point about the trailer! If the quotes weren’t fake, I think it’d be a savvy and totally fair marketing strategy. FFC is making something weird and uncompromising and very not critic-friendly (grand, obvious themes, ultra indulgent with seemingly zero self awareness). Steering into the skid on that seems smart to me. I hear Dave and Devindra’s argument about focusing only on critics, but it doesn’t really bother me…they’re just taking the standard trailer template (positive pull quotes cherry-picked exclusively from critics) and flipping it on its head. I’ll grant that it carries a whiff of anti-elitism, but I read it less as targeting populists than the film buff / Letterboxd crowd. Every ardent movie fan has a handful of eclectic faves they know critics can’t stand, and that doesn’t make them hate critics for being wrong — it makes them proud to have such offbeat taste.

Stephen David Miller

I was surprised they couldn’t understand Jeff’s point on the trailer. Under the context of the quotes being real obviously.

Maxaveli

I can’t even understand Dave and Devindra’s angle that using real movie reviews from critics from the past (which didn’t happen) to discuss how a filmmaker has been received critically is at all inappropriate or unfair.

PoorFrisco

Also Jeff impact is greater than intent

Reynaldo K. Cruz

lol Jeff of course hasn’t seen what he’s speaking on

Reynaldo K. Cruz

The reason they only use movie critics in the ad is because their voices are the only ones people are going to hear before the movie comes out.

Brian Deaton

I don't think I would ever erase the memory of a sequel from my mind. And it isn't because I don't want to, it's because I know that I would immediately go back and watch it. Even with a message from myself explaining the situation, I'd immediately go and see the movie lol

Matthew Poonamallee

"It insists upon itself!" — Peter Griffin, Family Guy

Shane Driscoll

Team Dave and devindra on this one.

Reynaldo K. Cruz

bold move, dang. but also kinda Lynch? Someone should show that to Devindra!

Jacob Chimilar

Here to also say I agree with Jeff’s point, if those were real quotes it would be a totally fine thing to do. Lynch’s Lost Highway marketing did this already by putting Siskel & Ebert’s Two Thumbs on the poster. https://x.com/JasonKauz/status/1551394047717265408

Jess Hillary

Fridging comes from Green Lantern. Gwen Stacy’s death is just a good example of fridging. But the origin is Green Lantern (vol 3) #54 when Kyle Rayner comes home to find his girlfriend, Alex DeWitt, dead and stuffed in the refrigerator by villain Major Force.

J.S.

Yeah I'm going for Jeffs point about "if this were real". The fake quotes are actually bad, I think everyone agreed on that point and I do too.

Jacob Chimilar

Sure, the intent is great. Then they used AI to source fake quotes to make critics look bad instead of using actual critique to support their intent. While the intent is good, the execution was beyond bad and ultimately damaging. Also, that apology will do nothing to change behavior, let’s not give them too much credit.

Brandon Lee Tenney

Devindra’s perception of people’s perception is just his own prism based on noticing the people that complain about critics, but people complain about everything 🤷‍♂️

Alex Crumb

Jeff's point is correct to me on the megalopolis trailer. Take from the pool of people who's job it was to critique a piece of art for a living and show that sometimes they don't get it right. They even admit when they look at old top 10s they don't get it right. As marketing it's fine. More and more people will judge a movie just on its RT score and just not see it. Sometimes that score doesn't make sense for people that go anyway and Coppola has experience with that. "I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet, but your kids are gonna love it" kind of idea.

Jacob Chimilar

The only time critics are ignored in marketing is when they’re negative, and they want the fans of the thing as the voice instead.

Alex Crumb

Totally agree with Jeff that the intent of using movie critics as their source is a completely normal and expected part of movie marketing. They could’ve used other sources that are less credible, but why would they? Critical voices are the best voices to use. Devindra and Dave sound like they’re taking it personally just because people are assessing opinions?

Alex Crumb


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