Maggie V

Started out semi-interesting with a diverse group of young people planning to hike the Appalachian Trail. They stop in a stereotypically racist town, tangle with some surly locals, and then head off into the mountains. Chaos ensues with plenty of gore. When they are eventually taken captive by a reclusive group that has lived in the mountains for a century, I had to wonder why most of these folks looked like cave people but the "leader" had a neat haircut and nicely groomed beard. And spoke English but with some undefinable accent. Weird. Put it on if you have nothing else to do.

The move is a kind of patchwork quilt of scenes and images with a somewhat loose plot stitching it all together. The set design and most of the costumes are beautiful so it is visually gorgeous, however, Margot Robbie's Clara Bow-like character's costumes were too contemporary in my opinion. In one of her early scenes, she attends a party in a dress that you'd see on a young woman going to a club today...too short, too revealing, and the shoes were all wrong for that era. Anyway, being of a certain age and as a fan of old movies from the 30s and 40s, I am familiar with the stars that are depicted in Babylon, sometimes through a conglomeration of personality and anecdotal stories. Some of the "shocking" scenes were almost too gratuitous. The most interesting story was that of Manny, the Mexican immigrant who works his way to the top of the movie making industry because of his love of that industry only to be taken down by Margot Robbie's character (whom he loves.) Her character was not sympathetic at all and rather annoying. His ending scene is very poignant and touching. One of the best scenes in the movie along with Jean Smart's scene with Brad Pitt when she tells him his time has come and gone. Other sub-stories about the Asian actress and the Black musician touched on the double-standards at that time (20s-30s.) Other B characters were a little superficial but then the movie is 3 hours long so how deep can you go? Overall, glad I watched it but probably won't watch it again.

Awful. This was like a fetish film for those who like to see young women in schoolgirl uniforms. The "acting" was mediocre at best. The story was ridiculous, pointless, and predictable. Then there's the background music. Oy. Don't bother with what appears to be a recent film school graduate (or dropout) final project with the nerve to declare it a horror film.

Passed the time. It started out rather well but once the creatures are shown, it declines into a silly (violent) kids movie. The suggestion of evil is scarier than actually seeing it most of the time and once you see the “monsters” it goes downhill. The wimpy husband was so annoying I wanted to slap him. Great stereotypical depiction of the Irish as hard drinking hooligans looking for a fight. Not really worth the time unless you’re doing something productive with this on in the background.