Babylon (dir. Damien Chazelle)

[polkablues]

I put Chazelle in the same category as Rian Johnson and Guillermo Del Toro — talented craftsmen whose love of cinema is counterbalanced by their own relative lack of anything important to say artistically. They've each made good or even great movies (*cough*BRICK*cough*), but they'll never be at the tier of the all-time greats that inspired them. But regardless, in the age of Netflix algorithms dictating which movies do and don't get made, it's good to have people out there taking big swings, even if they don't always connect.

[Jeremy Blackman]

I put Chazelle in the same category as Rian Johnson and Guillermo Del Toro — talented craftsmen whose love of cinema is counterbalanced by their own relative lack of anything important to say artistically. They've each made good or even great movies (*cough*BRICK*cough*), but they'll never be at the tier of the all-time greats that inspired them. But regardless, in the age of Netflix algorithms dictating which movies do and don't get made, it's good to have people out there taking big swings, even if they don't always connect.

I can't speak to Chazelle, really, but I love this insight. I even agree about Rian Johnson, as much as I like his movies. Looper is disappointing in my memory for this reason, because it came close. I think he did actually break through thematically in The Last Jedi, though (and not just with Broom Boy).