UnowPriceless hyped garbage

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Leofwine_draca I know that a lot of the famous cult directors of the 1980s are now making less than impressive films in the new millennium (John Carpenter, Dario Argento, Brian De Palma, etc.) but Cronenberg's fall from grace is odd in a uniquely odd Cronenbergian way. This is the guy who made gutsy, cerebral, body horror pictures for most of his career, then made a couple of fantastic thrillers in the 2000s with A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE and EASTERN PROMISES, and now out of nowhere makes near-unwatchable nonsense.COSMOPOLIS was the first of a double bill of terrible films looking at the cult of celebrity and the lives of the maladjusted in Hollywood. There's more going on in this one than COSMOPOLIS, but it's still awful: poorly written, badly acted, and mistaking bad taste for wit. Julianne Moore gives an awful and histrionic turn as a washed-up actress who spends the film screaming or having gratuitous sex. A bunch of other actors show up at times and do weird things like set themselves on fire or shoot family pets. It's supposed to be a satire but you wouldn't know it; this is poorly-conceived stuff indeed, with lots of dragged-out extraneous material and scenes which don't work. It has exactly one satisfying and brutal murder scene and one ridiculously awful-looking CGI fire, and that's about it.

brightsides I gave this film 3 stars for the earnestness of Julianne Moore and Mia Wasikowska, otherwise it was nothing short of an overwrought, self- indulgent mess. Maybe Hollywood insiders would find these characters intriguing, but for me I could not relate, nor care less about them and their family dramas. And I enjoyed several other Cronenberg films, just not this crap. Perhaps I'm being overly critical because I recently watched and thoroughly enjoyed the thought-provoking Clouds of Sils Maria with Juliette Binoche and Kristin Stewart. This film handled the subject of an actress having to come to grips with how age changes the game within the industry, particularly for women, with subtlety and finesse. Maps to the Stars hit you over the head with overacting, and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink situations including ghosts, threesomes, drug addictions, pyromania, etc, etc etc. Too much over-the-top craziness for my taste. And do I need to mention a completely ridiculous caricature performance from John Cusack? Ugggghhh, spare me.

Parker Lewis I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I selected Maps to the Stars for my in-flight entertainment. I thought based on the title it would be like an updated version of Robert Altman's The Player. I was wrong. Maps to the Stars has Mia "Alice in Wonderland" Wasikowska in a role that has an undertone of innocence, and the ending scene with her on screen brother was haunting. Benjie's line "13 summers...not so bad" was said with no hint of regret or resignation before the horrible deed is done.I loved the rivalry between Benjie and the child actor with red hair during the shoots of Benjie's summer camp movie. But again, what Benjie did to the child actor rival was horror or horrible.I do wonder if any of the characters have redeeming features. Maps to the Stars is definitely not a date movie.

zellow31 I went to see this on a whim when I was out in the city centre. I walked past a cinema and thought I'd go and see a film by myself. There was one other person in the cinema and they left as well. I'm surprised because it has a good cast and a promising concept (I love Hollywood- gone-bad stories) but it fell flat, ultimately. It was strange, and not in a good way, and left me feeling oddly nauseous and unsettled. It wasn't thought-provoking, it was just tragically terrible. Even the terrific Julianne More couldn't save this one-dimensional rubbish. The teenage boy celeb was depressing to watch, John Cusack looked swollen and rubbery and everything else is just ultimately forgettable and soul-crushing. I left after I realised it wasn't getting any better (two thirds through the film).