MaXXXine (Ti West, July 5, 2024) Movie • Page 6

I’m dumbfounded by these reactions. Neither X or Pearl are particularly deep. They accomplished exactly what they were going for with each of the three. Maxxxine is 80s LA crime thriller sleeze a la 10 to Midnight. It’s not supposed to be the godfather or something.

 

For me, I like Pearl so much because it picks one thing to do and does it really well.

Maxxxine by comparison decided to do 4-5 things and none of them get the time they need to fully develop.

 

Yeah, X and Pearl are more focused because they basically have two locations and a handful of characters. Maxxxine just feels like West trying to do a lot at once and maybe half of it serves a purpose.

 

Agreed. And for me, the third act turned into the least compelling part of the story. The part of the movie that worked the most for me was her killing Kevin Bacon to maintain a movie career. More of that and less Night Stalker turning into generic shootout please!

 

There are like 12 plot threads that go nowhere and none of it was fun. I like the audition scene and the opening credits were kinda neat but after that it was a slog for me. I love some 80s sleeze or some horror slop but this wasn’t it

 

literally “squashed” him like she was advised to do by the director lol

 

I liked it but it felt like Mia Goth’s character wasn’t even in it compared to X & Pearl which left me wanting.

 

Agreed! The Night Stalker and Pearl were both pointless. Just have her squashing dudes and Kevin Bacon having a ridiculous accent! Have it be a crossover with “Axel F.” Bacon’s a dick in both!

 

Yea my whole thing is - pick a lane and stick with it. Either commit to the satanic panic in hollywood stuff or make it be "Maxxxine's past in Texas catches up with her" not everything all at once to unsatisfying results

 

I thought it was satisfying to see redacted get their redacted redacted at the end.

 

Digital on 8/13

 

apparently this one is also getting a 4K UHD disc in the US from Lionsgate, so hopefully they'll also backtrack and give X and Pearl proper stateside UHD releases (that or A24 could release a boxset via their webstore).

 

Feel like this has more ground to make up than the others because of how much they spent on advertising. If I have to see another online ad saying how this is “The smash hit of brat girl summer” I’m gonna explode.

 

I thought it was fine - the same exact thing I thought about the other two.

 

Man, I don’t think I saw an ad or a trailer unless I was in this thread.

Probably because I mostly watch YouTube (premium), Max (without ads), Netflix (without ads), and currently my LOST DVD’s haha

hard to get bombarded with ads that way

 

I thought this was great and a lot of fun but definitely disappointing compared to the previous two, especially after Pearl.

 

I’m gonna fight you

 

What is this the forbidden door of threads

 

I've only seen ads for it on instagram

 

I probably technically had some there then. But I immediately click away from ads and don’t pay any attention to them on there.

I now recall seeing half a second of two girls in overalls, supposedly giving a just out of the theater reaction. But that’s about it haha

 

just got back from this. i really liked a lot of it, although i agree that the execution of the third act wasn't up to par with the rest of the film (although i was very glad to see her religious past brought up once more). Ti West has been very intentional with what he's included in all three films, so i really don't mind much of the content that he settled on in this one.

i think my big problem was that the whole "Hollywood/fame is a killer/comes at a cost" vibe found in all three films feels oddly implemented here (which says a lot because it's literally the film's tagline). the biggest thematic connective tissue in the first two films (other than the homage to specific genres and commentaries on the porn industry) is the desire for fame (either prospectively or retrospectively), the means one takes to either achieve that or compensate for what they don't have, and the consequences that come from those actions. X and Pearl do a great job ticking off these boxes for both Maxine and Pearl, and we would expect to see all of those elements in MaXXXine too.

we don't really get that here because the actions taken by Maxine to advance or maintain her fame don't come with the same type of consequences. in Pearl, she kills others both as a characteristic of her violent nature and as a means to become famous, facing the consequences of her plans not working out and having to stay on the farm (i.e. making the most with what she has). in X, she continues to kill to compensate for what she missed out on/sees in Maxine, which ultimately gets her killed. Maxine enters the porn industry to secure fame, and kills Pearl to make sure she can still obtain that prospective fame, but has the consequence of her past on the farm and growing up in the church potentially coming back to haunt her in MaXXXine. to some extent it does, but the actions she takes to maintain her fame don't come with any consequences other than that she gets to star in the film.

i'm ultimately down with Maxine having a happy ending (getting to accept a life she thinks she deserves) but it feels like it would've been a more compelling ending if she achieved that fame, but at somewhat of a cost. like they could've mirrored Pearl's violent nature with hers (and thus play on her insecurities and her past coming back to haunt her) by showing prospective audiences that she's violent as well. part of me almost expected her to fight off most of the cult, go to the premiere, and either face off with a member who escaped (killing them on the red carpet in front of her newfound audience), or somehow have her past connections to the murders at the farm from X be revealed to the public. it just feels like they could've done more to carry over that theme of the desire for fame having consequences.

acting was solid throughout save for Bobby Cannavale, who i don't think i've liked in anything i've seen him in. the gore was also pretty fun (albeit too campy at times).

 

Damn I adore Bobby in everything lol

 

No love for Bobby in anything is wild!