Maps to the Stars
Maps to the Stars
R | 05 December 2014 (USA)
Maps to the Stars Trailers

Driven by an intense need for fame and validation, members of a dysfunctional Hollywood family are chasing celebrity, one another and the relentless ghosts of their pasts.

Reviews
ChikPapa

Very disappointed :(

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Protraph

Lack of good storyline.

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Teddie Blake

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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Ortiz

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

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blanche-2

OMG - I don't know why I rented this film, but I didn't like it. Directed by David Cronenberg, "Maps to the Stars" from 2014 is about the seamier side of Hollywood. Believe me, after you see this, you'll have no interest in any side of Hollywood.The story deals with several different people. Stafford Weiss (John Cusack) is psychotherapist to the stars. He and his wife (Olivia Williams) share several secrets. Their teenage son, Benjie (Evan Bird), is a big star, totally obnoxious, and a drug addict, who refers to his assistant as a "Jew faggot." Now, someone on IMDb thought this kid was not totally unlikable. I did. Benjie has a sister, Agatha, who has been gone from the family for 7 years, under mysterious circumstances, after she set fire to the house. She actually is back in LA, at first unbeknownst to them, with a lot of burns on her body, working as a personal assistant to Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore). Havana's mother was a big star who died in a fire, so apparently, Havana feels connected to Agatha. Havana is an over-the-hill actress who wants to play her mother's role in a remake of one of her movies. Someone else is cast, but when that woman's little boy drowns, Agatha is thrilled. Agatha believes her mother abused her, and is in therapy with Stafford Weiss.Robert Pattinson plays an actor who works as a chauffeur. He's also writing a screenplay.After dealing with the drugs, the insults, the descriptions of what actresses let producers do to them to get roles, the threesome, the incest, the visions of dead children, etc., I was ready to slit my wrists.I'm sure Cronenberg fans will find plenty to enjoy here. I was left wondering why I watched it.

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paul2001sw-1

Daivd Cronenberg's 'Maps to the Stars' tells the convergent stories of several different characters in Hollywood: at first it appears as if this is one of those films about discrete lives that form a fine web of faint touches, but in fact it turns out that (most) of the characters have serious history, and are coming back together after events that have driven them apart. This reveal is quite well-plotted; the problem is that the characters are all mostly nasty (or at the very least weird), and moreover are so in a uniquely Hollywood way - you can believe there are such people in and around the movie business, but they're simply not the sort of people that most of us meet in our everyday lives. This makes it quite hard to sympathise with them, even if we can see the reason for their meanness and oddness. Cronenberg's movies can be considered cold in general, and although the charge isn't always justified, I watched this one very much from the outside. One thing it isn't, in spite of its billing as such, is a comedy.

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Reno Rangan

The title gives an impression of someone lost in somewhere and trying to find a way back home. I did not know what this film was about. I did not know who stars in it and when it released. But I decided to watch it at the last minute without checking out its synopsis and I ended up satisfied. Not fully pleased, but the refreshing story and its characters interested me.This is an unusual drama that takes place in a district where the Hollywood people are dominated. Our tale opens with a young woman arriving there and soon gets an opportunity to become a famous artist's personal assistant. The film also focuses others tales, so it is a multi layered story. But all of them are somewhere connected; particularly at the end. Revealing everyone's agenda behind their act is what brings the conclusion to the tale.Not neatly told story, yet different. I would say futuristic theme. I liked the performances. Robert Pattinson was not in a major role, but the other like Mia Wasikowska, Julianne Moore were good. Revolving around the bunch film celebrities means there's no real ones involved with the real names, just mentioned the names who were not in the film. Hard to predict the story, I was not sure until it revealed itself everything at the end. That part was a quite a shock, not I expected, but that's the real twist. Overall film was decent, slightly it missed to be a great. I feel it is worth a watch if you want something new in the story.6.5/10

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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.

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