THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

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"The Bad And The Beautiful" is a great title for this fascinating self-reflexive triptych melodrama about the inner-workings of Hollywood's early '50s Studio era of success.

It's telling that the picture won seven Oscars back in 1953.

Vincente Minelli's direction is breathtaking.

Kirk Douglas plays Johnathan Shields, a big time Hollywood studio exec with an eye for talent, and all the charm in the world to attract those who fit the bill.

Jonathan is also an inveterate backstabber. In order for Jonathan to succeed it is imperative that those closest too him, fail.

We follow three of Jonathan's victims through flashback chapters that accumulate toward a rich character study of each one. The fraught relationship with their mutual frenemy is a tie that binds.

There's the former business partner (Barry Sullivan), the rags-to-riches starlet (Lana Turner), and a hometown novelist turned L.A. screenwriter (Dick Powell).

Lana Turner is out of this world as Georgia Lorrison, an upcoming star contender in debt to Jonathan's underhanded guidance.

Talk about sexy, Gloria Grahame brings sexy forward and back.

"There's always good and bad in everything," couldn't be truer than in this stylish, almost post-modern, look at narcissism in the days when men were men, boys were boys, and women were classy and able. 

Tragedy strikes in the cruelest of ways before Jonathan finally loses control of his manipulative powers.

Never drop your guard around those with an ounce of power. You have to be ready before the punch arrives.

Not Rated. 118 mins.

AMERICAN FICTION

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2023 stands as perhaps the best year for satire.

"American Fiction" puts a fine point on that fact with a laugh-out-loud movie that covers a lot of satirical ground.

First time writer/director Cord Jefferson adapts Percival Everett's 2001 novel "Erasure" with snappy results.

Jeffrey Wright plays Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, a black fiction writer fed up with the state of black writers publishing books that pander to downtrodden black stereotypes.

Job and family troubles send Monk on a journey toward a new chapter of self-fulfillment and improved personal relations with friends and family.

"American Fiction" joins 2023's list of truly inspiring films that prove Cinema is far from dead despite Hollywood's worst efforts over the past 20 years.

May there never be another comic book movie, and plenty more great movies from Cord Jefferson.

Three cheers for "American Fiction."

Perfection.

Rated R. 105 mins.

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

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Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does. This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel. Punk heart still beating.

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An unrelenting parade of murder, greed, misery, and menace, "Killers of the Flower Moon"commits the unforgivable sin not giving its audience any ounce of relief.

There is no where to hide from its violence.

Alfred Hitchcock was a master at knowing where to draw the line for his audience so you always felt in capable, and caring hands.

Sadly, this is not the case with "Killers of the Flower Moon."

Regardless of how historically accurate the film might be in its depiction of an oil-rich community of Native Americans assassinated by greedy white men, the bloated movie leaves you cold.

The only character you root for is Lily Gladstone's Mollie, who seems at least for a moment to know that her betrothed husband Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an idiot criminal of the first water.

Lily Gladston's performance is the only reason to see this movie.

"Killers of the Flower Moon" is a grueling, punishing experience to sit through.

Anyone with a half a brain could edit an hour out of this movie, blindfolded.

This is not the film that should seal Martin Scorsese's storied career.

"Taxi Driver" is still best movie he ever made.

Rated R. 310 mins.