18 posts categorized "Hollywood"

January 30, 2023

BLONDE

  ColeSmithey.com    Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

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ColeSmithey.comStraight masterpiece.

Screenwriter/director Andrew Dominik's filmic adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates's 2000 fictionalized novel of the same title serves as a trenchant indictment of capitalism, the media, and of an incoherent American patriarchy that knows nothing but abuse.

Ana de Armas is uncanny in her fearless portrayal of Hollywood's most iconic actress.

Stunner.

ColeSmithey.com

It's a coincidence that in the same year that Austin Butler embodied Elvis Presley with an otherworldly performance of rigor and inspiration, Ana de Armas hits a similar if not more profound height of authenticity.

Elvis and Marilyn were each prisoners of their enormous fame/marketability.

ColeSmithey.com

Ana de Armas may just be the finest actor of our time.

Unforgettable.

Spellbinding.

ColeSmithey.com

Through the darkness and pain of a constant stream of traumas, Norma Jeane Baker battled demons near and remembered with a sharp intellect that Andrew Dominik keenly exposes through Ana de Armas's high-wire performance.

Indisputably, Andrew Dominik is a true master artist of Cinema.

The proof is in the pudding.

Gracefully cuts quick to the bone.

ColeSmithey.com

Audiences familiar with Dominik's past films, "Chopper" (2000), "The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford" (2007), and "Killing Them Softly" (2012), might have an inkling for the depth of visually dynamic storytelling on display in "Blonde."

ColeSmithey.com

"Blonde" functions as a feminist narrative that digs in dark corners of 20th century American reality and ideology where beauty is a trashy fad object to be worshiped, reviled, used up and thrown away.

Rigorous feminist think piece. You bet.

Joyce Carol Oates was no slouch.

ColeSmithey.com

So, if you're real serious, read Joyce Carol Oates's novel "Blonde," because you can.

And, besides, Joyce Carol Oates is still alive at the time of this writing, and even gave Ana de Armas

props for her exquisite portrayal of Norma Jeane Baker/Marilyn Monroe.

Right on.

ColeSmithey.com

Norma Jeane Mortenson revolted against the cold indifference of those who imagined they owned her, which was just about everyone.

Rebel.

ColeSmithey.com

It was a herculean effort that could not be sustained for very long.

What we are left with is just a memory of a rare, fragile, talented young woman being bought and sold into modern-day slavery under the guise of Hollywood.

ColeSmithey.com

These days people give their lives away on social media and YouTube for pennies. 

People's lives are reduced to content.

This phenomenal film is not that.

This is Cinema.

Take your content and shove it.

ColeSmithey.com

Rated NC-17. 166 mins.

5 Stars“ColeSmithey.com“

Cozy Cole

Cole Smithey on Patreon

January 01, 2023

THE FABELMANS

COLE SMITHEY

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

Welcome!

This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon.

Thanks a lot acorns!

Your kind generosity keeps the reviews coming!

Cole Smithey on Patreon





ColeSmithey.comNo one does populist pap like Steven Spielberg.

I say that in a good way.

"The Fabelmans" carries such rich generational, emotionally driven, '50s era touchstones to entertain and touch us.

Damn, this is a good movie.

Tearjerker.

This may well be Steven Spielberg's best film.

You couldn't ask for a finer swan song if that turns out to be the case.

ColeSmithey.com

Michelle Williams is remarkable in her role as Mitzi Fabelman, a complex mother, wife, artist, musician, dancer, and free thinker.

ColeSmithey.com

Seth Rogan has matured nicely, as displayed in his commanding performance in a thankless role that Rogan elevates to something important, inspiring, and real.

Cool man. Nice work.

ColeSmithey.com

Which brings us to Gabriel LaBelle, the hotshot rookie actor showing off his stuff with serious feeling, timing, and physicality.

Impressive.ColeSmithey.com

Gabriel LaBelle is the new Dustin Hoffman.

ColeSmithey.com

Gabriel LaBelle is Spielberg's not-so-secret asset to this very satisfying movie about movie-making toward different motivations and skills.

I would be remiss to leave out the always wonderful Paul Dano, handling a difficult role with perfect mastery.

Beautifully understated and profound is Dano's rendering.

ColeSmithey.com

Steven Spielberg and his ensemble had a lot of fun making this exquisite movie, and it shows in every frame.

"The Fabelmans" is a memoir imagined. It is an important artistic achievement that wears its heart on its cotton sleeve.

ColeSmithey.com

At least someone still knows how to tell a story on film.

Cheers to Steven Spielberg for this full-on masterpiece of the seventh art.

Rated PG-13. 151 mins.

5 Stars“ColeSmithey.com“

Cozy Cole

Cole Smithey on Patreon

February 25, 2022

MERRILY WE GO TO HELL — THE CRITERION COLLECTION

ColeSmithey.comGroupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

Welcome!

This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon.

Thanks a lot acorns!

Your kind generosity keeps the reviews coming!

Cole Smithey on Patreon



ColeSmithey.comYou'll discover a glimpse of how great Hollywood could have been if not for the Hays code (1934 to 1968) that permanently fucked up Studio filmmaking in America. 

Doroty Arzner is the baddest ass Hollywood woman director you've never heard of.

Lesbian to boot.

Fuck with that.

ColeSmithey.com

Socially pointed satire aimed squarely at Roaring '20s culture of booze and sex, takes a running start at the Depression that fell on the country as this 1932 drama was released into theaters.

ColeSmithey.com

You don't know acting until you've seen Sylvia Sidney and Fredric March.

Criterion collectors rejoice; this baby has legs.

Not Rated. 83 mins.

5 StarsModern Cole

Cozy Cole

Cole Smithey on Patreon

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