6 posts categorized "Melodrama"

April 19, 2025

THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

 Jo JoWelcome!

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

Punk heart still beating.

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ColeSmithey.com"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.

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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).

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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.

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"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. 

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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.

5 Stars

Cozy Cole

ColeSmithey.com

February 02, 2022

NIGHTMARE ALLEY

Welcome!

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

ColeSmithey.com

 

 

ColeSmithey.comInsufferable, poorly paced, sterile melodrama with a double side of gore.

Yawn.

Guillermo del Toro has forgotten how to make movies.

Del Toro's script co-writer Kim Morgan shoulders some of the blame.

Bradley Cooper is awful. Cate Blanchett is awful.

Quel désastre. 

ColeSmithey.com

Richard Jenkins and Rooney Mara fair little better.

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Paint dries faster than this movie gets around to the matter at hand, namely a high-stakes con game run by an overreaching mentalist.

Zzzzzzz.

Rated R. 150 very long mins.

Zero StarsZERO STARS

Cozy Cole

Cole Smithey on Patreon

January 15, 2022

ANNETTE — CANNES 2021

ColeSmithey.com Welcome!  

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does. Punk heart still beating.

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!

ColeSmithey.com

ColeSmithey.com

ColeSmithey.comTedious, ill conceived, and pointlessly depressing "Annette" is a prime example of artsy fartsy Cinema gone wrong.

In spite of every other filmmaker's fawning opinion, there are limits to Adam Driver's acting, singing, and comedic abilities.

Cracks in Adam Driver's thresholds of craft appear in stark relief in this musical flop from French auteur Leos Carax, as co-written with Sparks singer Russell Mael.

Screen Shot 2022-01-15 at 12.14.42 PM

Representational and presentational approaches don't mix.

Rated R. 141 mins.

Zero StarsZERO STARS

Cozy Cole

Cole Smithey on Patreon

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