Thursday, November 28, 2024

Blonde (2022)

At times, this is a brilliant, fictionalized look at Marilyn Monroe (Ana de Armas in a very interesting performance), one of the most famous movie stars of all-time. At other times, it wallows in sleazy exploitation as badly as Larry Buchanan's Grindhouse biopics from the 1970's. Dominik's direction "goes there" often, not playing coy with his camera. Keep in mind, this is based on a novel (by Joyce Carol Oates), and shouldn't be taken as gospel truth. A very mixed bag, filmed once before in 2001.

Stats:
(2022) 167 min. (5/10)
-Directed by Andrew Dominik
-Screenplay by Andrew Dominik based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates
-Cast: Ana de Armas, Bobby Cannavale, Adrien Brody, Julianne Nicholson, Lily Fisher, Xavier Samuel, Evan Williams, Caspar Phillipson, Dan Butler, David Warshofsky, Ravil Isyanov, Chris Lemmon, Tygh Runyan
(NC-17)

Road Games (1981)

This sometimes sloppy, but effectively shot thriller has been mischaracterized as a slasher film for decades thanks to the presence of iconi...