Blonde Review

 

Blonde is a psychological drama film based on Joyce Carol Oates' 2000 novel of the same name. The film is produced by Plan B Entertainment and distributed by Netflix. Blonde is written and directed by Andrew Dominik.

The story is a little girl named Norma Jeane Mortenson had a very hard childhood. Years later she changes her name to Marilyn Monroe, and becomes the biggest star in Hollywood in the 1950s and early 60s. However, it's sadly not all glitz and glamour. Marilyn deals the struggles of love issues, abuse of power, and drug addiction in her private life.

Initial Reaction

The reason why I wanted to review this film was because 1) the trailer/marketing really seemed like this was going to be an incredible movie. Filled with great drama. 2) I just wanted to give a good old college try at reviewing an NC-17 flick.

Cons

Now I'm gonna get into some small issues with the film before I get into the big one. One of those small issues is the pacing. It started out fine at first, it was almost perfect even. But as the film kept going, the longer the movie felt. It's 2 hours and 46 minutes, but it felt like it was almost longer than that. Then there's the rating itself. It was such a big deal that this movie was rated NC-17, but after watching it, it didn't seem like it deserved that. Sure there's a lot of intense and sexual content in it, but that stuff felt like it could've also been in your typical rated R flick. Then we have the biggest problem with Blonde, and that's the way it was presented. What I mean by that is, while the movie is based on a book, the book is highly fictional, where even the writer herself [Joyce Carol Oates] has gone on record to say the book should be viewed as a work of fiction, and shouldn't be regraded as a biography. BUT THE MOVIE SURE DIDN'T FEEL LIKE THAT! Because of how the film presents itself, a majority of people felt like this was a biopic, instead of a work of fiction. Sure, we can pin point which moments were most likely fictionalized, and which are real, but because the movie itself doesn't give you more clues that the story is highly made up, a lot of people were left feeling like that watched a movie disrespecting Marilyn Monroe. Sure, she definitely had her issues, all Hollywood types do, even ones that have more of a triumphant story then a tragic one. But with this film, you're left to believe Marilyn never had one good moment of happiness, even when she was happily married to a guy she truly loved. So like I said before, instead of the movie giving us details that it isn't true, a lot of people got tricked into thinking they just watched a trashy hit piece on an iconic Hollywood star.

Middle Ground

The one gray aspect of Blonde is Andrew Dominik's directing. He did direct a nicely shot movie, even if some scenes are really hard to watch. But there quite a few decisions that I just didn't understand. Like the consist switching on going from full colored to black and white. I can't tell you just how much that got on my nerves.

Pros

Really the only great thing about this film is Ana de Armas' performance. Sure, there were a few moments where you can hear her accent, but that's easy to forgive, because her acting in this is amazing. She truly is the only good reason to watch this movie.

Blonde definitely disappointed me. It's pacing had a good start, but quickly got slow, there really wasn't a reason for the entire film to be rated NC-17, and the truly worse thing about the film is it doesn't tell you that the story is fictional, instead of historical. Andrew's directing is really good, but some of the choices he made didn't quite sit well with me. The only redeeming quality is Ana's acting.

My final rating is Bad.

So yeah, if you were looking forward to this, and wanted to watch it more on a Friday night, instead of Wednesday like I did, don't bother. Anyhow, that's going to do it for me, come back on Saturday, Oct 1st, for my review of Hocus Pocus 2. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

A Look Back at Hocus Pocus (1993)

 

Originally I was gonna review this movie much closer to the release date of the upcoming sequel, but Netflix's Blonde had to make me change some dates around. Either way, hope you like it.

Hocus Pocus is a 1993 fantasy comedy horror film. It was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures. Hocus Pocus was written by David Kirschner, Mick Garris, and Neil Cuthbert and directed by Kenny Ortega.

The story is in 1693's Salem, Massachusetts three witches called the Sanderson sisters were sentence for execution, just before their deaths one of the sisters cast a curse they'll resurrect them. 300 years later, the sisters have come back to cause havoc once again. Now it'll take a whole new group of people to stop them.

• Negatives

I've got nothing to say. So just move on to the next part.

• Mix

The only mix feeling I've got with the film is the special effects. Now I by no means think there are a lot of times when it looks bad. I think there are scenes when it goes from acceptable to really good. I truly don't think there's not a really bad effect. It just goes from decent to really good.

• Positives

One of the reasons why the film became so beloved was the design. I was amazed how much work was put into the Sanderson sisters' house. There are even times where I was surprised how some of the backgrounds are just paintings. You truly see how much work and passion was put into just the look alone in this film.

What also works for the most part in this is the humor. Sure, some of it didn't work for me, but for the most I had a lot of good laughs. In matter of fact, most of the time some of the humor doesn't come from the physical comedy, but the dialogue. I'm pretty sure everyone knows of the line "Oh, look. Another glorious morning. It makes me sick!"

Another really good thing about Hocus Pocus is it's pretty dark. The opening contains literally sucking a child's soul out, the witches being hung, and so forth. A matter of fact, the Sisters' whole plan is to kill kids. Sure Disney has had dark stuff like this before, no doubt about that, but when people think Disney, they don't think of the possibility of kids having their souls removed and then die.

Then we have the performances. More specially from Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy. When watching this, you can clearly tell those three were having the times of their lives playing these characters. They truly are the best thing about the entire film, whether their suppose to be comedic, scary, or a combination of both.

The last thing I've give praise to is how this actually a pretty good Halloween film for the entire family. Kids can enjoy the more wackier moments, while the adults can enjoy the more mature/darker stuff. And this also plays into the humor as well, because once again kids can enjoy the witches being goofs, while at the same time the adults can enjoy the jokes that are clearly gonna go over their kids' heads.

Overall, I really enjoy this movie. It has it's charm to it. But what really worked was the set designs, the humor, how it can get pretty dark, great performances from Midler, Parker, and Najimy, and how it's a perfect Halloween film for the family. Now sure I did slight criticize the special effects, but like I said, their not entire bad, it's just some a pretty good, while others are just better.

My final rating is Great.

So, that's my review. Come back on Thursday, Sept 29th, for my review of the newest Netflix film, Blonde. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Season 1) Review is Cancelled

 

Well...this really sucks.

So, yes, if any of you read my previous post, then you'd know that on this day I was gonna have a review for season one of Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Well that's just not gonna happen.

Because I only discovered a day or two ago, that season two was pushed back to Jan of 2023. And you know what's funny? I didn't know about this announcement, because I was too busy watching The Bad Batch. How ironic. So with that being said, I've decided to cancel my season one review because there's no real point of posting it now, when season two won't be coming out for another four months.

Sorry I didn't announce this earlier, but like I said I only discovered this recently. But I'll tell you something. On Monday, Sept 26th I'll have a review for Hocus Pocus. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Raiders of the Lost Media - WWE Brawl

 

Man, it's been a real long time since I did one of these. Six months if you want to get specific. But anyhow, after doing a movie post with the last Raiders, I thought it'd be a good idea to go to the video game side of the entertainment industry. So, let's begin.

Part One - What is WWE Brawl?

WWE Brawl is a cancelled platform fighting game based on the professional wrestling organization, WWE. It was going to be developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment and be published by THQ for the PlayStation 3, XBox 360 and the Wii before being cancelled. Where as they previous WWE video games such as No Mercy, the SmackDown! series, and the SmackDown vs. Raw series, were aiming to be realistic and match the wrestler's personas, Brawl wanted to be base on platforming fighting games such as the Super Smash Bros. series.

Part Two - Development

Production started somewhere in 2009 after the release of WWE Legends of WrestleMania. Because of Blue Tongue Entertainment's work as been on a critical acclaimed by both WWE and THQ officials they were hired to make the game. One way they wanted to copy the previously mentioned Smash Bros. series was to have the wrestler's have much more power to them, with wrestlers such as Big Show having more "grizzly bear-like strength". 

The creators would've had the game take place in "Brawl City". One feature would've been after the wrestlers were done fighting within the various venues, said venues would've been completely destroyed. These venues also would've matched the Superstars and Divas personalities and would've benefitted them, such as a boneyard for The Undertaker. There were also going to a story, were they was some sort of conspiracy from the game's main villains those being Mr. McMahon and Edge.  The story would go through various changes with the only thing remaining the same was the wrestler's personal stories remaining the same.

WWE and THQ were very excited and enthusiastic about this. WWE were planning on expanding just beyond the game. They were going to have action figures, a clothing line, and a cartoon series most likely aimed at kids because when the game was in development, WWE already changed the ratings for their shows and pay-per-views from TV-14 to PG.

Part Four - Cancellation

Despite all of the numerous setbacks which were preventing the game from having a 2012 release date, development began to make significant progress. A matter of fact in 2012, it was estimated that there was only six months to a year of development was needed for the game to be released in 2013.

However, despite all of the good news WWE Brawl would be suddenly cancelled in 2012. WWE themselves went on record to say numerous factors caused the game to be cancelled. Reasons such as poor timing, global economic issues, and the difficulty of producing a game that may outweigh the benefits.

Part Five - A Glimmer of Hope?

Now while the game was cancelled there does seem to be a possibility that it'll happen. In August 26th, 2021, WWE trademarked four names. Those four being WWE Extreme Rules, AWA, WWE Universe, and WWE Brawl. It might be the same I've been telling you about, or it maybe something that shares the same name, but it's a different games. Either way, it's quite interesting that they felt the need to trademark the Brawl name.

Part Six - Art & Gameplay

No build of the game was ever been made public nor as anything resurfaced. They only things were have are concept art, videos showing the gameplay, and a teaser trailer.

That's going to do it for me. Due come back on Thursday, Sept 22nd for my A Look Back at review for season 1 of Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Looking Back at the Films of 2021 Part 7 - Copshop & Prisoners of the Ghostland

 

I'm back again and this time I'm review two films. One awesome and the other....pretty bizarre. I think you already know which is which.

Why Didn't I See Copshop?

Pretty simple, I didn't know of these film's existence. I only found out about it months later, when I do believe I saw some I follow on Twitter saying it's a pretty awesome movie.

What is Copshop?

Copshop is a action thriller movie. It was produced by Sculptor Media, Zero Gravity Management, G-BASE Film Production, Raven Capital Management, and WarParty Films and distributed by Open Road Films. The story is con artist Teddy Murretto has purposely got himself sent to jail by punching a rookie cop named Valerie Young, all in the hopes of hiding away from hitman Bob Viddick. However, Bob pretends to a drunk and gets himself places in the same police station as Teddy. Now the station has becoming an all out battleground amongst the con artist, the hitman, and the rookie cop. Copshop was written by Joe Carnahan and Kurt McLeod and directed by Joe Carnahan.

My Thoughts

The Good: One thing I loved about Copshop is the action. I did enjoy the slight hand-to-hand stuff, but it's the gunfights that truly make this an awesome. I don't know how Joe Carnahan was acting behind the camera, but I can only imagine he was enjoying every moment, because it really seems like this is his type of action to film. Now when we don't have action, there's some really great suspense going on. At the beginning, you're really getting anxious for sh*t to hit the fan once Gerard Butler and Frank Grillo's characters are finally in the same room together. I mean it, I was just sitting there slowly getting more and more uneasy once the pieces started falling into place. I also want to give credit to the acting. Usually I would credit a one or more people in a film, but with this, I give credit to everyone. Whether they're supposed to be serious or not, everyone looks like they're having a blast with this film. I also really enjoyed the dark humor in this. There's this one great scene where at cop at a desk is talking to a hired assassin about the assassin's own mugshot. It's quite a hilarious scene. The last thing I want to praise about the movie is how it felt. When I was watching this, I just couldn't help but get an old-school gritty action film vibe from this. Mainly from the 70s. Heck, the score and opening credits itself seems like something that came from the 70s, and it's pretty awesome.

The Bad: I've got nothing to say.

The Okay: For a huge part of the film the pacing is really good. Where I think it loses some of it's steam is with the ending. It almost kind of drags. But I can forgive that because we're still given a well paced action flick, prior to the ending.

Final Verdict: Great.

Why Didn't I See Prisoners of the Ghostland?

Now I actually was focusing on reviewing this film, but I later changed my plans. Instead of this, I decided to review Cry Macho. Because my train of thought was, it's Clint Eastwood, and because he's such a legend in the movie industry, people would've been more interested in that movie, as suppose to this one, and review it later. But then I realized I wasn't gonna be able to review this, because I had reviews for season 2 of Doom Patrol, Ghostbusters II, and the 1984 version of Dune. So I had to cancel a review for this film, and save it for this segment.

What is Prisoners of the Ghostland?

Prisoners of the Ghostland is a horror western action film. The movie was produced by Untitled Entertainment, Patriot Pictures, Union Patriot Capital Management, Boss Boss Bang Bang, Eleven Arts, and XYZ Films and Saturn Films and distributed by RLJE Films. The story is the Governor's "granddaughters" has been kidnapped and gets stranded in the Ghostland. He has demanded notorious criminal named Hero to go and get her back in five days or the suit he gave him will self-destruct. Now only is Hero setting out of a journey to find the girl, but also to seek redemption. Prisoners of the Ghostland was written by Reza Sixo Safai and Aaron Hendry and directed by Sion Sono.

My Thoughts

The Good: I think it goes without say that Nicolas Cage is the best part of the entire movie. Regardless of the quality you can always count on Cage to deliver an entertaining performance. Whether he's going over the top (which he does and it's great), or plays it straight. Now this is my first time watching a Sion Sono film, and I gotta say, he's pretty good. Whether you like the movie or not, you can't deny you shot this incredibly well.

The Bad: My true issue comes from the pacing. The film only clocks in at 1 hour and 43 minutes, but it felt just a little bit longer than that. It felt like I was sitting through I film that was more in-line with a 2 hour runtime than an hour.

The Okay: Where some of the gray areas come in is with the action. It's alright. It's shot and done very well, but overall it did feel just a bit standard. Now this is a truly bizarre movie. And from what I'm understanding (cause remember, this is my first time watching a Sion film), that's pretty much the norm for Sion Sono. Why am I bringing this up? Because if there's anything I learned from watching a lot of Brandon's Cult Movie Reviews, is this could or won't benefit a film. So I believe, this film's weirdness shouldn't be frowned upon, but should be watched carefully, because it could get a cult following in the near future.

Final Verdict: Okay.

Anyhow, that's going to do it for me. Come back on Thursday, Sept 15th for a brand new Raiders of The Lost Media. For that one I'll be entertaining one piece of the world of WWE. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Pinocchio (2022) Review

 

Pinocchio is a musical fantasy film and a remake of the 1940 film of the same name. Both of which are based on the 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio. The movie is produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Depth of Field Studios, and ImageMovers and distributed by Disney+. Pinocchio (2022) is written by Robert Zemeckis and Chris Weitz and directed by Robert Zemeckis.

The story is at first, Pinocchio was just your ordinary typical puppet. Then one night, his creator named Geppetto wishes upon a star wanting Pinocchio to come to life. After the wish works, Pinocchio begins his new life as a living boy. But afterwards he soon learns they are some bad people out there, and also learns he needs to find his way home.

Initial Reaction

Now you all know I'm more than willing to give any film it's own fair shake if it peaks my interest. Which yes, this movie did, but I also wanted to see simply because of Robert Zemeckis. Not only did he bring us the Back to the Future films, but also other hits as well.

Cons

One really bad thing about this film was the pacing. This movie only clocks in at 1 hour and 51 minutes, but it felt longer than that. There came a point where it felt like it just kept going and going and going. There was barely a moment where it felt like the pacing was really picking up and moving forward. It was all really slow. Then there's the CGI and green screen....oh boy. How is it, that Disney is this billion dollar company, and for quite a few years now, a lot of their movies that have CGI and/or green screen just haven't looked good? It's especially bad when we get to Pleasure Island. Both the child and adult actors looked like they were in a video game...from the early 2000s. There may have been one maybe two shots that didn't look too bad, but that can't make up for the rest of the film.

Middle Ground

One thing that was fine was the emotional stuff. You still do feel something in the film, you're not gonna be in your seat or couch not feeling anything. But the filmmakers could've just put just a bit more effort in there, as suppose to what we got. Now while the movie is very well directed, I didn't get the feeling this was directed by Robert Zemeckis. This really did feel like anyone could've directed this, as suppose to the guy who brought us Used Cars, Romancing the Stone, the previously mentioned Back to the Future trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, and so on and so forth. Like I said before, it's directed nicely enough, but doesn't feel like Zemeckis.

Pros

The real saving grace came from Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evans Ainsworth, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Geppetto, Pinocchio, and Jiminy Cricket. They really did bring some charm to the film. Tom really brings out Geppetto's worry and happiness regarding Pinocchio, and Benjamin really surprised me because not only did he bring Pinocchio's innocence through his voice, but I felt like their were moments where he almost sounded like Dickie Jones. And Joseph Gordon-Levitt just completely disappears when playing Jiminy. I mean it, I had no idea that was him until I started doing research for this review.

Overall, I'm not too disappointed in this. Sure I wish it was better, but I can't say with 100% certainty that I hated it. It's got really good performances from Hanks, Ainsworth, and Levitt. It's still nicely directed, even though I still have a slight issue with it, and while it wasn't completely devoid of emotion, it still could've been better. The biggest problems were the dreadful pacing and the CGI/green screen.

My final rating is Okay.

So yeah, unless you're a hardcore Pinocchio fan (I don't know if such a thing exist, but still), you really don't need to bother rushing to see this. Anyhow, come back on Monday, Sept 12th for part seven of my segment Looking Back at the Films of 2021. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

A Look Back at Pinocchio (1940)

 

With the new live-action remake of Pinocchio coming out soon. I do what I usual do, many times before, look back and review.

Pinocchio is a animated fantasy musical movie based on the 1883 Italian children's novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio. The film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. Pinocchio was written by Ted Sears, Otto Englander, Webb Smith, William Cottrell, Joseph Sabo, and Erdman Penner and Aurelius Battaglia and directed by Ben Sharpsteen, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Norm Ferguson, Jack Kinney, Wilfred Jackson, and T. Hee.

The story is when Geppetto first created his newest puppet Pinocchio, that's all he was, just a puppet. Then later on into the night he wishes upon a star and Pinocchio comes to life. Soon Pinocchio explores the world only to find trouble. Now Pinocchio must get out of this mess, and find his way home.

• Negatives

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

• Mix

Once again, I've got nothing. So move on.

• Positives

One reason why this film is such a classic is because of the voice acting. The cast is amazing. The guys who played all of the villains, sounded truly villainous, and then we have Dickie Jones as the tilted character, and Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket. These two are extraordinary. Dickie truly made Pinocchio sound perfectly innocent and very curious about the world. And Cliff really brought out Jiminy's charm. And to those two will forever be the voices of those characters. I've got nothing against all of the other actors who played these after those two, but every actor who plays those characters really have big shoes to fill.

Then we have the music. I really don't know what to say about the music. It's an all time classic. Everyone's heard of "When You Wish Upon a Star" and of course "I've Got No Strings". Even if you haven't seen the film, at some point, you've had to have heard of them somewhere.

So now we have the animation. All I can say that it's timeless. Even though it was made in the 40's, to this day, it still holds up. It also can overshadow a lot of today's animation. And much like I've been saying when I review this older animated films, it really makes me wish someone, anyone would take the risk and make a 2D theatrical animated film.

Since it's a Disney film, you can expect a lot of fun and charming moments, but that doesn't stop the movie from taking some dark turns. One scene that'll always stick into my head, was a donkey transformation (any of that saw the film know exactly what I'm talking about), where it's quite terrifying. It almost played like an animated horror film. That scene scared me as a kid when I saw on Disney Channel, and it gave me bit of a scare now. But like I said before, there are still a lot of charming moments, so really by the end of the day, it all pretty much evens out.

Overall, the 1940 version of Pinocchio is an all time classic. It's got great voice acting, classic music, timeless animation, and a nice balance of charming and dark moments.

My final rating is A Must Watch.

So that's going to do it for me. Come back on Thursday, Sept 8th for my review of the live-action remake of Pinocchio. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.