Dogs Bark

The Family the Preys Together, Slays Together - - Mongol (2007) - - 19 November 2008

Recommended - - Central Asia seems to be all the rage - - literally - - these days. The strife is unfortunate; the region clings to one of the most diverse and ancient cultural tapestries on the planet. Interest from Moscow is encouraging if it is confined to works like Mongol and Russian helmer Sergei Bodrov is commended for getting the blood-spattered skull rolling with his (planned) three-part bio-epic of Genghis Khan. What a way to display the awe-inspiring landscape of Mongolia and Kazakhstan! I'm also pleased that he's picked up a bright star like Tadanobu Asano (Zatôichi) as his answer to Russell Crowe. And Mongolian actress Khulan Chuluun, who plays the incredibly long-suffering wife of the Khan, is another treasure. I wasn't entirely pleased with the script and I would have appreciated more scenes of peaceful Mongols, but I'll reserve final judgment until Genghis reaches the Danube. 

What A Man's Gotta Do - - Rio Bravo (1959) - - 16 November 2008

An essential.  I must have seen this movie fifty times but the most memorable location was a flat in Sydenham at the dawn of the millennium.  I was there with my girlfriend of the time, crashing with her college friends, Helen and Ian. We had seen the New Year arrive with a million drunk Londoners and each of us suffered the morning after. My sweetie was comatose upstairs but the rest of us were in the parlor, the fireworks, ever so slowly, popping in our heads, bleary, barely talking, drinking a hair of the dog and eating whatever stayed down. Flipping though the telly, we stumbled into the perfect movie. Simple plot, slow-spoken irony, and Dean Martin, suffering through his own alcoholic perdition.  There I was in England and so also, the Duke and Angie, smoldering the screen . . . while the rolling Rio Thames rolled along.

Are You Going To Finish That? - - The Hunger (1983) - - 1 November 2008

Not recommended.  Unclear what to make of this. In Tony Scott's directorial debut, David Bowie plays the boy toy of 4000-year-old vampire, Catherine Deneuve. Bowie starts to age precipitously as the movie begins - - to me, better signified by Lincoln using 'Space Oddity' in a recent commercial. Catherine dumps him for sultry Susan Sarandon and they do the famous lezbo-porn scene that buzzed the movie in its day. Admittedly, La Deneuve always did (and does) walk my puppy. Post-climax, the movie applies the 80’s-classic Miami Vice-style art direction and photography; but there's little here to chill the bone. More pretense than horror, you might find it a cool visual for your Chris Kittan retro event. For the wonks among you, look for a cameo by young Willem Defoe, years before Shadow of the Vampire, and in what later Tony Scott scene have you heard the Flower Duet from Lakmé?

The Industrious Mechanic - - Pierrepoint (2005) - - 28 October 2008

Recommended. When I saw the previews of Pierrepoint, I thought it was a Hitchcock biopic. And in a way, the two real life characters are similar. Albert Pierrepoint was England’s famous hangman of the 30’s and 40’s, who executed the Nuremburg war criminals.  Timothy Spall (Vanilla Sky, Secrets and Lies) plays him like the working class craftsmen both Hitch and Pierrepoint were. And clearly, the trap hinges on Spall’s talented portrayal. Spall’s amazing face hides everything until the façade cracks and his underlying pain and anger are revealed. Thoughtful opponents of capital punishment focus not on the evildoers cast to the afterlife but on the evil that killing does to the killers. Although society is one victim, so too, the actual executioners and that is the theme of Pierrepoint. Direction (Adrian Shergold) is better than adequate and the other actors (Eddie Marson, Juliet Stevenson) are fine; the hangman stands alone.