Dogs Bark

Corned Beef On Wry - - A Serious Man (2009) - - 23 February 2010

Strongly Recommended.  If you talk to a comic, they inevitably draw your attention to the difference between the schlemiel and the schlimazel, referencing the famous Leo Rosen quote that defines who gets the soup spilled on him. Google it, if you are unfamiliar with the joke. Or, could it hurt, may I suggest you should watch a few Coen Brothers movies? A Serious Man presents the thesis in this brilliantly composed, scored, photographed, and acted movie that we are all schlimazels, dripping with borscht, all the time. On that there is little dispute; however, I’d argue that a randomly hostile universe is a consistent theme in the Coen Continuum. Even the killing machine, Anton Chigurh, is vulnerable to bad drivers. Your homestead will be flooded, your husband will have you kidnapped . . . whatever. Make your peace with what you get and if god exists, he’s definitely not to be trusted.

Seizing The Goddamn Day - - A Single Man (2009) - - 21 February 2010

Recommended. On November 30, 1963, Professor George Falconer (Colin Firth) awakens from a terrible dream about his recently deceased lover. He dresses in a perfect shirt and tie and loads his briefcase with a British edition of Huxley’s ‘After Many A Summer’ and a Webley Mark VI, .455-caliber, service revolver. He will lecture on the novel but reveal little about the pistol. Novice helmer, successful fashion executive, and Santa Fe Prep grad Tom Ford uses these obsessively stylistic props and Firth’s (Bridget Jones’s Diary) Oscar worthy performance to sketch a story of despair. The movie overcomes a few unrealistic notes on its way to serious reflection; however, pseudo-Brit Julianne Moore is entirely believable as Forester’s best beard, sadly self-aware that she’s too old for Carnaby Street. I found Falconer’s other tempter, an aggressively amorous student (Nicholas Hoult), distractingly creepy. Despite all this, A Single Man allows Ford a singular debut.

Danse Macabre - - Blind Date (2007) - - 18 February 2010

Not recommended. This is an interesting movie - - certainly a novel one. In a remake of Theo Van Gogh’s 1996 movie of the same name, Stanley Tucci (Big Night, Julie And Julia) directs himself and Patricia Clarkson (Pieces of April, The Green Mile) as an estranged married couple attempting to relight their pilot flame in a series of staged dates. Tucci plays a conjurer while Clarkson describes herself as a tap dancer, amusingly reflected in their interplay. The ‘action’ occurs in a beautifully lit (by cinematographer Thomas Kist) dance bar.  Tucci and Clarkson are brilliant actors and one anticipates a thoughtful dénouement.  However the deeper cause of their distance is never explained. We get only a tedious, and often misstepped, descent into Hell.  This, together with the despairing ending, reduces the drama to a feckless exercise in emotional torture.  I still expect directorial glory for Mr. Tucci. Not now, but when?

Kitty and Jane Go To Paris - - An Education (2009) - - 15 February 2010

Strongly recommended. In a year of mediocrity, I’m happy to report that Danish director Lone Scherfig’s An Education deserves every bit of its Best Picture hype.  It’s great to watch a grown-up film about adolescent romance.  This maturity comes from the writing (Nick Hornsby) and the superb acting.  Soon to be My Fair Lady, Carrie Mulligan (Pride and Prejudice), may not be the second coming of Audrey Hepburn but they share an intelligent coziness that could become addictive. Mulligan is backed by a powerful ensemble, including Alfred Molina (Chocolat), Rosamund Pike (Pride and Prejudice), Emma Thompson (Last Chance Harvey), Olivia Williams (The Sixth Sense) and Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky). Professionals all, yet credit is due Ms. Scherfig directorial cookery, I reckon. The real pro is Peter Sarsgaard (Boys Don’t Cry) as Mulligan’s paramour. I won’t spoil this with details; just watch him slowly darken, seducing the audience and Mulligan. Masterful stuff.

The Dude Dries Out - - Crazy Heart (2009) - - 13 February 2010

Recommended.  It’s not fair for me to review this very nice little movie, being, as I am, a man of age and taste so like its subject and possessing, as I do, such an understanding of his foibles. Might ask Jacques Cousteau, if still sitting in it, to review the ocean. Or attempt to explain to a tender barmaid a Tom Waits lyric, simultaneously attempting to strike a match with one hand, lighting a cigarette, half-smoked and stained with yesterday’s beer, glancing sub-rosa into her velvety, brown eyes and strawberry hair, pondering over any last chance a dissolute man gets to hold a generous woman’s heart in his battered hands . . . on Valentine's Day. For if there’s a message in Crazy Heart, it floats upon the grace and pity of the Fates, to sigh and say again, the Duke shall abide for a little while longer . . . such a very little while longer.

Out Of Kindness, I Suppose - - They Came To Cordura (1959) - - 4 February 2010

Not recommended. In 1959, Gary Cooper was 58 years old and suffering from prostate cancer. His legendary career was almost over. Director Robert Rossen was exiting the blacklist but still awaiting The Hustler (1961), a better film about courage and cowardice than They Came To Cordura. Rita Hayworth was only 41, but on her fifth husband. She was an alcoholic, like her character, and she may have been starting on Alzheimer’s Syndrome. The point is that the movie projects a huge lethargy, boredom unto death, on the part of all of them. This is not “the best performance of her (Hayworth’s) career,” as Variety reported, but it may be her grittiest.  The plot, from Glendon Swarthout’s (The Shootist) novel, only tangentially concerns Pershing’s punitive raid against Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution. Go elsewhere if you admire Pancho, Coop, or the Love Goddess because this movie will make you sad.

BTK Barbie - - Bajo La Sal [Under The Salt] (2008) - - 1 February 2010

Strongly recommended. Newcomer Mario Muñoz’s excellent flick, like the girls in the title, has slipped below the critical radar so far. It did win a second Mexican Oscar (Ariel Award) for lead actress, Irene Azuela (more, please!). This neglect is a shame. Bajo La Sal is a superb and relevant gothic thriller, more Fincher than Lynch.  Ricardo Polanco plays a vaguely creepy teen, obsessed with his mother’s death and the disappearance/murder of several local girls. Telenovela mainstay, Humberto Zurita, plays the Federal detective sent to investigate the disappearances. Zurita has a gristly charm that suggests Al Pacino in Insomnia. The town is dominated by a huge and bleak salt lake and factory and Muñoz uses this Baja California location splendidly to build tension. He references the current Ciudad Juarez disappearances but doesn’t linger. This is a slow film compared to mainstream thrillers, but if you like the genre, not to be missed.

Harpoona Macaca - - Avatar (2009) - - 31 January 2010

Not recommended. Disclosure: I am reviewing the non-3D version of Avatar, which I didn’t see. My point being that, without the, admittedly spectacular, special effects, this is a bad Disney cartoon. The last 3D movie I saw was probably Russ Meyers’s The Stewardesses, and between the two, Avatar has the more derivative story, dumber character development and dialog, even a worse score (James Horner). I did enjoy the unintended humor. Was Stephen Lang supposed to be a total goon? And when did (will) we begin a prayer with "Lissen up now?" Whatever, the retread spirituality of Avatar is a slap in the face to every tribe on the planet, much as The Lion King insulted large cats. My intelligence was insulted by the gratuitous use of phrases like “shock and awe” and “fighting terror with terror.”  So did anything about this nonsense please you, Duke? Did I mention the 3D?