Monday, November 13, 2006
Going Nowhere to the Movies
In addition to seeing A Disappointment of Major Proportions on Saturday, the clammy, rainy weather of Sunday gave me an excuse to see some Netflixed movies I'd shunted aside. Had to keep the DVD delivery train on its circuitous route, so I punched them through. Is there a DVD player out there that has a turntable like the multi-CD players, thus minimizing any need to get up from the couch for 6-8 hours? Call it the DVD-Slug model.
Kontroll was up first. Bulcsú (Sandor Csányi), Hungary's version of Chris Noth, roams the Budapest Underground as a ticket control agent while deep in a funk over his previous career, of which we find out little but one that he was a genius at. A hooded villain makes an occassional appearance, usually in the form of a fast-moving shadow. Symbolic? Actual? Demonic or simply perpetually stuck in Halloween dress? Who knows?! Bulcsú (Magyar for deep-thinking hunk) gets beat up by:
1) Subway gangs.
2) Old women with canes.
3) His workmates, one of whom is a version of George Clooney, after 3rd rate plastic surgery.
4) That shadowy villain.
He finds solace and happiness underground with a subway driver and his daughter (who walks around in a bear costume for most of the movie. Don't ask. It's nothing kinky, just an outfit without explanation). Eventually, the villain is supposedly crushed by one of the subway cars, our sharp-chinned hero realizes he's in love, and he and the bear-costumed woman (who has shed her fur and is in a Tinkerbell suit at the end) take an escalator into the light. The supporting cast proves the universal point. There are some truly ugly-looking folks down there in the depths of the subways. Must be the fluorescent lighting.
Next on tap was Afterglow, a great movie if you want to see Montreal, although my favorite movie with Montreal as a character is still the Robert DeNiro flick, The Score. Nick Nolte, doing his best loveable Grizzly Bear interpretation while dressed as a handyman, and his wife, the incredibly beautiful yet approachable Julie Christie, have one of those screwed-up modern arrangement marriages that allows them to have affairs and indulge in the act of marriage as well. Everyone is emotionally scarred, on the precipice of throwing themselves off of any available tall building structures, of which Montreal has plenty of. An annoying piece of film-making punctuated with the presence of Lara Flynn Boyle, an actress guaranteed to heat up the annoyance factor.
Montreal looked, as ever, gorgeous despite Ms. Boyle's efforts.
Finally, there was A Face in the Crowd, directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. Andy Griffith enjoys himself way too much in his role of Lonesome Rhodes and, thanks to that over-the-top performance, so will you. He combines an inviting goofy smile with a strong, threatening, physical presence that will shock those folks only familiar with his later days of Mayberry and Matlock. He's got a strong set of pipes, which he exercises well as a downhome singer. He is utterly convincing as a scoundrel and a shyster; almost Robert Mitchum-y in his darkness.
This movie was the best of the crop this weekend and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.
Kontroll was up first. Bulcsú (Sandor Csányi), Hungary's version of Chris Noth, roams the Budapest Underground as a ticket control agent while deep in a funk over his previous career, of which we find out little but one that he was a genius at. A hooded villain makes an occassional appearance, usually in the form of a fast-moving shadow. Symbolic? Actual? Demonic or simply perpetually stuck in Halloween dress? Who knows?! Bulcsú (Magyar for deep-thinking hunk) gets beat up by:
1) Subway gangs.
2) Old women with canes.
3) His workmates, one of whom is a version of George Clooney, after 3rd rate plastic surgery.
4) That shadowy villain.
He finds solace and happiness underground with a subway driver and his daughter (who walks around in a bear costume for most of the movie. Don't ask. It's nothing kinky, just an outfit without explanation). Eventually, the villain is supposedly crushed by one of the subway cars, our sharp-chinned hero realizes he's in love, and he and the bear-costumed woman (who has shed her fur and is in a Tinkerbell suit at the end) take an escalator into the light. The supporting cast proves the universal point. There are some truly ugly-looking folks down there in the depths of the subways. Must be the fluorescent lighting.
Next on tap was Afterglow, a great movie if you want to see Montreal, although my favorite movie with Montreal as a character is still the Robert DeNiro flick, The Score. Nick Nolte, doing his best loveable Grizzly Bear interpretation while dressed as a handyman, and his wife, the incredibly beautiful yet approachable Julie Christie, have one of those screwed-up modern arrangement marriages that allows them to have affairs and indulge in the act of marriage as well. Everyone is emotionally scarred, on the precipice of throwing themselves off of any available tall building structures, of which Montreal has plenty of. An annoying piece of film-making punctuated with the presence of Lara Flynn Boyle, an actress guaranteed to heat up the annoyance factor.
Montreal looked, as ever, gorgeous despite Ms. Boyle's efforts.
Finally, there was A Face in the Crowd, directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. Andy Griffith enjoys himself way too much in his role of Lonesome Rhodes and, thanks to that over-the-top performance, so will you. He combines an inviting goofy smile with a strong, threatening, physical presence that will shock those folks only familiar with his later days of Mayberry and Matlock. He's got a strong set of pipes, which he exercises well as a downhome singer. He is utterly convincing as a scoundrel and a shyster; almost Robert Mitchum-y in his darkness.
This movie was the best of the crop this weekend and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.
Labels: Movies
Comments:
<< Home Verging on Pertinence Just some more disposable thoughts clogging up the hinterlands
I walk around in a bear costume too.
What? Doesn't everyone?
In other news, Andy Griffith is underrated as an actor. He has tremendous range and an amazing singing voice.
What? Doesn't everyone?
In other news, Andy Griffith is underrated as an actor. He has tremendous range and an amazing singing voice.
# opined by 
: 11:42 AM, November 13, 2006
: 11:42 AM, November 13, 2006
I don't don my bear costume until winter arrives, which thanks to global warning will be on January 22nd from 5:00 am until 7:32 pm.
Re. Mr. Griffith, true to all that.
Re. Mr. Griffith, true to all that.
argh - alcessa beat me to the Hotel New Hampshire, which not only had the bear outfit, but Natassja Kinski in it.
I really liked Afterglow, but had forgotten that Lara Flynn Boyle was in it. I've forgotten the young man's name, too. The flick was really about Nolte and Christie's characters (thankfully).
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I really liked Afterglow, but had forgotten that Lara Flynn Boyle was in it. I've forgotten the young man's name, too. The flick was really about Nolte and Christie's characters (thankfully).
# opined by : 7:25 AM, November 14, 2006
: 7:25 AM, November 14, 2006 << Home Verging on Pertinence Just some more disposable thoughts clogging up the hinterlands
