12/27/06--Middle of my holiday vacation

First of all, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a happy holidays....pick out whichever one you observe....and I'll wish you a happy one.

So, I'm in the middle of a two week vacation--which is so sweet I can't even begin to tell you--and I've been taking in a few movies and other assorted DVD's.  Here's what I've looked at, so far:

1) The Matador:  Wow!  What a surprise!  This was a terrific little movie with a really bold and fun performance by Pierce Brosnan.  He knows how to finally rid himself of the James Bond stereotype by playing--an international assassin!  Seriously, what's great about the movie is that he's everyone that James Bond isn't:  He's having a crisis of confidence, he's been living for years on booze & sex ("I have no home address" he admits early in the movie) and in a great shot at his Bond legacy, suffers from a slight
(only slight mind you) case of perversion.  It seems that Julian Noble, the character that Brosnan portrays....well....let's just say he likes his women......young.  Really young.
But amazingly, his little perversion is done so boldly, that its not a repugnant feature here.  It makes him more fascinating and it helps flesh out (no pun intended) a terrific character made more interesting by a terrific performance.  Who knew Brosnan had it in him?  Anyway, the basic plotline is that international assassin meets regular guy (Greg Kinnear--also in fine form) in a bar one night and begins to re-examine his life and profession.  Its a very interesting story and I recommend it.   ****
2) Hostage--Let's see, tell me if this sounds familar.  Bruce Willis plays the proverbial "seen it all" cop who's a step away from being totally burned out and is put in that one final situation that tests his mettle.  Eh.  The best part of this movie is the performances by the young teenagers, who are very believeable punks.  Seriously, I see kids just like this at the mall every weekend.  And Bruce casts his daughter "Rumor" (pretentious name alert) as----HIS DAUGHTER!!  Hey, how'd ya guess?  Problem is, he picks the ugliest daughter he has and her entire dialogue consists of:   "Aaaaahhh!"  Seriously, this all seems like something we've seen before.   **1/2
3) Saw II--Here's the thing.  Beneath all the sick, gory torture scenes....there is a really interesting compelling morality play going on here.  The character of "Jigsaw", who once again has trapped a group of people in a house full of deadly traps, forces his prisoners to examine and look inside themselves and realize the mistakes they've made.  The trick is simple:  you can escape, but you'll pay a price---is the price worth it?  That's the ultimate decision that has to be made.   ***1/2  interesting.


Later,
Jeff