FilmDailies.com – A filmmaker’s blog

I’m still under the influence of This is Spinal Tap and what an influence that is. After seeing this movie, the words of Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) come naturally to me:

“The review for [your album] “Shark Sandwich” was merely a two word review which simply read “Shit Sandwich”.

I could really sum up this review as “Shit Cake” but that would be taking away from the movie. It’s an ambitions, stylish, gangster B-movie with a lot of character actors who know their drill and deliver the goods. The problem lies with the protagonist and the angle.

Layer Cake starts with a good premise: a guy, who deals with cocaine, is planning to retire. His partners in crime all have names, he is supposed to stay nameless. The end credits feature him as XXXX, that’s one notch nastier than XXX apparently. The part is played by Daniel Craig who barely makes the passing grade as the new James Bond. He’s neither very tough, nor smart but he does get beaten up a lot. In that way, he’s more like Indiana Jones.

We know he’s not going to retire. These guys never do. The beginning of the end is when his “boss” sends him on an errand. Or rather, two errands. One is to locate a missing girl. The other to find a buyer for a million ecstasy pills. The plot follows the second errand, the first being nothing but smoke and mirrors to make the game more complicated than it actually is. This complexity is something that this movie shares with Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Richie is a master of plot twists and character actors doing the necessary characterization.

Director Matthew Vaughn is also a producer of Lock so you’d think some of that Ritchie stuff will rub off. Some of the visual style does come off as a bit Ritchiesque. The movie, however, takes itself too seriously and ambitiously seeks to do a character study. The problem with that is you need to care about the protagonist. I didn’t. Daniel’s character felt distant and cold, I never cared if he was going to succeed with this double-crossing game or not.

If it’s any consolation, Ritchie’s third crime movie, Revolver, fell short as well. When you want to be in the same league as Scarface and Goodfellas, you know you’ll be falling a long way if you miss the mark. Shit Cake. Watch out.

This isn’t a review of “This is Spinal Tap” documentary. This is a tribute to one of the loudest UK bands in Rock ‘n’ Roll history that goes by the same name. The band was not loved by music critics. An average review of the now classic album “Intravenus de Milo” went a bit like this: “The musical growth of this band cannot even be charted. They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry.”

The band did the right thing by ignoring the critics and focusing on producing some of the best heavy metal tracks in recorded history. I’m still humming their hit song, “Big Bottom,” as I’m writing this.

Call me naïve but I love the mockumentary style – pioneered in 1984 by Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer. I just saw the movie again and it hasn’t dated at all. Like with any good wine (check out Sideways), the last 20 years have added depth to an already impressive bouquet.

The movie starts with Spinal Tap’s arrival at Kennedy Airport for the start of their US tour. It doesn’t get any better than this – they’ve come to conquer this country for Rock ‘n’ Roll (and heavy metal).

Once they get to their Big Bottom song, however, you start feeling that this is their apogee. They have nowhere to go but down. Here’s a naughty bit from this rock classic:

The bigger the cushion, the sweater the pushin’.
That’s what I said.
The looser the wasteband, the deeper the quicksand.
Or so I have read.
My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo, I wanna sink her with my pink torpedo.

Chorus:
Big bottom, big bottom,
Talking about bum cakes, my girl’s got’em!
Big bottom, drive me out of my mind.
How could I leave this behind?

As the movie progresses, the songs get better and better: Heavy Duty, Hellhole, Stonehenge, and of course, the sophisticated Sex Farm. We also get to listen to Nigel playing the piano, working on his new ballad in D minor: Lick my Love Pump.

Overall, this is an extremely funny movie… if you’re into spoofs. I can’t recommend it enough. If you like it, make sure you get the Special Edition DVD for the This is Spinal Tap Deleted scenes.

Sideways is an extraordinary movie. I was looking for the right word to characterize and I went through a bunch of them. “Great” is not the right word here as it implies something on a magnitude never seen before. Lawrence of Arabia is a great movie. The first Star Wars (episode IV) is a great movie.

“Sideways” gets its inspiration from the ordinary (some may even call it lame) and transcends it to a level that’s poetic and funny at the same time. Admittedly, you have to be an adult in order to appreciate its appeal. This is no American pie.

It’s easy to identify with Miles (Paul Giamatti), if you’re into drinking and/or writing. Not surprisingly, “Sideways” has become an instant favorite amongst critics. The director (Alexander Payne) steers clear of sarcasm and heads straight for humor and sweetness.

Miles is an English teacher who’s just completed his third unpublished novel, The Day After Yesterday. He’s been divorced for two years but he’s still hopeful he and his wife will get back together. His buddy, Jack, is getting married in a week which calls for a weeklong bachelor party in California wine country. Jack is a voice-over actor, his TV career going nowhere.

Miles is not an alcoholic. He’s a wine-connoisseur who never responds to a “say when.” It would seem wine drinking is the only activity where he feels comfortable to go all the way. His interactions with women, publishers, and even golf sticks, are forced and half-hearted.

On the surface, Jack is his complete opposite: self-assured, handsome, with an itch in his pants. Jack’s determination to have a last fling before getting married gets in the way of Miles’ carefully planned trip (golf and wine tasting ad nauseum).

Thanks to Jack’s enthusiasm about the opposite sex, Miles finds a soul mate in Maya (Virginia Madsen). Miles has known Maya for years but he never got past the small talk. When they start talking about wine the movie finds its most romantic and intimate moments.

The movie strengths lie in the characters. Paul Giamatti is on to something with his portrayal of men at the apogee of the mid-life crisis (American Splendor). Virginia Madsen, Thomas Haden Church, and Sandra Oh are an excellent support cast adding depth, variety, and sometimes humor.

Update: I just saw “Sideways” for a second time and I still find it an extraordinary mix of despair, comedy, warmth, and of course, plenty of wine. Best served slightly chilled.

In Truffaut’s book-length interview with Hitchcock, it’s apparent that Big Al’s fear from the police dates back to his childhood. His father sent him to the police station carrying a note. Although he never actually saw the note, it said something like: “He’s been naughty, imprison him for an hour.” The policemen obliged and ever since Hitchcock has had a deep fear of being wrongly accused and taken by the police.

“Strangers on a Train” is probably one of the best in his “wrongly-accused” series. The movie is based on a Patricia Highsmith novel. That’s the same author who wrote the Ripley series. She was always fascinated by smart criminals.

Hitchcock’s opening is very strong and takes you immediately to the protagonists: Guy Haines, a famous tennis player, and Bruno Anthony, the aspiring criminal. The two guys share a chemistry which in that day and age was probably a lot more than what the audience could chew. Bruno tries to persuade Guy that they could commit the perfect murder (leaving no clues), if they switch victims. Bruno will kill Guy’s wife who wouldn’t give him a divorce, and Guy would kill Bruno’s father. The motives are respectively love and money.

Bruno’s performance is meant to be seductive and homoerotic. This is not something that was done by accident. In fact, Hitchcock edited two versions of the movie: one US, one UK. In the US version the volume of Bruno’s seductiveness was turned down quite a bit.

“Strangers on a Train” is a very deep movie but more importantly this is another excellent Hitchcock thriller. An excellent example of a thrilling scene is when Guy is climbing the steps up to Bruno’s father room. Hitchcock reasoned that the audience’s attention needed to be distracted at this point so that they don’t figure out what Guy will find in the room. Hitch treats us to a HUGE, menacing dog at the top of the stairs which provided the needed distraction.

The most famous shot in the movie occurs during a tennis match. Bruno has been continuously stalking Guy so that Guy will fulfil his end of the bargain (kill his father). When Guy looks at the audience, all the heads are swiveling back and forth. All except one – Bruno’s. He’s looking straight at Guy with an “i’ll-get-you” smile.

The ending is another example of suspense. Both men fight for one key piece of evidence on a merry-go-round that’s rotating at mad speed. A worker is crawling under it so he could get to the controls. When we finally get off this ride and the movie ends with Guy proving his innocence, we are left exhausted and nail-less (for those of us still biting our nails!).

“Strangers on a Train” is easily one of Hitchcock’s best “wrongly accused” movies. Some credit him with one of the best villains (Bruno) as well. All in all, the movie might appear somewhat dated but that’s a lesson in thriller-making from the master himself. I won’t turn down Leonardo, if he came to teach me Renaissance painting, so neither should you.