The heat, the underpants, The Matador

The heat wave we're experiencing is supposedly leaving town sometime tomorrow. Let's hope that's the case, because it ain't been pretty.

This post is all about having something else to greet the eye when a person arrives here, something other than yesterday's image of a young man pulling down his underpants. I don't know who that fellow was, I found him on some other site that touted the thrills of the gay lifestyle. But he wasn't me - he had rather too many pounds o him to be me. Had it been me you would have seen more protuding ribs and underpants that sagged a great deal more.

But enough of that ... The Matador!

I love this movie. And although I usually keep movie/DVD talk to my other blog, I thought I'd take this opportunity to advise all of you to see The Matador. And I thought I would cut and paste this comment I left on DVD Town:

I’ve watched this movie two nights in row now because I love it, largely because the characters are so fascinating and engaging and the humour, often very dry, is so bang on the mark.

Most reviews I’ve seen have focused on the James Bond business and the implied humour by comparison with that kind of film, and that is certainly there. However …

To some degree, this film strikes me as a kind of hymn to relationships, particularly marriage. While I know that is the sentimental aspect of the film, it doesn’t seem to me to go too over the line with it, which is partly what allows it to work.

In other words, while the comedy is key to keeping us engaged in the film, I think there is also a somewhat serious theme running through it, and it’s very well articulated. And that theme would be the quality of relationships and, as unhip as it may sound, the fact that the somewhat mundane, day-to-day, garden variety relationship that Danny and Bean have, and which Julian is discovering with Danny and Bean, has its merits.

I don’t want to overemphasize this aspect, but I have found that most reviews of the film have focused on the film’s humour relative to spy/action films (and Brosnan in particular), the film's satire in this respect, which is valid. But they’ve ignored some of the other key thematic elements. As a comment on spy/action films, the movie is fun but quickly forgettable. However, it’s other themes, particularly the one of relationships, and its detailing of character, make it a much more substantive film, one worth seeing more than once.

And if I haven’t mentioned it already, I really loved this film!