Fascinoma

The news today is so horrific, so nauseating, that I can't bear to think about it much. Instead I'll report on the semi-current and classic cinema --or movies rather. I saw Vicky Christina Barcelona last night. It was quite amusing in the classic movie way -- that is, just enough plot, nice music and lots and lots of eye candy. Besides the delights of Spain it had Scarlett Johannsen, Penelope Cruz, Rebecca Hall, and some pretty good jokes and set pieces. At times it reminded me of Bandidas which The Lobbyist was snickering at the other day as it played again on skCinemax. Both were essentially vehicles for delivering cheesecake. The fair Lobbyist gave up on Bandidas when Penelope and Salma somehow contrived to have a cat fight in the water that seemed straight out of a lite-beer commercial. At least VCB also delivered Javier Bardem, who is always weirdly captivating. Now if we could only get Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek and Naomi Watts and Keira Knightley, and maybe Javier and Benicio del Toro together in a rollicking McLintock! style mud-wrassle, we might really have something.