2003-04-20 | 10:51 p.m.

corduroy licorice was hot under the collar. it's when he took his shirt off that he wasn't much to look at.

***

after an oddly long hiatus, i was back in line at the cinema this weekend. this time for a pleasing heist flick called the good thief. it's set in monte carlo and stars nick nolte as a cocky old con artist "detoxing" himself off of gambling and heroin for one last big heist high. with his growly voice and craggly mount rushmore of a face, he is perfectly cast in the role.

director neil jordan used some interesting film techniques, most notably freeze frames between some scene changes which served as powerful visual punchlines.

the supporting actors were good to not-so-good-at-all, with the stand-outs being the throaty-voiced, 17-year-old russian hooker nolte rescues played by nutsa kukhianidze (an actress named nutsa. cool!) and the poker-faced cop who tails nolte throughout the film played with hilarious restraint by tch�ky karyo. ralph fiennes makes a terrific, scenery-chewing cameo showing as a shady art dealer (and may i say that old "hubba, hubba" feeling returned for the fine-boned thespian. *sigh*).

overall, the good thief is a good way to steal away for a couple of hours. (get it?)

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