Word: deadpan
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This development really sets the story going, but the whodunnit plot, like all the other technical elements, pale in insignificance before the ineffable passion at the film's core. The performers, especially Webb and Andrews, are excellent. The script is fantastic, full of acerbic wit and deadpan humor. The cinematography is suitably noir, but punctuated by bursts of radiance. And the music--ahhh, the music--is like a lover blowing in one's ear. But what really counts in "Laura" is love--from tender affection to sweeping passion. Mark's love for Laura has a desperate edge to it; thinking...
...Little, Brown; 265 pages; $21.95) and Art Buchwald (Leaving Home; Putnam; 254 pages; $22.95). Both men record bruisingly uncushioned childhoods shadowed by their families' bleak vulnerability in the Depression -- an era that still accounts for more residual haunted notes than Americans realize. Both men are New Yorkers. Buchwald is deadpan-Jewish-funny, with an underlayer of almost quizzical pain; Hamill is Irish saloon-polemical, with an exuberance undermined by a taste for boozy lyricism, machismo and occasional self-pity...
Though his cool exterior showed no cracks, Secretary of State Warren Christopher was fed up with a series of insistent questions on Haiti from Jesse Helms, the conservative Republican. "Senator," Christopher said in his deadpan tone, "a few people have sometimes misunderstood my courtesy for a lack of resolve. But I think they've been sorry when they've made that mistake...
...half-broken microphones--anything that will throw their "pop" talents into sharper relief. "Marchers in Orange," on this new record, lasts about a minute and has no guitars, just an accordion and a bass: the vocal melody does all the work. "Gleaner (The Deeds of Fertile Jim)" uses a deadpan strum not unlike the one perfected by college-radio heroes Sebadoh (whose "Brand New Love" the knowing lyrics quote). "Exit Flagger" rides a pushmepullyou-like hook to the chorus, where it suddenly gains a kick more powerful than your average well-trained racehorse (About those titles: main guy Robert Pollard...
...with convincing indifference by Laurie Metcalf, torments Dennis with cheap ties and constant reminders to feed the fish. As Dennis settles into his analyst's office, saying, "I remember when I was in the womb...," Dr. Schooner (Rowan Atkinson) sighs and draws up a shopping list. Wright's classic deadpan performance is set off perfectly by the boredom and snobbery expressed in Atkinson's exagerrated facial expressions and accent. Although well acted and directed, it is the witty and original script, written by Mark Armstrong and Wright himself, that really makes "The Appointments" shine...