Drive

2.5 Paws
Seen recently at Aksarben Cinema

I loved the Eighties. I had big hair (my bangs barely cleared the interior roof of any car), I cut the crap out of my sweatshirts, and I saw Flashdance multiple times during its 1983 run.

Judging from the Risky Business-like feel of the opening sequence, the hot pink type font of the credits and the quilted satin jacket worn by Ryan Gosling's nameless character, director Nicolas Winding Refn is also a fan. He also likes spare dialogue, gruesome violence (beware the elevator scene) and casting actors against type.

I loved seeing the always cuddly Albert Brooks (spoiler alert) stab some street garbage in a particularly sensitive body part - in a pizza joint, no less. I also loved the duality of Gosling's driver. He was both touching and creepy - a rather unsettling mix of emotions, which makes watching what he does all the more compelling.

I hope he decides to keep acting a bit longer, despite his comments to the contrary.

Bonus Bones: 0
No dogs - not even a single mutt with a brief cameo - in this Hollywood tale of woe.