Milk

This newest film from Gus Van Sant tells about the political uprising and assassination of the country's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk.

As a rarity for this blog, this is a review of a film IN THEATRES NOW!

Starring Sean Penn as Milk and Josh Brolin as Dan White, released 2008.

Review by CINEMAGIRL:

"Milk" starts out with a bang and hooks the audience immediately. Even though we know the outcome of this historical tale, Van Sant tries his best to build the suspense leading up to the assassination of the lead character.

Harvey Milk was a community leader from a gay neighborhood in San Francisco who tirelessly ran for office until he was finally elected to serve on City Council in 1978. The gay community rallied behind him, as did his union allies and senior citizens.

Milk received death threats and harassing letters from people across the country. However, he did not predict that his open gayness and platform for gay issues - particularly defeating a proposition that would've forced gay teachers out of their jobs - would make him the target of a fellow city councilman.

Van Sant retells the story of Milk starting with the incredibly talented Sean Penn seated at his kitchen table recording a tape only to be listened to in the event of his assassination. We return to this safe location periodically throughout the action of the film.

Lots of historic film footage, from newscasts and beyond, was used to recreate The Castro (Milk's San Fran 'hood), the people, and the times. I find archival footage particularly effective in biopics and historical films. It really made an impact here, especially at the end of the film when we see the crowd of thousands lining the streets for a candlelight vigil in Milk's memory.

Penn pulls off an amazing performance and is really the best part of the film. He adopted Milk's accent and his effeminate gestures. Milk's relationships with two young men - much younger men - could have been displayed as purely sexual or callous in the hands of another actor, but Penn played Milk with constant sensitivity and never made him seem like a creepy older man with a 20-something boyfriend. Penn is nominated for a Golden Globe this year for this role.

Other highlights are the motley cast (mostly unknowns) assembled to portray the gay youth that served as Milk's campaign advisers and most dedicated volunteers.

For all its merits, "Milk" does not seem like a typical Van Sant film (Elephant, Drugstore Cowboy, Good Will Hunting) which some may consider a good thing, while other viewers will be disappointed. This film is more polished and mainstream in feeling and appearance, perhaps as to not distract the viewer from its biographical nature.

I highly recommend seeing it in the theatre while you can. I went on a weeknight and the theatre was packed. The audience actually applauded after the show.

LOOK: 7
ACTING: 9
STORY: 8

OVERALL: 8

Definitely, Maybe

Written and Directed by Adam Brooks

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks, Isla Fisher, Rachel Weisz, Kevin Kline.

Synopsis: A separated father recounts for his daughter his romantic history, including how he met her mother, but with the names changed so that she has to guess which love interest is her mother.

Review by Junior.

Definitely, Maybe was a movie I started watching accidentally, with absolutely no expectations, which as you may know is a great way to watch a movie. I've had many a film spoiled by my own too-high expectations (see my Quantum of Solace review) and been pleasantly surprised by movies of which I had no or even low expectations. This was the latter situation and I found it entertaining, funny, sweet, and a moderately good sketch of how relationships start and end, what goes on in between, and how we look back and regret missed opportunities or bad decisions.

Ryan Reynolds plays the father, clean shaven here but with the same sarcastic charm that made him appealing as a smart-ass action guy in Smoking Aces and, particularly, Blade: Trinity. Abigail Breslin plays his daughter, the eager audience for her dad's love story, trying to pick up clues and predict which love interest will turn out to be her mom in the end. Breslin continues to be very sweet and engaging, as she was in Little Miss Sunshine and No Reservations.

Reynolds' love interests are an appealing mix of different types of women, played by no-names (to me), except for his first girlfriend, played by Elizabeth Banks, who seems to show up everywhere. I also found it interesting that Reynolds' character is involved behind the scenes in politics as a career, at least for the first half of the film, but it is mostly incidental to the plot. One rarely sees politically active policy wonks as characters in a film that isn't about politics.

Of course, there's a happy, or at least hopeful ending, as you might expect. If you have a little time to kill I think you'll find it a pleasant, romantic, funny movie. I just hope this review doesn't have your hopes too high.

Story---6
Acting---6
Look---5
Overall---6

Fargo Goes Far

In contrast to my good associates review of "Burn After Reading" I thought I should review "Fargo", a movie that, like "The Shining" has become a winter tradition in this household. I will note that this is the third Coen Brother's movie to be reviewed here, maybe it's coincidence, or we just happen to enjoy their movies.

So "Fargo" begins with a simple slate telling us this is a true story and only the names have been changed. Only a "true" story could be strange enough to be believable. We find Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), a overly in debt car salesman attempting to pull off a scheme that involves the kidnapping of his wife and large amounts of ransom money from is gruff father-in-law Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell). The idea is that his wife won't get hurt, he'll pay the kidnappers the $40K he promises them (plus a new car) AND he'll keep a hefty sum that Wade will THINK the kidnappers want for his wife. A flawless plan...right?

Jerry is a simple man, who is in way over his head. Enter Carl (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear (Peter Stormare). A pair of underworld thugs who go together like the Odd Couple. After the two pull of the kidnapping of Jerry's wife all hell breaks loose on a North Dakota road as they return with Jerry's wife from Minneapolis. Carl tells Jerry "Blood has been shed," which creates quite the predicament for Jerry.

Well the rest of story slowly becomes uncovered by Chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand Oscar Winning Role), a dead pan, pregnant police chief who really doesn't excite too easily. Her matter-a-fact attitude is a wonderful character to follow as the story unfolds and the bad guys are chased.

This film really has stood the test of time for story telling. It's still fun and the characters are each so distinct. At times they are (on purpose I'm sure) very comical. Fargo, is meant to be a dark comedy, and the reason that works is because the Coen Brothers have created not characters but caricatures of people we've met...especially from the upper mid-west. The story line flows from one scene to another as you watch each person begin to crack on the pressure of the kidnapping, the money and, well, being in North Dakota. Marge is our solid base. She's that "good" motherly person (how can forget...she's pregnant through the entire film) that can make all the "bad guys" feel guilty about how they've behaved.

The shooting on this movie is done by Cinematographer extraordinaire Roger Deakins, whom the Coen Brothers tend to use on most of their films. The Dakota snow-scapes are beautiful. You can feel the cold, the emptiness, the want to be indoors. One of my favorite shots is watching Jerry walk back his car in an otherwise empty parking-lot. The camera is high above and everything is white except for the curbed islands and Jerry's car. If you love good cinematography you should never miss a Deakins film.

Look- 9.5
Story - 8
Acting - 9