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“Milk” Poignant and Frightening
Dec 18th
Poignant and Frightening
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
MILK is the Gus Van Sant film about the political career of Harvey Bernard Milk, who in 1977 was elected to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors and was credited with being the first openly gay elected official in U.S. history.
Tragically, a year later when he was only 48, Harvey was shot and killed along with Mayor George Moscone in City Hall by Dan White, a former city supervisor who had resigned his position, but wanted his job back and took out his frustration on the mayor and Harvey.
Sean Penn plays Harvey, and he is just absolutely great in the role. Expect him to win a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor.
Josh Brolin plays Dan White, and he could easily win a nomination for Best Supporting Actor, himself.
The film begins in November 1978 and uses the conceit of showing Harvey dictating into a tape recorder and commenting on the events that we then see in flashback as the film progresses.
In 1970 Harvey meets Scott Smith, played by James Franco, in New York City. It is Harvey’s 40th birthday, and he confesses, “Forty years old, and I haven’t done a thing that I’m proud of.”
Two years later they move to San Francisco together and open a camera store on Castro Street, the Number 1 destination for gays at that time. Harvey says that the police hated the gays, and the gays hated them right back.
Harvey became known as The Mayor of Castro Street, but he says that he might have invented that title for himself.
He decides to run for a real office, but he loses the election, being told that he is too old to be a hippie. In 1975 Harvey runs again, cleaning up his hippie appearance so that he looks like the successful businessman he was. He loses again.
Harvey’s personal life suffers, but he gains new friends as well as loyal supporters who finally help him win a seat on the Board of Supervisors in 1977.
Dan White also wins a seat, and Harvey forms an unlikely alliance with the former policeman and fireman on a number of causes they support. You could almost say that they even became friends.
And then all hell breaks loose.
MILK is poignant, enlightening, engrossing, and frightening, but mostly frightening in light of the recent current events.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Revolutionary Road – Movie Trailer
Dec 15th
Titanic shipmates Kathy Bates, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Kate Winslet step onboard for director Sam Mendes’ tale of suburban malaise in 1950s-era Connecticut. Adapted from the classic 1961 novel by author Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road tells the tale of a young Connecticut couple whose once-idealistic relationship steadily deteriorates into a ceaseless cycle of petty jealousy and bickering as they strive to retain their independence in the conformity-obsessed world of picket fences and perfectly manicured lawns. Ever since they first met, Frank (DiCaprio) and April (Winslet) saw themselves as special and different. They strive to form their relationship around higher ideals, though upon moving into their new home on Revolutionary Road, the defiant couple pledges never to be confined by the social conventions of the era. As time passes, however, Frank and April gradually become the very thing that they both feared most — a typical suburban family complete with abandoned dreams and faded hopes. Frank loses his nerve after taking a comfortable job with a reliable salary, and April morphs into an unsatisfied homemaker desperate for passion and excitement. But April’s independent spirit hasn’t been suffocated just yet, and when she hatches a plan to head for Paris, her need to escape at all costs stands in direct contrast to Frank’s desire to hold on to what they already have.
“Four Christmases” Four Disappointments
Dec 12th
Four Disappointments
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
FOUR CHRISTMASES starts off bad, goes downhill from there with a lot of cheap laughs and easy shtick, and then it even also ends poorly, which all make it the perfect representation for Christmas.
Reese Witherspoon stars as Kate, Vince Vaughn is Brad, and they have been dating for three years with no intention of ever getting married or having children.
They live in San Francisco, and every year at Christmas they have lied to their parents in order to avoid spending Christmas with them.
As Brad tells his friends at one point, “You can’t really spell ‘families’ without ‘lies.'”
However, I am getting ahead of myself: The opening of the film is cheap and bogus, and it is designed to fool the audience more than to lend an insight into Kate and Brad.
So, rather than spend Christmas with either of their parents, they lie to them and tell them that they have to go off somewhere and do charity work, when in reality Kate and Brad are off to some exotic country for a vacation.
This year they plan to go to Fiji, but when they get to the airport, intense fog has caused all flights to be canceled, and they happen to be interviewed live by a local television crew about their canceled plans.
Of course, their parents see them on the news being interviewed, call them immediately, and guilt them into visiting on Christmas. Only problem is, both sets of parents are divorced, and thus Kate and Brad have to make four visits in one day, which adds up to “four Christmases.” Get it?
The four parents are played by Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, and Mary Steenburgen, and so we are not dealing with lightweight actors here, just lightweight material.
They visit Brad’s father first, and Kate learns some secrets about Brad that he had never told her. Then they visit Kate’s mother, and Brad learns some secrets about Kate that she had never told him.
Do you see a pattern here?
Yes, in satisfying their parents at Christmastime and meeting each other’s siblings, Kate and Brad learn more about each other, which can either strengthen their relationship or end it altogether.
And the moral of the story is nothing really beats being honest.
FOUR CHRISTMASES is nothing more than four disappointments.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
