Critical Film Condition

The Harry Potter series had a nice, although inconstant, evolution from the Chris Columbus kid-friendly beginnings. But it always seemed that they wouldn’t dare go the extra mile, even with great directors such as Mike Newell and Alfonso Cuarón. According to this trailer, David Yates (who also directed “The Order of the Phoenix”) switched on n0-bullshit mode and this may finally be the Harry Potter movie adults have been waiting for so long.

When thinking about this series, one has to think that the public has matured with the flow of the story, and with one movie being released every year (this one being a welcome exception), the target audience grew up as wel. And in “The Half-Blood Price” it seems that the shit has really hit the fan. Voldemort invades our world, Dumbledore says that these will be the darkest of times and Harry and his buddies finally face the trials of death, danger, and… Sex?

I don’t know about you people, but I can’t wait to see it.

PS: Special note to the scene where we see Washington getting invaded by evil Wizards. I bet J.K. Rowling had multiple orgasms on that one :-)

Popularity: 9%

I’ve been a fan of Kathryn Bigelow since “Point Break”, but she has failed to amaze me recently (I didn’t like “K-19: The Widowmaker” very much). But WOW, this movie looks amazing. The trailer is awesomely long, but it reveals as much information as it needs. Seems like the ultimate movie regarding the recent US war in Iraq, with the right amounts of drama, action and political critique.

The almost unknown Jeremy Renner leads a big cast starring the likes of Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce as a bomb-squad in Iraq dealing with the fact that, over there, anyone is a suspect, and ANYTHING can be a bomb. Their relationships with death, patriotism and family all come to play with the most dangerous job anyone can think of.

Don’t waste any more time. If you haven’t checked out the trailer yet, do it before it explodes.

Popularity: 14%

The guys and I recently
were discussing “Un chien andalou” (1929) by Salvador Dalí and
Luis Buñuel. It seems that everyone collectively was traumatized by
one scene or another. I could not even remember the eyeball scene
until Renny mentioned it (- denial isn’t just a river in Egypt!).
My favorite scene was always the eyelashes turning into a tree.

Then this comes
along. Jazz, Freud and avant-garde shape three exceptional artists:
Salvador Dalí, Luis Buñuel and Federico
García Lorca. I love history-porn, but this can go wrong so many
ways. I am especially worried about Robert Pattinson (yes, the
Twilight dude) playing Salvador Dalí, since Twilight was such a
tedious, tedious affair. Actually, it deserves another tedious.

The MPAA R rating mentions
a brief disturbing image. Let’s hope there is more than one.

Here are two short clips from another interesting collaboration – Dali and Disney (to find out more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destino)

Popularity: 4%

First things first, a little history lesson: Harvey Bernard Milk (1930-1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Politics and gay activism were not Milk’s early interests; he did not feel the need to be open about his homosexuality or participate in civic matters until around age 40, after his experiences in the counterculture of the 1960s.

Milk moved from New York City to settle in San Francisco in 1972 amid a migration of gay men moving to the Castro District in the 1970s. He took advantage of the growing political and economic power of the neighborhood and ran unsuccessfully for political office three times. His theatrical campaigns (My name is Harvey Milk and I’m here to recruit you!“) earned him increasing popularity, and Milk won a seat as a city supervisor in 1977, a result of the broader social changes the city was experiencing.

Milk served 11 months in office and was responsible for passing a stringent gay rights ordinance for the city. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, another city supervisor who had recently resigned but wanted his job back.

Using flashbacks from a statement recorded late in life and archival footage for atmosphere, this movie traces exactly this time span from his 40th birthday to his assassination.

It took about a fraction of a nanosecond for me to love this movie. From the first frame until the credits, Sean Penn is a gay man. And I know gay men. I have a gay husband and at least half a dozen gay boyfriends. I have no idea how Sean Penn did what he did, but it was an amazing performance and the Oscar was well-deserved.

It is difficult to create tension in a screenplay that gives away the ending right at the beginning. But Dustin Lance Black just does it and deservedly scored an Oscar for it.

Not relying on the history buffs, the conclusion is actually shown within the first minutes of the movie and miraculously does not hurt it at all. And like in “Titanic”, you just know it is inevitable, but you are completely unprepared for the iceberg – due largely to the fact that Sean Penn is simply a stratospherically brilliant actor. And director Gus Van Sant manages to be low-key and in-your-face at the same time. The beginning sequence consists of gay men in bars hiding their faces in order to remain anonymous and then chronicles the changes that occurred in society during the life of Harvey Milk. His interlacing of narrative and documentary styles is both effortless and flawless. And I especially liked the editing and the way that the archive footage was weaved seamlessly into the scenes, making it difficult to tell them apart even for a trained eye. It creates a great atmosphere, recreating San Francisco and the beginning of the gay rights movement.

The movie also sports a stellar cast including Josh Brolin who is brilliant as the repressed Dan White (who shot Harvey Milk). James Franco as adorable as Scott Smith, Harvey’s boyfriend whom he relocates to San Francisco with, Emile Hirsch and his much discussed hair “condition” and matching geek goggles as Cleve Jones, Alison Pill as Harvey Milk’s lesbian campaign manager Anne Kronenberg (very butch!), Victor Garber as Mayor George Moscone, Denis O’Hare (who ironically is openly gay) as State Senator John Briggs. And of course Anita Bryant has a couple of newsreel appearances (Scary!!!)

If I had to find something that I didn’t like I’d say the movie is slightly too long. But I kinda don’t want to.

Popularity: 2%