Years:  2000, 2002
Genre:  TV movie, Biopic
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Meredith Monroe, Tess Harper, Walton Goggins, Lindsay Crouse, Haley McCormick, Courtnie Bull, Barbara Jane Reams, Richard Thomas, Skye McCole Bartusiak
Directors:  Marcus Cole
Run time:  181 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     At the beginning of Beyond The Prairie, there’s a weird blue spherical shining luminescent object that flies out of the sky and smashes into the ground in a field near the home of a young Laura Ingalls.  I was immediately intrigued – an unidentified falling flaming object?  The true story of Laura Ingalls Wilder was going to involve alien encounters, and science fiction anomalies, and maybe a totally crazy woman?  That was a lot better than I had imagined this story to be!

     But alas, it was no UFO.  In fact, the bad-CGI object was never explained at all.  It was merely a device to start a fire, which would lead to Laura’s father being heroic and stalwart, and show us that he had a great and loving relationship with his daughter.  That’s it.  From there, we get to meet her equally wise and wonderful mother and her warm and caring blind sister.  Everyone is fantastic!

     We’re treated to some seriously silly dialogue – Laura writes a mean-spirited poem about her spiteful and vindictive teacher, and her father has to have a heart-to-heart talk with her.  That talk goes someone like this…

  “Laura, you bin given a gift!  You kin take the things ya see, and feel, and turn ‘em into words.  And you used that gift to hurt this woman.  Spiteful and vindictive or not, she din’t deserve that.”

     These words are of course delivered with an impressive gravitas, as good ol’ Dad proves to be both kind-hearted and wise, and a constant source of life lessons to young Laura.  But this particular exchange, along with many others in the movie, made me laugh until my sides ached.  In fact, I rewound this scene, and a few others, and they made me laugh just as much the second time around.

     The rest of the time, the movie just moves from one plot point to the next, one incident to the next, one scenario at a time.  It never shows us any actual action, just the aftermath of that action.  We see Laura about to have sex with her new husband, then the scene cuts away and a baby is there.  We see Laura about to give birth, and the scene cuts away to the family grieving over (presumably) a stillbirth.  Laura’s husband Almonzo heads into town, next thing you know he’s back at the house with Laura fighting a blaze at the ol’ homestead.

     There are two parts to the story, both of which are contained on this DVD.  Which means there are three hours of the Laura Ingalls Wilder story here.  Three long, by-the-numbers hours of storytelling that, I hope, would make Ms. Wilder herself very upset.  There is almost no effort put in to character development.  Instead, it’s a chronological recounting of what we think must have been Laura’s life.  How little effort was put into the movie?  Laura’s daughter’s dog’s name is Fido.  Fido.  Need I say more?

Year:  2005
Genre:  Drama, Romance
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid, Kate Mara, Anna Faris, Linda Cardellini
Eye candy:  Hathaway, Williams, Mara, Faris
Director:  Ang Lee
Run time:  134 minutes
DVD distributor:  Alliance Films

     The first half of Brokeback Mountain is excellent. The camerawork is sensational, and is reminiscent of some of the best work done by Terrence Malick in films like Days of Heaven and Badlands. Brokeback Mountain itself actually becomes a character in the movie, and Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are almost irrelevant.  Ledger, however, gives a terrific performance as a man who is simply struggling to communicate with everyone, including his gay lover Gyllenhaal.

     Then the gay sex happens. It’s rather shockingly aggressive, and that sets the tone for the second half of the movie, which is NOT very good. It’s about an hour too long, and we sort of know what will happen before it does. Jake Gyllenhall comes off as more of a sexual predator than a lover, and Heath Ledger spends the last two hours of the film just trying to escape from this man with whom he has had an ill-advised fling.

     Brokeback Mountain is much like Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. It starts off great, but by the two minute mark, we get it. No need to make the song seventeen minutes long, just jump to the end and save us some time. 

     Milk (*********9/10)

Year:  2008
Genre:  Drama, Biopic
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna, James Franco
Director:  Gus Van Sant
Run time:  127 minutes
DVD distributor:  Alliance Films

  “If it were true that children emulate their teachers, we’d have a lot more nuns running around.”

     Milk is the true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man ever to win an election for public office in the state of California.  He was shot and killed, along with the mayor of San Francisco, by a rival politician in 1978.  We know all of this information going into the film, which focuses mostly on 1977 and 78, and the controversial statewide initiative that sought to ban gays, and their “supporters”, from teaching at public schools. 

     Through a taped statement that Milk (Sean Penn) reads just before his death, we see the movie mostly through flashbacks related to this tape.  We also get to see archival footage – Walter Cronkite with the news, Anita Bryant and her crazed crusade against homosexuality – that creates a really great late-70s feel in the film. 

     The only bone I have to pick with Milk, really, is that it spends too much time introducing us to Harvey Milk.  We get to see him hook up with a new boyfriend, move to San Francisco, open a camera shop, and begin to become politically active.  But we’re not really getting to know him through all this.  The real Harvey Milk shows up when he decides to take on certain local issues, and begins to become a voice for the gay community.  I would have been just as happy had the movie started here. 

     But that’s a small issue when compared to the big picture, which is a very good movie featuring some very, very good performances.  Emile Hirsch (Into The Wild) is a former street hustler who joins Milk’s campaign for city supervisor, adn he is almost unrecognizable.  He’s also fantastic.  James Franco (Spiderman) is terrific as Milk’s steady boyfriend Scott, and I really liked Alison Pill as Milk’s lesbian campaign manager when Scott left.

     One actor I found unnecessary and distracting was Diego Luna, who played Milk’s new boyfriend, Jack.  A crazy, possessive, lunatic boyfriend, he’s one of those characters who makes you cringe every time he shows up on screen, and makes me want to fast forward through his scenes so I don’t have to share in the embarassment he’s causing himself.  But you can’t fast-forward at the theatre, can you? 

     The best performances in the film, however, are by Josh Brolin and Sean Penn.  Of course, the Academy has already acknowledged this themselves, having nominated both for acting Oscars.  Brolin is nominated for Supporting Actor for his role as Dan White, the rival politician whose bitter feud with Milk ends with the murder.  A brooding, seething presence, Brolin still manages to remain reasonably likeable and utterly convincing.  And Penn as Harvey Milk has done some of the best work of his already remarkable career.

     Milk serves well as a terrific snapshot of the late 70s in San Francisco.  The clothes, the characters, and the actors are all able to create a very convincing 70s gay Castro district scene.  The movie also serves as an inspiration for a civil rights movement that still has gigantic challenges in front of it, and it functions as a pretty solid biopic of a very interesting man.  I don’t think it deserved to be the Best Picture of the Year at the Oscars, but I do think it deserves to be watched by as many people as possible.  It comes out on the double feature with Brokeback Mountain March 2nd from Alliance Films.

“I accuse you gentlemen…of murder!”

     Nightwatching works on many levels.  It is a fine British comedy, with some witty writing and some terrifically funny lines.  It is a compelling and tense murder mystery, where the real culprits behind the murder aren’t revealed to the end.  It’s also an interesting historical drama and biopic about the famous painter Rembrandt as he painted his most famous work, Night Watch.  And it’s a wonderful performance in the role of Rembrandt by an unlikely actor – Martin Freeman.  Now, I know him very well from the British version of The Office, and from his role as Arthur Dent in Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.  So his performance came as a surprise to me.  It probably did not come as a surprise to him.

     Freeman works in this role because he appears to have supreme self-confidence at every moment while he is on the screen.  His Rembrandt is charming, playful, carefree and yet deeply troubled and pained by the evil he sees around him.  He is a womanizer and a free-spirited scoundrel, but he is also an artist and a genius and someone whose passion for the truth runs deep.  When he gets commissioned to paint the portrait of the members of the local militia, he initially wants to refuse the commission.  Convinced by his wife to just go ahead and do it, for the money, he reluctantly agrees.  But when a murder is committed, and he discovers this same militia are behind it, he paints his accusation against them into the picture.

     What follows certainly takes liberties with the facts of Rembrandt’s life.  I’m sure that not all the events represented in Nightwatching really took place in real life.  But it does follow the arc of the legendary painter’s life, and he does indeed end up in bed with all the women with whom he was reported to have been.  There are tragic moments in the film, as when we learn that one of the militiamen is running a brothel full of pre-teen orphans.  There are some very funny moments, mostly when Rembrandt is being a jerk to the militiamen he doesn’t like, while they tend to be too stupid to notice.  And there are some tense and dramatic moments as the mystery unfolds on screen.

     Also there are murders, conspiracies, paintings, tragic deaths, loves, boobs and a wonderful performance by Martin Freeman.  Who would have thought the guy from The Office could be a serious force in a Shakespearean period piece biopic about one of the greatest painters ever?  Not me.  But I suspect Martin Freeman thought so.  Nightwatching is the best movie I saw this week, and it comes out June 9th from Alliance Films.

“If it were true that children emulate their teachers, we’d have a lot more nuns running around.”

Milk is the true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man ever to win an election for public office in the state of California.  He was shot and killed, along with the mayor of San Francisco, by a rival politician in 1978.  We know all of this information going into the film, which focuses mostly on 1977 and 78, and the controversial statewide initiative that sought to ban gays, and their “supporters”, from teaching at public schools. 

Through a taped statement that Milk (Sean Penn) reads just before his death, we see the movie mostly through flashbacks related to this tape.  We also get to see archival footage – Walter Cronkite with the news, Anita Bryant and her crazed crusade against homosexuality – that creates a really great late-70s feel in the film. 

The only bone I have to pick with Milk, really, is that it spends too much time introducing us to Harvey Milk.  We get to see him hook up with a new boyfriend, move to San Francisco, open a camera shop, and begin to become politically active.  But we’re not really getting to know him through all this.  The real Harvey Milk shows up when he decides to take on certain local issues, and begins to become a voice for the gay community.  I would have been just as happy had the movie started here. 

But that’s a small issue when compared to the big picture, which is a very good movie featuring some very, very good performances.  Emile Hirsch (Into The Wild) is a former street hustler who joins Milk’s campaign for city supervisor, adn he is almost unrecognizable.  He’s also fantastic.  James Franco (Spiderman) is terrific as Milk’s steady boyfriend Scott, and I really liked Alison Pill as Milk’s lesbian campaign manager when Scott left.

One actor I found unnecessary and distracting was Diego Luna, who played Milk’s new boyfriend, Jack.  A crazy, possessive, lunatic boyfriend, he’s one of those characters who makes you cringe every time he shows up on screen, and makes me want to fast forward through his scenes so I don’t have to share in the embarassment he’s causing himself.  But you can’t fast-forward at the theatre, can you? 

The best performances in the film, however, are by Josh Brolin and Sean Penn.  Of course, the Academy has already acknowledged this themselves, having nominated both for acting Oscars.  Brolin is nominated for Supporting Actor for his role as Dan White, the rival politician whose bitter feud with Milk ends with the murder.  A brooding, seething presence, Brolin still manages to remain reasonably likeable and utterly convincing.  And Penn as Harvey Milk has done some of the best work of his already remarkable career.

Milk serves well as a terrific snapshot of the late 70s in San Francisco.  The clothes, the characters, and the actors are all able to create a very convincing 70s gay Castro district scene.  The movie also serves as an inspiration for a civil rights movement that still has gigantic challenges in front of it, and it functions as a pretty solid biopic of a very interesting man.  I don’t think it deserved to be the Best Picture of the Year at the Oscars, but I do think it deserves to be watched by as many people as possible.  It comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray March 10th from Alliance Films.