If I was the sort of person who uses postage stamps even occasionally, I would own a book of Harvey Milk stamps. Definitely. The Times of Harvey Milk made me a lifelong admirer of the late San Francisco supervisor. I’ve watched it a good six or seven times at least. In any case I’m appalled … Read more
I’ve been otherwise engaged (which is sometimes a euphemism for “lazy”) but let’s get down to this, link-wise: (a) Stephen Zeitchik‘s 10.28 Hollywood Reporter piece about the alleged “Milk marketing conundrum” (which broke late yesterday evening as I was on my way out of the Milk screening and on my way to the Frost/Nixon one); … Read more
This trailer for Gus Van Sant‘s Milk looks awfully good. Just a trailer, but it looks right, feels right, and is very nimbly cut. Sean Penn‘s Harvey Milk performance feels like a knockout. (If only he were taller! Sorry, but it’s hard to dislodge the Times of Harvey Milk footage of the real McCoy, who … Read more
The Playlist‘s Rodrigo Perez “just got an interesting tip” from a friend who got an early look at Gus Van Sant‘s Milk (Focus, 11.26). But I don’t know why he’d call it interesting since the guy doesn’t say if the biopic was any good or not. All the tipster said is that (a) it’s much … Read more
Though Walt Becker didn’t write Wild Hogs, its early progress is similarly angled, with much ‘ewww!’ mileage eked from the ways in which William H. Macy‘s sensitive-guy nature sometimes make him seem ‘gay,’ plus a randy cop (Scrubs‘ John C. McGinley) who misreads the traveling male quartet’s bond. Studio product once ridiculed homosexuals outright — … Read more
I’d forgotten how effective the finale of To Die For is, and what a collossal dumbass Nicole Kidman‘s Pamela Smart** was depicted as. And especially what a blood-chilling vibe David Cronenberg had. That voice, those executive duds, that smile. For me the second all-time creepiest movie assassin is that burly, 60ish, working-class Crimes and Misdemeanors … Read more
As I didn’t care for Christophe Honore‘s Sorry Angel, I slipped out of the theatre after…oh, 85 minutes or so. Life is short. Sorry Angel is actually a well-written, better-than-decent period drama (early ’90s) about a couple of gay guys separated by age and education levels, but influencing each other for the better in various … Read more
Roughly four years ago I posted a little riff about Crayton Robey‘s Making The Boys, a longish but absorbing history of the impact of Mart Cowley‘s The Boys in the Band. It focused on Crowley’s life, the writing of the 1968 play and the huge off-Broadway success it became, the making of the William Freidkin-directed … Read more
I was surprised by the results of a 3.24 poll, published by Awards Daily‘s Ryan Adams, revealing his readers’ favorite gay-themed films. It’s a respectable list, but the absence of William Friedkin and Mart Crowley‘s The Boys in the Band (’70) — arguably the most groundbreaking-in-its-time gay film ever made — tells me Adams’ voters … Read more
Jane Fonda tweeted yesterday about the shooting of Rep. Giffords. This led me to her site and this 32 year-old photo of herself and Harvey Milk, another elected official shot by a right-leaning delusional, but who sadly wasn’t as lucky as Giffords, who will most likely survive according to reports. And that whole episode just … Read more
Marshall Fine admires Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman‘s Howl (Oscilloscope, 9.24) , which “is about many more things than just a poem,” he writes. “But if you boil it down to its essence, it’s a movie about a poet and his creation – about the writing and transmission of a work of poetry. And unlike … Read more
FilmBuff, a video-on-demand channel for connoisseurs of high-quality, indie-level cinema as well as classics from all studios and realms, began to appear today on a couple of dozen cable systems, including Verizon’s FiOS and Charter. Cinetic Rights Management’s John Sloss and Matt Dentler, who told me about their new operation earlier today, said FilmBuff would … Read more