Review: “Milk”

Before November, Gus Van Sant’s long awaited biopic of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to hold public office in the United States, seemed like just another biographical film with echoes into an ongoing issue.

But on November 4th, 2008, the citizens of California voted yes on Proposition 8, a despicable and discriminatory bill that repealed the rights of gay citizens to get married. And suddenly Milk was given a new urgency, an eerie echo into the present day that made it all the more relevant.

One of the greatest challenges that faced Milk after he was finally elected (after a series of failures), was the ballot referendum, Proposition 6, which threatened to give the state of California the right to fire homosexual teachers and anyone who supported them.

Review: “Frost/Nixon”

On either side of Ron Howard’s ferocious “Frost/Nixon,” a filmic adaptation by Peter Morgan of his own successful stage play, two unlikely adversaries battle it out gloves off in one of television’s most historic broadcasts, translating the, then unknown, intimacy and tell-all nature of the close-up into a far more familiar medium – all while evoking a kind of thrilling, chilling atmosphere one would expect from a psychological thriller, not a talky Ron Howard drama.

Howard’s capabilities of expressing almost anything pertaining to the immense power of human expression without massive contrivance have been so unimpressive in the past that one would be forgiven if they assumed his latest film to be a sterile, by-the-book rehash of the Richard Nixon/David Frost interviews of 1977. In truth, “Frost/Nixon” is anything but and its bark is just as surprising as its bite, regardless of Howard’s adverse overuse of the close-ups that define exactly why Morgan considers television to be an all-inclusive equalizer.

Grading the Movies – 12/14/08

Here is how mine and Nick’s grades stack up against each other on selected current releases:

AUSTRALIA (B)
Matt: B
Nick: B

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS (B)
Matt: N/A
Nick : B

A CHRISTMAS TALE (C+)
Matt: C+
Nick: N/A

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (C-)
Matt: C-
Nick: N/A

DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER (A)
Matt: A
Nick: A

FROST/NIXON (A-)
Matt: A-
Nick: A-

Welcome to Cineculture!

Welcome everyone to Cineculture! This is a joint project by Matthew Lucas from From the Front Row, and Nick Plowman from Fataculture, that will attempt to bring talented young bloggers from all over to come together to create a community of ideas and to share a common love of all things cinematic!

We will be working on setting the place up for a little while, as we get settled in our new home.  Until then keep checking back, because we’ll have things rolling here soon!