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on November 4th, 2008, the citizens of California voted yes on Proposition 8, a despicable and discriminatory bill that repealed the rights of gay citizens to get married.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.

Like Proposition 8, Prop 6 was supported by rabid right wing, fundamentalist Christians who sought to impose their own narrow religious bigotry on the rest of the country, while hiding behind a mask of “protecting the family.” But largely due to the efforts of Harvey Milk, they were defeated.

Van Sant’s film covers the last eight years of Harvey’s life, before was tragically shot down by a disgruntled former district supervisor who was upset over having just lost his job. From his struggles to get elected, to his quest to bring gay issues to the forefront of politics and bring voice to a people who had been ignored and marginalized for too long, to his epic crusade against Prop 6, Van Sant examines what made Milk tick, and the effect he had on those around him.

Harvey Milk was more than just a politician. He was a father figure to a great many disaffected young homosexuals who needed to find a place where they would not be judged, and would be loved for who they were. Milk’s camera shop on Castro Street in San Francisco became the focal point of the gay movement in the 1970s, which directly gave birth to the organized gay rights organizations we know today, that so forcefully fought against the passing of Prop 8.

Sean Penn is remarkable as Milk, giving what could very well be the finest performance in his distinguished career. The screenplay by newcomer Dustin Lance Black perfectly captures the optimistic spirit of Harvey Milk, and is almost otherworldly in its channeling of the current political climate.

Milk specialized in giving hope to the hopeless and forgotten, and Milk is like a jolting message from the past. Through the lens of a fledgling movement of a group who had not yet gained mainstream acceptance, Milk gives hope to a new generation for a brighter and more tolerant tomorrow. Even in the face of the passing of Proposition 8, the rallying cry of Harvey Milk that “you gotta give ‘em hope” rings all the more true. And here he is more than 30 years later, speaking through the mouth of Sean Penn and Gus Van Sant’s powerful and deeply moving film, that there is still hope.

Van Sant takes a standard biopic structure and constructs something beautiful; a testament to the willpower and strength of a man with the courage to stand up and fight for what he believed in, and won a great victory against impossible odds. It is an inspiring film, and an essential one for our time, allowing Harvey Milk to continue to give hope to a new generation for whom victory is finally in sight.

GRADE - ***½ (out of four)

MILK; Directed by Gus Van Sant; Stars Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco, Alison Pill, Victor Garber; Rated R for language, some sexual content and brief violence

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.

In Morgan’s Tony Award-winning stage play, Frank Langella and Michael Sheen breathed new life into the characters of Nixon and Frost respectively, and they were re-cast due to their probable unmatched familiarity and knowledge of the shamed President and his playboy talk show antagonist.

However, what the two fine actors offer aren’t impressions of the famous faces, nor are they recreations of their stage portrayals; they pronounce their near opposite, but eerily similar subjects in a light more befitting to the silver screen. It is sleek by design, perhaps too clean, and that is another one of Howard’s inhibitions that have ruined a vast array of otherwise fine motion pictures.

The factual story at hand is far too interesting for that to happen here, despite being well-documented, to be entirely subdued by his lack of subtlety. His backseat approach as a director here renders his final product one of his best yet that strips down exactly what it means to be a public figure, and searches for a trace of soul so often blacked out under the glare of the spotlight.

Embarrassed and without immediate hope, Richard Nixon stepped down from his presidency after the implications of the Watergate scandal seemed too powerful to overcome any time soon. As Nixon stepped down, Frost, watching Nixon get of lightly along with millions of other viewers, raised his eyebrows as he became consumed by an idea to take a risk that would either land him a name worth mentioning, or ruin his career forever.

As a newsman whose legacy seemed to have disintegrated to the point where the basis of his interviewees were pop stars or rock bands, he was hungry to reignite the general publics infatuation with his casually witty approach to television broadcasting.

Captivated by the gaze of the befallen Nixon onscreen, Frost decided that if he could perhaps interview Nixon, dig up some unspoken truths about his scandalous acts as a statesman voted for by the public at large, he could convince the world that his lightweight bearing exists only in their minds. In return, Nixon could clear the air for the first and last time, set the record straight and perhaps reclaim some of his questionable former glory.

After three years of silence, Nixon agreed to the exclusive interviews because he thought being the well-renowned figure that he once was, he could blow Frost out of the water without so much as breaking a sweat. His decision to be interviewed by Frost by means of four programs consisting of 90-minutes each sounded the alarm for the most captivating battle of the wits; two fierce oppositional forces sitting face to face, the entire world watching, in the game for different reasons, each monumental from their own vantage points.

Adorning a hunch and an awkward composure, Langella’s Nixon is dark enough to warrant a skin crawling experience, but Howard’s decision to sentimentalise the flawed, somewhat pathetic man makes for a strange mixture of emotions elicited from the viewer. By contrast, Sheen’s bright-eyed smile and subtle shift from know-nothing talking head to a genuine match for a master of the cover-up isn’t as immediately impressive and is somewhat overshadowed by Langella’s quiet (save for his growling) tour de force.

Langella does just that by not giving an impression of the disgraced Nixon but instead gives his impression, where the perpetually sweat tainted icon of governmental misconduct is dappled with a vulnerability and gracelessness behind his rumbling viciousness and will to salvage the little that was left of his status.

Like with many other recent portrayals of Presidential figures, it has become something of a commonplace expectation that not only should there not be a caricature in site, but that something extra ought to be brought to the table to set aside one particular incarnation of a well-known personality from the many others that have come before it. Likewise, historical dramas have a longstanding reign of straddling the line between being solid and merely good.

“Frost/Nixon,” despite obviously baring the mark of Ron Howard and the muffled vision he possesses, exceeds such archetypical pigeonholing because the electric undercurrents of vivid suspense are given ample opportunity to unsettle the composed, picturesque surface in what is one of the year’s finest dramatic pieces of cinema.

Fatac Rating: ****

Frost/Nixon. Directed by Ron Howard. Written by Peter Morgan based on his play of the same title. Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell, Rebecca Hall, Toby Jones, Matthew Macfadyen, and Oliver Platt. Running Time: 122 minutes. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. [A-]

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-

GRAN TORINO (A-)
Matt: A+
Nick: B+

GOMORRAH (B+)
Matt: B
Nick: A-

HUNGER (A-)
Matt: A-
Nick: A-

HAPPY-GO-LUCKY (A-)
Matt: B+
Nick: A

I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (A)
Matt: A
Nick: N/A

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (A-)
Matt: A
Nick: B+

MILK (A)
Matt: A-
Nick: A

PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL (B+)
Matt: N/A
Nick: B+

QUANTUM OF SOLACE (B)
Matt: A-
Nick: C+

RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (A-)
Matt: A-
Nick: A-

STRANDED: I HAVE COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED ON THE MOUNTAINS (A-)
Matt: N/A
Nick: A-

SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK (A+)
Matt: A+
Nick: A

TROUBLE THE WATER
Matt: B+
Nick: A-

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!