Happy-Go-Lucky

***1/2

Mike Leigh has been highly praised for his barebones approach at social class in England with films like Naked and Secrets and Lies. Leigh’s latest film, Happy-Go-Lucky, is a funny, warm-hearted tale about looking on the bright side of life. Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is a plucky, free-spirited kindergarten teacher who always has a smile on her face. When she is faced with stuff that would piss anybody off-like sharing a car with an uptight driving instructor (a very funny Eddie Marsden) or having your bike stolen- she laughs it off and cracks a few jokes with her friends.

Sally Hawkins (Little Britain, Vera Drake) is beautiful and funny in her performance as Poppy. The best way to describe Poppy is like Diane Keaton in Annie Hall, only she’s decked out in Technicolor shirts and tights rather than pantsuits. She’s always being told to take life seriously, but she remains upbeat and independent making her the envy of her family and friends. If only you knew someone who was like that in this serious world.

Leigh has been known for pointing the camera at British desolation and poverty. He remains true to that during an unlikely encounter between Poppy and a schizophrenic pauper. Eddie Marsden also fits in with Leigh’s social realism circle by lecturing Poppy on life’s disappointments and how the end is always around every turn. He channels David Thewlis’ antihero in Naked (minus the misogyny and rape) by explaining that the Washington Monument is symbolic to Satan.

Despite all of the bleakness and harsh views at reality, you will come out of Happy-Go-Lucky feeling happy-go-lucky.

Gran Torino

Rating: ****

If you were to thumb through the dictionary to find the definition for "bad-ass", you would probably see a picture of Clint Eastwood. Gran Torino is Eastwood's latest film, and it shows the Man from Malpaso at his best as an actor and director. In the last four years, Eastwood stayed out of frame and behind the camera with his two WWII epics, Flags of our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima, and Changeling. Now, Eastwood stars as Walt Kowalski: a cantankerous Korean War vet battling with his past demons while playing the reluctant mentor to a kid (Bee Vang), who tried to steal his prized possession, a 1972 Gran Torino.

Kowalski lives in internal isolation and sheer bitterness. Besides telling racist jokes over a bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon and a shot of whisky, he finds salvation in fixing up his house and staying away from his careless offspring. After stopping his new neighbor, a timid Asian teenager, from stealing his Gran Torino, Kowalski puts him through a rigorous regimen of hard work and learning how to advocate himself from the gang bangers that live in the neighborhood.

It may seem like a cliched story, but when it comes to having an actor like Eastwood going through an emotional gauntlet of redemption with his M1 rifle in his hand, you cannot bare to miss the experience. Eastwood gets you right in the jugular by blending the violence and loneliness of life with the use of sharp contrasts in lighting, slow establishment shots, and an ominous score by Kyle Eastwood, Clint's son.

Clint has always been asked if he was going to do another Dirty Harry movie. Besides pulling a Schwarzenegger or Harrison Ford, Eastwood's portrayal of Walt Kowalski makes Harry Callahan look like a socialist pansy. At 78, Eastwood shows no signs of weakness in his acting and directing; he is an unstoppable force with as much coolness and attitude than his '72 Gran Torino.

Golden Globe Reactions

In the last few years, I've seen how predictable the Golden Globes can be. This year, it is going to be very tough to choose who will come out shining. The only film I see that's going to pick up an award is WALL-E for Best Animated Film. WALL-E might win Best Song for "Down to Earth" written by Thomas Newman and Peter Gabriel.

What made my head spin was the nominees for Best Supporting Actor. Surprise, surprise! Heath Ledger got nominated for The Dark Knight, but that didn't make my head spin. Seeing Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. being nominated for Tropic Thunder made me laugh out loud. Both are great actors, and someone like Downey being nominated for playing a dude, whose playing a dude disguised as another dude is worth the recognition, but not for an award. It also ticked me off that James Franco was nominated for "Pineapple Express" and was snubbed for a Best Supporting nomination for Milk.

Plus, where the hell was Josh Brolin!? He should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Milk. It would've been fun to see the neck-to-neck tension between Brolin and Ledger, but it seems like the Hollywood Foreign Press disregarded a few choice performances and placed in cannon fodder, with the exception of Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt.

What will be very interesting to see is who will pick up a Best Director award. Sam Mendes is nominated for Revolutionary Road, which is a film I have yet to see. After reading the novel, I wept. So, I would like to see if Mendes' look at suburbia will make me cry as hard as the book, or as hard as American Beauty. David Fincher, another great auteur already making some nose with Benjamin Button, will be up for an award. Despite the list of great directors up for the gold, I was disappointed not to see Gus Van Sant or Mike Leigh's name under the Best Director list.

As for Best Actor, I am crossing my fingers to the point of getting arthritis for Sean Penn. Maybe, he might pull it off due to the rave reviews and the public outcry over Prop 8. But, I heard Mickey Rourke is making a comeback with The Wrestler. Two bad-ass actors, one Golden Globe. Who will leave the Thunderdome alive?

Well, I better go clean out my wallet and make my own decisions about who should be grabbing the Globes.

2008 Golden Globes

Today, the nominees for the Golden Globes were announced. In my next blog, I'll give you my reaction to the nominees.

Best Motion Picture- Drama
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Motion Picture- Musical/Comedy
Burn After Reading
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Mamma Mia!
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Actor- Drama
Leonardo DiCaprio- Revolutionary Road
Frank Langella- Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn- Milk
Brad Pitt- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke- The Wrestler

Best Actress- Drama
Anne Hathaway- Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie- Changeling
Meryl Streep- Doubt
Kristen Scott Thomas- I Loved You For So Long
Kate Winslet- Revolutionary Road

Best Actor- Comedy
Javier Bardem- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Colin Farrell- In Bruges
James Franco- Pineapple Express
Brendan Gleeson- In Bruges
Dustin Hoffman- Last Chance Harvey

Best Actress- Comedy
Rebecca Hall- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Sally Hawkins- Happy-Go-Lucky
Frances McDormand- Burn After Reading
Meryl Streep- Mamma Mia!
Emma Thompson- Last Chance Harvey

Best Supporting Actor
Tom Cruise- Tropic Thunder
Robert Downey Jr.- Tropic Thunder
Ralph Fiennes- The Dutchess
Philip Seymour Hoffman- Doubt
Heath Ledger- The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams- Doubt
Penelope Cruz- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis- Doubt
Marisa Tomei- The Wrestler
Kate Winslet- The Reader

Best Director
Danny Boyle- Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry- The Reader
David Fincher- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard- Frost/Nixon
Sam Mendes- Revolutionary Road

Best Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
Doubt- John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon- Peter Morgan
The Reader- David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire- Simon Beaufoy

Best Original Song
Bolt ("I Thought I Lost You")
Cadillac Records ("Once in a Lifetime")
Gran Torino ("Gran Torino")
WALL-E ("Down To Earth")
The Wrestler ("The Wrestler")

Best Original Score
Changeling- Clint Eastwood
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Alexandre Desplat
Defiance- James Newton Howard
Frost/Nixon-Hans Zimmer
Slumdog Millionaire- A.E. Rahman

Best Animated Film
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

Best Foreign Language Film
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex
Maria Larssons eviga ogonblick (Maria Larsson's Everlasting Moment)
Gomorra
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (I Loved You For So Long)
Waltz with Bashir

Frost/Nixon

Rating: ***1/2

Ron Howard is no stranger when it comes to exploring some of the defining moments in American history, the near-death space mission known as Apollo 13 and the personal struggle during the Great Depression in Cinderella Man. Howard’s latest project is Frost/Nixon; a dramatization of the famous series of televised interviews between television personality David Frost and former president Richard Nixon. Rising back from the disappointment of The Da Vinci Code, Howard brilliantly recreates Peter Morgan’s Tony Award-winning play surrounding the lives between the British talk-show host cum playboy and the embittered president, who resigned from office due to the Watergate scandal.

Frank Langella reprises his role as Richard Nixon, which won him the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actor. Langella’s performance is not a long-winded impression of Nixon that one might expect; it is a detailed look at his nuances, personality, and long-standing battle between his inner demons and his ego. He delivers the social discomfort Nixon has when addressing a room of orthodontists and his sheer bitterness during a drunken phone call with Frost. Not since Anthony Hopkins has anyone portrayed Nixon with much raw emotion and alcoholic delusion.

Michael Sheen has portrayed Tony Blair in The Deal and The Queen with such energy and an unforgettable smile. Sheen delivers the charm and suaveness of David Frost, the man who started off interviewing The Bee Gees and hosting entertainment specials before becoming a world renowned news anchor. Sheen’s charm, sheer ambition, and intensity blend beautifully with Langella uptight and social impotence. The chemistry Sheen and Langella is as strong as it was when they performed Frost/Nixon on Broadway in 2007.

Watching Howard’s intense 180 degree shots between Nixon and Frost mirror De Niro’s in the boxing ring in Raging Bull. The verbal punches and blows during the three day interview turn into heart-pounding suspense as Frost cross-examines Nixon about Watergate. When all is said and done, you don’t know if you should cheer for Frost, or take sympathy towards Nixon as he slowly strips away the ego and bravado he once had. Frost/Nixon is a brilliant recreation of one of the greatest interviews in television history.

If... Then and Now: A retrospective

In 1968, Lindsay Anderson's If…became a controversial hybrid of sadism, homosexuality, and anarchy in modern society. 40 years on, the film has become a classic form of art in the true sense of the word, as it has become a watershed film that still hones in on the philosophical views regarding revolution and silent conformity.

Written by David Sherwin, the film takes place at an English all boys' prep school, in which the senior students and teachers control the attitudes and image of the school with dark sarcasm and sadism under an Orwellian form of fascism. Mick Travis, portrayed by Malcolm McDowell, is a student who tries to rebel against the school system and the abuse of power through sheer merriment and violence.

As a result, the film became a controversial slap against the British establishment. The film received an X-rating; the British Ambassador called it "an insult to the nation," and Queen Elizabeth II simply asked "Why?" after seeing a screening of the film. Despite the controversy over the film it was awarded the Palm D'or at the Cannes Film Festival. For Lindsay Anderson, who became the auteur and head of the "angry young man" film movement with classics like This Sporting Life, If… was his most memorable film that people praised and damned.

David Sherwin, who later wrote screenplays for films like O Lucky Man! and Sunday Bloody Sunday, crafted the story under the title, "Crusaders." "I wrote the script was because I wanted to go to Hollywood and write a western, but all plots had been done," Sherwin said in a 2003 interview. "But something occurred to me, when I was in school, the words of William Woodsworth; 'Poetry's experience recollected in tranquility' and the only experience I had was in this school, which was like a Nazi War camp."

In a time when revolution filled the air; the riots in Paris and Chicago, the growing antiwar movement, and the antiestablishment messages in popular music, If… channeled the attitudes and ideas flowing throughout 1968. In a 1985 interview Lindsay Anderson said, "We were very lucky with If… because it was made and came out during the time of the student revolutions. It was not at all designed to echo what was going on in the world. If it is anarchistic, that's because I am anarchistic."

Unlike the dated films that appeared out of the 1960s, such as Darling or Blow Up, the intention of not making If… into a stereotypical Mod film gave room for the overall philosophies of control and anarchy to pave way, instead of being pegged by viewers as anger and fury from the baby boom generation. What sets apart If… and the watershed films of the 1960s, is how today's audiences look at the film. Before becoming a highly-acclaimed director, Stephen Frears was the assistant director of the film, and said the film "was in the moment as soon as you read the script."

If you were a young film patron in 1968 America, it was easy to identify with the hypocrisy of the older generation and the level of violence that precedes it. During the late 60s, filmmakers wanted to paint a real portrait of society. America already established films of that caliber, such as The Graduate and Medium Cool. In a time, in which iconic figures were assassinated and riots and protests engulfed the country, it became as normal to see it in cellulite as it was on the evening news.

Today, it seems that the symbolic messages of antiestablishment and questioning authority are overshadowed by the fact that people want to be merely entertained by a film, not persuaded with in-depth philosophies. With the wave of violence in American schools like Columbine and Virginia Tech, as well as the Youtube generation absorbing senseless acts of violence from their computer screens, it is hard for today's wave of filmgoers to understand a film like If… unless they are swept up by the violence displayed on screen, versus how the violence manifested itself.

The power the film had on its viewers and budding filmmakers at the time would lead to a cinematic revolution of realism and youthful angst. In 1969, British filmmaker, John Schlesinger went on to direct the pivotal film, which became the first X-Rated film to receive the Best Picture Oscar; Midnight Cowboy. Stanley Kubrick saw If… five times, which inspired him to cast Malcolm McDowell in the iconic film that echoed the philosophies If… projected; A Clockwork Orange.

The film became a prophetic message for the future of visual and aural art forms. The final shooting sequence epitomizes the frustration of youth, which would later be transcribed into the music of The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Patti Smith, just to name a few. In theory, If… was the first, and ultimate, punk film.

Graham Crowley, a regular of Lindsay Anderson's films and plays until his death in 1993, said this about Lindsay Anderson and his perception around the revolutionary film; "His whole idea using the public school image was to demonstrate that society, underneath the veneer of good manners and establishment was beginning to really start to rebel this kind of autocracy and to demonstrate the country at that particular moment." In retrospect, there can be no film that matches the qualities and artistic demeanor quite like If…

Milk

Rating: ****

In a year that has given us blockbuster fodder and low brow plotlines, one film comes out shining; Gus Van Sant’s Milk. After this year’s election, you may be sick and tired of the words ‘change’ and ‘maverick’, but it is hard not to utter those words without knowing who Harvey Milk was: a Long Island businessman who changed the political climate by becoming the first openly gay man to hold a seat in public office. Finally, someone can cross John McCain out of the definition of maverick.
The film begins in San Francisco, 1978. Harvey Milk recollects his life into a tape recorder days before being assassinated by fellow worker, Dan White. It may seem like an overly dramatic opening to tug at the Oscar crowd, but Milk’s love of the theater made him want to give a strong final bow. Thus, begins the odyssey into Milk’s life as a businessman, activist, and lover.

Who could be better suited to cover the liberating energy and electricity of 1970s San Francisco than Gus Van Sant? Van Sant’s use of stock footage and 16mm cameras brilliantly capture Castro Street at the peak of its civil unrest towards the bigotry and violence that has manifested itself from the likes of Anita Bryant and the local police. Van Sant and cinematographer Harris Savides revive the steady cam shot intensity used in Elephant and is blended with the quick-pace editing reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.

The driving force behind this brilliant film is the breed of astonishing actors. James Franco casts aside the tangled web of Spiderman films and delivers an incredible performance as Scott Stevens, Milk’s lover. You see the vulnerability and fear behind his seductive charm. Emile Hirsh bowled over audiences last year with Into the Wild. He raises the bar with his second collaboration with Sean Penn as Cleve Jones, the street hustler turned political advisor for Harvey Milk, whose flamboyance and liveliness illuminate the screen.

From stoner-surfer Jeff Spicolli to his Oscar award-winning role in Mystic River, Sean Penn has delivered 25 years of astounding and solid performances. Milk is Penn’s finest hour as he gives his most powerful performance in his career. He doesn’t just emulate Harvey Milk, he is Harvey Milk. The compassion and political rage Penn has been widely known for is channeled into a man, whose voice is as loud as it was thirty years ago from Proposition 6 to Proposition 8. It’s a little early to tell who should be snagging an Oscar nomination, but after seeing his performance as Harvey Milk, it is safe to say that Penn will not be cast asunder from the public eye.

Next to Penn, Josh Brolin’s performance as Milk’s assailant, Dan White, is remarkably intense and stunning. Brolin has given back-to-back stellar performances in No Country For Old Men and W. His portrayal as Dan White is one of great depth and intrigue into the mind of a man who acted out on fear and envy by ending the lives of Milk and Mayor George Moscone. As you get into the heart of the film, you look at the man behind the political mask as he slowly loses his balance, such as getting into a drunken heated argument with Milk or masking his contempt while watching him on TV.

Milk is an important film, not just the fact that it tells the story of a true American hero, but it is a film that looks at the fine line between intolerance and change in American politics. Thirty years after Milk’s death, his life and legacy remains as strong as ever, and it takes a devoted group of actors and a brilliant director, like Van Sant, to tell his story.

Warm Welcome!

Welcome to my film review page!

My name is David Stewart, and I am a freelance writer and aspiring film critic. I started this blog from the advice of my friends and family, as they suggested I should take my film criticism, go beyond the printed press and put it out in cyberspace. Every week, I'll put out my take on the latest films and talk about them in great detail. Don't worry, the words SPOILER ALERT won't come into play. Next to my reviews on the latest films, I'll throw in an op-ed column about the latest film news or special DVDs coming out.

My rating system works on the classic star scale:
****= Top Marks
***= Good, but not great
**= Fair
*= Not worth the $10
0= No.

Well, I hope you enjoy my blog and I'll see you at the movies.