(500) Days of Summer

“The boy, Tom Hansen of Margate, New Jersey, grew up believing that he’d never truly be happy until the day he met the one.”

It’s so rare that I watch a film where a character reminds me so much of me. The film made me feel a bit anxious and happy and sad and ambitious. It was the most enjoyable romantic comedy I’ve seen in a very long time.

The only way it could have been better was if Summer was a guy. And actually it’s not impossible to read Summer as a male character (except Zooey is quite delightfully female).

Hidden History of Homosexuality

After seeing the movie Milk I was inspired to learn more about the people who fought for gay rights in this country. The documentary “The Hidden History of Homosexuality” was recommended to me and I borrowed a copy from my local library.

It’s an interesting overview, covering homosexuality from the early convict days, to the era of “passing women” (which I’d never heard of before), to the effect of the World Wars, the policital movements of the 70s and 80s that saw the law reforms.

The last few Midsummas I’ve thought of doing the history walk and I feel next year I really should just go and do it. After some discussion today I’m feeling a need to be more assertively gay, a little more politically active in some way, even with the simple act of standing up more often and saying I am gay.

Darcy

I watched the mini-series Lost in Austen and enjoyed it a lot. Despite another actor in the role, I still find myself fond of Mr Darcy. It’s really weird. I know the character is famous as being a much loved one from romantic fiction.

I don’t know why I, like so many women, find myself interested in this rude, proud, aloof man. Is it because of the greater context of the story (even in adaptations like Bride and Prejudice and reworkings like Lost in Austen)?

Is it just because it appeals to some interest in that man that you can’t stand but are attracted to anyway?

Whatever it is, I wonder where my Mr Darcy is?

Matthew Macfadyen, Pride and Prejudice (Movie)

Colin Firth, Pride and Prejudice (TV)

Martin Henderson, Bride and Prejudice

Elliot Cowan, Lost in Austen

In seek of a MQFF movie guide

I read about the Melbourne Queer Film Festival a month or so ago and then forgot about it. But it’s started yesterday. Now I’ve got to rush through the guide tonight and see if there’s anything in particular I should get along to see! I’d love a hard copy of the program and will have to look for one tomorrow I think. The website’s fine but it’s easy to browse these things in hard copy.

DVDs: Michael and Dan

In short Michael was more exciting but Dan was much more likeable. Neither was what I expected.

Any idea I had of what Michael Clayton would be about disappeared by the end of the introductory prologue. I’m not a big fan of George Clooney but I thought he was really good in this, feeling momentarily betrayed near the end of the film.

Dan In Real Life was also more of a romance than I thought it was. I spent a big chunk of the film though feeling sad for Dan being kept away from someone he could love by his family (but that says more about the way I feel about my family than the movie). Steve Carrell’s performance of Dan was not far removed from his performance of Michael Scott just with the more unpleasant parts removed.

Quick review

I might write more on these later, but if I don’t, I saw two movies at the cinema over this past weekend.

W: full of “celebrity lookalikes!” it seemed to skim through things too quickly. Brolin was great was “W”. C-

Zack and Miri Make A Porno: Another film that managed to mix grossout and sex humour with a somewhat touching romance story. B+

He’s Just Not That Into You

The chapter titles and accompanying voxpops were very Sex in the City, so that when Gigi came into the office with her book of notes I was half expecting the movie would follow on with her writing the book of He’s Just Not That Into You, and I’m glad it didn’t go that way.

A few of the biggest names seemed short-changed: Ben Affleck and Drew Barrymore did very little, and Jennifer Aniston got a bit more of a go. The Gigi and Justin Long storyline though that anchored the film was good enough though that I didn’t mind. It’s clear why they were on the promotional trail. The cheating husband storyline was also very good (although damn was he hot!).

One thing that bugged me was how forced all the connections seemed to be. It is possible to have multiple storylines in a movie without everyone being somehow connected. It just pushes the credibility a little too far.

I was a bit cautious going in, the title itself reminds me too much of my own life, but I enjoyed the film quite a lot in the way that most romance-comedies make me smile with their happily-ever-afters. B+

Changeling

I was expecting this to be a conspiracy film but it was more a psychological thriller, and I loved it. Angelina was wonderful in this, although I did have flashbacks to her previous Oscar-winning role at times, throughout it all she was convincing and it hurt to see her robbed of so much. When she struggled to give the doctor the right sort of questions it was painful to see her unable to see how to get out of it.

The film dragged a little bit at the end. I thought it was odd that at the end the final bit of justice didn’t feel like a good conclusion, maybe because there was still unanswered questions, and maybe because I dislike the idea of the punishment that was dealt out, especially in the way that mental illness was so misunderstood at the time. A-

Catching up on movies

Chocolat

This wasn’t the film I expected but I enjoyed it a lot. It has a nice little fairytale feel, but it did make me very hungry. I like chocolate anyway but this film celebrated confectionery! Johnny Depp was in this much less than I thought, but Alfred Molina made a great antagonist.

1408

The evil hotel room for hell. This sort of supernatural stuff doesn’t really scare me, but the film pulled off a very effective creepy feel and a couple of good jump moments. I don’t think there would have been any ending I would have liked.

Milk

The film felt like a history lesson, but it was a history lesson I’m glad I saw. The use of historic footage (both news and everyday footage) was really helpful in selling the time and place. It seemed such an exciting and liberating time, but at the same time the tide of discrimination Milk was fighting was awful.

Sean Penn did a great job. James Franco was just gorgeous and distracting. I was surprised by Josh Brolin’s role in the film; it was much different from what the trailer had implied. I liked that perhaps the main villain of the movie was played by herself from old news reports.

It’s an important history lesson though and it left me ashamed I don’t know much about our country’s gay civil rights movement. It made me realise I don’t do enough advocacy myself.

And although I think things could be better, we are a whole lot better off these days than those in days gone past.