Quick Movie Reviews (11.11.08)

Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
In anticipation of Gus Van Sant’s upcoming film, Milk, starring Sean Penn, I rented this Academy Award-winning documentary from Netflix. Harvey Milk was San Francisco’s first openly gay elected official. He represented his district as well as the rights of gay men and women as a councilor on the city’s board of governors. This excellent documentary makes extensive use of archived footage and interviews with the people who were there. On November 27, 1978, both Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by former councilor Dan White. I had been vaguely aware of Milk, his life and his assassination, but this documentary is an excellent record of his life. Of course you get angry at the senslessness of the murders, but what will really make you angry is what happens (or doesn’t happen) to White. Here is a man who snuck into a window in City Hall to avoid the metal detectors, walked into Moscone’s office, shot him five times, reloaded, walked across the hall to Milk’s office and shot him several times. And he just walks away – literally and figuratively. It’s an amazing story.

Baby Mama (2008)
Two of the funniest women walking on the planet today are Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. So you would expect a movie that stars both of them to be laugh out loud hilarious from beginning to end. Well, not so much. It’s not that the movie isn’t funny – it is hilarious in some spots (and if you rent the DVD please, please watch the deleted scenes and see one of the funniest scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor), but it gets bogged down in just too much going on. There are a lot of storylines here and they begin to weigh down the funny. Then there is a plot twist that really sucks the funny out of the movie. The movie is a fine effort but, like a lot of comedies with identity crises, it loses its way. It’s a good rental but I’m glad I did not pay good money to see it at the theater. Some bright spots: Steve Martin’s turn as the CEO of an organic supermarket chain; and Dax Shepard as Amy’s “common law” husband is absolutely hilarious and steals just abut every scene he is in.

Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)
I was about 30 minutes into this Alex Gibney documentary when I realized I had not blinked. This is easily one of the best put together documentaries I’ve seen in a long time, which is probably why it won the Academy Award in 2008. The doc opens with the story of Dilawar, an Afghan villager who also happens to be the local taxi driver. One day he drives away from his village and never returns. Turns out he was arrested by Afghan forces and turned over to U.S. forces to be interrogated at Bagram prison. This real life beginning "ride to the dark side" provides the metaphorical backdrop for the United States’ leadership and development of torture in the name of the War on Terrorism. This is not some liberal screed (a la Michael Moore) against the Bush Administration or the war in the Mideast. Gibney interviews soldiers and others who were involved in the interrogation tactics at Bagram and, eventually, Abu Gharib. He presents documented evidence of our senior leadership condoning and recommending torture techniques. While watching this two-hour documentary, I kept repeating: “We’re supposed to be the good guys.” Be forewarned: It is graphic. It is brutal. It will absolutely make you angry – on a number of levels.

Bama Girl (2008)
This documentary by Rachel Goslins has been generating a fair amount of buzz since it premiered at a film festival earlier this year. It was the closing film for Birmingham’s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival. It tells the story of a young black woman’s quest to be homecoming queen at the University of Alabama in 2005. As you would hope, the focus of the film, Jessica Thomas, is extremely charismatic and likable. She is an accomplished young lady who wants to be homecoming queen in the worst way. To reach her goal, she must get past 15 other girls to get on the homecoming court, win against another black female athlete, and campaign against The Machine, an all-white collection of fraternities and sororities whose goal is to get the candidates into office. I have a feeling that Ms. Goslins was expecting to find a more racially charged atmosphere, but what came across was a microcosm of racial and political issues that one might find anywhere. This doc is good but it didn’t live up to the hype that I had been hearing. It has a tendency to be uneven so that it dragged in spots. There are a lot – a lot – of shots of Jessica fixing her hair and her make-up in various restrooms. I can’t tell if Ms. Goslins was trying to send a message but it was weird after a while. The ending was unsatisfactory as well. Where is Ms. Thomas now? What are her thoughts now that the campaign is over? What about the thoughts of the other ladies? One side note. . .after about 20 minutes into the doc, my grandmother would be yelling at Jessica: “For goodness sakes, spit out your gum!”