MILK (Gus Van Sant) East Bay punk rock was the ostensible rational for the move from my Midwestern roots to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1992. But an underlying factor—which I was too terrified to acknowledge overtly at the time—was that I couldn’t wait to be in a place where I would feel comfortable […]
Monster (2003, Patty Jenkins) You won’t recognize Charlize Theron in this film, and only part of it is makeup and weight gain. She’s so thoroughly transformed herself into Aileen Wuornos, roadside prostitute and serial killer, that only hints of her identity are visible. She can’t help being beautiful at times, but that only makes her […]
Mystic River (2003, Clint Eastwood) Mystic River doesn’t feel like a Clint Eastwood movie. Maybe because we’re used to seeing him directing himself, maybe because it’s set in Boston rather than the West–although he has done plenty of films that don’t fit those parameters, we still expect him to. Either way, I may go out […]
