Road to the Golden Globes

I'm not a fan of winter, but I love Oscar season! I have seen so many movies in theaters lately it's starting to get exhausting--but in a fun way. But first--last night I went dancing and it was . . . all right. As most of you know, the club scene isn't really my scene. As I've mentioned before you should all watch "Okay, Awesome!" from How I Met Your Mother which largely explains why clubs are, in fact, not fun. We went to the Sky Bar in SLC which has, as many clubs do, a dance floor. But unlike many other clubs in the area, people actually dance there--and I mean dance, not just bump and grind it. Nevertheless, clubs are so loud, so much so that we listened to classical music very quietly on the drive home hoping not to incur tinnitus. I am also not the world's greatest dancer. I am competent at the waltz--not great, but surprisingly decent--and that's it. However, did they play some lovely waltzing music, no. This was not Vienna--it was Havana: salsa, salsa, salsa. All they played was salsa music and it all sounded the same and it was overly loud. We also didn't drink as we were there to dance, besides we weren't really in the drinking mood and I didn't have any cash. However, a little tipple helps me put up the whole scene. Yet clubs are not really good places to get cocktails simply because they don't know how to make them properly. I fell in love with the Seelbach bar in Louisville--it was dark, quiet, atmospheric, and they made damn good drinks--and nothing will ever compare. When I want to drink I want to go to bars like that, and when I want to dance I want to go to hotel ballrooms. By the by, the Rose Wagner Center is hosting the Repertory Dance Theatre's dance all day class tomorrow. I thought about going, but brunch is tomorrow and then I want to go see Doubt.

Speaking of movies, I already I mentioned I have seen several lately. I recently caught Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and The Duchess at the dollar theater. I enjoyed both movies. N&N was delightful and awkward, and if you enjoyed Juno then I highly recommend it. The only real connecting factor is Michael Cera, but it has similar offbeat and quirky humor. And of course I enjoyed the gay band Cera's character plays in--he's the only straight member. The Duchess was a great period piece featuring period favorites Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper, and Hayley Atwell. By the way, I have a little something for Simon McBurney who was also in Body of Lies (more on that later). Fiennes did fine but his portrayal was a little underwhelming, and I'm a little surprised he earned himself a Golden Globe nom. Though to be fare, he has to play a rather dull person. Knightley and Atwell were both superb. Cooper was not so attractive in period costume but very sexy once undressed. Anyway, Georgiana's life was quite interesting but also sad. I would rather like to read the biography Georgiana by Amanda Foreman that the movie was based on. The Duchess isn't getting the accolades that say or Atonement or Pride & Prejudice earned, but it was still very good.

In my prep for the Golden Globes--I plan on having a fabulous GG party complete with champagne cocktails and perhaps crackers with brie--I caught Slumdog Millionaire at my favorite little art house theater, the Broadway Cinema. I had no idea what it was about except that it was set in India. I imagined a harrowing drama about a man in desperate poverty who realizes his life is rich à la It's a Wonderful Life. (By the way did you see this article about that movie in the NY Times?) And in a way it was. However, the plot is actually about an impoverished young man who competes on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and when he wins, he is suspected of cheating--how could a poor, uneducated young man go this far in the game when doctors, lawyers, professors, etc. drop out much sooner? Meanwhile, the story of his life--which is how he knows the answers--is revealed in backflashes. But most of all it's a love story and a crowd pleaser. If you're looking for a good movie with a happy ending that's not saccharine, I highly recommend it. And who can miss the Bollywood-style grand dance number during the closing credits? It also has Rubiana Ali who is one of those impossibly adorable kids and when she wears this dirty, but cute, yellow dress, my heart just breaks. Apparently SLC has Bollywood film screenings that are just crazy--I need to find out more about that. Oh, and I'm excited for Sundance!

I also saw Body of Lies at the dollar theater. I was so sad when I missed its first run and then so happy when I saw it was playing again--and for cheap! However, I didn't like it very much. If you remember the previews it was marketed as a film about a disgruntled CIA agent (DiCaprio) who goes AWOL and then is hunted down by his own agency. That movie was called Rendition not Body of Lies. In fact, I think I preferred Rendition with its great performances and a more cohesive message. This movie has strong performances too. Crowe was a major asshole and DiCaprio was great too. I'm not really sure what is message was except for Auden's poem which served as the epigraph: "I and the public know / What all school children learn / Those to whom evil is done / Do evil in return." That was the best part of the movie, but then I adore Auden. I also have a little crush on Simon McBurney. He is not hot; in fact he is rather odd looking. But he's British and he has a certain something which I find sexy. Anyway, DiCaprio finds himself trying to run an operation to bring down a terrorist organization but is constantly undermined by Crowe who is running everything from Langley. He is a fat, Machiavellian bureaucrat who is smug in his American superiority. However, the film's commentary didn't say anything new about the situation in the Middle East, and I thought it was a little disjointed. I kept checking my watch, but that was more because I was worried about my car which I had parked illegally. But glory hallelujah--I got out of the movie and my car had not been towed away or ticketed. The reason I parked illegally was because HSM3 has just opened at the dollar theater, schools weren't in session, and it was Monday family special. So every soccer mom had brought her snot-nosed brats, and while Sugarhouse is always a mess, but it was even more so that day. I really can't wait till the holidays are over! I have been dispossed of my room while my family is here.

Yesterday, I went and saw Milk which I rather enjoyed. If you haven't heard of it, it's a biopic of Harvey Milk--the first openly gay man elected to public office in the U.S. He also gave voice and leadership to the gay rights movement in the 70s. It was immensely watchable and great performances were given all around. James Franco was great, and is relationship with Harvey was wonderful and sad and real. One thing that struck me was how inconceivable it is that only 30 years ago it was legal to discriminate against gays in regards to jobs and housing. Furthermore, some of these anti-gay statues were still on the books as little as ten years ago. I cannot believe that any such law would still be upheld by any court in America. But perhaps I am wrong. It was also clear that Proposition 6 in the movie was a forerunner of Prop 8 from last November. Prop 6 in the 70s aimed to remove school teachers who were gay as well as any other teacher who supported gay rights. Fortunately, the initiative failed. Unfortunately Prop 8 passed. Harvey Milk's catchphrase was "I'm here to recruit you!" In order to defeat Prop 6, Milk asked every gay person to come out of the closet--to friends, family, employers, etc. And clearly Milk wanted to recruit today's generation to do the same in order to defeat anti-gay marriage initiatives. Which concerned me of course, since I'm still half-in the closet. There was one scene where one of Milk's friends and supporters has to call his family to tell them he's gay. It was a little hard to watch. However, as my cousin James, who is also gay, and I discussed, gay activism isn't really our scene. It's a certain kind of gay person who is attracted to that movement, and we are not that person. I'm also wary of art that is political--sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. In the end, Harvey Milk was "assassinated" though I believe that's the wrong term. He received many death threats for his activism, but in the end he and San Fran's mayor were both murdered by a rankled, former city supervisor. The killings may have had a political element, but I think they were far more personal. There's a lovely scene at the end where 30,000 people gather for a candlelight vigil at the double funeral. I got a little teary as I do almost anytime there's a candlelight vigil--because vigils are so infused with emotion and beauty and they're very cinematic. At the end of the day, I think Milk is a great movie and if you're interested in gay rights at all, you should go see it.

I still have several movies to see before the Golden Globes next Sunday. There's Doubt which I am very excited for--two words: Meryl Streep! Two Kate Winslet films--The Reader and Revolutionary Road. I cannot miss Cate Blanchett in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And many more. It's a great time to go to the movies. Wish me luck!