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It's been a while since I wrote a movie review on here but Oscar Season has got me all abuzz with excitement once again. This year I'm trying to anticipate what will get nominated so that I can ensure I manage to see everything before the ceremony. Milk is one such film, and I thought I'd chuck something up in reference to it.
Now, being a hetero Australian male born in the 80s, I can't say that I'm overly familiar with gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk (the figure whose life the film Milk is based around). So watching this film was very much a history lesson of sorts. Director Gus Van Sant (thankfully not in his artsy mode) presents a fairly straightforward biopic of the first openly gay man to be elected to office in the United States of America. It's a rollercoaster of a ride, following the rise of the gay civil rights movement in San Francisco and Milk's fight against the democracy-killing Proposition 6 - a christian-backed attempt to legalise the discrimination against homosexuals in the workplace (especially the education system).
Like I said, I came into this film largely unaware of the story behind it, so I found the whole thing to be quite fascinating. Over the years Hollywood has given us many stories about the struggle for equal rights for women, african-americans, people in wheelchairs, etc, etc. But seldom has that other civil rights movement - the gay one - been drummed into the collective consciousness of the mainstream filmgoing public in the way that the black civil rights movement has. Now that America is sitting comfortably under it's first black president, well, there's no better time for the media to address and chronicle the ongoing fight for widespread public acceptance for gays. The race civil rights war has been fought and won, now it's time for the western world to address the remaining bigotry that still infects our legislation, entertainment and workplaces. In short, it's the perfect time for a film like Milk.
It's been an uphill battle for the depiction of the gay man in film. Much like the mammy-singin', chicken-eatin', mister-suh yes-suh black characters from the early days of cinema, the gays in Hollywood films have long been relegated to the 'safe' role of comic relief. It was high time that a proper, mainstream film dealing with gay rights and issues was made. One that wasn't made for a gay audience and had big name actors in it - a movie that could be for everyone. Not Andy Warhol crap where we watch a closeup of a guy's face for 30 minutes while he gets a blowjob, not a 3 hour movie that consists of just a blue screen, and not some navel-gazing indie talk piece full of graphic unsimulated man-on-man sex. Gus Van Sant has wisely opted to make this film as very much the gay version of Malcolm X. And Sean Penn delivers a three-dimensional and uncharacteristically-energetic performance worthy of the important subject matter.
I realise I haven't really talked about the movie much, but rest assured that it's a good one. Harvey Milk is an inspiring figure, regardless of his sexual orientation, and I came out of the film wanting to know more about the story behind it. I don't really have anything else to say other than that you should check it out.
A bit of a change of pace today from the fantasy and teen-aimed books I've been mostly reviewing this year. I have an endless stack of books in my home that are marked 'to be read', in my mind I constantly imagine what the next 3 to 4 books I am going to read will be, and I slowly nibble away at this endless stack. Every now and again during my work as a bookseller my eye will be caught by something that intrigues me and I will throw caution into the wind and buy a new book and fasttrack it to the front of my endless stack. This book is one such book, which I would never have even known about had I not seen a copy that a customer had ordered in. I read the back of their copy and decided that I would order myself a copy as well.
Too often I pick up historically-minded books like this only to find that they are the most boring pieces of turgid fact-mongering I could possibly have waded into. Either that, or the author turns out to be a really annoying narrator. Thankfully, Tony Horowitz is a talented writer of easygoing wit and the book is an astounding mix of travel writing and what appears to be an infinite amount of meticulous research.
A Voyage Long and Strange is a book designed to fill the gap in American history. The author has ambitiously set out to chronicle the various European expeditions to North America prior to the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock (something which has become the starting block of official American history). The book isn't without controversy, as Horowitz debunks a lot of long-held myths through a mixture of investigative journalism, hardnosed research and chummying up with those in the know. When you read this book there can no doubt in your mind that you are getting the facts, as Horowitz is never anything less than well-balanced and fair towards what is, what could've been, and what clearly isn't. It's really quite a read.
The book is divided into three large sections - the first deals with the Viking expeditions in the 11th century and Columbus' discovery of the Americas, the second with the various attempts at exploration and conquest throughout the 16th century by Spanish conquistadors, and the third with early attempts at colonisation (the spanish and french attempts, the forgotten english colony, and eventually the two more famous settlements: Jamestown and Plymouth). While Horowitz is keen to point out that this 500-page journey is nowhere near a complete account it is however quite exhaustive and inspirational in the amount of detail he has managed to gleam about these shrouded pieces of history.
The biggest and most impressive part of this book is that Horowitz has personally travelled to all these places. He intercuts his history lessons with his own travelogue as he retraces the footsteps of each pioneer, explorer, colonist and would-be tyrant. He speaks to descendents of Native Americans wherever possible to get the 'home' perspective, visits landmarks connected to these events, and talks to officials, historians, detractors and all kinds of quirky real-life characters who have light to shed on the unofficial history of the world's most powerful country.
The highlight for me is probably Horowitz's trip to the Dominican Republic, the place where Columbus first landed when he discovered the Americas. The author's misadventures in this small third world country and his descriptions of it's biggest folly, the massive man-made landmark known as the Faro, had me amused and amazed. This is a building that took the coutry's dictator some 12 years to build and when it is lit up you can see the lights in the sky from as far away as Puerto Rico. The only problem is, when they turn the lights on for this would-be world-famous icon it plunges the entire Dominican Republic into a blackout!
This isn't a book just for Americans - it's a book for anyone interested in history or travel writing. It's one of the most easy and pleasant reads I've ever had, and I came out of it feeling damn well educated.
This is a new kids-aimed fantasy/historical novel and from what I understand it is the first volume in what will probably be a trilogy if not a series of novels (novellas). I went into this book not really expecting anything, it was sent to me from over the seas (okay, from America) and I found it to be a rollicking and pleasant read.
It is the middle ages (more specifically, the dark ages). Tristan is a young orphan of mysterious origins who is co-opted into the order of the Knights Templar and finds himself flung headfirst into the Crusades. Sooner or later he and his kindly master find themselves in a Saracen-enforced seige (soon to be slaughter) and Tristan is entrusted with a valuable Templar artifact (okay, it's the Holy Grail) and given instructions to take it to safety. Boundless adventure ensues!
Like I said earlier, this is a pleasant read. There's nothing pretentious or forced about it, it's an historical adventure aimed at a young audience but fit to read for anyone who likes this sort of thing. I tend to like this sort of thing. It's peppered with lots of cool medieval details, and it could probably be called semi-educational in respect to how realistic it reads (but not in a dry, non-kid friendly way). The Crusades aren't the most fun-packed of historical events and the author does well not to sugarcoat or romantacize it. The writing style is effective, and the characterisations are memorable and seemingly effortless - which is no mean feat when you've only got 240 pages and a fairly large font to work with.
There were two little things that kind of threw me off a bit. The first, and more major one, was the inclusion of a cast of supporting characters that seem to have come straight from the story of Robin Hood. I was left scratching my head a bit as to the relevance of this... it's as if the author felt his story wasn't strong enough on it's own so he went and chucked in some medieval 'celebrities' to keep the kids entertained. I want to say that it wasn't necessary but this is the first book in a series so I'll reserve judgement in case the real relevance of this becomes more apparent in later volumes. The second quibble, and this is a more minor one (and the blame may fall on the publishing company rather than the author), is the decision to use American spellings rather than English. Normally I wouldn't care but it just feels wrong given the subject matter, setting, and the fact that the whole thing is concerned with English events and English history. It's a first-hand account told from the point of a view of an English peasant boy... for him to adopt American spelling when America hasn't even come into existence yet is just jarring. It hardly effected my enjoyment of the book but this is my blog and I'll get on my soapbox as much as I like, so nyah.
I hate to start all my final paragraphs with 'anyway' but anyway, this is a great action-packed fast-paced novel and I'd recommend it to any parents looking to get their boys interested in reading. The parents might even like to read it too.
I don't think I really ever reviewed a memoir before. At least, not one written by someone who wasn't so famous my nuts would shrink upon meeting them (okay, shrink more). This rather slight and slender tome is the memoir of up-and-coming British actor Emmett James. I was approached via email by someone representing the book who had no doubt stumbled across this much esteemed blog (haw haw haw) and wanted to know if I was interested in reading this book. Taking it to be some kind of analysis of films or a fictional novel heavily influenced by film-geekdom I replied - yes, of course I am interested, please send it along and I will read and review
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September 26th 2008 23:23
I'd like to preface this review with a disclaimer/acknowledgement of sorts... I've been away from orble for well over 6 months. My intention was to review every book I read this year but time collapsed around me and sooner or later I found myself participating all too much in the meat world (that curious thing outside of cyberspace). Nevertheless, here I am today, finally contributing another review to this blog. I must admit that my hand was forced a litte, I recieved several reviewers copies of books by mail, and so I feel obligated to write some reviews - so hopefully more reviews will follow shortly (fear not Emmett James, you are next
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I realise I haven't been doing much on this blog lately. I have a friend interested in taking Old Movies.net.au for a spin, so maybe I'll let him post in it for a while. Just thought I better post something about it so people don't think it's me! (especially as he has appalling taste in movies)
I'll probably be back at some point but life has been cuntish lately so breaths shouldn't be held.
I just watched There Will Be Blood... fuuuuuuuuck. Daniel Day-Lewis is like a massive dick in everyone's arse, that's how good he is. Should this film have beaten No Country for Old Men to the best picture gong in the Oscars? I'm not sure, but if there was ever cause for a tie, this was it. Here, let me sum up the movie for you
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'The Wandering Fire' is the second and shortest novel in Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry, and is the fifth book I've read this year. This review will most likely be fairly short (but who can tell these things) as a lot of what I have to say about Kay's writing I've probably already said in my review of the first book in the trilogy, The Summer Tree. Mild spoilers ahead
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A while ago I wrote an article about Randa Abdel-Fattah, click here to see what I had to say and how much I've back-peddled with this review. It's not that I disagree with my optimistic appraisal of Abdel-Fattah or her inspiring status as a potential role-model for young Australians, but what I am at odds with is how excited I sound at the end of said article in regards to reading her debut novel, Does My Head Look Big in This?. I was wrong to be excited. The book sounded good, and Abdel-Fattah's skills as a public speaker (no doubt honed by her dayjob as a lawyer) helped sell the book to me. In light of now having read the actual thing I have to admit that the book isn't actually all that good. Which is a shame, especially as so many people recommended it to me
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Book 3 of my almighty slog of 2008 is 'The Summer Tree', the first in a trilogy of fantasy novels by Guy Gavriel Kay, published in the 1980s, and collectively referred to as 'The Fionavar Tapestry'. Gavriel Kay (or just Kay - why do some people insist on having three names? It makes it hard to refer to them correctly in reviews like this and it makes it equally annoying if you have to arrange their books alongside other books in alphabetical order. Be damned!) is probably best known for this trilogy, but his enduring legacy will be his editorial work on J. R. R. Tolkein's 'The Silmarillion', which he helped Christopher Tolkein put together. Gavriel Kay originally trained as a lawyer before turning to writing, and is based in Canada. He can be largely viewed as carrying on Tolkein's legacy, and is amongst the first to tap into the second wave of interest that Lord of the Rings generated (mostly amongst university students in the 1970s - check your dad's bookcase for proof
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