gatraylor Reviews

Milk (I) (2008)

Moving and inspiring

[9/10 · 15 November 2008]

I saw this last night at the Portland premiere with Gus Van Sant and James Franco among others. This is a powerful work and, in my opinion, Gus Van Sant has taken a big step towards the mainstream in his artistic direction. To me, the person who is by no means a movie expert, it seems that this movie had a much faster, accessible pace than his other movies. There were no long-shots or minutes at a time without dialog, etc.

I've really never thought much of Sean Penn before, but, with this role, I expect him to sweep up the awards. Everyone was great in their parts, but he did such an excellent job in portraying the Harvey Milk that I have seen before in clips and documentaries. They did not make out Milk to be a choir-boy, which was one thing I was afraid was going to happen. This story seems long overdue in it's telling, but so completely relevant to today's news.

I expect, as the movie hits theaters, this will cause quite a stir, with both sides using it as fodder in their fight. I expect the ratings will reflect this as there are already people giving it 0's who obviously did not attend the premiere. I don't think it deserves a 10 either, but is much, much closer to that end. Looked at objectively, it is a sometimes tearful, sometimes funny movie that was put together masterfully

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

Better and Darker Than the First

[9/10 · 16 May 2008]

I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. I don't necessarily want to see violence, but the first film bothered me because of the antiseptic way that they treated the violence. They eluded to it but cut away so that it was really not shown. Such is not the case with Prince Caspian. I got much less of a feeling that this is a 'kiddie movie' as I did with the 'The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe'. There were moments that would be appealing to children and all in all, I don't think it was too violent for most kids with the exception of maybe the youngest. There were certain scenes that had me at the edge of my seat and certain scenes that were grand in scale and execution. This gives me hope for this series of movies!!!

Serenity (2005)

Can't believe I missed the show

[9/10 · 7 May 2007]

I rented this on a whim and was not ready for how good it turned out to be. I wound up watching it 2 times in 24 hours. This has led me to the show from which it came, Firefly, and I can't believe I've found all this after it has been canceled as I can't believe that it was canceled. Serenity (and Firefly) are a mixture of great dialog and humor, action, and nice special effects all tinged with an American West theme. If someone had tried to describe it to me, I don't think I would have watched it personally, but having stumbled upon it, I am completely hooked. For the fans of Firefly, expect that this is 'taken up a notch' from the show. More action for sure. Serenity may give you a glimpse of where Joss Whedon was planning on taking the show had it not been canceled. I especially love the transformation of River... but enough said. Just go see it.