New to the Collection: Milk

Every time Saucy adds a new DVD to his increasingly mammoth film collection, he will take the time to provide five indelible scenes that convinced him to spend his hard-earned sheckles on something he could have gotten for free with a DVD burner and a Netflix subscription. This installment discusses Milk, the 2008 biopic of gay icon and San Francisco revolutionary Harvey Milk by iconoclast director Gus Van Sant.

1) Harvey Milk meets Scott Smith
Other than the provocative opening sequence that shows actual footage of gay men being harassed by police, this is the first scene of the movie, and the thing that makes it so interesting is that it is so...boring. It's just a simple meet-cute scene between two men filmed in matter-of-fact fashion by Van Sant, who with this opening states that he doesn't plan on treating two men meeting each other and agreeing to a tryst as anything out of the ordinary. No swelling orchestra music. No winking concessions for the straight audience. Just two people running into each other and falling in love...kind of. Just like straight people do. That is sort of the point, I think.

Ten Quick Thoughts about...True Grit (2010)

1) I am certainly not a fan of the whole sequel/remake/reboot fascination that is running rampant through Hollywood in this foul era of our cinema (heard today they are remaking Total Recall), but this is one that I think was well worth the effort. Supposedly, the film is more loyal to the intent of the book than the 1969 version that starred John Wayne so it doesn’t really count as a remake; it is better termed a reinterpretation (I must be honest and say that I have not read the novel by Charles Portis, nor have I seen the entire film – saw enough to see that John Wayne was good fun, but probably not award-worthy, and that the girl playing Mattie Ross was kind of annoying and awkward). In any event, the new version is a strong story of retribution with the customary dark wit of the Coen Brothers.