MANHUNT Daily

The Bruno Debate Continues

The debate over Sacha Baron Cohen's Bruno continues as the movie comes out at #1 in the box office with $30.4 Million over the weekend. CNN claims the gay community is torn over the movie, but if the theater I went to is any indication, the gays are loving it!

I saw the movie this weekend and the showing was at least 70% gay. That was followed by straight frat brothers which made for some awkward moments. But then again, the movie was full of cringe worthy moments. I thought it was hillarious and the intentions of Cohen were obvious but at times the amount of homophobia out there was a little scary to see. Especially in a cage fight scene in rural Arkansas.

That said, if there's one person who can make that sort of thing funny and turn it on it's head, it's Cohen. If you enjoyed Bruno and don't mind an awkward moment here and there, you'll enjoy this movie.

Anyone else see the movie? What did you think?

- Andy

Movie Review: The Girlfriend Experience

Though Steven Soderbergh's latest film features adult star Sasha Grey, don't be afraid that your eyes are going to be exposed to a screen full of titty for two hours. With that said, you shouldn't really expect much nudity at all. 

This may seem counterintuitive, given that Grey's breakout mainstream film role entails her portraying a prostitute. But aside from some very tame frontal exposure, there's really not much to see here. This becomes an even bigger tragedy when one consider that her character's boyfriend is played by up-and-coming hottie Chris Santos.

Santos has a pretty-boy look that's fitting for his role as a personal trainer. He's almost so pretty that you could imagine a plot twist in which he joins his girlfriend in her line of work. Unfortunately, you could only imagine this plot twist.

Speaking of plot, there isn't much of it. The events of the film are scattered chronologically, making the break-up of the two lovers as confusing to the viewer as it must have been for them. 

Additionally, references to Barack Obama, the economy and recent politics are littered throughout the dialogue. This would potentially eliminate the chances of the film seeming timeless, but one needs to consider that these events are historical, even if it's all-too-recent history. 

Even if the cultural references don't hold up with time, the emotions expressed will. By the end of the film, you won't know who you're rooting for, and then it will occur to you that you're sympathizing with a prostitute who was a total jerk to her boyfriend. This is the magic of film.

- Dewitt

Movie Review: Milk

In his newest masterpiece, Gus Van Sant brings the story of Harvey Milk to life. Milk was the first openly gay man elected to public office as a Supervisor for the city of San Francisco. He became heavily involved in the gay-rights struggles of the time, and was ultimately killed by fellow supervisor Dan White.

In Milk, Sean Penn brings Harvey Milk back to life. If you watch his performance and compare it to old footage of Harvey Milk, Sean Penn's talent will be evident as he gets Milk's body language and speaking style just right. While James Franco and Diego Luna are excellent, Emile Hirsch's superb performance surprised me. His portrayal of Cleve Jones comes off as real and subtle. While the temptation to 'flame out' when playing a flamboyant gay character may have done others in, Hirsch performs brilliantly.

Importantly, the movie shows Harvey Milk as a man with faults, while respecting his legacy and the weight of the issues he championed. From beginning to end, the story feels authentic and allows you to enjoy the happy parts of Milk's life, feel his struggles, and ultimately mourn his tragic death, which plays out in a beautiful ending sequence.

Milk is highly recommended, so get out and watch it this weekend. I would love to hear what you think of the movie, so voice off in the comments section!

The Gus Van Sant biopic Milk opens to a wide-release today. 

- Andy

Movie Review: Burn After Reading

The latest movie I caught was Burn After Reading by The Coen Bros. The names attached to this movie were enough to bring me in, some of my favorite actors star in it including Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich and George Clooney, and the Coen Brothers aren't too shabby either.

So maybe my expectations were too high, but I found that it really didn't deliver on all the hype. The Coen Brothers are usually great at delivering odd characters and making them believable, rather than animated (think The LadyKillers, No Country For Old Men and the almighty Fargo) but this time around just the opposite happened.

In this case the Bad outweighed the Good, so lets start there.

The Bad: The humor was contrived. That really is the main criticism I have. If you are going to do dry/dark comedy genre of humor, it really needs to be spot on, and this wasn't. I found myself laughing here and there but nothing amazing. Like I mentioned above, the characters were also more animated than unusual, and a weird laugh isn't always the way to fix that. The story line is also very odd and unbelievable.

The Good: The cast is great (with the exception of Brad Pitt on this one). John Malkovich and Frances McDormand really hit it out of the park once again. Though the story makes little sense, they do manage to make it somewhat compelling and keep you guessing what's coming next. I'm going to show my sadist side and say that I also enjoyed the violence!

The overall verdict, if you are expecting another Coen Brothers masterpiece, you'll be disappointed. But the cast and especially Frances McDormand still make it worth a DVD rental. What did others think?

- Andy