Going the Distance

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A couple (Drew Barrymore & Justin Long) meet in New York, when she has only 6 weeks left before she moves back to San Francisco, but they fall in love anyway, so they decide to try a long distance relationship.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Christina Applegate, Ron Livingston, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Jim Gaffigan, Kelli Garner, June Diane Raphael, Rob Riggle, Sarah Burns, Natalie Morales, Matt Servitto, Leighton Meester, Kristen Schaal

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! As far as romantic-comedies go, this one actually has comedy in it.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Much more than the preview leads you to believe. But be warned, it gets pretty raunchy at times. Even when it's girls talking... and I know that many of you are hyper-sensitive to hearing girls talk about some of the things that girls actually talk about.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It's sad that it's so much easier to fall in love with someone when you know they're leaving and you don't have any pressure to get into a serious relationship. But it's also stupid because you actually get your heart broken twice as hard that way.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Most successful film starring a couple who is actually dating, since the 1950s (I'm referring back to Lucy and Desi, of course.) Although it may be because they broke up before filming commenced... or maybe they're still together. No one seems to know the latest on this, but it's certainly better PR if they at least pretend to be together until the film passes $100 million at the box office, because you feel like you're getting a glimpse into their real life as a couple.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: As charming and funny as Justin Long is as the MAC guy, he's just not a leading man. Drew Barrymore is even more cute and disarming than usual, despite the fact that she has the laugh of a 60-year-old alcoholic. And Charlie Day is the new Zach Galifianakis.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Let's put this in the "You go, girl!" category. Nanette Burnstein, who has multiple awards for documentary directing, but has never directed a fictional script before, could have fooled me.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Apparently Geoff LaTulippe's original script made the "Black List," which is Hollywood's unofficial list of the best script each year that didn't sell. Knowing this, you can imagine my surprise when I found out in the Q & A, that the first thing the director did was to hire two different writers to rewrite the script completely, and then have the actors improvise most of their dialogue. In turn, I can imagine your surprise at the fact that I'm still surprised that the script got rewritten, even though I should get by now that this is pretty much true of every single movie that has ever gotten made in Hollywood. Then again, while I don't know what the Black List script was like, I did like this version.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/search/going%20the%20distance/trailers

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Milk

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: The true story of the first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), and how he pioneered the gay civil rights movement in San Francisco in the 70s.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Sean Penn, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna, Alison Pill, Lucas Grabeel, Victor Garber, Denis O'Hare, Joseph Cross, Howard Rosenman, Brandon Boyce, Kelvin Yu, Stephen Spinella, Anita Bryant

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! This movie about political actions which took place 30 years ago couldn't be more timely today, as we juxtapose the election of our first Black president with the overturning of the ruling that gays have the right to marry. The parallels between that time and this one make you question how much progress we've really made, all while feeling inspired about how far we've come. I'm so confused...

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Put a bunch of gay guys in a room together for two hours, and something is bound to make you laugh.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you don't know how this story goes, your chance of tears is high. Likewise, if you're a bigot, a Nazi, a skinhead, a member of the KKK, or any other organization based on hate and segregation (yes, I'm talking about right-wing fundamentalist Christians), you may also cry, but for a whole different set of reasons.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Sean Penn's portrayal of the gay supervisor makes you want to look for him in the race for Oscar-- or even in a gay bar near you.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Playing gay seems to come a little too naturally to most of these actors. It's almost like they've waited their whole lives for a chance to come out of the closet for these roles. I'd especially like to congratulate Lucas Grabeel of High School Musical fame, who without changing his performance from one movie to the next, fits right into this group of men coming up and coming out in the Castro... Which brings me back to my long standing theory, that fans shouldn't be so surprised when they find out that their favorite actors are secretly gay. Most of our biggest celebrities started out doing theater in high school. And everyone remembers the nickname male theater geeks were donned with in high school. So why do they think that just because they grew up and became sexy and famous that would change? Now, I'm not saying all actors are gay... Just most of them.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Ah, Gus Van Sant, we have such a tumultuous relationship, you and I. While I don't hate your work on the movies you don't write (like this one), I can't help but still get annoyed at all the gratuitous male bodies that are featured so deliberately in your films, as if their sole purpose is so you can ask hot young men to take off their clothes, without having to seem like the pervert that I'm starting to think you are. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a nice bit of eye candy in my films, and in this film about the gay 70s, it's actually quite appropriate.   But I can't help but be reminded of the similar images from your past films (like Paranoid Park, Last Days, and Elephant), where the shirtlessness of some 16-year-old unknown actor seemed pre-meditavely orchestrated  for the sole purpose of exploitation by a man in a position of power.  Like the boy who cried wolf, it now lessens my ability to enjoy the perfect curves of a James Franco or Diego Luna, but especially of Josh Brolin, for whom the shirtless scene seems totally out of character-- he is, after all, the voice of conservatism in the film-- and his shirtlessness took me out of it.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The writer manages to circumvent many of the usual trappings of a biopic, by encasing the narrative in a narration that is delivered by Harvey Milk into a Dictaphone, and also by focusing only on the parts of the story that need to be told to move the plot along and get the political points across.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: I don't often get a chance to share anything personal about myself in this blog, but in this case I must. I was raised in the Castro, and Harvey Milk ran my district. I was very young, and Milk's campaign signs in all the neighborhood windows formed my first recollection of what it meant to vote and have elections. Milk shopped at our supermarket, and we bought film at his camera store, and when I saw him, I told him that my Daddy voted for him. As a young child, I was very proud that my Daddy would vote for a man with such a cool name. I could only have been prouder if his name had been Chocolate Milk.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/milk/32261/trailers

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