Sunday Funnies & So Much More

As always, click to enlarge. For more from Tom Tomorrow, Tom Toles, Ben Sargent, and Scott Adams, go here, here, here, and here.

A Christmas Tale. D: Arnaud Desplechin. Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Jean-Paul Rousillon, Anne Consigny. Penetrating, often brilliant study of a French family emotionally and physically rent by the death of child thirty years earlier, now brought together by the mother's (Deneuve) cancer. Although is it sounds like Hallmark Channel treacle, A Christmas Tale is anything but that. Always more than it seems, the film meanders to its satisfying irresolution buoyed by excellent performances (especially Rousillion's stolid father), an insightful and intricate screenplay, unexpected humor, moving set pieces, and an overarching Gallic sensibility. Not to be missed. In French with subtitles, click on link for the trailer.

Milk. D: Gus Van Sant. Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay official elected to public office in the United States. He was both an successful movement leader and an effective politician; after his assassination, he became a saint and a martyr. The movie concentrates on the latter aspect of Milk's life, and you get the strengths and weaknesses that come with that. The strengths are Sean Penn's bravura performance and the plain fact that Harvey Milk was a genuinely inspirational figure whose life and accomplishments merit such treatment. The weaknesses are the standard biopic structure and a toleration for bluntness that obscures the tension inherent in Milk's dual role as movement icon and politician. Nonetheless, Milk is overall a satisfying film about a consequential man...

Incidentally, Milk director Van Sant chose to present Anita Bryant, the bete noire of the gay movement, via news footage instead of casting an actress for the part. This seemingly minor choice shines a merciless light on the serene monstrousness of a real-life Nurse Ratched...

At age 65, Catherine Deneuve retains all of her elegant beauty...