I think it's strange but my wife doesn't remember what happened and will kill me if I tell her. She may find out before seeing it but it won't be from me. Some people don't want spoilers, period, even if some of us think it's something everyone knows.

Really looking forward to the film. Very positive reviews so far and, hey, it's, you know, history.

Just saw it this evening in San Francisco...amazing, just like everyone is saying. Sean Penn is pitch perfect as Harvey Milk (although judging from some pictures I've seen, Harvey wasn't quite as buffed as Sean :-)

I was 13 years old and living in San Francisco when this happened so I remember it vividly. The film really captured the look and feel of 1970's Castro Street. And some of the actors (especially Emile Hirsh playing Cleve Jones) look eerily like their real counterparts.

An excellent film, highly recommended.

Saw it at the Castro to a packed house and it's every bit as amazing as everyone has said. I've never seen so many people moved to tears at the end of a film since Titanic came out. The film strikes that powerful a cored with people and more so the people of San Francisco. The people of that city had a very dark month that November dealing with Jonestown and then the assassinations which took place within two weeks of each other. And now after seeing it I have no doubt in my mind that it's a lock for a best picture nom, Van Sant will get a directors nod, Penn for best actor, Brolin and/or Franco for best supporting actor *if they give Brolin the nom for W. then Franco will get the nom here*. Right now as it stands unless Revolutionary Road or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button are as good as some people are saying, Milk is the front runner in my mind for best picture. Next week I have a feeling that LA film critics are going to pick it for there best picture of the year and that should get the ball rolling for it's awards this season.

Charlie Rose interviews Penn, Brolin and Van Sant:

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Great interview. Thanks for posting.

"Milk" is a good solid film, with a sparkling performance by Sean Penn who simply is Harvey Milk on the screen. The supporting cast is hit-or-miss for me at times, but I think it's due to the screenplay, moreso than the tenor of the acting by some of the supporting cast. Gus van Sant does a tremendous job of weaving the old footage from the 1970s and early 1980s with the footage shot for the film, as well as keeping track of the progresion of the story as Harvey Milk's gay activism leads him to lead a charge against Prop 6 (targeting gay teachers in public school for termination), taking on the Prop 6 sponsor in open debates wherever possible, and orchestrating moves to guide public sentiment towards gay-friendly in spite of heavy moral opposition from gay-unfriendly forces.

I give it 3.5 stars, or a grade of B+.

Good movie, not great. Well performed, but as a co-worker with whom I saw the film said afterward, "an effective piece of hagiography, but I expect more from Gus van Sant."

I agree. It wasn't bad, and the performances were great, but the movie itself failed to connect with me on a substantive level.

I went to see this in COlumbus OH today. I thought it was great and the end had me tearing up a bit even. It does go through many of the same conventions we've seen in biopics but thats not a bad thing and the running time flew right by. One of the best of the year.

Bill O'Reilly said on his show that this movie will win BEST PICTURE.
Only because it will be a support for gay marriage in California.

At which screening?

12:40 at the Gateway (which I think is the only place this one is playing in C-bus as of now.) I also followed it up with Synecdoche, New York at the same place since that was the only place that film was playing as well. Two great movies today.

I enjoyed it. Well, perhaps enjoy is not the right word.

I was at the noon showing.

<i>Mod note: Take it to the Politics forum. This is Movie talk.</i>

Just missed you then. I got there a few minutes after noon. But got my ticket and went to the book store before the 12:40 showing. Still you got to see it on the bigger screen I believe. Small world.

I saw this to review it for my school paper (and I wanted to see it period). I thought about just writing "Eh, it was kind of gay" and seeing if anyone got it.

But seriously, this was a stunner. Van Sant and his editor threw mixed the film with doc footage in that awesome JFK/Forrest Gump way, and even though it goes through the biopic motions, it really avoids putting Milk on a pedestal (even though it doesn't show many flaws in the man), which makes him easier to identify with. Penn put in the first performance of his I've really loved since Mystic River. One of the year's best, from what I've seen.

I do have to say it was fun that the projection was screwed up at the screening I went to and I had to be the person to go complain- twice. It finally got fixed about 10 minutes into the movie.

Do you writer for a junior high paper?

Great film, I prefer the documentary as Milk has a spirit that I'm not sure any actor can capture.

My mind knew it was not the most well made film, but my heart completely loved it. I have always been fascinated by the story, and I think it served the historical context, and the eery connection with Prop 8 very well.

Something about the human rights struggle really got to me.

I never cry at movies, and I teared up a half dozen times during this one.

It's going to be really close between Mickey Rourke and Sean Penn come awards time.

saw it last night, great movie, even better performance. I'm not a homophobic but this movie really lays on the gay. Only 1 female character and 95% of everybody else is gay and constantly kissing. Sean Penn really is amazing in this, the best dramatic performance he's ever done (nothing touches Spicoli). The archive footage fits in perfectly with the look of the film, I remember during one of the first riots the camera zooms in on the police beating people up and it looked like it was filmed back in the day.
One of my only complaints was the Diego Luna character, his character seems unnecessary and didn't add much to the film (he was so over the top it actually took me out of the film a little). I also felt they should've fleshed out Josh Brolins character a little more. I know the film is called Milk and is about Harvey Milk but I didn't see the motivation.
In the top 5 for the year, but it doesn't touch Slumdog Millionaire.

Most likely because it's about a gay man and gay issues? :lol:

Um, yeah. Kinda like Australia laying on the hetero. Lots of hetero stuff going on.
Regarding Diego Luna, he was a real person and Dan White, well what more did you really want to know. I remember reading the articles. That's who he was. Not much else to say. He was a wacko that killed two people and got off on the twinkie defense.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/4.gif

Thought it was a beautiful film, truly affecting, with Penn's subtle work - by his standards - the anchor and reason entire for the outpouring sensation of emotion that overwhelms you by the end. Despite being fairly straightforward in structure, Van Sant allows some auteurist touches in visual presentation without bordering into pretension at any stage; as has proven when he's at his best.

I realize that, I was just taken back by the amount of man love in it, it seemed like every scene ended with two guys kissing. Brokeback dealt with gay issues but didn't have Jake and Heath making out in every scene.
As I said before, I'm not homophobic, just not used to it.

Well if it did, it would kiss it.

Liberating isn't it??

I think I will finally get a chance to see this one over the Christmas holiday.

Well, get ready for the gays! ;)

Oh noes!!! ;)

Just saw this over the weekend, and I thought it was great. The love scenes did catch me off-guard at first, only because it's not something you see very often in mainstream movies, but it was tastefully done and I didn't find it excessive or distracting.

I lost it during the last few scenes, which were alternately heartbreaking and uplifting, and now I'd like to see The Times of Harvey Milk (the documentary).

My birthday was last Monday, and my dad and I went and saw this on the
14th. The theater was pretty full which surprised me for a mid afternoon Sunday showing. Anyway, we both thought the film was extremely good and were happy to have seen it over something else. Not much else was out that I was interested in seeing. Originally I wasn't to interested in the film since Van Sant made it and I'm not that impressed with his work. But the trailer piqued my interest, and so I thought I'd give it a chance.

As my dad said afterwards, it's sad how little has changed in terms of the excuses people use to rally against homosexuality and so forth. He is also interested in seeing The Times of Harvery Milk documentary now, which I saw years ago on IFC.

All in all, it was one of the best dramatic features we saw this year. Meanwhile Rambo and Doomsday were on par for best action flicks we saw earlier this year. In fact, Doomsday was the last movie we saw in theaters until Milk. That's how bad the selection of films has been this year, with nothing really standing out and making us want to go to the theater.

Did The Dark Knight or Wall-e not interest you?

If it was the first showing of the day at the Lagoon, I was at that screening.

---Just continuing with Wendersfan's coincidental same showing motif---

Nope, I didn't see Wall-e yet and just saw TDK on dvd last week. But I was in no hurry to see either. TDK was pretty good though, but i'm still not buying into the hype about how 'great' it is. It was just pretty entertaining ,but not something I'd buy and watch again most likely.

I saw this today and thought it was well made and Sean Penn was great but didn't really come away amazed. I think this sort of subject matter just doesn't keep my interest in a movie, so it wasn't really my type of film to begin with even though it made me interested in reading more about Harvey Milk. It made me feel more like I was watching a documentary at school.

I didn't know anything about the actual events since it was before I was born, but it did make me think automatically of Proposition 8.

This sort of subject matter? You mean a man fighting for people's rights??

Yes, I just hate people fighting for people's rights. It makes me sick to my stomach!

No, more specifically the bio pic dramas. These things always seem to be geared for awards and while covering some interesting parts of history, I never end up finding them particularly engrossing as films.

What a fantastic film. Van Sant was restrained in his direction, the screenplay did well to balance the historical, dramatic, and (yes) comedic elements, and the greatest compliment I can pay to Sean Penn is that five minutes into the movie, I forgot an iconic actor was playing the leading role.

Fresh Air had a strong interview with screenwriter Dustin Lance Black a month ago if you're interested in checking out the podcast.

Penn was simply amazing, he effortlessly became Harvey. I thought the entire cast was also on par. I didn't realize how powerful the ending was, I was weeping.