Anyone want to discuss MILK?

So I just got back from seeing it and oh my goodness, what a fantastic film. Beautifully made, AMAZINGLY acted (especially, of course, on Penn's part), and immensely moving. For over two hours, it manages to grab you and not let go.

Personally, I found that even beyond the pretty clear political motives of the movie, it really forces you to think. I think the only way the timing could have been any more perfect is if it were released a month ago.

I could go on raving about it for a while, and tons of critics already have, so all I can really say is GO SEE IT.

It has gotten the most amazing reviews! I intend to see it on Saturday here in Chicago.

It's not playing here yet. I think it opens in more theatres on Dec 5.

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Namo, do you use the word "amazing" when it is meant as "causing great surprise or sudden wonder" as opposed to "good"? Or are you just so sick of the word's being over-used that you have eliminated it from your vocabulary all together? (I try to give it a pass when used literally, but that doesn't happen too often anymore.)

And I love that Malcolm McDowell milk ad.

I'm looking forward to seeing this film. I still think Sean Penn looks like my dad.

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HAHA! I don't know why, but for some reason that story really cracked me up.

Regarding the movie, I haven't seen it yet.
Looking forward to it though.

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Exactly. If a person is AMAZED by a cardboard cup, where is there left to go? Does a flip book make his or her head explode?

How has it come to pass that a word once used as a rare superlative is utterly eroded to nothing?

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same as "awesome". It carries about as much weight as Kate Moss on a skinny day.

And I'm guilty of using it in its watered down sense.

But not amazing. Even I draw the line at amazing.

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From all reports, Emilee played Cleve Jones. That's how Cleve Jones was, if not still is. Wrapped up in this big, circus like environment that Harvey created.

I love this movie. I thought Sean was completely involved. James Franco grounded the film. He was sublte enough, and a nice balance, to Harvey's larger than life life. Alison Pill was a delight.

Honestly, there isn't much to the story. Dan White does something so senseless, so illogical, that there really isn't a way to describe it. He kills Milk and Mascone because they teamed up and wouldn't let him back on the board. That's it. It has nothing to do with homophobia. It has nothing to do with twinkies. If Feinstein had been there (she wasn't in the office for three weeks prior to the killings), and talked Mascone into not letting White back on the board, she would've been killed. It just happened to be Milk.

I suggest every one pick up a copy of the SF Chronicle. There have been a number of articles written on the film. In this week's, Fienstein talks about the "day of Infamy". She says that she wishes she tried harder to get White's attention. She called out to him after he killed Mascone, and when he was on his way to kill Milk, but he didn't respond.

I know this has nothing to do with the movie itself, but it's still interesting. It's a tragic film. The acting is so raw, and so real, and I think it's made better that it's actually shot in San Francisco. The scenes in the Castro Camera are actually filmed in Milk's real store. (I peeked in today, for the first time. The store is called Given. There's a mural of Milk, with a gun, and the quote, “If a bullet should go through my head let that bullet go through every closet door.” I stood there, for a few moments before I went into work.)

I couldn't stand Diego Luna's character. I wanted to slap the little bastard.

I cried, but just a little. Milk's death didn't affect me, but the marching did. The passion in their voices got to me. The look on their faces got to me. I know it's silly, but I love how every one on the film was involved. If I just moved here a year earlier, I could've been in it.

I hope Sean wins the Oscar. He definitely deserves it. Emile should be nominated for a best supporting actor. He does a fine job.

I love how Gus used archive footage of Anita Bryant and Feinstein. It makes the movie all the more real.

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RE my use of the word "amazing."

I meant it.

I do not use that word to mean "positive," I use it to mean "awe-inducing." I was TRULY AMAZED while reading the reviews. The word refered to me and my reaction, not to the content of the reviews.

Soap box done.

"I was TRULY AMAZED while reading the reviews."

You have got to be kidding.

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I am looking forward to seeing it this weekend.

I saw the film yesterday also, and really enjoyed it. I really liked how the framing of the film with Milk narrating into the tape recorder. All of the supporting performances were spectacular especially James Franco and Emile Hirsch. Brolin's Dan White was so creepy and yet somehow also sympathetic in a way. Masterful work all around. One interesting tidbit: AT the end of the film when they present additional information, when the screen about Dan White and what eventually happened to him appeared, people in the audience clapped. I found it an odd reaction to clap for someone's suicide.

Thanks for the correction, Wexy! I thought I'd missed an important obit!

I remember Kreskin's appearing on the Tonight Show decades ago when Steve Martin was guest-hosting for Johnny. As Steve raised a cup of coffee to his lips, he asked, "May I call you 'The Amazing'?" Maybe when his son "takes over the family business," he can call himself "The Awesome Kreskin."

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