MILK: My review (Spoiler free!)

[Biff AKA Levi]

Posted: 11/11/08 at 3:32am

I just got home from seeing MILK, at the Peoples Premiere in San Francisco. Three coworkers and myself were put on the list, because we work at a Castro store (I won't mention which one, but it's obvious). We at in the fourth row, center, with the other "Merchants of Castro".

It's amazing how much history repeates itself. Proposition 8 is Proposition 6 all over again, except we lost. (Of course, the filmmakers wouldn't know this during filming.)

Sean Penn gives the performance of a lifetime. He is 100% Harvey Milk. I know he'll be nominated for an Oscar, but it's way too soon to predict the winner. Another stand out is Alison Pill. I haven't seen all of her movies, but she's delightful. And so darn cute!

Josh Brolin, playing Dan White, could've easily been a caricature of the villain, but he plays (and is directed by) such a sympathetic eye, that he isn't the bad guy. His motivations are there. I felt sorry for him, even though I think his actions were way too extreme for what happened. I don't see the logic.

(On a side note, how many people can say they played two real life murderers in the same year?!)

I'd like to take a quick second to comment on the script, written by a 29 (30?) year old gay screenwriter named Dustin Lance Black (he attended the screening). It's amazing that the Powers that Be let this guy write this script. And it was an amazing script. Each line meant something. Each scene did something. You could tell Dustin put a lot of work into it. I hope Hollywood is changing. It's rare for a guy (or girl) with not so many credits to be able to write a Hollywood movie. (To explain: Dustin wrote this on commission. He didn't write it first, and then it was produced, like Diablo Cody's JUNO.)

[romantico]

Posted: 11/11/08 at 6:49am

Thanks for the review. I want to see this film SO BAD! I hope it does VERY well and breaks some records.I think the timing is perfect and it would be great to see it as the OSCAR stand out this year.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 11/11/08 at 8:07am

I'm looking forward to this movie!

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/11/08 at 11:25am

I am looking forward to seeing Alison Pil. I missed her the past few years on Broadway.

[Jon]

Posted: 11/11/08 at 12:02pm

Thanks for being spoiler free. There's nothing worse than spoiled Milk.

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 11/11/08 at 2:08pm

I'm also looking forward to it ! How was gorgeous James Franco ??

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/11/08 at 10:50pm

It was the first '70s-set movie I've seen where the clothes didn't get in the way. They were always accurate and never looked unreasonable, like the clothes in Zodiac for instance.

Franco's very good as are the gays, Victor Garber, Denis O'Hare, and Stephen Spinella, only one of whom actually played gay.

It is indeed remarkably fortuitous that Milk would be released at this time in California's gay history.

As gay mainstream movies go, and lord knows there aren't many, it's approximately 100 squadrillion times better than Brokeback Mountain, give or take a jillion.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 11/11/08 at 11:06pm

"As gay mainstream movies go, and lord knows there aren't many, it's approximately 100 squadrillion times better than Brokeback Mountain, give or take a jillion."

Fantastic. Since I loved Brokeback Mountain, I can't even imagine how much I will love this one if it's THAT much better!

[jessica0414]

Posted: 11/11/08 at 11:13pm

Huzzah---tonight at our College Democrats meeting the e-board handed out passes for a Chicago screening of Milk. I'm so excited! I can't wait to see Emile Hirsch, and the rest of the cast.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/11/08 at 11:29pm

Priest, Milk is extraordinary in that it bears a resemblance to actual homosexual experience and not just heterosexual fantasies of homosexual experience.

[Biff AKA Levi]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 3:11am

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN pales in comparison to MILK. I could watch MILK a million times. I have no desire to see BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN again. Seeing it once, in theaters, was enough.

I saw Justin Lance Black last night and today... Last night, he was with a crowd and I didn't want to say, "Hey, Lance, can I talk to you for a second?" because that's rude and today, he was filming, and talking about the movie, and I didn't want to disrupt that. I want to tell him how much of an inspiration he is. I know you people dog me for my "writing", but at 29, and being the writer of MILK, that's extraordinary.

Maybe I'll see him on my way to work tomorrow.

I hope everyone here sees MILK. And tells their families, friends, coworkers, neighbors to see it, because it's that ....ing good of a movie.

[Q]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 3:19am

"I know you people dog me for my "writing"

Speaking only for myself, that is low on the list of what I 'dog' you for.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 10:19am

Black didn't just fall out of the sky with a Milk script as the first thing he cobbled together. He did write eight episodes of Big Love (just to complete the Prop 8 circle with a dash of Mormonism).

[Biff AKA Levi]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 3:13pm

I know what he's done. To be given the job of writing a multi-million dollar movie at such a young age, without that much exprience, is impressive.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 3:58pm

In case you didn't know, it's who you know and he knows Cleve Jones who knew Harvey Milk but more importantly knows Gus van Sant.

[roquat]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 5:01pm

Anyone see Black's Burning Man documentary ON THE BUS?

[KathyGriffinLovesYou]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 6:33pm

i am DYING to see it but my MOTHER will only let me see the dvd. =-(

[feinstein9]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 7:24pm

you seriously think there's no way around that?

[KathyGriffinLovesYou]

Posted: 11/12/08 at 7:59pm

...
What did you have in mind?