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Capone drinks in the glory of MILK!!!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
It's almost inconceivable to think that the real Harvey Milk, just weeks before his assassination, provided an account of his life story onto a series of tapes to be played upon his death. Yet those recording session done alone in his home provide the perfect framework for one of the most well-executed biography films in recent memory and one of the year's finest efforts. When I was in college in the late 1980s, I became obsessed with documentaries. I raided the film library of my university seeking out any doc I could get my hands on. And it was during this that I first saw the 1984 Oscar-winning work THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK, so Harvey's life, work, and fate were not surprises to me going into Gus Van Sant's MILK. What did surprise me was just how damn perfect Van Sant got this movie, with more than a little help from a top-notch cast led by Sean Penn, who throws himself into the role of America's first openly gay politician to achieve a significant office circa the late 1970s.
With only the slightest nose extension and a whole lot of New York moxie, Penn embodies Milk's energy, unflappable optimism, controlled rage, and remarkable sense of how to attract media attention. MILK is as much about a guy working the political machine as it is about a gay man pushing the nation into a new level of understanding and acceptance. And with all that is going on in the nation with gay marriage and the legal rights of domestic partners (hell, even eHarmony said it would open itself up to gay matchmaking next year), the film could not seem any more relevant.
The film opens at the end of Harvey's closeted existence in New York, where he meets the love of his life, Scott Smith (James Franco in a fascinating role as the man who often played second fiddle to his Milk's political ambitions). Upon moving to San Francisco, Milk is astonished to find a level of bigotry among the police and even some of his neighbors in the Castro section of the city. Milk immediately sets to organizing his own community groups of gay business owners, a move that gains the support of unions and eventually turns the Castro into gay HQ. It's almost impossible to fathom this much gay activism in an era before AIDS, but the 1970s was a time when gay rights was equated with civil rights, and Christian fundamentalists like Anita Bryant (who plays the film's villain through some beautifully incorporated archival footage) were leading a city-by-city charge to revoke equal rights legislation that included gay rights.
Perhaps the most intriguing performance in MILK belongs to Josh Brolin as a fellow city Supervisor Dan White, the man who was something of a friend to Harvey, even though so many of their views were at odds. White represented one of the few conservative sections of the San Francisco, but Milk was convinced he was a closeted homosexual. Van Sant's treatment of White is commendable and sympathetic. In many ways, White was a man who was outnumbered on the Board of Supervisors because of Harvey's popularity in the city and with the media, and although he got along with Milk most of the time, his frustration vented itself in all too destructive ways. Brolin's portrayal is nothing short of brilliant. There's a quiet scene of him sitting on his sofa in his underwear that is about as sad a thing as I've ever seen. And with no words, the scene and the actor convey a lifetime of world weariness.
The film's supporting cast is as good as any you'll see in 2008. Emile Hirsch as Cleve Jones, the man who went from street hustler to activist to the creator of the AIDS quilt; Diego Luna as Jack Lira, one of Harvey's many unstable boyfriends; Alison Pill as Milk's lesbian campaign leader; Victor Garber as San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, a man whose career and death will be forever linked to Milk; and a nasty turn by Denis O'Hare as State Senator John Briggs, who worked hand in hand with Bryant to overturn gay rights in California.
In so many of his films, director Van Sant has featured violence and death that we know is coming. Works like ELEPHANT, LAST DAYS, TO DIE FOR, and MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO (hell, we could even throw in his remake of PSYCHO, but I won't), the fate of some of the characters is known, and clearly MILK is no exception. But Van Sant is talented and smart enough to use that element of the story to tell his story. By showing Harvey as he dictates his biography (or perhaps he saw it as his obituary), Van Sant gives the film a subtle fatalistic atmosphere that transforms Milk's story into one of legend. I'm sure Milk wouldn't have wanted to be thought of as an icon during his lifetime, but I also believe that he's want his death to stand for something, and this film fulfills that. MILK is desperately fine filmmaking, telling a story that is both long overdue and perfectly in synch with the times. You may not consider this to be the ideal Thanksgiving choice, but you'd be wrong. There is nothing that speaks more strongly about this country's potential than MILK.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcoolmail.com
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Nov 28, 2008 12:32:38 PM CST
Another "flaming" talkback in 3... 2... 1...
by i_am_not_the_droid_you_are_looking_for
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Nov 28, 2008 12:37:25 PM CST
Good review as well, Capone...
by i_am_not_the_droid_you_are_looking_for
At last Brolin is getting some good roles!
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With your endorsement, I'll definitely check this one out. Sounds like a great cast. I loved Van Sant's ELEPHANT, too.
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When the hell did Josh Brolin become one of today's finest working actors? Every role he's touched the last two years has been very strong. But personally, I thought he was hilarious in "Flirting with Disaster" back in '96.
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....here
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There's nothing wrong with 'em! I'd say the "asshole percentage" of gays is roughly the same as any other human being on this god-forsaken planet.
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Unleash the Kraken!
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Nov 28, 2008 2:13:19 PM CST
I won't be seeing this. In fact I am launching a boycott.
by cotton mcknight
I am- people have suffered long enough with Sean Penn's crappy acting. Even worse, he is actually being recognized now for these gimmick roles he is playing. First a retard (Kirk Lazarus' words, not mine), and now this. I'm not dismissing the movie or the subject at all- I am just sick and tired of his pathetic attempt to get an oscar.
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Every other of Van Sant's movies in the past few years have been mere retelling of real life events like the Columbine massacre and Kurt Cobain's destructive lifestyle. In Milk San Sant actually uses his subject's name rather than rename him Coffee or something.
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Nov 28, 2008 2:45:36 PM CST
Kudos, Thrillho77 - you said "asshole", "gays" and "roughly" in
by sickpuppy
I couldn't do that without being insulting.
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done
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if HM's last name "Milk" was some kind of naughty joke or something...
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for this talkback to explode into Prop 8 debate like the last Milk post? Come on, who's ready. Here, in the spirit of fairness, I'll start off with a conservative viewpoint to get things going: gay marriages will inevitably lead to 5 year olds marrying goats, etc. Show me a logical explanation of why it wouldn't, I dare you.
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White killed Milk because Milk refused to let him "un-resign," so White killed him. Had nothing to do with his sexual behavior. Or am I missing something? I'm not saying that Milk's fans shouldn't be happy about a movie about him, just that his death wasn't a martyr's death.
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It was his life that was meaningful, and his death is meaningful in that it put an end to his life's work.
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I've spent the last hour pondering that and I cannot refute it. That is flawless logic.
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of misguided people that want to start marrying fictional characters (like in video games and cartoons and stuff). No, I am not making that up.
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Top Ten Reasons Gay Marriage Should Be Illegal
01) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.
02) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
03) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
04) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all like many of the principles on which this great country was founded; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
05) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of marriages like Britney Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
06) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.
07) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
08) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.
09) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.
Let's get it on. -
There is a better version of this story coming out directed by Heywood Jablowme. It stars Ben Dover as Harvey Milktoast.
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This film was amazing. I must say that I am not a big Van Sant fan - while I respect him and his edginess as a filmmaker, the only films of his I enjoy are his more mainstream works (aside from "Finding Forrester") and when I say mainstream, I still count his indies in there. I like "To Die For," "Drugstore Cowboy," and of course "Good Will Hunting."
With that preamble, I will tell you that this film deserves every single bit of praise it's likely to receive.
I have seen "The Wrestler." My vote goes to Penn for his work here. Brolin is understated and absolutely brilliant as the conflicted and belittled Dan White. And Emile Hirsch, who I've never really cared for before this, was fantastic here. Really excellent work across the board both in front of and behind the camera. It's a powerful piece of filmmaking and couldn't be more timely. -
of faggots and liberals.
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and don't pretend like you don't know what shrimping is.
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because i was just thinking how sick I am of whining fucking redneck conservative bitches!
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I can actually speak and write english..unless conservative whining redneck bitches etc etc
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Im torn, while i greatly admire his politics and what he fought for, mist historical accounts make him seem like a real ass in day to day life. I mean the guy who assasinated him didnt do so over his politics, he did it because they guy vindicitvely screwed him and was real snide about it too.
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May the Schwartz be with you!
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I guess you're also sick of libertarians who want the government to get the fuck out of our personal lives (including our bedrooms)? It's not a simple conservative vs. liberal issue no matter how hard you want it to be.
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I saw the film a couple days ago. It was very good.After being in the thick of the Prop 8 battle over this last month, it was very disheartening to me to see that 30 years later we're still seeing the same prejudice and the same inane arguments used to justify it.In some ways, it almost seems like we've taken a step back. As detestable as I find it, at least Prop 6 had a tinge of infringement in its rationale (i.e., the bigots wanted to keep gay teachers away from their kids), but with Prop 8 they are seeking to prevent consenting adults from their personal love and happiness. Regardless, it's all horseshit.
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He plays this role well. Very understated and effective. They could have held off on Mystic River and given him the Oscar for this.
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Capone says, "There is nothing that speaks more strongly about this country's potential than MILK." What about that little election a few weeks ago? I though THAT was THE sign about this country's potential (and the survival of Earth). Oh well, on to spewing hyperbole about the next cause.
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...that this movie needed to be made can be seen in the spectacular bigotry and ignorance in this talkback. Shameful.
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Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay
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...Since Nov. 4th. They ponied up their ultimate Reagan-In-Drag-dreamgirl Palin, and she utterly sank the ticket. Har!
The only kernal of corn in the twelve-inch shit subway they had to eat was Prop 8. So as with the '06 midterms, they ignore the fact that their freaky politics are seriously out of step with the US public, and sieze on this as some form of vindication. No surprise. -
I'm so ashamed of myself, I have decided to join Heterosexuals Anonymous. I will admit to the world that I am disgustingly straight.
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I just wanted to write that for no good reason. I love Sean Penn. He is one of the greatest actors of the our time. He kicks ass in any role that he plays. I support gay marriage. However, I will not see MILK. Sorry, but it just isn't for me. No offense, Capone, but I gotta pass on this one.
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of attention-seeking junior high school kids in these talkbacks. Uh, the_frog and mrtwig48: I know it's Thanksgiving weekend, but you still have that book report on "The Red Badge of Courage" due by third period English class on Monday morning. And ricky retardo, nothing to say but, how appropriate. Now please, won't you 3 (and others) leave this talkback, and continue looking through your father's sock drawer for back issues of Forum? We'll ALL be glad you did.
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What I am looking for is an anti-gay-marriage argument that conforms to the the tenants of classical debate. IE: One that relies on empiricism vs hearsay; IE: How does it detrimentally affect social order, heterosexual marriage, child rearing, or religious integrity? I have seen no evidence of any such argument in this TB thus far.
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I live in CA, and during the 5+ months that gay marriage was allowed, I did not notice any plague of frogs, or boils. Not meteors crashing into Earth. No unbelievable rise in divorce rates or drops in births. No cats sleeping with dogs. No takeover of paganism. Things seemed pretty much the same to me. Life went on. And on. And on...
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I live in CA, and during the 5+ months that gay marriage was allowed, I did not notice any plague of frogs, or boils. Not meteors crashing into Earth. No unbelievable rise in divorce rates or drops in births. No cats sleeping with dogs. No takeover of paganism. Things seemed pretty much the same to me. Life went on. And on. And on...
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I hate this stupid keyboard!!!!!!
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We all remember the vicious "Brokeback Mountain" talkbacks. The argument that pissed me off the most around that time was that gay-themed entertainment was so pervasive that it was inescapable. For the record, having a gay or assumed-gay side character prancing around the porphyry of a show/movie is rarely as entertaining to gay people as you might think. I'm no less bored by the gay-wedding-planner-cliché character than you are, not because of some homophobic point of view (I am gay), but because I've seen it... a billion times over.
Then we are presented with something like "Brokeback Mountain". A movie that voids the "why does that character have to be gay" argument that repeats on a loop, in some households across this country. In that movie, the story was about a gay relationship, so gay characters were, in a word, required. When people responded negatively to “Brokeback”, they quite often fell into two categories: 1) "Why is this movie being forced on us?" 2) "Here we go... Just watch! Now EVERY movie is going to be about gay people!"
In response to the first, most of you are adults, or at least young adults. If you're not into something, skip it. Recently, I have quite successfully, to my credit, avoided seeing "High School Musical 3", and I was motivated to do so for no other reason than the fact that I could give a shit about "High School Musical 3". Despite what endless promotion would have me believe, it's not for me... So I skipped it. I remember one ad suggested that if I was going to "High School Musical 3" I should test drive a certain car (I didn't make that up, by the way). I, in fact, didn't test drive that car. I also didn't post online, lamenting the fact that others wanted to see the movie. I fucking skipped it, and went about my day.
As for the second argument, I may be wrong, but I can think of NO gay-themed Hollywood film (ie decent budget, good cast, wide release, by a major studio) released between "Brokeback" and "Milk". Sure there has been a LOT of low budget shit sandwiches that fill the shelves of Blockbuster, but I’ll assure you 90% of them are unwatchable by any audience, gay or straight. Essentially, most are 90 minutes of shitting acting, an even shittier script, and peppered scenes of guys with no shirts on. My point is, there is an utter lack of entertainment featuring well-crafted gay characters, and even fewer that address issue that relate specifically to gay people. If you argue the contrary, you're not full of shit in my opinion. You're full of shit until you produce the lengthy list of your favorite gay-themed entertainment.
The reality: There is going to be a lot of talk about this movie. You can react however you see fit. It's your absolute right. If you think this movie is evil and will cause the downfall of society, go protest it. If you believe that (or some version of it) and DON'T go protest, I'd suggest that you're far worse than any gay boogie-men and women. However, if you just don't want to see "Milk", skip it and let the rest of us enjoy it on our own terms. Go see "Quantum". It kicked ass. (To some, that last bit might be the most controversial thing in this talkback).
PS: As a note to all, this movie has nothing to do with the presidential election. Take a breathe. -
Will Ferrell. Blades of Glory. 2007.
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...do it in the butt.
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...you're fuuuuunny mrwig48, huh huh huh...
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While straight myself, I was fortunate to be raised by parents that made a point to teach my sister & I that a few jerks of non-white races, or gays, did not the "community" make. Now being a Wiccan for almost 15 years - again, not all Christians are a*holes, just as not all Wiccans or Pagans are saints. We're all HUMAN.Just as gay folks are. For those that complain about allowing gay marriage, I just point you to current "straight" statistics - could we really do any worse? It's at over 50% now - somehow I doubt allowing homosexual marriage is gonna change that much. Will they have divorces? No doubt - but again, many folks makes mistakes in who they chose to love & hope to spend the rest of their life with.
As for the topic at hand - I am looking forward to seeing this movie once it hits wide-release. Myself, and the aforementioned parents, will be in line. -
Really? Anyway, there's nothing wrong with being gay people. Jeeze! I call for a Mori-torium on gay based film-talkbacks because it only serves to justify how ignorant and prejudicial some many of us still are. Plus, the Commie might discover our weakness and use it against us...
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Please don't be so hard on mrtwig48. Obviously, he did not get around to finishing his book report for "The Red Badge of Courage" for his 3rd period English class in 7th grade. And is therefore just lashing out in frustration. Plus, huh-huh, did you see how I said "hard on" near the top of my message???? Huh-huh-huh. I'm witty!!!!!
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