MILK

Nominated for 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, Actor (Sean Penn), Supporting Actor (Josh Brolin), Original Screenplay, Editing, Costumes, and Score.

Directed by Gus Van Sant

Staring Sean Penn, James Franco, Emile Hirsch, and Josh Brolin

The Plot:

On his 40th birthday, New Yorker Harvey Milk (Penn) picks up a young boy-toy (Franco) on the subway and decides to move to San Fransisco with him to live an openly gay life. He opens a camera store, becomes a community activist, organizer of the gay rights movement, and when he is elected city supervisor, the first openly gay elected official in America. I'm not giving anything away when I tell you he is assassinated along with the mayor of San Fransisco by a fellow city supervisor (Brolin).

The Good:

The film starts with news footage covering Milk's assassination then goes into a scene of Penn sitting alone in a kitchen leaving an "in case I'm killed" message on a tape recorder. It's haunting and powerful device to frame the story, and Penn shines in the simplicity of these scenes. Unfortunately, this device is mostly abandoned during the second act. The film also jumps back and forth from new cinematic footage of our cast to real 70's newsreel style footage of the people and events of San Fransisco. It really drives home that this is a true story and at times it's hard to tell what shots are new and what's old.

The Bad:

The film falls prey to the pitfalls of most biopics. For the greater part of the film, it lacks drama. It chronicles Harvey Milks life, friends, and elections, and even though the entire film is based on the conflict of the gay rights movement, it lacks convincing conflicts for it's characters. Only in the final 10 minutes, when Dan White (Brolin) is stalking the offices of City Hall and you know what's going to happen did it really grab my full attention. The rest is... boring.

The Ugly:

The undisguised bigotry of Anti-Gay activists Anita Bryant and John Briggs is stunning to someone of my generation. The gay rights theme runs through every scene of the film and gets tiring quickly. There must have been more stories from these characters that doesn't ram this issue down your throat. (he he he)

Milk was downright boring for me. The over abundance of man on man action honestly made me a little uncomfortable, and the film lacked tension or any real conflict until the end. One of the worst Best Picture nominations in years.

Movie Cheetah's Grade: C

Oscar Forecast:

Milk could be the biggest loser on Oscar night. I don't think it will take home a single statue. Penn offers it's best hope. He's the only Best Actor nominee with a previous win, but can he upset the juggernaut that is Mickey Rourke? Not likely.

If Milk wins Best Picture, the award would go to producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen who took home a Best Picture statue in 1999 for American Beauty.

Director Gus Van Sant was previously nominated in 1997 for Good Will Hunting.

Sean Penn got his Oscar in 2004 for Mystic River. He was also nominated for Dead Man Walking (1995), Sweet and Lowdown (1999), and I Am Sam (2001).

I can't believe composer Danny Elfman has never won an Oscar. But he has been nominated three other times, for Good Will Hunting (1997), Men in Black (1997), and Big Fish (2003).

This is the first Academy Award nomination for actor Josh Brolin, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, editor Elliot Graham and costume designer Danny Glicker.