BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Jared Curtis Milk is a biography drama film that tells the story of Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist who became the United States' first openly gay elected official, up until his assassination by Dan fellow city supervisor Dan White on November 27, 1978. The film was directed by Gus Van Sant, and he does a really, really solid job. From the very opening of the film, it's clear what this film's intent is- to get you invested in Harvey's life, what happened to him, and the plight of the gay community in San Francisco at in the 1970's. This is all achieved, in quite a brilliant way. Harvey's political career was cut extremely short, as he didn't begin running for office until his forties and he was only city supervisor for eleven months, but his impact was felt. He was the leader of the movement that was taking place in San Francisco at the time. It is clear that Van Sant really does try to keep the film historically accurate, and it does not appear that there are any fabrications to the story, although it is clear to anyone with knowledge on Harvey and his life that some things have been cut out. The film opens with Harvey meeting Scott Smith, his longtime boyfriend, the night of his fortieth birthday, so anything that happened in his life before that point is not explored, although this really works to the films merit. The way this narrative is woven throughout the film is what makes it such a strong piece. In the beginning, it is explicitly said what is going to take place by the end of the film, so that the meat of the viewer's focus is brought to the events as they take place, and how we get to the eventual outcome. The performances here are fantastic, with Sean Penn's sincere and bubbly performance as Harvey Milk being one of the best of his career. His chemistry with James Franco as Scott Smith is also just fantastic. The people around Harvey, his political team and his friends, are incredibly likeable, interesting, and well acted. The story and time setting of this film is what really sells it. It is extremely engaging, very well thought out, and establishes an absolutely great symphony of different moods throughout its duration. The costume design and the way in which this movie is shot really establishes the time period of this film extraordinarily well. There's shots during scenes in which Harvey's giving speeches from a crowd, that are either shot from a crane overhead or from right in the crowd, which are incredibly engaging, and establish mood very well. There are a lot of very memorable scenes in this film that really compel the viewer to sympathize with the movement, and Harvey's dedication to being able to not just be gay, but openly gay in America. Harvey's occasional narration through tape recorder is a great technique to keep the story moving, and it adds great depth to his character. While the dialogue is pretty well written, every now and again it feels a little manufactured, with dialogue setting up the next event, but it's still very serviceable and not too distracting. It's not only a landmark in biography and LGBT film, but an important historical film as well. I absolutely love this film. 9.0/10

oOoBarracuda Gus Van Sant took on the crucially important subject matter of the openly gay activist who sought to give a voice to the oppressed with his 2008 film, Milk. Starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, and James Franco, Van Sant introduces audiences to Harvey Milk, who assembles the gay community and injects their ignored needs and rights into the political system. I was sure Milk was produced solely as Academy Award bait, and I could not have been more wrong or happier to be wrong. The 70's problems Milk discusses are in no way only a problem of the past making Milk as important to see today as it was in 2008.On his 40th Birthday, Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) realizes that he doesn't have any accomplishments to his name and seeks to change that. Energized and supported by his great love, Scott Smith (James Franco), Harvey steps out of the closet of New York, where he is from, and moves to San Francisco's emerging gay community to start a business. Immediately feeling push back from some of the closed-minded neighboring realtors, Harvey decides to run for office in hopes to have a positive effect on the business and living restrictions forced upon gay members of the community. After two unsuccessful campaigns for a City Supervisor Board position, Harvey finally finds success and wins the election while amassing a large and vocal support base finally giving purchasing power to the repressed group. As the film spans Harvey's rise to politics, we also get to see his personal relationships mature and develop as his base grows. The audience also sees each new repressive measure unleashed by the masses in hopes to repress the gay community. A particular foe, Dan White (Josh Brolin), has trouble dealing with what he sees as a betrayal of Harvey on a measure he discussed with him that White believed would help the people of his district that Harvey was unable to support. White proves to be an unstable foe and will affect Milk's rise to power and the gay community in ways no one anticipated.Here is another backward narrative that I am so fond of. The film opens with Harvey narrating his history and letting the audience know what the end result is, but never making the revealed story anything less than engaging. Being a fan of technical aspects of a film, the most enjoyable part of the picture for me was what appeared to be a heavy reliance on hand-held cameras. Through most of the crowd scenes, it appears Van Sant used hand-held cameras to capture Harvey's activism. This was a brilliant decision by the director, allowing the audience to be as swept into the marching and protesting as the participants. There were also some excellent shots off reflective surfaces, as well. One shot that remains in the mind of the viewer is the one in which we see the body of a murdered man killed solely for his sexual identity reflected off the whistle he kept as the only measure of safety. Milk also flawlessly transitions between actual and filmed footage, a feat which often plagues a film. Sean Penn clearly immerses himself in the role, creating a wonderful characterization of the titular role. Milk neglects the safe route of being a film that is only made for Oscar fare and lasts as an important narrative that clearly addresses problems that still plague the nation today.

Syl I had to accept Hollywood wasn't going to show the actual history of life in San Francisco in November 1978. The film is great but not accurate as it fails to mention details to better understand Harvey Milk's legacy. He became a gay icon and legend for the gay rights movement. The film is told largely from Milk's perspective with him at a recorder. He knows that he's a target and doesn't see the danger close by. Sean Penn deserved his Academy Award for playing Harvey Milk with a complexity of a multi-dimensional character. The supporting cast is stellar including James Franco as one of his lovers. Alison Pill is terrific as Anne Kronenberg. Victor Garber was fine as Mayor Moscone. Josh Brolin was brilliant as the troubled, unstable Dan White. The film doesn't project all facets of Milk's career. He was largely the most visible gay politician in the seventies and they're have been others like Barney Frank, Christine Quinn, and more to come out and service the public. Gay marriage has finally been legalized in this country.

blakelogsdon1 As a man that comes from a long line of milkmen, I was very excited to hear there was going to be a movie named Milk. Finally, Hollywood had latched onto the compelling and exhilarating story that surrounds the rise and fall of the dairy industry! Corporate farms, mass-scale shipments, cheese production! What more could viewers hope for? The history of the milk companies in this country is thrilling to say the least, and it is filled with new truths at every turn. For example, who would have thought that California leads the country in milk output annually? Not me! And I don't believe the majority of audiences would have seen that twist coming either! This exciting, eventful tale would be a nice change from the unstimulating, dull superhero and alien invasion flicks that are currently being spewed out of the bowels of the Hollywood studios.But when I learned that this was not a film about the story of the milk companies in the US and instead about some gay dude trying to do a bunch of gay politics, I felt as if I was drowning. And not even drowning in milk, which is a death I would be happy to endure. I was drowning in the hot, steamy liquid of betrayal produced by Hollywood's homosexual community. The very same community that had tricked me with this tomfoolery of a movie. For some reason, the film companies decided that America needed to hear the story of some gay milkman imposter than a true, realistic story on the origin and evolution of America's dairy corporations. I would like to say that the makers of this film are corrupt, lying, evil swindlers, and if they don't think the dairy world will fight back against the distribution of this movie, then they thought wrong! Because the dairymen and dairywomen of the world are a family! And we are also an army! An army that can crush the movie industry as a whole with one swift flick of the utter! So, you better watch out writer Dustin Lance Black and director Gus Van Sant because we aren't coming at you with 2% of our force. We're coming at you with the WHOLE thing. And it ain't going to be pretty. You've been warned.Sincerely, Your fellow IMDb user blakelogsdon1