Dustin Lance Black

Blu-Ray Review: Sean Penn’s Oscar-Winning ‘Milk’ Will Recruit Movie Fans Around the World

BrianTT — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:17:07 -0600

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – With the help of Dustin Lance Black’s Oscar-winning screenplay, Sean Penn’s Oscar-winning performance, Josh Brolin’s Oscar-nominated performance, James Franco’s Spirit Award-winning performance and Gus Van Sant’s Oscar-nominated direction, Harvey Milk has been brought back from the dead. Milk has been put back atop his soapbox and given the chance to recruit millions for the cause of human rights through the masterpiece “Milk”. Harvey used to say: “My name is Harvey Milk and I want to recruit you.” Now he has another chance.

“Milk” was easily one of the best films of 2008, arguably a better choice to win than the Academy made with “Slumdog Millionaire,” and it’s an absolute must-see. Honestly, this writer feels in such agreement with Dustin Lance Black and Sean Penn’s speeches at the Oscars about the importance of gay rights and the effect this film could have on the movement that I think they should show “Milk” in school. Teach ‘em about such an important figure early.

Milk was released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Universal Home Video

Revisiting “Milk” again on Blu-Ray, I was struck by its incredible re-watchability. From the amazing period detail - captured so vividly in Universal’s nearly-perfect HD process - to the award-winning performances to the incredible structure of Dustin Lance Black’s screenplay. “Milk” is one of those things that only comes along a few times a year, if we’re lucky, a flawless movie.

Milk was released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Universal Home Video

In the best performance of his amazing career, Sean Penn disappears into Harvey Milk, a city supervisor in San Francisco who was assassinated after only a short time in office. Milk changed the lives of millions just by being himself and refusing to live in a world where everyone wasn’t allowed to do the same without trying to do something about it.

Black’s incredible screenplay, one that I think stands among the best of the ’00s, focuses on the movement of the last eight years of Milk’s life but it does so without preaching or turning to melodrama. It perfectly places what Milk accomplished in context of not only history but humanity. Milk’s message was always that gay people have the same lives and loves as straight people and Black never forgets to ground the movement in a touching human story.

“Milk” opens with Harvey and his lover Scott Smith (James Franco) moving from New York to San Francisco’s Castro District, the center of the gay rights movement in the ’70s. With the community around them, Harvey and Scottie realize that they have the power to rally for change. Through boycott, the hurt stores that display homophobia and even join forces with the teamsters to enact change.

Harvey, Scott, Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch), Anne Kronenberg (Allison Pill) soon learn that they’ll get a lot more done in office than they could on a soap box and Milk begins several office. They try and lose, try and lose, until Milk finally gets into the position to make a real change. In office, Milk crossed paths with the seriously damaged Dan White (Josh Brolin), the man who would shoot him and the Mayor in just a year.

Milk was released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Universal Home Video

Watching “Milk” again, I was struck by something that Diego Luna notes in one of the special features - the film captures the “light” of Harvey Milk. It’s not a depressing film, which is one of the main reasons it works. So many filmmakers mistake depressing for moving. “Milk” is never the former and undeniably the latter.

Milk was released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Universal Home Video

My adoration for one of the best films of 2008 is clear, but the Blu-Ray release of it is a bit disappointing. I find it impossible to believe that this will be the final word on “Milk,” an eight-time Oscar nominee.

The special features included are excellent and the technical transfer is typically great (Universal very rarely falters in HD and DTS Master Audio), but there’s not a single word from Van Sant or Penn on the entire release, no commentary track, and only just over a half-hour of featurettes. A movie like “Milk” deserves (and will probably eventually get) a more extensive collection of special features.

With no U-Control (Universal’s great feature that allows featurette access during the playback of a film), viewers hoping for more detail about the film and its subject will want to see three great featurettes - “Remembering Harvey,” “Hollywood Comes to San Francisco,” and “Marching For Equality”.

The first features interviews with the actual people in the movie, including Cleve Jones, and is unlikely to leave a dry eye in the house. It hammers the real-life impact that Milk had home but it could have been four times as long as its 13-minute running time.

“Hollywood Comes to San Francisco” is the only featurette to include interviews with any of the on-camera talent and Josh Brolin, James Franco, and Diego Luna do have interesting things to say. Once again, as he did on the Oscars, Dustin Lance Black tugs at the heartstrings, talking about how much Milk personally influenced him.

Finally, “Equality” focuses on the production design and how perfectly it recreated San Francisco in the ’70s. “Milk” is one of the most technically impressive films of 2008. 8 minutes on how that was accomplished doesn’t seem like enough.

The story of “Milk” is not over. I’ve long bristled against the idea that art should be used as political force, but this could be the rare exception, a film that will get people talking and influence generations to come. Harvey is still recruiting.

‘Milk’ is released by Universal Home Video and stars Sean Penn, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Anne Kronenberg, Emile Hirsch, and Diego Luna. It was written by Dustin Lance Black and directed by Gus Van Sant. It was released on March 10th, 2009. It is rated R.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Slideshow: 20-Image Gallery From Back Stage at 81st Annual Academy Awards

BrianTT — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:12:59 -0700

CHICAGO – This 20-image slideshow contains a selection of the award-winners and presenters back backstage at “The 81st Annual Academy Awards,” which aired on ABC on Sunday, February 22nd, 2009.

Winners and presenters include Dustin Lance Black, Kate Winslet, Sean Penn, A.R. Rahman, Danny Boyle, Christian Colson, Steven Spielberg, Kate Winslet, Sean Penn, Penelope Cruz, Anjelica Huston, Tilda Swinton, Goldie Hawn, Eva Marie Saint, Whoopi Goldberg, Tina Fey, Steve Martin, Andrew Stanton, Sir Ben Kingsley, Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas, Adrien Brody, and Sir Anthony Hopkins.

You can click “Next” and “Previous” to scan through this slideshow or jump directly to individual photos with the captioned links below. All photos are credited to Adam Larkey and courtesy of ABC. All Rights Reserved.

oscars2009_backstage_01: Dustin Lance Black
oscars2009_backstage_02: Kate Winslet
oscars2009_backstage_03: Kate Winslet
oscars2009_backstage_04: Sean Penn
oscars2009_backstage_05: Sean Penn
oscars2009_backstage_06: A.R. Rahman
oscars2009_backstage_07: Danny Boyle
oscars2009_backstage_08: Danny Boyle
oscars2009_backstage_09: Christian Colson and Steven Spielberg
oscars2009_backstage_10: Kate Winslet, Sean Penn, and Penelope Cruz
oscars2009_backstage_11: Kate Winslet, Sean Penn, and Penelope Cruz
oscars2009_backstage_12: Atmosphere
oscars2009_backstage_13: Anjelica Huston, Tilda Swinton, Goldie Hawn, Penelope Cruz, Eva Marie Saint, and Whoopi Goldberg
oscars2009_backstage_14: Tina Fey, Dustin Lance Black, and Steve Martin
oscars2009_backstage_15: Andrew Stanton
oscars2009_backstage_16: Sir Ben Kingsley, Sean Penn, Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas, Adrien Brody, and Sir Anthony Hopkins
oscars2009_backstage_17: Penelope Cruz
oscars2009_backstage_18: Penelope Cruz
oscars2009_backstage_19: Penelope Cruz
oscars2009_backstage_20: Dustin Lance Black

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Sean Penn’s Oscar-Possible Harvey Milk Puts Face to Gay Rights in ‘Milk’

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:39:20 -0700

CHICAGO – Just as Tom Hanks put a face to AIDS in 1993’s “Philadelphia,” Sean Penn has now put a face to gay rights as Harvey Milk in the new Gus Van Sant true-story film “Milk”.

While Penn’s Harvey Milk had the physical demeanor of a petite and gentle man, the fire inside the real-life activist for gay rights was both his blessing and sometimes his poison.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Milk found balancing personal relationships challenging amid his relentless quest to be the first gay politician in California. The film’s story takes place in the 1970s when those who were out of the closet were much less accepted than they are today.

Milk found himself fighting not only the adversity to his political dream because it hadn’t been done before but also a powerful politician in his state as well as an omnipresent national force against gay rights.

Read Adam Fendelman’s full review of “Milk” in our reviews section.

But even more than gay rights, Milk’s life was devoted to the same tenants of newly elected U.S. president Barack Obama: change and hope.

Because of the political corollaries to Obama’s message for change today as well as the brouhaha in California now over gay marriage (and the potential to repeal the thousands who snuck in during the short period of time when the law allowed them), the timing for the release of the film today couldn’t be more prescient.

“Milk” stars Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco and Alison Pill. “Milk,” which is directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black, opened in Chicago on Nov. 26, 2008.

Continuing reading for Adam Fendelman’s full “Milk” review.

Sean Penn stars as real-life gay rights icon Harvey Milk in director Gus Van Sant’s “Milk”.
Photo credit: Phil Bray

Alison Pill (left) and Emile Hirsch (right) star as real-life gay rights activists Anne Kronenberg and Cleve Jones (respectively) in director Gus Van Sant’s “Milk”.
Photo credit: Phil Bray

Continuing reading for Adam Fendelman’s full “Milk” review.