Milk

Finals week is movies week, plain and simple. Last night and this morning, I watched Milk, a movie that's only been backlogged for a month or so. It was very good, and I was somewhat surprised by this. All too often, it seems, too much critical acclaim is thrown around during Academy Award season; I've seen just a few too many "Best Picture" nominees and "Best Actor" performances lately that just don't live up to the hype, at all. This biopic did. It was masterfully crafted, flowing beautifully from year to year while retelling the political career of Harvey Milk. Now, obviously every historical film takes at least some liberties in depicting different characters, but Sean Penn made Harvey Milk seem like a really good guy. And that, too, was surprising for me to see - not because I doubt Harvey Milk was a good guy, but because Sean Penn always seems to play such assholes. Mystic River, 21 Grams - I just don't know if I've ever seen Sean Penn play a likable guy before. Even the actor himself seems like a giant douche that oozes smugness. But hey, I have to give credit where credit is due, and credit is due to Sean Penn here for his performance. He certainly had to kiss a lot of dudes a lot of times. Yeah, this movie was probably gayer than Brokeback Mountain. But unless you can't handle two men affectionately kissing, I definitely think you should check this movie out. Sad, moving, and inspiring.