Milk

[The Original BJ]

Also, I'd like to ask Anne Thompson how American Beauty was a surprise Best Picture winner. Seemed to me that sailed through awards season '99 with nary a bump...much like Slumdog Millionaire this year.

[The Original BJ]

The question I've been wondering is if Benjamin Button is The Aviator (which was liked well enough to pick up a sizable number of trophies, a couple of which weren't sure things) or if it's Gangs of New York (which apparently just got double digit nominations because it's That Kind of Movie, not because there was any real love for it, despite being genuinely competitive in a good number of categories).

I could see Benjamin Button doing quite well down-ballot...but I also could see it faring pretty miserably too.



Edited By The Original BJ on 1233620994

[Big Magilla]

I think if anything can stop Slumdog at this point it would be Milk, not Benjamin Button whose ship seems to have sailed.

[Penelope]

At this point, I can't imagine even a Dark Knight--were it nominated--could stop Slumdog.

[rolotomasi99]

i do not foresee a MILK upset, but stranger things have happened.


Is Milk Coming Up On The Outside?

While reports of the inevitable Slumdog Millionaire backlash may be overstated--the hugely popular movie is still charging forward to some major Oscar wins on February 22--here's a new Oscar slant: Slumdog and its main rival, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, split the vote and Milk takes the best picture win.

Possible? Milk was ahead in the Oscar race back in November before Slumdog took off. The biopic about assassinated San Francisco gay activist Harvey Milk boasts the earmarks of a powerful Academy contender: the politically correct, timely, emotional true story grabbed great reviews, New York Film Critics wins for picture and Sean Penn, LA Film Critics win for Penn, SAG win for Penn over Globe-winner Mickey Rourke, and eight Oscar nominations on January 22.

Lately, Milk is recovering momentum. And this Friday, a new ad campaign kicks in as the movie finally--after seven weeks inching along in no more than 300 locations to a $22 million gross--goes wide on 882 screens.

"The hope from the beginning," says producer Bruce Cohen, who with producing partner Dan Jinks produced the surprise 1999 best picture Oscar winner American Beauty, "was to start with the core demo and from there build out, eventually getting people who have never heard of Harvey Milk, and might not think that a gay subject was their cup of tea."

Having learned some lessons on the 2005 release of Oscar contender Brokeback Mountain, which was considered the front runner for the Best Picture Oscar but lost to Crash, Focus Features has taken the slow-and-steady-wins-the-race approach for Milk, a movie looking for Oscar love.

The distrib waited to break Milk wide until after the Oscar nominations. Because they were bumped by the presidential inauguration from Tuesday to Thursday this year, that left no time to plaster ads with Oscar noms. So Focus delayed the movie one week to lay that info on the consumer. Now Milk goes out backed by a substantial ad campaign--during the prime of Oscar season. Final ballots were mailed to 5800 Academy voters on Wednesday, and are due back February 17.

"It takes time," adds Jinks, "to reach less sophisticated audiences. Eight Oscar nominations helps enormously. Milk resonates in an emotional way that tops the other films out there."

http://weblogs.variety.com/thompso....de.html

[Penelope]

There are a lot--a LOT--of straight (or in denial) teenage boys on IMDb who are threatened by any gay film that achieves success, and also any female-oriented film that achieves success: just before Sex & the City, Mamma Mia! and The Women were released--note, *before* they were released--hundreds of IMDb users had voted the films a 1 rating--these boys are threatened by anything they perceive as "emasculating."

[Big Magilla]

I'd venture to guess that not a single AMPAS voter bases their votes on IMDb ratings.

The only thing that stop Penn is a sentimental vote for Mickey Rourke which I just don't see. Best picture, though, will go to Slumdog Millionaire.

[cam]

Huge love for Penn at the SAGS. My feeling is that "the Hollywood community" who probably did NOT support Prop 8 will vote Penn for Best Actor in the Oscar race and Milk will tag along as Best Film.
Watched Charlie Rose with David Denby and and a critic from NY Times on Friday night. Both picked Milk for Best Picture and Penn for Best Actor. Denby was sorry Rachel Getting Married was not nominated for Picture, though he picks Hathaway for Best Actress.
Penn noted that the SAG award had a major "basket."



Edited By cam on 1233013715

[Sabin]

No, it is. It's totally conventional. The structure of this movie is totally similar to a thousand other films of its ilk. The difference being that this is one of the best in ages. It's beautifully acted and directed with such care that it doesn't feel conventional. But it is. The only thing unconventional is the subject matter and the way in which homosexual content is casually treated, which is to say deliberately so. These are shrewd decisions that result in a damn good movie but it's from the playbook.

I wonder if the reason that Milk is testing so low is because Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are love-struck, beefcake gays, whereas Harvey is a middle-aged, nasal figure portrayed explicitly as having more than one relationship.

[Big Magilla]

Interestingly the lowest ranking is coming from females 45 and over who conversely were the group that voted the highest for Brokeback Mountain.

[rolotomasi99]

it seems some movie-lovers have come out to show their hateful side against MILK.

from awardsdaily:

We all know about the well-documented “Oscar bump” a movie receives when nominations raise its profile and thousands of moviegoers check it out to see what the fuss is about. This year we see a nastier and more disturbing phenomenon occurring. Give a movie with a gay theme some Oscar attention, and there’s a backlash from certain quarters that can only be called gaybashing.

That sudden slump in Milk’s already battered position on the IMDb charts is exactly what happened to Brokeback Mountain three years ago. As soon as enough people start to see an important gay film as a threat, the same types who believe gay marriage is a menace to society climb out of their holes and start shredding it.

I talked about this a couple of days ago when I noticed the percentage of “1" scores for each of the BP nominated movies. We decided to call it the IMDb “Hate-Rate” ®

Even the best films will always have 1-2% of IMDb voters giving it the lowest score of “1" as if it sets their eyeballs on fire to watch it. But Milk has 5.6% of IMDb voters saying it’s the lowest movie scum in existence. The number of “1" scores for Brokeback Mountain is an astonishing and despicable 8.1%. (Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories has 6.4% of voters giving it a “1")

As predicted, the wide-release of Frost/Nixon following its own Oscar respect has bumped F/N up to a #249 chart position. That fulfills the prophecy that 4 out 5 BP contenders would come from the IMDb Top 250. And there’s another revolting development I hate to see happening — a head-on collision involving a Gran Torino.

But most shameful and disgusting of all is the brutal bashing Milk is taking for daring to bring a gay hero to the Oscars.


http://www.awardsdaily.com/?p=6364



Edited By rolotomasi99 on 1233000331

[rolotomasi99]

Milk and Paranoid Park don't exist in the same universe but they both represent tentpole triumphs for the filmmaker.

i agree that MILK is nowhere near as artsy as PARANOID PARK, but i find it strange that anyone would dismiss it as completely conventional. maybe it is because i went into the film worried it was going to be as straight-forward as GOOD WILL HUNTING, FINDING FORESTER, or PSYCHO, but i felt MILK balanced the arty vision of van sant with the need to have people mainstream audiences actually watch the movie. van sant could have done more cinematically-attention-grabbing shots and edits.

i just read on the gay blog afterelton one of the editors complain the movie was too arty. if gus had done more no one would have watched it. i understand the compromises to his usual aesthetic. i am just glad he did not make a simple point-and-shoot film like the three previous films i mentioned.

[Sabin]

Despite the conventionality of Milk, I think it's worth noting that the film is more of a Focus Feature movie than a Gus Van Sant film. He is every bit work-for-hire as he was in Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester. The fact that it doesn't really feel like it means that this is the year where Gus Van Sant tempered his craft for purposes both mainstream (Milk) and in my mind otherwise. He's never made a movie that distills his predilections into one feature as strongly as in Paranoid Park, a movie that I prefer for its playfulness and innovation. It's everything he's done before but in a new, hopeful way. Milk and Paranoid Park don't exist in the same universe but they both represent tentpole triumphs for the filmmaker.

[rolotomasi99]

And to do something as easy and conventional as using a tape recording as a framing device is so beneath Gus van Sant!

that would be my only criticism of the film. making a tape recorded archival history in case of assassination right before he was shot down is too auspicious for the movie not to include. however, i did feel van sant relied way too heavily on it to move the story forward. there were so many parts where we would hear penn's voice-over describing events van sant was clearly showing us. it was completely unnecessary, but van sant probably worried the story contained too much information for audiences to process without a narrator.

[Damien]

Saw it tonight. As a gay man who came of age in the 1970s, the picture has a lot of resonance for me. I think it is thoroughly compelling, superbly acted, wonderfully evocative of its period (if there's any justice, a Best Costume Design nomination will go to Danny Glicker who was smart enough to no that no self-respecting gay man ever wore a leisure suit). The battles, the victories, the courage, the friendships and romantic relationships chronicled in the picture all moved me deeply.

I also appreciated the depth film gives to Dan White (exceelent work by Josh Brolin), not making him a one-dimensional villain. And I love how van Sant directs the actors so that they come across clearly as gay but in subtle non-flamboyant ways. Penn is just amazing -- how he is able to seamlessly become completely another person is something I'll never understand. There's not a less than excellent performance in the picture (hope it wins SAG ensemble) but my first among equals in the supporting cast is Emile Hirsch, who just through small gestures and looks somehow completely conveys one person's passion, pain, humor, strength, bewilderment, libido, and love.

But it is relatively conventional, and coming from a filmmaker like van Sant who's most interesting when he's being unconventional (as of right now, Paranoid Park is my favorite 2008 release) it is a slight tiny bit of a letdown. It never reaches euphoric heights, never quite moves to transcendental levels, is too grounded in the tropes of bio-pics (although I think Tee is spot on in indicating the structure is not that of a typical Great Man bio). Also, truth be told, there's no real subtext -- sure it reflects societal upheavals but esssentially it's just the story of Harvey Milk. And to do something as easy and conventional as using a tape recording as a framing device is so beneath Gus van Sant!

Still despite my reservations, it's one of the more memorable 2008 releases.

Although I prefer Gran Torino among possible Oscar contenders, I would place Milk above Slumdog, Benny Button and Batman. (Haven't seen Ron Howard's latest opus or the robot cartoon.)



Edited By Damien on 1233386567