Milk

I finally had the chance to see Milk on Saturday night, and better yet, I watched it while drinking beer at the McMenamin's Old St. Francis School theater in Bend.

Of the nominees for Best Picture this year, I've seen Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Milk. I'm hoping to see Frost/Nixon and The Reader soon. I think it was clear that Benjamin Button did not deserve to win Best Picture, and I think it was a toss-up between Milk and Slumdog Millionaire for me; perhaps I'd give Slumdog just a slight edge.

Anyway, this is old news, as Slumdog won Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, while Milk won Best Original Screenplay and Sean Penn won Best Actor for his role as Harvey Milk--he certainly deserved it. (I do want to point out that Richard Jenkins was fantastic in The Visitor, and if you haven't seen that, check it out.)

I felt a bit embarrassed and ashamed that I didn't know more about Harvey Milk before watching this film, and going in with little knowledge of how he actually died made that scene especially powerful. My ignorance worked to my advantage this time, at least as a moviegoer.

(Aside: McMenamin's wheat beer in Bend was unbelievable, one of the best I've ever had. I'm going to head to the Corvallis locations this week in search of the same brew. Fingers crossed.)

Here is Sean Penn's Academy Award acceptance speech for best actor in a leading role:


And here is the trailer for Milk: