Rachel Getting Married just may follow in the footsteps of Juno (another film about a misfit young female protagonist) as it goes into this year's Independent Spirit Awards with a leading six nominations. Joining Jonathan Demme's dysfunctional family drama with a half dozen nods a piece (including Best Feature notice) are the lesser known Frozen River and Ballast. Rounding out the top five are Wendy and Lucy (starring Michelle Williams) and The Wrestler (starring Mickey Rourke).Glaringly missing from the Best Feature and Best Director lists is Gus Van Sant's Milk, which did receive four nominations, including acting ...

"In the original script I read, there was only one real kissing scene. A month after Gus asked me to do it, they sent me another script, and on page 5 there was a full-on love scene. And I was like, 'Gus, what the heck?' He says, 'Well, it was Sean's idea.' " – James Franco, to Elle, on his intimate scenes with Sean Penn in Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic, Milk. (Page Six) ...

Nick's Flick Picks Nick has a revised "favorites" list and (joy!) 6 new write-ups. That's right, 6. Now, if I could only get my "personal canon" going againLow Resolution Joe's winter previewStale Popcorn Glenn's hopes 4 Oscar seasonBasket of Kisses Deborah and Roberta meet Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) now on the boards in that old Madonna role in Speed the PlowBoy Culture Matthew does not like this 'John Travolta' guyMy New Plaid Pants JA's 5 favorite Woody's (Allen)In Contention Guy likes the "Sight & Sound" ...

Gus Van Sant’s Milk, the dramatization of the life and death of gay pioneer Harvey Milk, performed well during its opening weekend. Although in limited release at 36 theaters, it drew in a healthy $1,381,000 for a screen average of $38,371 (by comparison, Four Christmases drew $31.7 M but played at many more theaters. It’s screen average was $9,571). The roll-out is reminiscent to that which Focus Features used for its Brokeback Mountain release. And they may be hoping that the same nomination and critical success will result. ...

The wife and I went to see "Milk" last with a couple of friends. Afterwards, we all wished that it had come out in theatres before the election, instead of three weeks after, or even that the "No on 8" campaign had drawn more of a parallel between their efforts and those of Harvey Milk's 30 years ago. I also wish there was someone with his passion and his ability to organize and inspire support ... the history of gay rights might be different.As for the movie itself, Gus Van Sant did an incredible job capturing the essence of Milk's ...

Thanks to the Achievement Gap we now have a listing called "The Honor Roll" which lists many who have supported marriage equality. These are famous individuals and organizations who deserve recognition for their contributions and efforts to preserve marriage for all. Of course everyone, whether famous or not deserves a thank you and a hug, but that list would be way too long! * Brad Pitt - $100,000 * California Teacher’s Association, $1,312,998 * David Geffen, Dreamworks Studios, $100,000 * Jeffrey Katzenberg, Dreamworks Studios, $25,000 * TR Knight, actor, (Grey’s Anatomy), $100,000 * Pete Wentz and Fall ...

In conjunction with a new film about slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, items belonging to the gay rights pioneer -- including the suit he was wearing when he was killed -- are being exhibited. Reporting from San Francisco -- The sight may be a little shocking, Paul Boneberg warned a visitor. And it was. There, removed from tissue-paper wrappings in a storage box, were the wingtip shoes, striped suit and white shirt that gay activist and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk wore Nov. 27, 1978, the day he was assassinated. Dark bloodstains remained visible around the shirt collar, ...

What a great movie. It was great to see it at the Chelsea Clearview Cinemas in NY. Opening night. The audience was full of fellow homosexuals and they helped me boo at the end of a National Guard ad aimed at attracting young people. I felt like booing immediately and so did everybody else. The nerve on these people: to show an ad for an institution that condemns who we are right before the most gay-important movie of the year... In Milk, Gus Van Sant tells us the story of Harvey Milk (played by Sean Penn), the first openly gay man to ...

Idol worship: Gus Van Sant, director/writer/producer.- He would begin exploring the major thematic subject of all his works, the lives of those living on the fringes of society, with his first film, the gay indie classic Mala Noche.- Continuing that theme, he would find great success with Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho, both of which won him Independent Spirit Awards and many other prizes.- Following his flop adaptation of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, he bounced back with the acclaimed black comedy To Die For and his biggest box office hit, Good Will Hunting. He received ...

Now Showing! One thing I am especially thankful for this year is the fact that I was in the States on the opening day for Gus van Sant’s newest film, Milk. Seeing the film reminded me of the many thanks I owe my gay forbearers. Yesterday I found myself outside the Mayan box-office window in Denver a few minutes before 12:30 waiting to buy tickets for the 1 o’clock showing. By the time I got in line, I was not first, I was maybe tenth, and by the time the sales started, the line progressed down the block nearly reaching ...

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, we bring you a special Wednesday edition of the Latest in Theaters:

• Milk: According to Chris' review of Gus Van Sant's long-awaited biopic of gay icon Harvey Milk (played by Sean Penn), it is certainly well worth that wait.
• Australia: Check back tomorrow for Neil's review of Baz Luhrmann's romantic epic starring our favorite Aussies, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.
• Transporter 3: Jason Statham puts on those driving gloves one more (final?) time as Frank Martin, here charged with transporting a kidnapped woman through Europe.
• Four Christmases: The unlikely coupling of

...

The reviews of Milk, the biopic of slain gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, are almost unanimous:

• “Emotionally devastating.” Four stars — Roger Ebert
• “Sean Penn shines in new Gus Van Sant biopic ‘Milk’.” — New York Daily News
• “‘Milk’ and Penn are a powerful cinematic combination.” — USA Today
• “Gus Van Sant males ‘Milk’ a real, moving story.” — Seattle Post-Intelligencer
• “‘Milk’ is a marvel.” — New York Times
• “‘Milk’ hits the stirring heights.” — Washington Post

Okay, I said almost unanimous:

• “Sean Penn overacts as gay leader in ‘Milk’.” — Washington Times

So go see it. Just don’t go to ...

For me and for anybody else who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s, the assassinations of Harvey Milk and George Moscone on Nov. 27, 1978, came as the second half of a traumatic double whammy -- a regionally and culturally specific version of 9/11 or Pearl Harbor. As I remember it, I was standing in the hallway outside the journalism office at Berkeley High School, talking to a couple of friends on the paper. (I was the editor.) We may well have been talking about stories we were working on in the aftermath of the ...

Allow me to cut to the chase: Milk (from Focus Features, opening in Los Angeles and New York City on November 26) is excellent, and timely. Viewing this long-in-development big screen biography the night before the recent election on California’s Proposition 8 made it seem all the more prescient. The final eight, politically charged years in the life of our nation’s first openly gay elected official come to vibrant life through Sean Penn’s extraordinary performance in the title role and Gus Van Sant’s passionate direction.Harvey Milk was many things in his lifetime: business owner, boyfriend and ...

Maureen Dowd spoke with California Senator Dianne Feinstein about Harvey Milk and Proposition 8 in a column published over the weekend. Feinstein's well-known, soon to be extremely well-known gut-wrenching press conference following Milk's assassination, frames both the Friedman/Epstein documentary The Times of Harvey Milk and features prominently in Gus van Sant's biopic Milk, opening this week. Feinstein also campaigned against Proposition 8 in an ad that was run statewide before the election. Said Feinstein of Milk: "I was the one who found his body. To get a pulse, I put my finger in a bullet hole. It was a ...

LOS ANGELES — When the movie "Milk" comes next month to Claremont, a college town about 30 miles from here, Patrick Milliner intends to greet it with a candlelight vigil protesting the newly passed state prohibition of gay marriage.Before this month's election, Mr. Milliner organized unsuccessful opposition to California's same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8. Now he expects the movie, about Harvey Milk, the murdered gay-rights crusader and San Francisco supervisor, to ignite his "Shame on 8" campaign. "It fits perfectly with the plan," Mr. Milliner said.That may be good for the movement. Whether it is also good ...

Here's some compelling news out of Park City, Utah, home of the venerable Sundance Film Festival. On the heels of reports of a potential boycott of the fest as a result of the Utah-based Mormon church's support of California's controversial Proposition 8 (which, as I'm sure you are well aware, bans gay marriage in the Golden State), Sundance officials have announced the movie that gets the choice spot of opening the festival. And what do you know, it's from an openly gay director.Mary and Max, the clay animated story of a pen-pal friendship between a ...