Milk (2008)

This was a pretty enjoyable film. For the most part it was what I expected, which was nice. Sean Penn's performance was professional, but at times reminded me of his character from I Am Sam, which was somewhat detrimental to my perspective.
What I loved about this film: Emile Hirsch! He was really adorable, I want to have a love affair with his hair. It was so luscious and curly, you know he obviously had it styled professionally, but it definitely carried the film.
Josh Brolin played the self-oppressed bad guy very well. His role here was very different than his portrayal of George Dub-ya, in W. I thought he performed in Milk very well.
James Franco seemed awkward playing Sean Penn's lover. The guy is a good actor, he just didn't look comfortable in this role, in my opinion. Maybe he was trying to expand his range by playing a homosexual, but really, I think he was trying too hard. He looked good, but I was kind of glad when his character was written out of the story, for a while.
Gus van Sant also did a good job directing. I found it cool that he is still able to use the same cinematic techniques that he employed back in his early years. Intertitles / Stillframes with dialogue overlapping style that was made to stand out in his early film My Own Private Idaho, but done very naturally in Milk, that I didn't even notice it until I consciously thought about it.
On a thematic level it's interesting how films such as Milk are commercializing the gay movement. Yes, there were riots and very public demonstrations, but Milk also portrays this period has a time of crazy, yet controlled fun. Mostly I'm thinking about the scenes where the characters are celebrating one of Milk's victories by dancing around, and drinking, having a crazy, ol party...like they were celebrating their victory against The Man.
I recommend this movie if you want to watch a story about a culture martyr who never gave up his fight. It's not too heavy, and is definitely a crowd pleaser.