Milk
Director Gus van Sant can certainly veer towards the very odd with his films (Gerry, anyone?), but when he gets out of his own way and just directs a good story, he usually hits the mark. He is definitely back on his game with this biopic about San Franciscan politician Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) -- the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in America, who was then assassinated in 1978 by disgruntled colleague Dan White (Josh Brolin) -- with gusto.
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