Ms. Thompson praises Milk:
Milk is far better than I was expecting it to be, even after reading Todd McCarthy’s positive review. It had been described to me as small, political, an acting vehicle for Sean Penn. It’s far more than that.
First of all, Dustin Lance Black’s script is as lean and disciplined as Gus Van Sant’s direction. (And that is not always true of Van Sant, although his recent indie films have been spare, even austere.) There is nothing indulgent about this film. Every actor is well cast, and Penn’s performance is towering, detailed, specific, poignant. As easy as it can be to dislike Penn the man (pick your poison), you can’t dismiss this performance, because he makes you care deeply about this guy. Penn will be nominated, in a competitive year.
Milk is the perfect Academy movie–moving, and political, especially in an Election year with Proposition 8 on the California ballot–and could get to Best Picture. It reminds us of how far we’ve come, in a short time, and how far we still have to go.
She elevates it beyond Frost/Nixon and W. and believes it could be nommed for “picture, director, screenplay, actor, editor.”