Josh Brolin

Milk
Running time 128 minutes
Written by Dustin Lance Black
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Alison Pill

Gus Van Sant’s Milk, from a screenplay by Dustin Lance Black, is certainly as timely as ever, inasmuch as amid all the euphoria over the election of Barack Obama, the passage of anti-gay-marriage propositions in three states has struck a sour note, particularly in California, a state that Senator Obama carried easily, which means that many Obama voters, and probably a fair number of churchgoing Hispanics and African-Americans, voted for Proposition 8. Ironically, one of the high points of Milk is Harvey Milk’s exultation over the defeat in California on Nov.  read more »

Last night, at a screening of Milk and Q&A with stars James Franco, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin and Alison Pill; director Gus Van Sant; and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, everyone was pretty giggly.

Mr. Franco said that he had watched Gay Sex in the 70s (the documentary) to prepare for his role as Scott, Harvey Milk's boyfriend. Mr. Brolin joked that he'd been thinking he was to play Milk and so "being a straight guy, I had tons of sex. Lots of orgies."

Mr. Hirsch (sitting next to Mr. Brolin) interrupted him. "Our research was actually coordinated, right?"  read more »

Milk
Running time 128 minutes
Written by Dustin Lance Black
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Starring Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Emile Hirsch, Alison Pill, Diego Luna, Victor Garber, Denis O’Hare

In real life, Harvey Milk was an unexceptional Jewish boy, as plain as a matzo, but with extraordinary courage, as challenging to homophobic society as a pierced nipple. Without much public egotism or personal glory, he was a late bloomer who, at 48, made history, first when he became the first gay-rights advocate elected to public office on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, and the next year, when he was assassinated for it.  read more »

As the Daily Transom walked up 54th Street towards the Ziegfeld Theater Tuesday evening, we silently congratulated the PR firm handling the premiere of Oliver Stone's W. on the little spectacle they'd created for our benefit--the rows of black SUVs lining the sidewalk, the suited "Secret Service" officers, the "snipers" installed on the roof of the neighboring building. Taking our place among the waiting press, we noticed an enterprising television anchor showing off something he had captured on his digital camera. "Bristol Palin," he was saying. "I got her on tape--she was just walking around!"

In a coincidence--one that will surely get someone fired and someone promoted--the McCain and Palin families were in New York for a fundraiser and the final debate and had been installed at the Hilton directly across the street from the entrance to the theater. Their motorcades took off right as the actors began to arrive. From her car, the reliably well-programmed Cindy McCain smiled broadly and waved goodbye to the assembled press--not to mention massive posters of Josh Brolin posing as George W. Bush that lined the red carpet.   read more »

On the night of Monday, October 13, Oliver Stone was being chauffeured around downtown Manhattan, looking for the dinner party he was running late for, and talking about what the subject of his new film, W., has in common with the Wizard of Oz. Connecting W., which examines and chronicles the life of George W. Bush leading up to and including his presidency, to the 1939 Judy Garland flying-monkeys extravaganza might not seem all that intuitive. But in conversation about his latest subject, Mr. Stone was drawn back again and again to the moment that Dorothy discovers that the great and most powerful wizard was
really just an ordinary man, hiding behind a curtain, desperately pressing buttons and pulling levers to keep up the illusion of his control.  read more »

W.
Running time 131 minutes
Written by Stanley Weiser
Directed by Oliver Stone
Starring Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, Richard Dreyfuss, Jeffrey Wright

Oliver Stone’s W., from a screenplay by Stanley Weiser, arrives at a strange time in our nation’s history, when even Iraq and Afghanistan have been pushed off the front pages and away from the TV talking heads by our current doomsday financial crisis. Of course, Mr. Stone, Mr. Weiser and their array of gifted collaborators had no way of knowing before they finished work on their production that the darkest days of the Bush presidency would soon dawn with what now seems like a Herbert Hooverian plunge into the abyss of a worldwide economic collapse.  read more »

After spending two years revving his career up to the point of A-list status, Josh Brolin is poised to have his own comic book franchise. Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeffrey Wells is reporting that Mr. Brolin has been signed on to play comic book cowboy Jonah Hex for Warner Bros. and DC Comics.

Since there's apparantly a bottomless well of comic book characters for Hollywood to draw from, we're not too surprised that we've never heard of Jonah Hex. Here's the premise: Jonah Hex is a drunken cowboy and bounty hunter with half his face scarred from an Indian attack who also happens to be some kind of supernatural forever walking the earth and doing badass things. Ok! While there is certainly a tinge of Ghost Rider to this whole enterprise, we do love movies about bounty hunters.  read more »

Even after the first W. trailer was released this summer, we weren't sure what to expect from Oliver Stone's film. Well, that's not exactly true. We expected that it would be totally bananas, but we didn't know how far it would take things and whether it would be any good.

From the looks of it, W. goes further than our imaginations even figured. One of our favorite movie blogs, In Contention, posted a new television spot (and linked to another over at Huffington Post) and well, consider us incredibly excited. If W. isn't the funniest movie (or possibly depressing) of 2008, we don't know what is.  read more »

Sarah Palin's people "do not want the American public to know that [she] is using stylists or that she is paying for expensive clothes this early in the campaign." We definitely did not know. [P6] 

The Obama campaign rebuffed newly minted political blogger Lindsay Lohan's offer to host "a series of events for younger voters," reportedly saying that she is "not exactly the kind of high-profile star who would be positive for us." [TMZ] 

Socialite and jewelry designer Genevieve Jones is dating Oscar de la Renta's 24-year-old son Moises. [Paper]

Jennifer Lopez threw husband Marc Anthony a surprise "1940's Cuban nightclub themed" birthday party at the Bowery Hotel the same day she finished fifth in the "celebrity women's category" (which apparently exists!) in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon. [People]  read more »

What the hell has gotten into Josh Brolin?

His résumé is littered with paycheck garbage, the types of movies that you haven't even thought of in the last decade. (The Mod Squad? Really?) Of course everyone touted 2007 as his turnaround year, but we're not sure we'd agree. While it's true that he appeared in no less than four movies last year, the only role that really resonates is his part in No Country for Old Men. In fact, we defy you to even remember the other three movies he was in, without doing an IMDB search*.

Call us crazy, but 2007 won't be year for which Josh Brolin is remembered.  read more »

Director Oliver Stone is shopping around a script for a movie about President George W. Bush, which he hopes will enter production by April, Variety reports. Up for playing the (surely entertaining) role of G.W. is No County For Old Men star Josh Brolin, who, Mr. Stone told Variety, is better looking than our current president, “but has the same drive and charisma that Americans identify with Bush, who has some of that old-time movie-star swagger.” Mr. Stone, who has made films about past all-star presidents John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, promises that his Bush project will be “fair,” containing “surprises for Bush supporters and his detractors.”

Three hunky actors have got Milk this morning, landing roles in the biopic based on the life of Harvey Milk. He was America's first openly gay elected official, assassinated in 1978.  read more »

It seems like New York is in love with Goonies star Josh Brolin. He delivers Oscar-worthy performances in American Gangster (no. 1) and No Country for Old Men (no. 2), both of which sit atop the Manhattan box office chart. American Gangster captured the top spot with an impressive $50,000 per screen average in its second week, while the Coen brothers’ No Country, in limited release and playing at only 4 theaters, put up an eye-popping $79,000 per screen average. Hey, Josh, we may not control the Academy, but treat us nice and we can get you a Gotham Award. Yay!

But here on his own home turf, Jerry Seinfeld didn't do nearly as well. His Bee Movie (no. 3) may have captured the top spot on the country’s box office charts, but it slid down a spot here. The good news: it still managed to outgross its competition, Fred Claus (no. 5), in its first week. The Christmas-themed movie starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti posted a disappointing $14,000 average. But as executives at Warner Bros., who are distributing the movie, will tell anyone who’ll listen, releasing a Christmas movie in November is like running a marathon. It’s all about the slow build to Dec. 25.

Bad reviews and poor word-of-mouth doomed Lions for Lambs (no. 4), which did decent business here in the city, but failed to connect with a national audience, grossing close to $7 million on 2,200 screens. In the city, it’s per screen average equaled that of Bee Movie. Nationally, however, it’s per screen average was in the range of Dan in Real Life (no. 8), which was entering its third week.

Before the Devil Knows Your Dead (no. 6) expanded into a fourth theater, slowing its momentum slightly. It’s per screen average dipped $10,000 in the city, while its overall gross dropped five percent.

And an honorable mention to Holly, the Ron Livingston drama, which managed to gross $35,000 at one theater. It may not have made our top ten, but maybe we’ll see you next week!

List of theaters: Paris, Zeigfeld, Oprheum, East 85th St., 86th St. East, 84th St., Lincoln Plaza, 62nd and Broadway, Lincoln Square, Magic Johnson, 72nd St East, Cinemas 1, 2 &3rd Ave, 64th and 2nd , Imaginasian, Manhattan Twin, First and 62nd St., Angelika Film Center, Quad, IFC Center, Film Forum, Village East, Village Seven, Cinema Village, Union Square, Essex, Battery Park 11, Sunshine, 34th Street, Empire, E-Walk, Chelsea, 19th Street East, and Kips Bay.

Manhattan Weekend Box Office: How moviegoers in the multiplexes of middle America choose to spend their ten-spot is probably a big deal in Hollywood. But here in Manhattan, the hottest movies aren't always the ones making the big bucks nationwide. Using Nielsen numbers for Manhattan theaters alone and comparing them to the performance of the national weekend box office can tell you a lot about our Blue State sensibilities. Or nothing at all! Each Monday afternoon, we will bring you the results.

One afternoon about a year ago, a low-level Paramount executive got a phone call from the director Joel Coen.

“Where’s your boss?” Mr. Coen said. “We found Moss!”  read more »