Brokeback Mountain Forum @ ennisjack.com
The Movie & Story => News Coverage, Reviews & Awards => Oscars => Topic started by: Italian_Dude on Feb 15, 2006, 11:16 PM
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'Crash' may pull off surprise Oscar win
By DAVID GERMAIN
AP MOVIE WRITER
LOS ANGELES -- Bad Academy Awards puns are flying. There's the "Brokeback backlash" ... the little film that "crashed" the party ... the one about "Brokeback Mountain" peaking too early.
While the cowboy love story "Brokeback Mountain" has been established as a solid favorite for the best-picture Oscar, the ensemble drama "Crash" has an ardent following and some late-season momentum that could make it a surprise winner.
When there's a clear Oscar front-runner, that film almost always goes home with the big trophy, but upsets do happen and late-surging films have pulled off come-from-behind wins.
Just look back to the 1998 awards season.
"The year of `Saving Private Ryan,' everybody was certain it was a lock," said film historian Leonard Maltin. "People thought it was a sure thing to win best picture given the subject matter (D-Day heroics) and the people behind it (Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks), until the middle of December."
That's when a little film called "Shakespeare in Love" showed up. Oscar voters, along with everyone else, fell in love with it, and while Spielberg won best director, "Shakespeare in Love" grabbed the top prize.
This time around, most signs point to "Brokeback Mountain" - Ang Lee's tale of two rugged Western men (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) in a doomed love affair - as the likely best-picture champ.
Since it debuted in December, "Brokeback Mountain" has swept through awards season, winning best drama at the Golden Globes, snagging honors from top critics groups and earning prizes from guilds representing directors, writers and producers.
The film leads the Oscars with eight nominations, positioning it as the one to beat come March 5.
"Brokeback Mountain" has followed the same release pattern as 2004's Oscar champ, "Million Dollar Baby," starting in a handful of theaters and gradually expanding into wide release and box-office success on the strength of its awards buzz.
But "Crash" grabbed the prize for best overall cast performance at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, surprising some Oscar forecasters. Because of its supposed momentum, "Brokeback Mountain" had been considered a favorite there, too.
After the fact, though, the SAG honor made sense for "Crash" - its huge cast and multiple story lines are the virtual definition of an ensemble film. Directed by Paul Haggis, a 2004 Oscar nominee for the screenplay of "Million Dollar Baby," "Crash" features Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Brendan Fraser, Terrence Howard, Thandie Newton and supporting-actor nominee Matt Dillon among dozens of characters whose lives intersect over a chaotic 36-hour stretch in Los Angeles.
"The reason we believe we have a great chance of actually winning the best-picture Oscar is because people are passionate about the movie," said Tom Ortenberg, president of Lionsgate Films, which released "Crash." "With all due respect to the other best-picture nominees, all of which are terrific and of great merit, there's a sense that people admire and respect the other nominees, but they are passionate about `Crash.'"
"Crash" took an unusual route to the Oscars, emerging out of the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival, where Lionsgate snapped up the film. The movie hit theaters last May and came out on DVD in September, defying conventional wisdom that films released early in the year get forgotten by Oscar time.
Lionsgate took the singular step of providing about 100,000 DVD copies of "Crash" to SAG members to ensure that as many as possible had seen the film before voting for the guild's awards. Distributors generally provide about 20,000 to 30,000 DVD copies of awards-contending films to academy members, key critics groups and voters in other Hollywood honors, but this was the first time a group as big as SAG was blanketed with DVDs of a movie.
Tom O'Neil of the awards Web site theenvelope.com said the SAG win was a sign that "Crash" could be picking up steam as a potential best-picture party-crasher among the Oscars' 5,800 voters.
"Brokeback Mountain" has become a cultural touchstone for Hollywood depictions of gay love affairs, yet the hubbub over the film may be growing stale as Oscar voters cast their final ballots, O'Neil said. And while "Brokeback Mountain" has become a solid box-office success, the gay theme may be off-putting to some Oscar voters, he said.
"Statistically, we know the vast majority of Oscar voters must be straight if they're at all representative of the general population," O'Neil said. "As much as they admire this movie, it may not feel like it's their movie. If there is homophobia in Hollywood, it could manifest itself there. Or they could just be sick of gay cowboy jokes."
James Schamus - a producer on "Brokeback Mountain" and co-president of Focus Features, which released the film - declined to comment on his movie's front-runner status or the prospects of "Crash" becoming an underdog spoiler.
Schamus, previously involved with such Oscar contenders as "The Pianist" and Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," said it's impossible to calculate a movie's awards fate based on such insubstantial notions as "momentum and peaking."
"That allows us to actually pretend we have some clue of what's going on," Schamus said. "But if you go back and do a statistical analysis of all that talk about momentum and whatever, then line it up against the outcome of the Oscars themselves, you'll find the relationship of those things is completely and utterly serendipitous. There's no cause and effect. There's no science to it."
And of course, there are three other worthy films in the best-picture race, the Truman Capote drama "Capote," the Edward R. Murrow tale "Good Night, and Good Luck" and the assassination thriller "Munich."
Along with "Crash," any one of those movies could pull off a win over "Brokeback Mountain," Maltin said.
"Anyone who says that someone is a sure bet for an Oscar is a fool," Maltin said. "There's no such thing as a sure thing, least of all in a five-way vote."
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"Anyone who says that someone is a sure bet for an Oscar is a fool," Maltin said. "There's no such thing as a sure thing, least of all in a five-way vote."
Which is why I am keeping my fingers crossed for HEATH!!!
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They just b!tch about BBM. DUDE if they can't see the potential of BBM it is not my probleme. Crash only have 4nominee and I NEVER HEARD of this movie.. just now!? I did hear about Walk in the line,Hustle and flow.. but now Crash? It is a 2004 movie.. what is it doing in this Oscar nominee?
IMDb reviews by PEOPLE: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/board/nest/36165958
not so great they say '' most overrated film of all time ''
"Statistically, we know the vast majority of Oscar voters must be straight if they're at all representative of the general population," O'Neil said. "As much as they admire this movie, it may not feel like it's their movie. If there is homophobia in Hollywood, it could manifest itself there. Or they could just be sick of gay cowboy jokes."
DIDN'T WE SAID '' Love is love'' ? Look if Crash win, I don't really care. I don't really see why they are writing it seriously? What's up with doing this texte? People are mad about BBM has so many nominee?
and DID WE SAID THAT? "Anyone who says that someone is a sure bet for an Oscar is a fool," Maltin said. "There's no such thing as a sure thing, least of all in a five-way vote."
God, leave it to voters, stop b!tching about it! Seriously I'm sick of negatives review of BBM
If Crash win, then good, congrats! What I have to say? BBM is the best movie for me.
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if BBM does not win I will cry
and start a war.
simple as that.
hahaha
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Don't panic, everyone. What does Crash have to be the Best Picture?
Sorry..I hardly heard anything about it until this article. Yeah..SAG Best Ensemble went to Crash. So what? It was SAG that lags.
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Love is love''
You are so correct! Love is love no matter the participants.
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Don't panic, everyone. What does Crash have to be the Best Picture?
Sorry..I hardly heard anything about it until this article. Yeah..SAG Best Ensemble went to Crash. So what? It was SAG that lags.
Ethan this is off topic, However congradulation on your avatar, I see your mood is changing, your in love with Both of them, I wish I was that lucky , but I can only love one at a time and forever it will be Ennis :-* :-*
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Unfortunately, for a while I've been thinking that Crash might be making up ground. It's halved in price with the bookmakers... and those guys know their money.
The thing that'll piss me off if Crash does win is that having seen it I think it's a pretty poor movie, in writing terms at least. Cliche and broad brush-strokes, nothing fine-grained.
But then, it's not Brokeback.... which is why it might win, but also why we know it can't compare.
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I think it would be a positive thing if Brokeback Mountain won the Best Picture award. It would be nice to show that a love story with a gay theme could be chosen... however, in the overall scheme of things, I'm not sure it means much either way. Had Brokeback sunk without a trace - been expensively and widely promoted and shown and been an utter flop at the box office - now that would have meant something. It would have proved the righties correct when they claimed that there was no non-gay audience for a gay-themed film and that such movies would only "sicken" a mainstream audience. But as we know, that did not happen. Brokeback became a genuine phenomenon, started some real conversations going, and whether or not it earns Best Picture is only icing on the cake.
I am certainly no movie industry insider, but from what I have read, the selection and voting processes involved in these awards are not necessarily reflective of a film's popularity OR merit. It seems that voters decide on the basis of all kinds of odd factors, and many films that were eventually recognized as classics were passed over in favor of lesser works.
It would be cause for much happiness were the movie to win Best Picture, and I surely hope it does. But my feeling is, whether it wins that particular award or not, it's already "won" so much more in terms of hearts and minds worldwide... and that's what really counts!
Jane in CT
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"The reason we believe we have a great chance of actually winning the best-picture Oscar is because people are passionate about the movie," said Tom Ortenberg, president of Lionsgate Films, which released "Crash." "With all due respect to the other best-picture nominees, all of which are terrific and of great merit, there's a sense that people admire and respect the other nominees, but they are passionate about `Crash.'"
I found this one quote to be amusing. I actually chuckled when I read it. If only he knew...
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"The reason we believe we have a great chance of actually winning the best-picture Oscar is because people are passionate about the movie," said Tom Ortenberg, president of Lionsgate Films, which released "Crash." "With all due respect to the other best-picture nominees, all of which are terrific and of great merit, there's a sense that people admire and respect the other nominees, but they are passionate about `Crash.'"
I found this one quote to be amusing. I actually chuckled when I read it. If only he knew...
Made me smile too!
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I found this one quote to be amusing. I actually chuckled when I read it. If only he knew...
Me too. Laugh along with you guys. If people's passion is enough to win best picture, it won't be Crash's turn. Passion of the voters - maybe...passion of audience - nah.
I am not saying Crash is a bad movie - but in comparison to BBM, come on there is a clear difference.
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I found this one quote to be amusing. I actually chuckled when I read it. If only he knew...
Me too. Laugh along with you guys. If people's passion is enough to win best picture, it won't be Crash's turn. Passion of the voters - maybe...passion of audience - nah.
Unbelievable ! What some people will say to defend the undefendable. ::)
Passions usually burn themselves out. The world is in love with BBM !
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I found this one quote to be amusing. I actually chuckled when I read it. If only he knew...
I am not saying Crash is a bad movie - but in comparison to BBM, come on there is a clear difference.
A clear difference ;D ! Oh well.. they only want to do publicity for Crash because they hate BBM ::)
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I've seen "Crash" and I don't know what all the hype is about. To me the plot is not believeable - the screenplay uses too many gimmicks and the plot and characters were not consistent. I get passionate about a movie when I find the characters and plot believeable and I buy into the story and feel for the characters. I am passionate about BBM.
If for some reason BBM doesn't get Best Picture, I'd rather see "Good Night and Good Luck" or "Capote" win - they are much better films than "Crash". But I'm still betting on BBM to win.
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If for some reason BBM didn't get Best Picture, I'd rather see "Good Night and Good Luck" or "Capote" win - they are much better films than "Crash". But I'm still betting on BBM to win.
If "Crash" wins, I am going to start a postcard campaign to the Academy. And the Oscar will be forever erased from my life.
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It will be BBM I believe, but the "gay thing" is really freeking Hollywood out. I think they thought they were ready for this film and its impact...maybe not!
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It really amazes me how all this publicity about one movie can make an impact on the outcome. Yeah....we are talking about the best film among five movies - doesn't and should not matter what *thing* it is.
One of the posts in this forum will be "The Best Picture - Brokeback Mountain" on March 5. Let's just hope.
See the banner above...even if BBM doesn't win.
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It really amazes me how all this publicity about one movie can make an impact on the outcome. Yeah....we are talking about the best film among five movies - doesn't and should not matter what *thing* it is.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is supposed to reward "The Best" in motion picture arts (like acting) and sciences (technical areas). The reality is that the Oscars are about politics, money, influence and Hollywood hype.
People are and will continue talking about BBM - it has staying power. I don't hear anyone talking about "Crash".
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If for some reason BBM didn't get Best Picture, I'd rather see "Good Night and Good Luck" or "Capote" win - they are much better films than "Crash". But I'm still betting on BBM to win.
If "Crash" wins, I am going to start a postcard campaign to the Academy. And the Oscar will be forever erased from my life.
i'am with you on this - ethan
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i'am with you on this - ethan
Thanks, bbmlover. We are DPU for BBM win.
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Like all of you I am passionate in my feelings that BBM should win, deserves to win and almost feel that it MUST win the Oscar. But if it does not what really irks me is how anyone can claim that people are "passionate" about Crash. I only saw the DVD after it was nominated and thought it was OK (simply not my kind of movie) but certainly not of the caliber of BBM ...but you know what...No one...I mean no one that I know had ever seen or even heard of it until it was announced as best picture...so what impact or passion is that?????...At least if BBM loses to a movie that other people feel something for (like Munich, or Walk the Line) you can tolerate it..but Crash??? Come one...this sounds like a campaign to prevent a win that homophobics can't allow...What a pity...this is 2006....I truly hope that BBM prevails..It is probably the best movie in at least 40 years!!!
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Like all of you I am passionate in my feelings that BBM should win, deserves to win and almost feel that it MUST win the Oscar. But if it does not what really irks me is how anyone can claim that people are "passionate" about Crash. I only saw the DVD after it was nominated and thought it was OK (simply not my kind of movie) but certainly not of the caliber of BBM ...but you know what...No one...I mean no one that I know had ever seen or even heard of it until it was announced as best picture...so what impact or passion is that?????...At least if BBM loses to a movie that other people feel something for (like Munich, or Walk the Line) you can tolerate it..but Crash??? Come one...this sounds like a campaign to prevent a win that homophobics can't allow...What a pity...this is 2006....I truly hope that BBM prevails..It is probably the best movie in at least 40 years!!!
....OR a deliberate effort to make people think that BBM has a real contender to stir up drama and draw more people into watching the Oscarcast. I think it's bulls*it - BBM is going to win.
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I was thinking about it, I am sure in years time we will look back on this dramatic build up and laugh in a way.
I suspect that since the Oscars haven't been too exciting past years, everyone is creating some buzz (plus no block busters, so lower ratings...)
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I posted the following in the "Unthinkable" thread. And I am copying this here again.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11480804/
"The meaning of SAG
But which movie will win? If history means anything: “Brokeback.”
(Hope "Crash" enjoyed that best performance by a cast award at the SAG awards, because that prize is not given out at the Oscars.)
This year “Brokeback” won the Directors Guild Award (DGA), the Producers Guild Award (PGA), and the Golden Globe. Since 1989, when the PGA came into existence, nine pictures have won all of these awards and eight of the nine — “Dances with Wolves,” “Schindler’s List,” “Forrest Gump,” “The English Patient,” “Titanic,” “American Beauty,” “Chicago” and “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” — have gone on to win the Academy Award for best picture. The one that didn’t? “Saving Private Ryan,” in what is still a head-scratcher. Apparently the Weinsteins lobbied hard for “Shakespeare in Love,” and as anyone who has ever looked at our laws knows, lobbying works. Ads work. People are dumb.
Exhibit A: Word from Hollywood is that “Crash,” of all films, is making an 11th hour run at the title. According to L.A. Weekly’s Nikki Finke, older Academy members are shying from viewing “Brokeback” for the usual homophobic reasons. But then she writes this:
That “Brokeback” isn’t the Oscar favorite may have been foreshadowed at the SAG awards, when “Crash” topped it for best picture and Philip Seymour Hoffman won over Heath Ledger.
First, “Crash” didn’t top anything for best picture. There is no best picture at SAG. What “Crash” won was “Outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.” Second, winning the cast award at SAG is not exactly an accurate indicator of what will win the Academy Award for best picture. SAG has given the cast award nine times, and only four of those pictures have gone on to win the Academy’s best picture. Last year, for example, “Sideways” won the cast award.
In other words, if “Brokeback” doesn’t win it’s either a triumph for advertising or homophobia. Either way, the Academy looks bad. "
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I was thinking about it, I am sure in years time we will look back on this dramatic build up and laugh in a way.
I suspect that since the Oscars haven't been too exciting past years, everyone is creating some buzz (plus no block busters, so lower ratings...)
That sounds extremely plausible to me.
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Thanks for the article ethan!!
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As much as I love Matt Dillon, and I do, the answer is "No". BBM must sweep the board or else Hollywood is in for it. All us Brokies will go on strike and shut the world down! Just my meglomania, but hey! There are limits! Titus.
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Erik Lundgaard who wrote the article Ethan quoted (The ABC Oscars: anything but "Crash"), sums up my feelings perfectly - “'Crash' stinks."
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I really, really enjoyed Crash, but my GOD it isn't in the same league as BBM!
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I really, really enjoyed Crash, but my GOD it isn't in the same league as BBM!
Agree with you on that one.
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I really, really enjoyed Crash, but my GOD it isn't in the same league as BBM!
Agree with you on that one.
"Crash" seems to be one of those movies that people either love or hate. The LA Times even had an article about the emotions the film stirs up, I'll see if I can find it.
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"Crash" seems to be one of those movies that people either love or hate. The LA Times even had an article about the emotions the film stirs up, I'll see if I can find it.
It would be interesting to read yes, Crash did make me think a lot, sooooo not like BBM and it did stir up something. I can't say I hate it, it just disturbed me in a way.
I see racism everyday, whethere it is from homophobes or ignorance...I deal with it, and try to educate some children at the same time, but sometimes it's hard.
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I really loved "Crash". I think it's a beautiful film. With some amazing sequence like the daughter with her father.. !!
Maybe a little politic film, but it's a intelligent film who talk about racism, rich or poor, religion ... I mean life... !! :)
But, I think anyway that BBM must win this award. ;)
<OT> But.... For best actor, I think Joaquin must win. I'm not saying that Heath Ledger shouldn't win of course !! But.. I think Joaquin give us a most powerfull role acting.
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This is the LA Times article Froggy:
Differing Views of Race in L.A. Collide in 'Crash'[/b]
The Oscar-nominated film's depiction of a city seething with mistrust inspires fans and critics.
By Cara Mia DiMassa, Times Staff Writer
March 2, 2006
Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton has seen the film three times, and encouraged the deputy chief in charge of LAPD's professional standards to pass copies around the department. But Joe Hicks, the longtime African American community activist, believes the movie so distorts the state of race relations that it could hurt Los Angeles' reputation.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa loved the movie. His lawyer, a former member of the county Human Relations Commission, hated it.
"Crash" opened 10 months ago, but it continues to resonate across Los Angeles for reasons that have little to do with the six Oscars it is up for Sunday.
The movie has become something of a Rorschach test for Angelenos, separating those who believe the city's multicultural residents usually get along and those who feel race relations remain an open wound. Is the Los Angeles of "Crash" an accurate depiction of racial strife lurking just below the surface, or is it a cartoonish collection of stereotypes presented as the real L.A.? It's a debate that has played out at dinner tables, in classrooms and online.
While previous films about race relations in Los Angeles, such as "Grand Canyon" and "White Men Can't Jump," focused on main characters who stood for racial tolerance even when society did not, "Crash" offers about a dozen loosely based stories with few heroes.
A young black man complains when a white woman clutches her purse as she walks by him, then carjacks her SUV. An LAPD officer goes on a racist rant against a black employee of an HMO and later saves the life of a black woman. An Iranian shop owner is the victim of a hate crime and takes his anger out on a Latino locksmith. A Latina police detective and a Korean woman exchange racial epithets after a fender bender.
To its fans, "Crash" offers a raw, unsentimental but ultimately honest view of race in Los Angeles.
"There's nothing I saw depicted there that I've not experienced in my own years of policing, that my wife has not," Bratton said in an interview last week. "Just under the surface there is, unfortunately, a tension."
Since he became police chief nearly four years ago, no issue has more consumed Bratton than the fragile relationship between his department and African Americans. He's been called a racial healer and a racist as he grappled with an officer's fatal shooting of a 13-year-old black boy and the videotaped beating of a black car-chase suspect that some compared to the Rodney King assault a decade earlier. More recently, his department has been dealing with reverberations from racial tensions between blacks and Latinos in the county jails and at several high schools.
"It's like a scab that doesn't get to heal and it gets picked at and comes right to the surface," the chief said. "The relationship between the city's African American community and the Police Department is a clear example of that."
The film's fans praise it for challenging the popular notion that as Los Angeles becomes more diverse, it also becomes more tolerant.
Jamal Watkins, Western regional director of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said that despite milestones such as Villaraigosa's election last year as the city's first Latino mayor in modern times, Los Angeles is still a city divided by class and race. "Crash," he said, captures that.
"People live in their own enclaves, whether insulated by class or wealth or status. A part of the challenge is that we are expected to merge together, meld together in the workplace, the classroom," he said. "What the movie shows is that all of the issues around race, stereotypes and prejudice have not died out — because we have these enclaves within the city."
The movie's critics acknowledge that racism and divisions remain in Los Angeles. But they argue that "Crash" is over the top in its portrayal of a city always on the verge of exploding with racial resentment. Some are particularly turned off by the explicit dialogue in which many conversations between characters of different races devolve into ugly exchanges of prejudice and stereotyping.
"L.A. is a different place to me," said Melany de la Cruz, assistant director of the Asian American Studies program at UCLA, adding she didn't recognize the city depicted on the screen.
De la Cruz, a Filipina who is engaged to a Latino, said she feels race relations have improved since the 1992 riots — but one would not know that by watching the film.
She remembers attending a march in Koreatown marking the 10th anniversary of the riots and how proud she felt that Koreans, whites, blacks and Latinos joined to try to heal old wounds.
After the riots, "coalitions and organizations sprang up … so there's no longer such polarity," she said.
Activist Hicks, vice president of Community Advocates Inc. and former head of the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said "Crash" presents a Los Angeles where most people are filled with prejudice and vitriol, such as the wealthy Brentwood housewife who assumes her Latino locksmith is a gang member.
"What it says about L.A. is something that is completely untrue about the kind of human relations we experience in this city," Hicks said. "It is looking at things, viewing them from some distortion, presenting things as they want them to be to feed into some political agenda."
"Crash" director and co-screenwriter Paul Haggis said he knew the film would touch a nerve because it challenged the conventional wisdom about race in Los Angeles.
"I knew if we did it right it would get under people's skin, and they would react one way or the other," Haggis said in an e-mail from France, where he is working on his next film. "So it doesn't bother me when people say they hate it for this reason or that. It got to them, it made them look at something they would rather not have looked at, so the movie succeeded, at least for me."
Haggis, who was inspired to write the film years after having his own car stolen at gunpoint, said he finds that those who are most critical of the movie see it as an attack on multiculturalism in the city.
"They tend to be upper-middle class liberals, of any color, as those are the people, like myself, I was writing about," he said. "We like to think we are good people, that we champion the underdog and that if there really were race and class problems in our city — or any city — we would have fixed them….
"But the truth is that we live in a society where fear still resides under the Hockney-colored surface," Haggis added, referring to the British painter.
On one Internet message board, Haggis' view of Los Angeles was much debated — with the majority seeming to support it. "I don't understand why everyone doesn't love the movie 'Crash,' " wrote one poster on imdb.com. "It shows an emotional and powerful idea of racism in L.A."
But when Todd Boyd, a professor at USC's School of Cinema-Television who specializes in race and popular culture, screened the movie for a class of about 250 students, most felt the movie was unrealistic.
"When you see these characters as they come on the screen, they are familiar because they are so stereotypical, not because they are real," Boyd said.
Jaime Regalado, director of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State L.A., said the visceral reactions provoked by the film are largely because it deals with issues of hatred that people prefer not to talk about.
Regalado enjoyed "Crash," but his three adult sons each had differing opinions that they've debated endlessly. His oldest son said he recognized in the movie "a place we call home." His youngest son thought it was too stereotypical to be real. His middle son fell somewhere in between.
But not all "Crash" fans are pessimists about race relations in Los Angeles.
Villaraigosa said in an interview last month that his election showed how far the city has come to bridge racial gaps. He carried not only the Latino vote but also the Jewish vote, a majority of the San Fernando Valley and nearly half the black vote.
Still, the mayor has said he believes "Crash" has become a catalyst for important conversation among Angelenos about issues of race and ethnicity.
"We talk about race every day, except we do it within our own group," he said on ABC's "Nightline." "There's very little opportunity to talk about race and ethnicity between groups."
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oh dear..it's a long one..I'm way too tired to read this now, but thanks for posting it...
x
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oh dear..it's a long one..I'm way too tired to read this now, but thanks for posting it...
You don't need a long article to put you to sleep - at 25 minutes to 2 you must be dead tired. It'll still be here tomorrow.
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BBM all the way...
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If Brokeback doesn't win for Best Picture (heresy!), I have to say I wouldn't mind if Good Night and Good Luck won. I saw it yesterday, and it was excellent, thought-provoking stuff. You should all try to watch it if you have the chance.
Still cheering for Brokeback, though. If Crash wins.... >:( it would be the only film about prejudice that wins by benefitting from prejudice. Astonishing.
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[...]
"When you see these characters as they come on the screen, they are familiar because they are so stereotypical, not because they are real," Boyd said.
[...]
"We talk about race every day, except we do it within our own group," he said on ABC's "Nightline." "There's very little opportunity to talk about race and ethnicity between groups."
Reading this article made me re-live the movie. I selected those two quotes because that's what I was thinkingt about, at the end of the movie.
Thank you very much for posting this.
x Froggy
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[...]
"When you see these characters as they come on the screen, they are familiar because they are so stereotypical, not because they are real," Boyd said.
[...]
"We talk about race every day, except we do it within our own group," he said on ABC's "Nightline." "There's very little opportunity to talk about race and ethnicity between groups."
Reading this article made me re-live the movie. I selected those two quotes because that's what I was thinkingt about, at the end of the movie.
Thank you very much for posting this.x Froggy
Two good quotes Froggy. The first one also stood out when I first read it, because "Crash" is really a parody of racism and not a snapshot of LA life as the film's promoters want us to believe. And that's where the film does a disservice, because people argue about the film but don't talk about racism.
The second quote is also very very true. I don't think racism is honestly even discussed within groups - it's a pariah word like homosexuality. Comments are thrown here and there but no deep discussions. My hope is that some film maker will create a movie that will help get the real discussion started.
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Hey everyone! I'm just waching E! and they are saying crash is creeping up on the cowboys.......No way Brokeback can lose, it's the best movie of the year, the best actors, and the subject matter was so beautifully done! I saw Crash, it was a good movie, but after seeing Brokeback, it has stuck with me every day of m life! It has this effect on you, a definite Oscar winning movie!
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Hey everyone! I'm just waching E! and they are saying crash is creeping up on the cowboys.......No way Brokeback can lose, it's the best movie of the year, the best actors, and the subject matter was so beautifully done! I saw Crash, it was a good movie, but after seeing Brokeback, it has stuck with me every day of m life! It has this effect on you, a definite Oscar winning movie!
Hello heathjake (love the name), thanks for posting your thought. We are all hoping that BBM is the one to win. Crash will be "crashed" at the Oscar.
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Crash will be "crashed" at the Oscar.
LOL Great phrase Ethan!!!
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Hey everyone! I'm just waching E! and they are saying crash is creeping up on the cowboys.......No way Brokeback can lose, it's the best movie of the year, the best actors, and the subject matter was so beautifully done! I saw Crash, it was a good movie, but after seeing Brokeback, it has stuck with me every day of m life! It has this effect on you, a definite Oscar winning movie!
E! wants us to keep watching. I may go to BBM this evening...
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All this hype about crash is just wishful thinking. BBM cannot be stopped 8)
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E! wants us to keep watching. I may go to BBM this evening...
Exactly, it's hype. Who is the best at creating hype but Hollywood and E is Hollywood. E has some really poor interviewers and poor producers feeding them lines.
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I really don't understand where all this so called buzz for crach is based on... It was not that great a movie, just one with a bunch of story lines coming together, which is not something very original if you ask me...
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a word or two on the Private Ryan upset. Yes, released too early and it was a difficult movie to watch and horribly flawed, whereas Shakespeare was smart, well written and fun. And like BBMT, people could watch it over and over.
There will be no crash upset. It was released too early, it was a difficult movie to watch and horribly flawed.
(Though I think BAFTA got it right giving Thandie the award.)
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God Dammit..
this lousy article i found came true.
I curse Crash for all eternity.
WORST Best Picture Winner, EVER
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Let us face it. How many of us like America anyway?? Gays are oppressed in this country.
I am much more excited about the British Academy choosing BBM.
I am happy that the American Academy gave BBM Best Director and Best _ Screenplay. Crash was selected purely for its political impact.
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Yes tonight will be the night that one talks about for many years.
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they just don't want brokeback to be a symbol for the Gay\Lesbian\ communities around the world, being straight myself i think that brokeback was the best of all those movies and Crash won Give me a break!!!
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Crash wins=voting against Brokeback subject matter. Pathetic.
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I don't know how to tell but... this result do not surprise me. I didn't seen Crash but I always considered that BBM would not wins. We must fix it.
Even if lukewarmly received BBM never had a full social/political approval and sometime I saw some sarcastic label referred to the cowboy gay which means, in my opinion, the social refusal to go truly inside this story.
Anyway I don't want to be to pessimist. We got three Oscar. ;)
coguaro
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that's the result...
they won't accept that!
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WHY, WHY, WHY!!!!! Hollywood is in big timeout! We aren't speaking! The Academy can go to bed without their supper and write 1000 sentences "We will honour cinematic excellence even when it deals with a controversial topic that makes us uncomfortable, and give praise where praise is due." At least Her Britannic Majesty's subjects honoured Jake with the Bafta. God Save the Queen(s)! Titus the >:(