Brokeback Mountain Forum @ ennisjack.com
The Movie & Story => News Coverage, Reviews & Awards => Topic started by: ennisandjack on Feb 27, 2006, 03:36 PM
-
Hollywood anxiously awaits the Oscar envelope
Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:13 AM ET
By Bob Tourtellotte
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-02-26T141238Z_01_BAU174486_RTRUKOC_0_US-OSCARS.xml&rpc=22
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood is turning all eyes on its own brand of gold medal -- Oscar gold -- with more questions than answers about likely winners in the week leading up to the world's top film awards.
Can the cowboys of gay romance "Brokeback Mountain" -- this year's most-nominated movie with candidates in eight categories -- lasso best film away from its main rival, race relations drama "Crash?"
Or, will those two movies split the vote among some 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and allow George Clooney's politically charged "Good Night, and Good Luck," Steven Spielberg's "Munich" or morality tale "Capote" to sneak in and steal their glory?
"For those of us who follow this stuff, it's a lot of fun because for many years, it seemed winners were pre-ordained," said Richard Roeper, film critic for the popular "Ebert & Roeper" movie review television show.
"This year, there really is going to be that moment when they open the envelope and you're going to think, 'I don't know what they are going to say.'"
The only shoo-in for victory in a major category at the March 5 Oscar ceremony seems to be Philip Seymour Hoffman as best actor for his portrayal of Truman Capote in "Capote."
But not so fast, the experts said.
Even Hoffman, who has won several critics' honors and the Screen Actors Guild trophy this year, is meeting a last-minute charge by "Hustle & Flow" star Terrence Howard.
They face Heath Ledger playing one of the gay cowboys in "Brokeback," Joaquin Phoenix as singer Johnny Cash in "Walk the Line" and David Strathairn as newsman Edward R. Murrow in "Good Night."
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT
The best actress race is far too close to call between favorites Reese Witherspoon playing singer June Carter in "Walk the Line" and Felicity Huffman in the role of a man who is nearing a sex change operation in "Transamerica."
Hollywood sweetheart Witherspoon has walked away with many major actress honors this year but is facing an equally popular rival in Huffman, who is campaigning strong.
"There's going to be an upset on Oscar night someplace so where is it going to come from? I'm going to go out on that limb and say, 'Felicity will win,'" said Tom O'Neil, a veteran Oscar watcher for TheEnvelope.com.
Other nominees are previous winners Judi Dench for "Mrs. Henderson Presents" and Charlize Theron in "North Country," as well as Britain's Keira Knightley with "Pride & Prejudice."
Final Oscar ballots are due on Tuesday.
The most wide-open races in the top categories are the supporting actor and actress categories. Twenty-four Oscars will be awarded during the broadcast, which will take more than three hours.
Among supporting actors, Clooney playing a weary CIA agent in "Syriana" appears to be the favorite. The thinking is that if he doesn't win anything for "Good Night," the supporting actor honor would be his consolation prize.
But Paul Giamatti won the SAG award for playing a boxing manager in "Cinderella Man" and many Academy members think he was robbed last year when he was not nominated for "Sideways."
Michelle Williams as a spurned wife in "Brokeback" could challenge conventional thinking in the best supporting actress race and beat the odds-on favorite, Britain's Rachel Weisz, who plays a social activist in "The Constant Gardener." Newcomer Amy Adams of "Junebug" also has a lot of support.
Beyond the races, the big questions are whether first-time host Jon Stewart can wow audiences and who will, or won't, make the list of fashion do's, and don'ts, on the red carpet.
Stewart is known for his political satire on TV's fake news program "The Daily Show," and in a year when message movies dominate the races, he may be a perfect host.
The fashion parade up the carpet outside the Kodak Theater where the event is held is expected to show the sophisticated glamour of old Hollywood, of Cary Grant and Lauren Bacall.
"We're going to see more variety than we've seen in the past," said Patty Foxx, fashion coordinator for the show.
Floor-length gowns with warm shares of copper and olive will mix with vivid fuchsias and lilacs. The women will, of course, drip in diamonds, and the men will don their tuxedos.
-
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/02/022706brokeback.htm
T-Shirt Maker Uses 'Brokeback Mountain' To Assail Gays
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
February 27, 2006 - 11:00 am ET
(https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftowleroad.typepad.com%2Fphotos%2Funcategorized%2Fmt_sinai_tshirt.jpg&hash=e476ed90ac20a2971f96cc81b0f054c77630e1c0)
(Miami, Florida) A Florida company known for its "faith-based" clothing line has begun distributing a T-shirt that uses "Brokeback Mountain" to condemn gays.
The T-shirts depict an angry Moses on Mount Sinai looking down on a group of ancient Israelites and modern gay cowboys who are dancing around an idol of the biblical Golden Calf.
The caption on the T-shirts reads "In his anger, Moses BROKE the two tablets of stone that the Ten Commandments were written on while walking BACK down the MOUNTAIN."
The T-shirts also bear the message "The Original 10 Commandments, BrokeBack on the Mountain".
The T-shirts are made by Second Coming Clothing Co.
"The message is the same now as it was at the time of Moses,” company CEO Rick Wade said in a statement, "that God’s covenant is broken with His people, God’s heart is broken for His people, and that judgment is coming prior to the return of the Lord, which is soon."
The company's products are sold in Christian stores across the country and marketed under the slogan "Take Your Faith Out of the Closet, and Put Our Clothes Back In".
Wade said that 100 percent of the company’s net profit will go to faith-based organizations.
"Brokeback Mountain", the gay love story of two cowboys, has been nominated for eight Academy Awards.
-
This sort of thing makes me ashamed for them...disgusted... >:(
-
Good god... that makes me sick. I wish people would stop using religion as an excuse for their hatred. I really do.
-
Sad...v.v.v.sad.
-
Good god... that makes me sick. I wish people would stop using religion as an excuse for their hatred. I really do.
That's not gonna happen anytime soon. I wish I could be more optimistic, but the human race will likely end long before a meteor hits the earth because of blind faith.
-
T-Shirt Maker Uses 'Brokeback Mountain' To Assail Gays
Very unfortunate. But fortunately, BBM has been made and slowly changed.
-
Yes, another great thing that BBM accomplished.
That's not gonna happen anytime soon. I wish I could be more optimistic, but the human race will likely end long before a meteor hits the earth because of blind faith.
Yeah, I know. Sometimes I get hopeful but then I read stuff like this...
-
From the Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2002828780_gaycommentary27.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, February 27, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
Commentary
Get off "Brokeback's" back already, would ya?
By Jennifer Buckendorff
Special to The Seattle Times
Have you heard the one about the two cowboys? Or the new Willie Nelson song about cowboys who are "fond" of each other? Or if a movie has a gay character in it, it's totally in for winning, like, a million awards?
Yeah, me too. And it's no wonder. In the past few months, "Brokeback Mountain," nominated for eight Oscars, crossed over from being a surprisingly successful film to a pop-culture phenomenon. Even the president got asked about it in an unscripted Q&A moment — and told that he'd like it if he gave it a chance.
"Brokeback" isn't the first big movie with a gay character. "Philadelphia" showed Tom Hanks and Antonio Banderas as partners, but they were so unromantic, they could have been co-workers.
"Brokeback" is big. Its story is sweeping. It's triumphant and tragic. It's the first film of its kind. And whenever you're a pioneer, you've got to be ready for potshots.
After all, it's a movie so well-done that even conservative critic Michael Medved had to admit it's good.
But some critics — like the old archetypical East German judge who gives a lower score to the Americans — had to find something to harp on.
First in the lineup: It's not really gay. The Village Voice called it the "straightest love story in years." Slate magazine asked if "Brokeback" was a gay movie — and answered that it wasn't. Instead, it was "a paean to masculinity" — as if those two things have to be mutually exclusive.
Meanwhile, Salon.com criticized "Brokeback" for not being gay enough. Maybe Nathan Lane should have made a guest appearance in a feather boa?
Then it started to get personal. Slate's columnist Mickey Kaus lost face when his prediction that the movie would be a commercial flop ... well, flopped.
He turned his wrath toward doe-eyed Jake Gyllenhaal in a piece titled "More Cash for the Wimp." The accusation? With an Oscar nod, Gyllenhaal will ask for more money. Actors wanting more money in Hollywood? What a scoop — and bring me the tar and feathers!
The reactive parade trotted out its criticisms: Gene Shalit had to apologize for calling Jake's character a "predator" in his review. Larry David let us know, via The New York Times, that he had no interest in seeing cowboys in love. (Thanks for sharing, Lar.) Don Imus and Chris Matthews tried to one-up each other on MSNBC with homophobic jokes, proving that they're really, really not gay.
Of course, to call something "gay" has always been a joke. On the Bravo TV show "Project Jay," the flamboyant star calls something "queer" to mean dumb or stupid. From "Saturday Night Live" (home of "Gays in Space" and the "Ambiguously Gay Duo") to the "Trendspotting" segment with the new guy on "The Daily Show," everyone uses "gay" as a quick comedy hit. Even staid NPR used "gay" as a punch line in its review of "Brokeback" on "Fresh Air."
Some of the parodies of "Brokeback" follow that line, existing as just another excuse to make fun of gay men.
Others, like "Brokeback Top Gun," are actually funny, and only slightly at Tom Cruise's expense. Some parodies are even sweetly clever, like the all-Legos version of "Brokeback" (http://destinationdaniel.smugmug.com/gallery/1213678/1/56764716). Who knew there were Lego sheep?
So what's left, now that it's been dissected, cross-examined and spoofed? To say that a potential Oscar win was always inevitable, of course.
Admittedly, it is a little unusual to have a year when both "Transamerica" and "Capote," films with transgendered and gay characters, are in the awards pool. But does this mean, as GQ asserted in its article "Play Gay, Win an Oscar," that gay characters automatically equal Academy Awards gold?
GQ lists the six actors nominated for Academy Awards over the past 30 years for playing gay men (plus two women: Charlize Theron and Hilary Swank, who both won). It's a streak!
Let's do a quick roundup of the math that seems to have escaped GQ, and everyone else saying that gay characters equal Oscar glory: Over the past 30 years, 300 actors have been nominated for best actor and best supporting actor. In that time, six got the nod for playing gay. Two won (William Hurt, Tom Hanks), while four lost (Al Pacino to Jack Nicholson, Chris Sarandon to George Burns, Javier Bardem to Russell Crowe and Ed Harris to Chris Cooper).
A streak ... of two. Out of 300. Over 30 years.
Let's be real: If "Brokeback" were a stinker along the lines of "Glitter," the Hollywood suits would run screaming for the next 20 years from any plot with two men in love. They may, anyway. Given the caliber of people involved — including Oscar-winning Ang Lee — a total failure wasn't likely, but then again, he did give us "The Hulk."
It's easy to forget that "Brokeback" had a rocky start — snubbed by the French at Cannes — and had been the underdog until awards season. And now there's the question of whether it peaked too early, or whether straight voters in the academy might ignore the film.
Answering to a million questions and concerns that other movies can avoid, "Brokeback" has been through the wringer.
The problem with all the criticism and jokes and chatter — that really are not about the film itself — is that they discount the true artistic achievement of the film.
In the process, a great film, thoughtful and well-made, has gotten lost in the shuffle. And isn't that why film awards are given, to reward great films?
Here's hoping that this sweeping, quiet, romantic, devastating, heroic film — and its actors, writers, producers, and director — get the awards they deserve. No punch line required.
Jennifer Buckendorff is a regular contributor to The Seattle Times: jenb@elvis.com
-
Bravo TPE fro the article, very enlighting
-
Get off "Brokeback's" back already, would ya?
Jennifer Buckendorff is the most beautiful human being on the face of the earth and should be praised, honoured and given a trophy or something. Seriously.
-
I agree. Great article. I do get so tired of the endless criticism and 'humour'. Personally I think people who diss it just look really immature. Its really sad too that alot of people will only know the film by these spoofs and jokes when BBM is a great artistic achievement.
-
TPE, I bow to you! So many thanks!
-
A Molehill to a 'Mountain'[/b]
Al Martinez, LA Times
February 27, 2006
I was talking with a friend the other day about Oscar contenders and asked if he had seen "Brokeback Mountain" yet. He said he hadn't and that he didn't intend to see it unless he had a woman to accompany him.
Ed, which is his name, went on to explain that he had broken up with the person he'd been dating for several months and at the moment lacked female companionship.
I said, "What's that got to do with whether or not you see the movie?"
"I'm just not going alone or with another guy," he said.
"Take your mother."
"That," he declared self-righteously, "wouldn't do it."
And then I got it. If he went alone or with a male friend, someone might think he was, you know, "light." For those who don't hang around beer bars, that's a term employed by certain polite members of the blue-collar set to denote someone who is gay.
Wondering if this were a prevailing attitude among men who are more masculine than, say, fashion designers or ballet dancers, I asked another outdoor worker, Rob, if he had seen the movie. He replied that he had not and would not. The reason he gave was that he's a Christian.
To the best of my memory, there wasn't a religious reference in "Brokeback." No scenes of devil worship or celebrations honoring Baal. It was about two men who, well, liked each other. A lot. OK, it was a love story.
But Rob told me that homosexuality violates God's word. I could find it, he said, in the Bible.
When I got home that night, I tried to locate a reference to the so-called love that must not be spoken in my annotated Bible but came up empty. I looked under "homosexuality," "gays" and even "forbidden desire." Zilch. I suppose it's there in some remote corner of Leviticus or Deuteronomy, but I sure couldn't find it.
I telephoned Rob the next day to ask where it was in the Bible, but he wouldn't answer. I also wanted to know if it was OK with God for a cowboy to have sex with a cowgirl, and he hung up on me, but not before using a term which, I am positive, you won't find in the Good Book.
The movie was a masterful piece of filmmaking. I only winced twice. No, three times. I winced at the kiss too. When we left the theater, my wife said, "I'll bet Tom Mix never did that." He was an old-time cowboy hero.
"That's hard to say," I said. "He did seem to use a lot of makeup. Especially lipstick."
"It was their idea of on-screen makeup. Even Zorro wore rouge."
I'm not sure what cowboys did, or what they're doing, out on the range. I keep thinking about the lyrics to the song that went, "You don't know what lonesome is till you get to herding cows." A man can be driven to doing a lot of things, I guess, with no one for company but another cowpoke and a couple of hundred Longhorns.
I asked a gay man what he thought of "Brokeback Mountain." Call him Paul. He shrugged. "It was OK," he said.
"Just OK?"
"It had flaws."
Initially taken aback by a gay man's tepid attitude toward a hit movie about two gay men in love, I came to realize that I was a victim of my own preconceptions. It did not necessarily follow that people of a particular sexual orientation should like the idea of watching them make love on the big screen. I'm not big on groping movies even when they involve couples of the opposite sex.
Only a real fuzz-brain would assume that all gays, all straights, all men, all women, all blacks, all Latinos or all Asians are alike. I have a Chinese American friend who wouldn't eat Chinese food if you dragged him into P.F. Chang's and chained him to a chair. I feel that way about Mexican food. I am emotionally incapable of eating a taco.
We are the creations of our progenitors, fashioned from the same clay that fashioned them. We inherit their biases and hardly notice the slow crawl of social change taking place around us. Observing a shift in attitudes is the cultural equivalent of watching a tree grow. One day it's 10 feet tall, a year later it's 12 feet tall. But you never actually see it grow. Change occurs when we're not looking.
I saw "Brokeback Mountain" a second time, just to test my own attitudes. I still winced three times. But as I walked out, I was behind a group of young people. They were raving about how good it was. Not what a great gay movie it was, but what a compelling love story it was.
And in their fresh, unbiased attitude toward what was indeed a beautifully composed film, I thought I perceived a tree growing in America.
-
Thankx for the article tpe.
-
From http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2006-02-28T005802Z_01_N27387539_RTRUKOC_0_UK-OSCARS-WORDS.xml&archived=False
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Brokeback" named Hollywood word of the year
Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:58 AM GMT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - And the winner for Hollywood's word of the year is "Brokeback," thanks to all the talk around the water and Internet jokes that have turned a film about two gay cowboys into a cultural phenomenon.
The non-profit group Global Language Monitor placed "Brokeback" -- as in the film title "Brokeback Mountain" -- at the top of its list of Hollywood words and phrases that captured attention this year.
Paul JJ Payack, the head of Global Language Monitor, said the movie became a cultural phenomenon that generated a million jokes, according to Google. Overall, a Google search shows more than 38 million references to the film, although only about 10 million people saw the movie.
In second place was "Brangelina," the hybrid name given to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as Hollywood's hottest new couple. They beat out "TomKat," bestowed on Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and "Vincifer," a hardly used term referring to Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn.
Placing third on the list was "petronoia," a phrase inspired by the film "Syriana" and meaning an irrational fear of the collapse of the oil industry followed by global economic crisis.
In fourth place was "tuxedo," a reference to the nature film "March of the Penguins." Payack said, that "while the dialogue, not to mention the stars, were a bit stiff, the chronicle about Emperor penguins in their breeding trek across Antarctica flew to remarkable heights."
Payack said the term "pimping" was fifth on his list, thanks to the film "Hustle & Flow," which is about a pimp's dream of becoming a rap star.
-
"Brokeback" named Hollywood word of the year
Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:58 AM GMT
Why hasn't PBS or Brokies or ennisjack.com caught on???
Surely the big Hollywood people know what PBS is by now? LOL
Thankx for posting tpe, I'm glad Brokeback is before Brangelina and pimpimg!
-
I'm glad Brokeback is before Brangelina and pimpimg!
Froggy, I am as RELIEVED as I am GLAD that 'Brokeback' is before these two 'exquisite' terms. ;)
-
I'm glad Brokeback is before Brangelina and pimpimg!
Froggy, I am as RELIEVED as I am GLAD that 'Brokeback' is before these two 'exquisite' terms. ;)
;)
-
Freeman tips Brokeback for Oscar glory
28/02/2006 - 12:07:39
Hollywood star Morgan Freeman has tipped Brokeback Mountain for victory at Sunday's Academy Awards - despite admitting the film didn't dazzle him.
The Million Dollar Baby Oscar-winner acknowledges the gay cowboy movie has a contemporary appeal with audiences, but he has another favourite.
He says: "Brokeback Mountain is this year's right subject at the right time, which is all that counts. I liked the movie… but I wouldn't choose it over Capote or (its star) Philip Seymour Hoffman."
The controversial Ang Lee production - which leads the nominations for the 78th annual Academy Awards with eight nods - faces off with Capote in five categories, including Best Picture and Best Actor.
-
From the Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2002828780_gaycommentary27.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, February 27, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
Commentary
Get off "Brokeback's" back already, would ya?
By Jennifer Buckendorff
tpe, thank you for posting this wonderful article. :)
-
From the Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2002828780_gaycommentary27.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, February 27, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
Commentary
Get off "Brokeback's" back already, would ya?
By Jennifer Buckendorff
tpe, thank you for posting this wonderful article. :)
You're welcome Lilie. This article rings so true in my mind.
-
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/31683/
-
thanks for that.
"year of the queer" haha i love it.
-
The 'Brokeback' effect
Pop culture, from highbrow on down, hitches itself to the movie's wagon with tomes, cowboy shirts and more.
By Cynthia H. Cho, Times Staff Writer
March 1 2006
Despite the buzz over all the small, politically charged films this season, there is little chance of finding Truman Capote action figures at Burger King or remote-controlled "Crash" cars at Target. Yet there are a number of academics, entrepreneurs, singers and others who have turned to one such film as the tie-in for a variety of projects.
Call it Brokeback Inc. — and everyone wants to buy shares.
Of course, "Brokeback Mountain" — the multiple Oscar nominee about two cowboys in love — is not the first film to generate a flurry of interest, but it may be the quickest to do so.
"You can find volumes written about 'Citizen Kane' or 'The Wizard of Oz.' This movie has only been out for months … the response has been almost immediate," said Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y. "The Internet has opened up to anyone with a computer the opportunity to discuss and analyze in a way that used to be open to the very few who had access to publication media."
William Handley, an associate professor of English at USC, and Jesse Matz, an associate professor of English at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, agree that the story of two Wyoming ranch hands has quickly become a watershed film. They are compiling a book of essays on the movie's influence.
"There are very few films that become a cultural touchstone," said Handley, offering Ridley Scott's 1991 "Thelma & Louise" as an example. "With that, it was 'How dare they show women being violent?' At that time, it was about gender." A book on that film, "Thelma and Louise and Women in Hollywood," is due out this spring, and an anthology on the cultural influence of "King Kong" — originally created in 1933 — was published in November.
Handley and Matz are soliciting contributions from academics and nonacademics alike, including comedians and bloggers. Dan Savage, who writes a raw sex-advice column called Savage Love and is editor of a weekly Seattle newspaper, is one of a handful of writers who has agreed to pen an essay. The professors say they'd also like to get Annie Proulx, author of the New Yorker short story on which the film is based, to contribute.
Rob Latham, an associate professor of English and American studies at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, plans to use the original story, the screenplay and the film in an introductory course on sexuality he has been teaching for the last three years.
"I needed something that would center our discussions, which tend to be too abstract," said Latham, who is also the director of the sexuality studies program at the university. "I would screen the movie fairly early in the term and use it as a way of unpacking some of the ideas we deal with."
There are things, Latham said, his students can learn from watching the movie that would be hard to understand from reading text.
"With Heath Ledger's performance, they see the price of repression," he said. "You can see the physical and emotional tolls of trying to repress something that is essential to your nature. Jake Gyllenhaal's performance shows you what you have to give up — you have to give up hope, a dream of the life you want to live."
Noah Tsika, a first-year doctoral candidate in cinema studies at New York University, began research in August for his dissertation on the ways moviegoers are interpreting the film. Dabrina Taylor, a lecturer in American studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will examine how women are responding to the movie.
And lest all these academic endeavors make the film appear to be only for the highbrow, creative types are also weighing in with videos, songs, spoof posters, T-shirts and other products. Video clips from and inspired by the movie can be found on YouTube (youtube.com); some are set to music, many are compilations of favorite scenes.
For years, Willie Nelson, who sings a song on the "Brokeback" soundtrack, has been performing another song called "Cowboys Are Secretly, Frequently (Fond of Each Other)," written in 1981 by Ned Sublette. But it wasn't until the movie came out that he decided to release the song; it debuted on Howard Stern's Valentine's Day show.
Rodney Stokes of Winnsboro, S.C., has written three songs inspired by the film. The opening stanza of one plays off a line from the movie: "If ya can't fix it then you gotta stand it." The song continues, "that's what I say whenever nothing is going right." Stokes hopes to release an album later this year under a label owned by Sit and Spin Recording Studio in Greenville, S.C.
Other lines from the movie have become catch phrases. "I wish I could quit you" — a version of the film's "I wish I knew how to quit you" — has inspired jokes, blog entries and even a line of apparel. On BizarreTees.com, there are dozens of shirts, sweatshirts, hats and gifts — such as mugs, stickers and mouse pads — imprinted with the line and a logo of a cowboy hat. Within two weeks, the "I wish I could quit you" design became one of the top three sellers on the website, according to co-founder Kelly Humphrey.
Other movie-inspired apparel can be found for auction on EBay, including, for a time, two of the shirts worn by Ledger and Gyllenhaal in the film. The shirts, symbols by film's end of the cowboys' frustrated love, were acquired by the Variety Children's Charity of Southern California and were auctioned off for more than $100,000 last week.
Ken Downing, vice president of public relations and fashion presentation for Neiman Marcus, said western-inspired clothing will likely get a boost from the film.
Designer Valentino gave the movie a nod by having two men — wearing jeans, leather jackets and cowboy hats — walk down the runway holding hands during his January menswear show in Milan.
Various parodies of the film's promotional poster, which features Ledger and Gyllenhaal against a mountain backdrop, can be found online. Pairings include Elmo and Bert; Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and lobbyist Jack Abramoff; President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
That the movie is receiving so much attention, whether funny or serious, will "stimulate some thought about where these gay cowboys and cowgirls are and what they do," said Brian Helander, president of the International Gay Rodeo Assn., which has about 4,000 members in the United States.
Helander said he was starting to see more people joining. And at a rodeo in January, he said, attendance was up by one-third. That increase, he said, is "partially because of the attention 'Brokeback Mountain' has brought to the country-western lifestyle."
That's the same reason Diane Shober, director of the Wyoming Office of Travel and Tourism, believes her office has been receiving so many phone calls lately (the film is set in Wyoming and Texas but was filmed in Canada). With calls "up substantially" over this time last year, Shober said, "what we're measuring right now is the interest in Wyoming since the release of the movie."
http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-et-brokeback1mar01,0,5605397.story?coll=la-home-style
-
Brokeback Fashion
Designer Valentino’s January show in Milan took note of this years most critically acclaimed film "Brokeback Mountain," its style and its message.
(Matteo Bazzi / European Pressphoto Agency)
-
"Brokeback" named Hollywood word of the year
Tue Feb 28, 2006 12:58 AM GMT
Why hasn't PBS or Brokies or ennisjack.com caught on???
Surely the big Hollywood people know what PBS is by now? LOL
Thankx for posting tpe, I'm glad Brokeback is before Brangelina and pimpimg!
Outside the BBM world, PBS has a different meaning especially in Hollywood and media circles. The letters PBS stand for the Public Broadcasting System in the US - public television. It's a government (think Crown) corporation that funds public television and partially funds public radio (National Public Radio - NPR).
-
Freeman tips Brokeback for Oscar glory
28/02/2006 - 12:07:39
Hollywood star Morgan Freeman has tipped Brokeback Mountain for victory at Sunday's Academy Awards - despite admitting the film didn't dazzle him.
The Million Dollar Baby Oscar-winner acknowledges the gay cowboy movie has a contemporary appeal with audiences, but he has another favourite.
He says: "Brokeback Mountain is this year's right subject at the right time, which is all that counts. I liked the movie… but I wouldn't choose it over Capote or (its star) Philip Seymour Hoffman."
The controversial Ang Lee production - which leads the nominations for the 78th annual Academy Awards with eight nods - faces off with Capote in five categories, including Best Picture and Best Actor.
As I recall he won Best Supporting Actor last year which means he'll be the presenter for that award this year. I'm glad he recognizes it's social significance at this time.
-
and he's not thrilled about it, the guy who past his time promoting the rights of minorities of his decent his quite homophobic, because he's a presenter due to his last year win on the Million dollar baby,
I gather the gifts he receives from the sponsors will compensate and give him an excuse to put on his Hypocricy smile for all to see. and if you wonder why I make this statement please watch the Black awards show this past weekend, I understand you have to honor you kind, but no need to diss BBM
Quote:
Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman has tipped "Brokeback Mountain" to win at the upcoming Oscar awards even though he admitted the film did not " dazzle him."
According to contactmusic.com, Freeman acknowledges that the movie has a contemporary appeal but says he has another as a favourite.
He says: "Brokeback Mountain is this year's right subject at the right time, which is all that counts. I liked the movie... but I wouldn't choose it over Capote or (its star) Philip Seymour Hoffman."
Quote:
Morgan Freeman thinks "Brokeback Mountain" could be the big winner at the Oscars on Sunday because it is the "flavor of the month," the BBC reported.
-
and he's not thrilled about it, the guy who past his time promoting the rights of minorities of his decent his quite homophobic, because he's a presenter due to his last year win on the Million dollar baby,
I gather the gifts he receives from the sponsors will compensate and give him an excuse to put on his Hypocricy smile for all to see. and if you wonder why I make this statement please watch the Black awards show this past weekend, I understand you have to honor you kind, but no need to diss BBM
I didn't see the Black Entertainment Awards frenchcda. What did Freeman have to say about BBM?
-
Very good review in "Newsweek Magazine" of the five Oscar nominated films. His feeling about "Crash" - “'Crash' stinks."
"It's the ABC Oscars: anything but 'Crash'"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11480804/
-
and he's not thrilled about it, the guy who past his time promoting the rights of minorities of his decent his quite homophobic, because he's a presenter due to his last year win on the Million dollar baby,
I gather the gifts he receives from the sponsors will compensate and give him an excuse to put on his Hypocricy smile for all to see. and if you wonder why I make this statement please watch the Black awards show this past weekend, I understand you have to honor you kind, but no need to diss BBM
I didn't see the Black Entertainment Awards frenchcda. What did Freeman have to say about BBM?
it was something he said in the after awards about his views on BBM, not worthy of him, there was a segment of it on the insider
-
Here's a pic of the guy who won the auction with the shirts.
(https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg524.imageshack.us%2Fimg524%2F8939%2Ftomg2bs.jpg&hash=4d8a5d64c7d990998e4313038bd98ed70c4173ec)
-
Gyllenhaal Goes From Cowboy to Soldier By SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writer
Tue Feb 28, 4:47 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060228/ap_en_mo/film_jake_gyllenhaal_q_a_1
LOS ANGELES - Jake Gyllenhaal should have no fears of typecasting.
Soon after finishing the gay cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain," Gyllenhaal launched into the role of a testosterone-fueled young soldier thirsty for Gulf War action in "Jarhead."
"Jarhead" will be released on DVD next week, right after the Academy Awards — where "Brokeback" is a favorite and the 25-year-old Gyllenhaal is up for best supporting actor for his portrayal of a lovestruck sheepherder
It's a thrill for Gyllenhaal, who started his movie career at age 11, playing Billy Crystal's son in "City Slickers." Eight years later he was an aspiring teenage rocket scientist in "October Sky," and he broke out in 2002 as Jennifer Aniston's love interest in "The Good Girl."
But the blue-eyed actor says his roles in "Jarhead" and "Brokeback" are among the most meaningful he's played. Though he only had three months to go from gay cowboy to Marine recruit, he says the disparate characters are more similar than they seem ...
AP: What was the transition like between these characters?
Gyllenhaal: There are a lot of physical differences and a lot of differences in terms of intention, but ultimately both of them come from parts of me. In that way, they're the same, kind of. They both come from my heart and it's the same derivation. There's definitely a rage that (Jarhead's) Tony Swofford, the character of Swofford, had that the character of Jack Twist doesn't. He's much more open and engaged, much less cynical.
AP: You went from horseback riding to boot camp. Talk about the physical differences.
Gyllenhaal: ("Brokeback" director Ang Lee) put a set of weights outside my trailer because he wanted me to kind of bulk up for that part. I tried my best but I didn't do it as well as maybe he wanted. But then for "Jarhead," it was sort of mandatory. So I spent those three months reading, and I started working out like really heavily.
AP: What appealed to you about these two roles?
Gyllenhaal: With "Jarhead," it was just kind of like a perfect match. When you get to be a certain age and you're learning how to be a man, there are probably physical, hormonal things and just, I don't know, spiritual things that happen. The feeling of wanting to punch your fist through a wall and not understanding what that is. It's just inherent in growing up. But that's a real, legitimate feeling, and those feelings and that part just coincided perfectly. And there is a resistance in both of the characters. They're not allowed to be their full selves, and I think that I was really drawn to that.
AP: It seemed like "Jarhead" was destined to be a blockbuster, but "Brokeback" is the one that captured audiences. Did the reception of the two films surprise you?
Gyllenhaal: With "Brokeback," you're dealing with a genuine love story. I think that's what people have responded to. That's what's so amazing, is that people can watch it as that, even with the quote-unquote political subtext. And with "Jarhead," it's overtly political. People took into that film, unfortunately I think, they took their own opinions and issues. I love that there are people who loved it and hated it. Both of the movies had that same response. There are some people who have said thank you for making this movie, I've been waiting for it my whole life, and others who have said it's all right.
AP: Were you disappointed with how "Jarhead" fared at the box office?
Gyllenhaal: We live in a world where you need initial response, a big jolt. People want to know something was historic immediately for some reason. I've witnessed, with a lot of movies I've been in, a slow crawl and an appreciation as people have had time with it. Even a movie like 'Donnie Darko' or something, it's insane how people have responded to that film. Initially, someone could have said are you upset with how it went, and maybe at that time I may have (said) yeah, maybe I am. But I'm not. At all. It's found itself. I'm so proud of it. My mentality has changed.
AP: So you're willing to give the audience time to come around to "Jarhead"?
Gyllenhaal: Yes. And I think they will.
-
Freeman tips Brokeback for Oscar glory
28/02/2006 - 12:07:39
Hollywood star Morgan Freeman has tipped Brokeback Mountain for victory at Sunday's Academy Awards - despite admitting the film didn't dazzle him.
The Million Dollar Baby Oscar-winner acknowledges the gay cowboy movie has a contemporary appeal with audiences, but he has another favourite.
He says: "Brokeback Mountain is this year's right subject at the right time, which is all that counts. I liked the movie… but I wouldn't choose it over Capote or (its star) Philip Seymour Hoffman."
The controversial Ang Lee production - which leads the nominations for the 78th annual Academy Awards with eight nods - faces off with Capote in five categories, including Best Picture and Best Actor.
As I recall he won Best Supporting Actor last year which means he'll be the presenter for that award this year. I'm glad he recognizes it's social significance at this time.
If he won Best Supporting Actor, he'll be presenting Best Supporting Actress. They don't have men presenting to men - or women presenting to women. Whoever won Best Supporting Actress will be presenting the Best Supporting Actor award.
-
Freeman tips Brokeback for Oscar glory
28/02/2006 - 12:07:39
Hollywood star Morgan Freeman has tipped Brokeback Mountain for victory at Sunday's Academy Awards - despite admitting the film didn't dazzle him.
The Million Dollar Baby Oscar-winner acknowledges the gay cowboy movie has a contemporary appeal with audiences, but he has another favourite.
He says: "Brokeback Mountain is this year's right subject at the right time, which is all that counts. I liked the movie… but I wouldn't choose it over Capote or (its star) Philip Seymour Hoffman."
The controversial Ang Lee production - which leads the nominations for the 78th annual Academy Awards with eight nods - faces off with Capote in five categories, including Best Picture and Best Actor.
As I recall he won Best Supporting Actor last year which means he'll be the presenter for that award this year. I'm glad he recognizes it's social significance at this time.
If he won Best Supporting Actor, he'll be presenting Best Supporting Actress. They don't have men presenting to men - or women presenting to women. Whoever won Best Supporting Actress will be presenting the Best Supporting Actor award.
You're right ellye - it is reversed.
-
You're right ellye - it is reversed.
Yes, presumably so there's not too much same sex kissing when the award is given! lol! ;D
Though of course, any award for BBM and it would only be fitting to have some same sex kissing! ;)
-
Newsweek reported this week that BBM didn't receive the traditional bump in attendance after receiving the oscar nominations. They went on to speculate that most everyone who had intended to see it already had, but it did give credit for it's $80 million gross on a $14million budget(not including foreign grosses). They further speculated that for some Americans, it seems a same-sex love story is still too much, no matter how many trophies it wins. I must add that they failed to mention that Capote, Crash, Good Night Good Luck, and Munich didn't receive any bump either with their nominations, and actually, were disappointments at the box office compared to BBM. Some things will never change I guess.
meandennis
-
Do you have the link for this article?
-
You're right ellye - it is reversed.
Yes, presumably so there's not too much same sex kissing when the award is given! lol! ;D
Though of course, any award for BBM and it would only be fitting to have some same sex kissing! ;)
They are sexist - it should be men kissing men. ;D ;D ;D ;D
-
Here's a pic of the guy who won the auction with the shirts.
Thanks for posting this pic. It brought me tears when I see it. So real.
-
Associated Press
AP Film Writers Expect a 'Brokeback' Night
In a year of daring smaller films and performances, Associated Press film writers David Germain and Christy Lemire largely agree on who they think will triumph at Sunday's Academy Awards. Here are their picks:
BEST PICTURE
Nominees: "Brokeback Mountain," "Capote," "Crash," "Good Night, and Good Luck," "Munich."
GERMAIN: I'm not part of the fan posse of "Brokeback Mountain." It's an admirable film, but my least favorite among the nominees. When she reviewed it, my colleague Christy Lemire nailed "Brokeback Mountain," finding it a sturdy but overrated drama that did not merit all the wild acclaim. That said, nothing's going to stop those gay cowboys from lassoing the top Oscar. I don't buy into the "Crash" coming-round-the-mountain surge people are talking up. "Brokeback Mountain" has the air of sweeping romance and tragic melodrama that best pictures are made of, and it'll make the academy's straight majority feel more progressive anointing it. But I'd rather they go progressive over the gay author, Truman Capote.
LEMIRE: Aww, thanks, Dave. You're too kind. I'm also going to go with "Brokeback," not because it's the best picture of the year (it wasn't even on my top 10 list) but because as Dave noted, it will make academy voters feel as if they are making an important social statement. And, to be fair, it is a gorgeous film with solid performances throughout. It really is a strong field this year, though. "Crash" is so rich and so honest, it gives you a great deal to think and talk about afterward. "Capote" and "Good Night, and Good Luck" are steady, stirring and incredibly relevant today. And "Munich" ... well, it's been praised as Steven Spielberg's most important film since "Schindler's List." Truly, it's more of a technically flawless yet standard action thriller.
BEST DIRECTOR
Nominees: Ang Lee, "Brokeback Mountain"; Bennett Miller, "Capote"; Paul Haggis, "Crash"; George Clooney, "Good Night, and Good Luck"; Steven Spielberg, "Munich."
LEMIRE: "Brokeback Mountain" will win and Lee will win. He came close with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," his dazzling martial-arts epic from 2000 which won the foreign-language Oscar but lost in the best-director and best-picture categories. Here, he'll finally win the ultimate prize for his visually lush Western, but it almost feels like a cumulative award for a respected director with an esteemed and varied career. (We'll ignore his anemic take on "The Hulk.") Taking home the Oscar also would make him the first Asian filmmaker to earn the directing award.
GERMAIN: It's in my nature to disagree, so it pains me to concur with Christy here. These all are exceptional directing jobs in their own ways, but Lee, a master of so many styles, has crafted an impeccable visual spectacle. If "Crouching Tiger" was Lee's grand battle canvas, "Brokeback Mountain" is his great still-life, a film of hushed restraint in its performances and its rendering of the distant, immutable landscapes of the American West. As Christy notes, giving the first Oscar to an Asian director fits the politically correct theme of inclusion and diversity shaping up at the Oscars.
BEST ACTOR
Nominees: Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Capote"; Terrence Howard, "Hustle & Flow"; Heath Ledger, "Brokeback Mountain"; Joaquin Phoenix, "Walk the Line"; David Strathairn, "Good Night, and Good Luck."
GERMAIN: This is the first time I've ever wished for a five-way tie. They all deserve Oscars. But Hoffman went one better on Jamie Foxx, who won the previous year as the lovable Ray Charles in "Ray." The difference: Truman Capote was by no means lovable, yet Hoffman so richly, humanly embodies the man's pretensions, deceptions, compulsions and demons that you cannot help but fall under his spell, pitying the author for his self-destructive path even as you abhor his actions in the name of art.
LEMIRE: I said it when I reviewed "Capote" back in September and I'll say it again now: They should just give Hoffman the Oscar and get it over with. In a strong year for male performances, Hoffman stands out. And after a career of playing daring, difficult supporting roles, the versatile character actor proves he can step into the spotlight and carry a whole film. He doesn't just look like Capote in his dark-rimmed glasses and dapper suits, and he doesn't just sound like him with his lilting, high-pitched voice. He manages to embody a famous figure fully without once devolving into caricature, something it could have been easy to do in portraying someone as well-known for his idiosyncrasies as his brilliance.
BEST ACTRESS
Nominees: Judi Dench, "Mrs. Henderson Presents"; Felicity Huffman, "Transamerica"; Keira Knightley, "Pride & Prejudice"; Charlize Theron, "North Country"; Reese Witherspoon, "Walk the Line."
LEMIRE: The other categories are pretty easy to call this year, but this one's a toughie. Huffman completely transforms herself to play a pre-op transsexual - she's a woman playing a man who acts like a woman, no small feat - and does so with great subtlety, humor and heart. You totally forget you're watching one of the glamorous stars of "Desperate Housewives." But Witherspoon just shows up and steals "Walk the Line" right out from underneath Phoenix - again, no small feat in upstaging the great Johnny Cash - and she'll also walk away with the Oscar. June Carter is the part she was born to play, allowing her to showcase the radiance, charm, intelligence and flawless comic timing she's exhibited throughout her career, but also her maturity.
GERMAIN: Now my disagreeable nature gets to assert itself. Yes, it's a two-woman race between Witherspoon and Huffman, but I'm picking the latter. I saw "Capote" and "Transamerica" around the same time last summer and decided it was all over for best actor and actress, that no one could beat Hoffman or Huffman. And I'd already seen "Walk the Line," in which Witherspoon is superb, but to me, no match for the incredible transformation Huffman undergoes. This is the best gender-bending performance I've ever seen, better than Hilary Swank's in "Boys Don't Cry." Huffman's husky voice, gawky stiffness and sad, shy mannerisms are a marvel, so perfect that you truly believe this woman is a man whose body and soul are on the cusp of, but not yet proficient at, the fine art of womanhood.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Nominees: George Clooney, "Syriana"; Matt Dillon, "Crash"; Paul Giamatti, "Cinderella Man"; Jake Gyllenhaal, "Brokeback Mountain"; William Hurt, "A History of Violence."
GERMAIN: If "Good Night, and Good Luck" had just been a cool idea George Clooney was unable to find the bucks to film, he still would deserve this supporting-actor Oscar. Clooney truly effaced his rakish star persona and buried himself in the role of a dogged CIA operative waking up to the ugliness he's helped perpetrate in the name of oil. I know it's supposed to be the performance alone that carries the vote, but Clooney's bound to score extra credit for making "Good Night." He's probably right when he says he doesn't expect to win anything on that film, but it gives academy members another nudge to choose Clooney for a very worthy performance.
LEMIRE: It's so boring to agree, but I like Clooney here, too. Again, it's not just the physical transformation he underwent to play the role (you forget that you're watching one of People magazine's sexiest men alive), it's how he changes from the inside out, how he carries himself. You absolutely feel like you're watching a man grappling with disillusionment after risking his life for his country for two decades, and it's an arresting thing to see. (I also agree with Dave that an Oscar here is sort of a three-in-one for the whole night.) Dillon stands out in a strong ensemble cast, and Hurt is a hoot in just a few minutes of screen time, but it's not enough.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Nominees: Amy Adams, "Junebug"; Catherine Keener, "Capote"; Frances McDormand, "North Country"; Rachel Weisz, "The Constant Gardener"; Michelle Williams, "Brokeback Mountain."
LEMIRE: OK, I'm going to defy conventional wisdom here. Weisz has won pretty much every imaginable award up to this point, and she's the favorite here, too. But Williams is just devastating in "Brokeback Mountain." She's so subtle and strong, capable of lovely, small moments and moving bursts of emotion. It's a real surprise from the actress who was best known until now for playing bad-girl Jen Lindley on the teen drama "Dawson's Creek," and it would be great to see her work acknowledged.
GERMAIN: As good as Weisz is, with her zesty humor and fearless spirit, I've been in Williams' camp all along. So Christy and I must boringly agree to not disagree again. As a woman in desperate denial over her husband's affair with another man, Williams dominates her scenes even alongside Heath Ledger's powerhouse performance. The disbelief that registers in her expressions and body language when she sees hubby and his boyfriend making out is gut-wrenching. This is the one acting category where Oscar voters are likely to follow the "Brokeback" trail, so the film has another key prize to go with best picture and director.
WOW their pretty right on, except they forgot about HEATH AND JAKE WINNING BEST ACTOR/SUPPORTING ACTOR :P
whatever, i believe what I want haha!
and they think Brokeback will definately win, but it wasn't "that great" UH! losers..
-
Thanks for posting this article, Italian_Dude. Like you said, Heath and Jake....
-
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/arts/chi-0602260510feb26,1,827790.story?coll=chi-ent_arts-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Enjoy and have kleenex
-
Here's a pic of the guy who won the auction with the shirts.
Hmmm... I don't know where I got the impression that the guy who bought the shirts was a lot older... ;)
-
The BROKEBACK Effect: LA TIMES 3/1/06
http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-et-brokeback1mar01,1,3450778.story
-
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/arts/chi-0602260510feb26,1,827790.story?coll=chi-ent_arts-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Enjoy and have kleenex
Can't access the site without registering. Can you post the article text? Thanks :)
-
It's in the latest issue of Newsweek, the one hyping The New India.
meandennis
-
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/arts/chi-0602260510feb26,1,827790.story?coll=chi-ent_arts-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Enjoy and have kleenex
I posted the text of this article in a separate thread titled, "Decoding Brokeback". I thought it deserved a little extra limelight.
-
Posted in http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2006-03-01-bchat-proulx_x.htm
Nothing particularly new in this article. But good to see that it gets repeated every so often...
--------------------------------------------------------------
Proulx found it hard to quit 'Brokeback'
By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY
(https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.usatoday.com%2Flife%2F_photos%2F2006%2F03%2F02%2Finside-proulx.jpg&hash=d134f1fc5a8ace5c8fb5a6ba4be8965a5ab3183e)
Annie Proulx says her Brokeback characters stayed with her long after she finished the book.
By Daniel Ochoa de Olza, AP
Up for eight Academy Awards Sunday, Brokeback Mountain has been seen by about 12 million people in the USA. That's not a lot by Hollywood standards, but it's a rare audience in book publishing. If even a small fraction of the moviegoers bought the short story that inspired the film, it would be a best seller.
That's what happened. Annie Proulx's Brokeback Mountain, reprinted as a 55-page paperback (Scribner, $9.95), is No. 89 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list and has been as high as No. 33.
The bleak, heartbreaking story of two Wyoming ranch hands who fall in love appeared in The New Yorker in 1997 and was included in Proulx's Close Range: Wyoming Stories in 1999. Scribner reports 755,000 copies in print of various editions of Close Range and Brokeback Mountain.
Proulx (pronounced PROO) is 70, lives in Centennial, Wyo., and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for her novel The Shipping News, which also was made into a movie but generated none of the attention of Brokeback. She has stopped doing interviews in connection with the movie, saying they were interfering with her writing. (Her next novel will be set in part in New Zealand.)
She did write an essay for a movie tie-in book, Brokeback Mountain: Story to Screenplay (Scribner, $16), which includes her story and the screenplay by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. In the essay, Proulx writes that the story took shape one night in a Wyoming bar where she noticed an older ranch hand and "something in his expression, a kind of bitter longing, that made me wonder if he was country gay."
At the movie premiere in December, Proulx told the Los Angeles Times: "Put yourself in my place: an elderly, white, straight female, trying to write about two 19-year-old gay kids in 1963. What kind of imaginative leap do you think was necessary? Profound, extreme, large. To get into those guys' heads and actions took a lot of 16-hour days. ... I really needed an exorcist to get rid of those characters. And they roared back when I saw the film."
-
From the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/02/movies/02heff.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1141304545-Z74utB1a05Q89XnilVebxg
-------------------------------------------------------------
Brokeback Spoofs: Tough Guys Unmasked
(https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgraphics8.nytimes.com%2Fimages%2F2006%2F03%2F02%2Farts%2F02heff.583.jpg&hash=6f8ed55f58bd7aad6343aef870e1f3aa6e2a9d24)youtube.com
A truth they couldn't deny? Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox in "Brokeback to the Future."
By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN
Published: March 2, 2006
Gay cowboys, it seems, are shaping up to be like "Who's on first?" or "the aristocrats": a joke that keeps on giving. While the "Who wants to see that?" humor columns about "Brokeback Mountain" have waned, online parodies of the gay-cowboy movie are still proliferating faster than the curatorial video sites — including youtube.com, gorillamask.net, and dailysixer.com (which has a section called "Brokeback Spoofs") — can keep up with them. Some of them are stupid. Some are droll and great. But as commentary on the forms and ceremonies of proto-gay relationships, they're surprisingly sharp, and worth taking seriously.
All of the parodies assume the same form: they're trailers for imagined mashups that combine elements of "Brokeback Mountain" with other movies. The actual mashups, of course, don't exist; only these trailers do. They're made anonymously or by comedy troupes or design shops, like Chocolate Cake City and Robot Rumpus, both of which give their web addresses at the end of their parody videos, "Brokeback to the Future" and "The Empire Breaks Back." (The creators who stay anonymous might be trying to avoid nagging copyright issues.)
If they're well made, the parodies can presumably serve as a calling card for those who sign their work; some of them are viewed hundreds of thousands of times. Generally, though, the "Brokeback" spoofs are nothing but labors of love, or gay panic, or both.
The parodies typically use Gustavo Santaolalla's sexy, mournful theme from "Brokeback Mountain," together with the title cards from that movie's trailer, to reframe clips from another movie. It works almost every time: a gay movie seems to emerge when scenes between male leads, or a male lead and a supporting actor, are slowed down, set to make-out music and bumpered by portentous cards that say things like, "A truth they couldn't deny." The editing, and the use of slow motion, do suggest that close-ups, especially viewed at length, are intrinsically erotic. All that these parodies need to do to set up the relationship is show one man's face in protracted detail, and cut to the other man, who seems to watch with the same rapt attention that the viewer has been compelled to give by the slow-mo. A gay subtext suddenly seems plain as day.
But what's more adroit about these parodies is the use they make of the dialogue from the movie they're mashing up with "Brokeback." Very little "Brokeback" dialogue has been repurposed here, with the exception of two of the ranch hand Jack Twist's impassioned lines "It's nobody's business but ours," and "God, I wish I knew how to quit you!" — which turn up now and then when a parodist gives up trying to make the point another way. Most of the parodists don't give up, though, and strive to tease a gay plot out of what's already in the older movies, all of which, unlike "Brokeback Mountain," are already available on DVD, so they can be manipulated using software like iMovie.
These movies — "Heat," "City Slickers," "Titanic," "Fight Club" — throw up plenty of evocative lines for use by the parodists. Almost every scene in which a wiser man is trying to encourage a naďf to follow his dreams, for example, seems to double as a gay dialogue. "Stop trying to control everything, and just let go, let go!" Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) says to Edward Norton's unnamed character in "Fight Club." In the "Brokeback" parody, the line seems to be part of a pushy seduction. In the "The Empire Breaks Back," Anakin Skywalker says: "Something's happening. I want more, and I know I shouldn't." At another time, Palpatine advises him: "In time, you will learn to trust your feelings." When the lines are run together in the parody, they again work convincingly as a love scene.
Other Hollywood-hero problems, put in new context, seem like cries from the heart by gay men. In "Point Break," Keanu Reeves's character, Johnny Utah, wails, "I can't describe what I'm feeling"; when this line comes in "Point Brokeback," the parody, it seems to express Johnny's inability to face his gay desires. (For frisson, or maybe for authenticity, some of the parodies use scenes with actors, like Mr. Reeves and Tom Hanks, who have played gay characters in other movies.)
A problem of the traditional sci-fi hero, particularly the time traveler, is that he can't describe his relationships to other people; if he's traveled back in time, can he be his mother's contemporary? This is true for Marty McFly, Michael J. Fox's character in "Back to the Future," which was one of the first movies to appear in a mashup parody with "Brokeback Mountain" (predictably: "Brokeback to the Future"). In the scene that the parodists borrow, Marty introduces Dr. Brown (Christopher Lloyd), saying, "This is my — uh — Doc. My uncle. Doc!" In the new framework, this introduction sounds like the confused, stammering introduction that a closeted young man might make of his older boyfriend, whom he's trying to pass off as a boss, an associate, an uncle.
Similarly, when Frodo (Elijah Wood), introduces Sam (Sean Astin) in the appealing "Lord of the Rings" mashup, he's asked, "Your bodyguard?" Sam corrects him, "His gardener."
Nearly 60 years ago, Leslie Fiedler argued that the great American novels of the 19th century dramatize a love story between men, typically a white man and a man of color: Ishmael and Queequeg, Natty Bumppo and Chingachgook, Huck and Jim. He made his brilliant academic career on this startling thesis, which he went on to demonstrate in "Love and Death in the American Novel" in 1960. Now Fiedler's thesis seems to apply to Hollywood movies as well, but the thorough close-readings that have refined and broadened Fiedler's argument this time have been provided not by graduate students, but by online pranksters using little more than laptops, a broadband connection and Final Cut Pro.
My favorite of the parodies, however, didn't require much technology or even editing, just a good sense of double entendre scenes of emotional intensity between men. It's the "Brokeback" mashup with "Heat," the underrated Michael Mann movie with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. "Heat" was a psychological tango movie, with the alpha actors playing a police detective, Vincent, and a bad guy, Neil, respectively. They're supposed to be talking about the cops-and-robbers life, but in "Brokeback Heat," which just replays without legerdemain a whole scene between them, they seem for all the world to be talking about their love, and gay love generally, and their unwillingness to be straight.
"So then, if you spot me coming around that corner, you just gonna walk out on this woman?" Vincent asks. "Not say goodbye?"
"That's the discipline," Neil says.
"That's pretty vacant, you know," Vincent says.
"It is what it is," Neil replies. "It's that or we'd both better go do something else, pal."
"I don't know how to do anything else," Vincent says.
"Neither do I," Neil says.
"I don't much want to either," Vincent says.
"Neither do I," Neil says.
Taken straight or as a sendup, this is simply Mr. Pacino and Mr. De Niro playing a smoldering scene. And what they mean by it is no business but theirs.
-
Why 'Brokeback' strikes a chord
Lauri Githens Hatch
Staff writer
(March 2, 2006) — Three times I saw Brokeback Mountain: Once to see it; once to take two teen stepdaughters to see it; and once to watch everyone around me see it.
And when the lights came up for the third time, to reveal for the third time faces of all ages and races streaked with tears, then I knew.
This movie isn't about the life-defining sexual relationship that two men didn't get to keep.
This is about the life-defining love that none of us got to keep.
We've been focusing on the wrong body part, folks. This film ends focusing on two entwined shirts because of the organ that rests just beneath them — the human heart, and the space in it that each of us reserves for our own love that never grows old.
You know the one. The person you weren't looking for and, God knows, weren't prepared for, but who found you nonetheless, reached in and rearranged the inner workings of your heart, transforming you — over years or maybe overnight — from girl to woman or boy to man.
And right now, that is the love that dare not speak its name.
Why? Because after dating for as long as we do, and dating as many people as we do, and marrying as late as we do, there's no excuse for not getting it right when we finally do pair off. There's no excuse for lingering feelings. They're not just uncool, they're downright unseemly. They bespeak mess, emotional complexities and the mysterious many-chambered mansion that is the human heart — the thing we like to believe we can control like an internal iPod: Download and add this person, delete those. Ping. Gone.
Except some loves never really do go. And what does it take to bring yours back to you? The purplish sky at dusk? The scent of an autumn night? For thousands, it is this movie.
It is almost impossible to see it and not feel some internal door that you've kept carefully closed for years suddenly bang open, and then blowing through your life again is all of it: Your meeting. Your discovery. The years between you. The tears between you. And then, ultimately, the truth you both knew like you knew your names: Right person, wrong time. To paraphrase Stephen Sondheim: You should have belonged together. But you did not belong together.
Perhaps a war got in your way. Or parents. Or religion. Or geography. Or simply diverging paths that you each chose to follow, only to turn around at the end and find the other gone.
Of course, whether it's a blessing or a curse, modern life makes it easy for us to partly retrieve what was lost — to find these people so indelibly ingrained in us. In a café, at work, in the dark of a quiet house late at night, we can tap computer keys, search and find. Sending an electronic hello isn't necessary — sometimes it's enough just to know they're alive.
Never for a moment would we give up the lives we've painstakingly carved out since them.
But never for a moment either would we — can we — give up that Jack, that Ennis, that defining love that molded us as surely as our childhoods.
Maybe we have children to mark that time together. Maybe a picture. Maybe nothing at all tangible. But deep inside, we all have a closet. And in it rests a shirt; and the memory of the person who filled it; and of the person you were, with them.
Brokeback Mountain makes you realize the beauty and sheer wonder of ever getting to feel that way at all; some never do.
But it also makes you realize that years down the road there may come a moment — not courtesy of a postcard, but of an Internet search engine — when James Taylor's lyric will prove wrong:
You always thought that you'd see them, baby, one more time again. But you never did. And now you never will.
And then that closet — its shirt and its memories — will be all that any of us have left. Yet for all the pain, we wouldn't have missed that person, not a single bit of them, for the world.
And that, I think, is why after two hours and 14 minutes, Brokeback Mountain finds us, gay and straight, male and female, young and old, in our seats with eyes closed and streaming, and heart constricting, as undone as we were a lifetime ago when we first laid eyes on them, and undone once again.
Some loves, it turns out, are forever.
LGITHENS@DemocratandChronicle.com
-
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/arts/chi-0602260510feb26,1,827790.story?coll=chi-ent_arts-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Enjoy and have kleenex
Pelase do take a moment of your time to read this enlightning article, it slimply blown me away, sobbing
thank You karind1 for posting it
-
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/arts/chi-0602260510feb26,1,827790.story?coll=chi-ent_arts-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Enjoy and have kleenex
I posted the text of this article in a separate thread titled, "Decoding Brokeback". I thought it deserved a little extra limelight.
Thanks. Just read it. Great article :)
-
i knew "the brokeback effect" looked familiar.
I posted that on the first page. haha!
-
Hidesert, man! Thanks for posting this!
-
i knew "the brokeback effect" looked familiar.
I posted that on the first page. haha!
Sorry Italian Dude, I'll delete it. Somehow missed your post. ???
-
Hidesert, man! Thanks for posting this!
You're welcome Cham. Italian Dude had it first though. I'm going to delete mine.
-
Hidesert, man! Thanks for posting this!
You're welcome Cham. Italian Dude had it first though. I'm going to delete mine.
Thanks for the credits!
-
i knew "the brokeback effect" looked familiar.
I posted that on the first page. haha!
Sorry Italian Dude, I'll delete it. Somehow missed your post. ???
thats okay! ;)
-
The Gayest Academy Awards Ever--And What It Means for Us
by Michael Jensen, March 2, 2006
(xposted to oscar thread)
http://www.afterelton.com/movies/2006/3/awards.html
It's a long standing joke that the Oscars are the Super Bowl for gay men. If that is true, then this Sunday's broadcast of the 78th Annual Academy Awards is when our beloved-but-downtrodden team of perennial losers has unexpectedly made it to the big game. In football-ese, this makes Brokeback Mountain the St. Louis Cardinals and Sunday night our big chance for legitimacy. (For those who don't know football, the Cardinals stink worse than the sheep Jack and Ennis have to herd.)
So what does it mean that were in the Big Game at last? That we're even the prohibitive favorites to win?
Much of that answer depends on what happens Sunday night. Don't kid yourself that this won't be important. A billion plus people will watch clip after clip from the "gay cowboy," most of whom will never see Brokeback themselves. More importantly, they will see and hear about two men who fall in love.
Given that Brokeback is clearly the frontrunner for Best Picture, it would be a devastating psychological blow if it were to lose to Crash, its closest competitor. Brokeback not only dominated the other award shows this year, but is truly a breakthrough in cinematic history. Not to acknowledge that would have real implications. Most certainly, those on the right would trumpet the news to high heaven as proof that America isn't nearly as accepting of queers as we might like to believe. Nor would we see as many gay movies
in the future as we might otherwise.
Fortunately, an upset of Brokeback isn't likely to occur.
No matter what does happen when that final envelope is opened, the Brokeback "phenomenon" already means we have arrived. Playing gay used to carry a risk for an actor. Yes, William Hurt won an Oscar for his role in Kiss of the Spiderwoman, but the character was so stereotypically "gay" that it didn't feel like a breakthrough. Nor did it
lead to a boom in mainstream gay movie roles.
Tom Hanks also pulled off a gay role, but when he won for Philadelphia, he was already a box office saint. America perceived him as a noble actor doing a good "deed" by taking the gay part in what was more a social statement than a real movie.
Other actors haven't been so lucky. Harry Hamlin feels his role in Making Love nipped his film career in the bud, while Michael Ontkean, who played Hamlin's lover, didn't even manage Hamlin's successful television career. Indeed, up until now most actors would rather play a man-eating, child-beating, puppy-kicking serial killer than take a gay role.
But that is no longer the case. With nominations for Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, queer roles are no longer something to be feared. Word has it that even heterosexual sex-symbol Brad Pitt is quite keen to play a gay role himself. (Perhaps he didn't see his own performance in Troy.)
Beyond the recognition bestowed on the actors and filmmakers involved in Brokeback Mountain and Capote, what Sunday night might ultimately mean for the GLBT community won't be immediately known. Some clues, however, might be found in how the movie is treated during the ceremony itself.
It's a good sign that Jon Stewart is this year's Oscar emcee. Stewart's show, The Daily Show, usually has a progressive take on GLBT issues. Surely, he will address the controversy that has swirled around Brokeback Mountain, and the homophobes will probably be the targets of his barbs. If that is the case, a billion people will see homophobia being ridiculed rather than GLBT people. That alone will be a breath of
fresh air.
When the cast of Brokeback Mountain appeared on Oprah, one of the most pressing questions for fans was how Oprah would react to the movie. Would she love it? Would she tell her legions of fans they had to see it? Most importantly, would she show "the kiss?" For the record, she did all of the above. It was a significant moment, for if Oprah wasn't bothered by a same-sex romance, then how controversial could it really be?
Similarly, it will matter which clips from Brokeback the Oscars decide to feature. Will it be "the kiss" or something more palatable to mainstream America? Perhaps Ennis with Alma? Jack and Ennis arguing? Whichever the choice, a message will be sent to those watching. If "the kiss" is shown, for many viewers it will be the first time they have witnessed a same-sex kiss.
To be fair to the Academy, they are in a difficult position. Conservatives have already painted Hollywood as trying to shove a homosexual agenda down America 's throat. Raising Brokeback's profile further only stokes that anger. There are commercial considerations as well. Brokeback's makers will hope for a Best Picture bounce at the box office, not to mention the eventual DVD release. Nonetheless, gay men will feel cheated if Brokeback is “de-gayed.” For too many of us that is already a daily occurrence of which we are sick.
Movies matter in America. They are how we display what we value, what we celebrate, and who we are. Part of what made Saving Private Ryan so moving was its implicit acknowledgment of the sacrifice made by those who fought WW II. Movies are also often a way of acknowledging past wrongs and bringing outsiders into the mainstream culture. Witness the power of Schindler's List, Rain Man, or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Conservatives know the power of movies. That is why they have desperately tried to derail Brokeback's momentum. First, they predicted the critics would pan it. When that didn't happen, they said it would tank at the box-office. In fact, it did spectacularly,
even in so-called "red" parts of the country. Next, they claimed that any awards it received were only further proof of Hollywood 's depravity.
Now they are predicting the ratings for Sunday night's Oscars will fall dramatically. So what if millions went to the theater to see it? If ratings fall, they will argue it proves that millions more were so disgusted by Brokeback, Capote, and Transamerica that they stayed away in droves.
For the record, ratings for the Oscars, and almost all award shows for that matter, have declined for years now. The reason for the decline has less to do with the American public's disgust with Hollywood, than the sheer number of entertainment choices available. The terrible ratings for the just completed Winter Olympics are a perfect example, losing out to both Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives (another show conservatives rail against). Or perhaps conservatives think Johnny Weir, the is-he-or-isn't gay figure skater, is to blame for that.
For gay men watching the Oscars, it will also be important who says what about the movie. Will there be any controversial comments or actions such as those that greeted the Special Oscar presented Elia Kazan several years? (Kazan was reviled in some quarters for having named names during the McCarthy hearings.) Will there be a Marlon Brando moment when Susan Sarandon or Sean Penn denounces Congress' attempts to amend the constitution to ban same-sex marriage? Or perhaps some winner will tearfully acknowledge his or her partner in a moving acceptance speech.
And what of the possible acceptance speeches made by Ang Lee, Larry McMurtry, Heath or Jake? When Tom Hanks won for Philadelphia, he made a point to thank his gay drama teacher, thereby putting a very human face of the subject of gays. Imagine Heath making a plea for tolerance, even acceptance, of gays. No, it wouldn't change the world, but a billion people would hear it and suddenly homosexuality would be a little less "other."
No wonder conservatives are so frightened of Brokeback Mountain. Let's hope that come Monday morning, they are even more upset.
-
From http://www.sltrib.com/entertainment/ci_3564127#
Although the analysis is good to BBM, the author's Oscar predictions indicate that BBM will win, and that 'Capote' should (see above link). I am not exactly in agreement with him here.
------------------------------------------------------
'Brokeback Mountain' may transform Hollywood's big night into a watershed roundup at the Oscars
Analysis
By Sean P. Means
The Salt Lake Tribune
How do you describe "Brokeback Mountain's" rise from a movie for the art houses to a cultural landmark and, if all goes as expected Sunday, the Oscar for Best Picture?
Maybe Ennis Del Mar, the taciturn ranchhand played by Heath Ledger in the movie, put it most succinctly: "Ain't no reins on this one. Just got to ride it."
Observant moviegoers have had "Brokeback Mountain" on their radar since it won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival last September. Their interest grew even stronger through year's end, as the movie about two gay cowboys (er, sheepherders) picked up critics' awards across the country, including the Utah Film Critics Association prize.
But lots of movies have received year-end acclaim - and even won the Oscar for Best Picture - without lodging themselves into the public consciousness the way "Brokeback Mountain" has.
"Brokeback Mountain" has become a punchline for late-night comics (a recent Letterman bit: "Top Ten Signs You're a Gay Cowboy") and an easily recognized and parodied poster image (the current issue of The New Yorker has a cover illustration of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney in the "Brokeback" pose). "I wish I knew how to quit you" has become the hottest catchphrase since "Show me the money!"
All this for a movie relatively few people across the country have seen. As of this weekend, "Brokeback Mountain" has made only $75 million at the box office - though industry experts expect it to reach the crucial $100 million mark, buoyed in part by its expected success at Sunday's Oscars. That's far short of the blockbuster numbers some Best Pictures have earned, such as "Titanic's" $600 million or the $377 million raked in by "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
But the buzz is so strong for "Brokeback Mountain," a Best Picture win on Sunday is not merely predictable but has the makings of a Hollywood social statement. It doesn't happen often - you have to look back in Oscar history to Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List" in 1993 or Oliver Stone's "Platoon" in 1986 - but the support for "Brokeback Mountain" feels like more than acknowledgment of a fine film. It feels like a cause.
So why "Brokeback Mountain"? And why now?
Part of the movie's impact is that it's damn good. But part of it can be cast in terms of America's so-called "culture wars," part of the national argument over same-sex marriage.
Gay-rights advocates point to "Brokeback Mountain" as an example of a gay relationship that doesn't fit Hollywood's limp-wristed stereotypes, and as proof that anyone, anywhere, from any walk of life, might be gay.
Conservatives say showing two hot stars, like Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, in a passionate male-male embrace is part of liberal Hollywood's effort to "mainstream" homosexuality. And, to make matters worse for right-wing sensibilities, it uses the all-American icon of the cowboy to do it.
Between the political extremes, the movie has inspired conversation. Larry David, the comic writer-actor, wrote a New York Times op-ed piece in which he expressed qualms that enjoying a movie about two gay cowboys might say something about his sexual orientation. The consternation of a straight-male moviegoer deciding to see the movie, or to ask his buddies to go along, has become a prime watercooler topic.
Another measure of the attitude toward "Brokeback Mountain" is the backlash against it. Some Oscar observers have argued that Paul Haggis' interracial drama "Crash" could upset "Brokeback Mountain" on Oscar night, but the reasons to explain that scenario seem a little cynical.
"Crash" will win Best Picture, the argument goes, because conservative Academy voters are uncomfortable with honoring a gay-themed movie, but they don't want to appear bigoted so they'll go for the black/white/Latino/Arab drama instead. (Another argument is that Oscar voters, most of whom live in Los Angeles, will gravitate toward a movie that makes their city look cosmopolitan.) Those arguments, though, feel like half-hearted attempts to inject some drama into an otherwise predictable Oscar Night.
The truth is that "Brokeback Mountain" is an important, relevant film and an exquisitely made one. It's rare when Hollywood can reward both a movie and its message - and Oscar isn't going to miss the chance this year.
(https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fextras.mnginteractive.com%2Flive%2Fmedia%2Fsite297%2F2006%2F0302%2F20060302_105143_fea_CowboyOscar.jpg&hash=e5cc1450f6fed5dc81d37abfa663ead53a54e621)
-
From http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/features/article_1134258.php/American_culture_crowns_gay_cowboy_film_Oscars_or_not
--------------------------------------------------------
American culture crowns gay cowboy film, Oscars or not
By Andy Goldberg Mar 3, 2006, 3:01 GMT
(https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.monstersandcritics.com%2Fgalleries%2F144167%2Flap2006013137250.jpg&hash=41e19046b36a493b292318f9c73ebf4ef292f591)
Jake Gyllenhaal, shown in a scene from "Brokeback Mountain" (UPI Photo/Focus Features/Handout)
Los Angeles - There they are, in all their smouldering, convention-be-damned glory, two gay but rugged cowboys set against a sweeping Wyoming backdrop, gracing the front cover of New Yorker magazine.
But wait a minute. That's not Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, the stars of Oscar favourite Brokeback Mountain. It's US Vice President Dick Cheney calmly blowing the smoke from the barrel of his gun, while lawyer Harry Whittington, whom Cheney accidentally shot during a quail hunt last month, gazes stoically over his shoulder.
How romantic, the cartoon implies, not even a shotgun blast to the face can destroy the love of these two men.
Getting a spoof on the front page of America's arbiter of culture is an achievement for any movie - but 'Brokeback Mountain' hasn't even earned an Oscar yet, or the 100 million dollars at the box office that is considered the benchmark for a successful film.
Yet it has already emerged as Hollywood's most significant contribution to popular culture this year. The Global Language Monitor this week named 'Brokeback' Hollywood's word of the year, after finding that a Google search yielded more than 38 million references to the film.
Lines from the movie have become catch-phrases: 'I wish I knew how to quit you' and 'Ain't nobody's business but ours' can be seen on bumper stickers, T-shirts and posters all over the country.
Just type the words 'Brokeback spoof' or 'Brokeback joke' into a search engine and prepare to waste the rest of the day sifting through a mountain of material derived from director Ang Lee's poignant tale of two cowboys in love.
Many of the parodies are trailer mashups - spoof trailers for other movies that use re-edited footage to make it seem as though some classic buddy films were in fact about a gay relationship between the two male leads.
There's 'Brokeback to the Future,' 'The Empire Breaks Back,' 'Brokeback Fiction' and other gay derivates of movies like 'Titanic,' 'Top Gun' and 'Lord of the Rings' - with more being added every day.
Talk show hosts have also been guffawing. Jay Leno presented a gay cowboy saddle with a holster for a hair dryer. David Letterman listed the top 10 signs that you are a gay cowboy, headed by the paradox, 'You love riding, but you don't have a horse'.
'Against all odds, a Western romance about two men has corralled the cultural zeitgeist making it safe for our national funny bone to come out of the closet,' noted USA Today.
Still, John Wayne must have been rolling in his grave at news of last month's fashion show by Valentino in Milan where two cowboys strutted down the aisle.
US fashion stores report a surge in demand for Western-inspired clothing - not to mention the 100,000 dollars paid by a collector for the shirts worn by Ledger and Gyllenhaal for the movie.
Yet it's not only pranksters and fashionistas who are getting kicks out of the movie. Rob Latham, an associate professor of English and American studies at the University of Iowa, plans to use the original story, the screenplay and the film in an introductory course on sexuality he has been teaching for the last three years.
'I needed something that would centre our discussions, which tend to be too abstract,' Latham told the Los Angeles Times. 'I would screen the movie fairly early in the term and use it as a way of unpacking some of the ideas we deal with.'
Other professors are compiling a book of essays on the movie's influence, which thanks to the Internet is spreading faster than any comparable film in history, argues Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University.
'You can find volumes written about Citizen Kane or The Wizard of Oz, but this movie has only been out for months,' he said.
'The response has been almost immediate. The Internet has opened up to anyone with a computer the opportunity to discuss and analyze in a way that used to be open to the very few who had access to publication media.'
That's the intellectual explanation. But there's also a simpler way of looking at it - no-one ever made a movie before about two gay cowboys.
-
When will this idiocy ever end....
61,061 Protest 'Brokeback Mountain' Oscar Nominations
Christian News Wire Thu, 02 Mar 2006 12:41 PM PST
http://www.earnedmedia.org/crm0302.htm
To: National Desk
Contact: John Aman, Center For Reclaiming America, 954-334-5330, 954-540-8560 cell, CRMNews@crministries.org
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fl., Mar. 2 /Christian Wire Service/ -- More than 61,000 Americans joined Dr. Gary Cass today in a letter of outrage protesting the eight Oscar nominations for Brokeback Mountain, a film that movie critic Ted Baehr has called a “twisted, laughable, frustrating, plotless and boring piece of homosexual, neo-Marxist propaganda.”
“As a movie-goer, I am deeply outraged over the Academy’s nomination of Brokeback Mountain for best picture,” wrote Cass, Executive Director of the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, in a letter to Sid Ganis, President of the Academy. The letter, along with the names of the 61,061 cosigners, will arrive tomorrow, Friday, March 3, just before the 78th annual Academy Awards ceremony, Sunday, March 5.
Cass originally drafted a quick personal protest letter to the Academy, “but then I got to thinking: ‘How many other Christians are sick and tired of Hollywood pushing its agenda on our nation?’” he said. So he decided to invite the Center for Reclaiming America’s online grassroots network to join him in the protest.
“We can't give Hollywood a free pass as it pushes the homosexual agenda on our nation, while casting Christian-themed films aside,” he said.
In his letter, Cass wrote that “The Academy’s nomination of this film has little to do with honoring great moviemaking. Instead, it is just a high-profile attempt to mainstream the homosexual agenda. That this movie uses the classic symbol of the American male -- the cowboy -- to promote this agenda is offensive to the vast majority of Americans.”
Cass noted that the Academy gave just three nominations—for technical, not artistic, achievement (makeup, sound mixing, and visual effects)—to the smash hit Chronicles of Narnia, while bestowing eight nominations on Brokeback Mountain. “Your agenda is even more obvious,” Cass wrote Ganis, “when considering that movies like The Chronicles of Narnia, that have themes that resonate with most Americans, are virtually ignored by the Academy.”
“Again, I am deeply troubled that you would allow the Academy to be tarnished in such a way,” wrote Cass, “and would hope that in the future you would consider honoring those movies that are truly worthy of honoring.”
To request an interview with Dr. Gary Cass, please contact John Aman at (954) 334-5330.
Founded in 1996 by Dr. D. James Kennedy, the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ is a national grassroots outreach to inform, equip, motivate, and support Christians—to enable them to defend and implement the biblical principles on which our country was founded.
-
When will this idiocy ever end....
Yeah it just keeps going on and on and on...
We have freedom of speech so they're entitled to say whatever they like, but I strongly disagree with them. Their core is fundamentalists who are against anything progressive or "enlightened". They base their opinions on their own unique interpretation of the Bible which just happens to coincide with their personal and political opinions.
-
When will this idiocy ever end....
61,061 Protest 'Brokeback Mountain' Oscar Nominations
>:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(
don't get me started, just don't GOD I hate these "Christian" psycho freaks SO MUCH. They should be imprisioned.. honestly they should.
I like the two articles before that one better :P LOL
-
The best analogy would be to say here comes the right wing christians as the army of idiots battling against a world of compassion, we all know LOVE thriumph over ignorance, let it be
-
WHO SHOULD WIN: As great as both "Good Night, and Good Luck." and "Capote" are, "Brokeback Mountain" is the superior film of the five nominees. A love story extraordinaire (fellow MSN Movies writer Kathleen Murphy summed it up wonderfully by calling it a "Western Wuthering Heights"), Lee's parable about desire and longing in a short-sighted world isn't just "the gay cowboy movie." It could very well be a classic in every sense of the term.
hearts.gif
just finished reading this quite excellent set of predictions for the academy awards (sunday, march 5) put together by msn. this is a MUST read if you're at all a bbm fan!
http://movies.msn.com/movies/oscars2006/predictions?GT1=7876
-
"Brokeback" Star Slammed by Former School[/b]
'Brokeback Mountain' actress Michelle Williams has been disowned by her former school because of her role in the controversial gay cowboy romance.
Williams, who attended the Santa Fe Christian School in San Diego, California, has been blasted by the school's headmaster as "offensive" for acting as the long-suffering wife of a homosexual ranch hand, played by Heath Ledger.
Jim Hopson has branded the Oscar nominee a poor role model, and hopes his education establishment won't be linked to the film's themes.
He tells the San Diego Union Tribune, "We don't want to have anything to do with her in relation to that movie.
"Michelle doesn't represent the values of this institution. 'Brokeback Mountain' basically promotes a lifestyle we don't promote."
-
"Brokeback" Star Slammed by Former School[/b]
'Brokeback Mountain' actress Michelle Williams has been disowned by her former school because of her role in the controversial gay cowboy romance.
Williams, who attended the Santa Fe Christian School in San Diego, California, has been blasted by the school's headmaster as "offensive" for acting as the long-suffering wife of a homosexual ranch hand, played by Heath Ledger.
Jim Hopson has branded the Oscar nominee a poor role model, and hopes his education establishment won't be linked to the film's themes.
He tells the San Diego Union Tribune, "We don't want to have anything to do with her in relation to that movie.
"Michelle doesn't represent the values of this institution. 'Brokeback Mountain' basically promotes a lifestyle we don't promote."
Old Cham is not a happy camper, if *ssh*les could fly, this school would be an airport
(https://ennisjack.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi47.imagethrust.com%2Fi%2F295727%2F23.gif&hash=2d38a8cd47a86d637814c8e24f7ae1bb35ece42c)
-
"Brokeback" Star Slammed by Former School[/b]
He tells the San Diego Union Tribune, "We don't want to have anything to do with her in relation to that movie.
"Michelle doesn't represent the values of this institution. 'Brokeback Mountain' basically promotes a lifestyle we don't promote."
I heard this on the news yesterday in and I immediately thought, "Well, who the hello said she representing ANYONE? She's an actress who took a part in a movie with a script she loved!" The school's reaction really made me mad. :( :(
I only wish Michelle doesn't get upset over this news item.
-
"Brokeback" Star Slammed by Former School[/b]
He tells the San Diego Union Tribune, "We don't want to have anything to do with her in relation to that movie.
"Michelle doesn't represent the values of this institution. 'Brokeback Mountain' basically promotes a lifestyle we don't promote."
I heard this on the news yesterday in and I immediately thought, "Well, who the hello said she representing ANYONE? She's an actress who took a part in a movie with a script she loved!" The school's reaction really made me mad. :( :(
I only wish Michelle doesn't get upset over this news item.
I don't think so, Michelle and Heath have their personal special award, little Matilda. Jake is her Godfather. Michelle will have all the support she needs. And we are sending her good vibes too!
-
"Brokeback" Star Slammed by Former School[/b]
He tells the San Diego Union Tribune, "We don't want to have anything to do with her in relation to that movie.
"Michelle doesn't represent the values of this institution. 'Brokeback Mountain' basically promotes a lifestyle we don't promote."
I heard this on the news yesterday in and I immediately thought, "Well, who the hello said she representing ANYONE? She's an actress who took a part in a movie with a script she loved!" The school's reaction really made me mad. :( :(
I only wish Michelle doesn't get upset over this news item.
I don't think so, Michelle and Heath have their personal special award, little Matilda. Jake is her Godfather. Michelle will have all the support she needs. And we are sending her good vibes too!
This probably isn't the first time that the fundies at Michelle's alma mater have disowned her. Her character in "Dawson's Creek" didn't have a very good reputation so they probably wagged their fingers at her for that series.
-
Team Keeps Oscars in Focus[/b]
By Susan Wloszczyna, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — No one would mistake Focus Features co-presidents James Schamus and David Linde for gay cowboys.
For one, Schamus' sartorial taste runs to bow ties and J. Crew, not bolos and Levis.
For another, Linde's considerable height would turn a pup-tent do-si-do into a mighty dicey proposition.
But the riding-high execs behind Brokeback Mountain, the ranch-hand romance that became one of last year's most-talked-about releases and is the leader in Sunday's Academy Awards contest with eight nominations, do share a passion that can't be denied.
They love their work.
They excel at it, too. With four nominations each for two other tough sells, adult thriller The Constant Gardener and period romance Pride & Prejudice, Focus tallied 16 Oscar chances — more than any other distributor. Not that Schamus and Linde, both 46, who were at the production company Good Machine when Universal Pictures recruited them to inaugurate its specialty division in 2002, are overly cocky.
"None of us here have any feeling like there is an Oscar in the bag," says Schamus, sitting behind his desk in a roomy if unpretentious office in Greenwich Village. Dominating the space: a poster of The Tingler, the schlocky 1959 Vincent Price fright flick. It speaks of its owner's proudly populist side, indulged by the company's 2-year-old genre banner, Rogue Pictures (Seed of Chucky, Shaun of the Dead).
"Crash is a good movie, and a lot of people love it," Schamus adds. "There are always surprises."
Many online handicappers have pointed to Brokeback's MIA status in the film-editing category as a sign of vulnerability. The last time a movie won best picture without an editing nomination was Ordinary People in 1980. Linde, sprawled in a chair, dismisses the blog blather.
"It's a very self-effacing editorial style," he says. "The whole point of the editing of Brokeback is that you literally don't pay attention."
Erudite Schamus tends to be the cherubic face of Focus, while pragmatic Linde seems content to lurk behind the scenes. Both exude creativity. Brokeback director Ang Lee reveals a bit of what makes these bespectacled businessmen tick.
"David is the backbone," Lee says of the expert in international sales and distribution who did time at the Weinstein-era Miramax. "He's a doer who knows what sells. He has a lot of conviction."
As for Schamus, a film professor at Columbia University who also has produced and written such Lee landmarks as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, "He is so hip and quite the intellectual," Lee says of his best friend and nine-time collaborator. "He's an artist and a good politician." Their partnership was defined early on: "James said to me, 'You don't have to be responsible. That's our job. You just have to be reasonable.' "
They're lean but not mean
Rachel Weisz, up for best supporting actress for her murdered social activist role in The Constant Gardener, gives her sharp-eyed assessment of these Focus gentlemen. "They conduct themselves immaculately," she says. "They phone you to congratulate you. It's a non-corporate feeling. James is massively charming, unbelievably intelligent. David is a fiercely smart guy, a fun person to sit next to at dinner. They know how to sell strong films, but also ones that are fragile, like Brokeback Mountain and The Constant Gardener."
Meet the new breed of mini-major mogul. Thoughtful. Well-behaved. Approachable.
That silence you hear is the lack of Oscar bad-mouthing, a commonplace ploy not too long ago. This year, the movies are allowed to speak for themselves — with a hefty assist from clever promotion.
"I haven't heard any horror stories about working with Focus like you do about other companies," says filmmaker Sofia Coppola. Her experience with the team's handling of 2003's Lost in Translation was more like a dream: $45 million at the box office (10 times the size of its budget), four Oscar nominations and a win for her screenplay.
Compare that to her well-reviewed 2000 debut feature, The Virgin Suicides, which took in a mere $5 million — $1 million less than its budget. "They brought it out for a moment," she says of the release by a since-restructured Paramount Classics.
With last year's streak of modestly budgeted big-screen successes that includes Broken Flowers, oddball auteur Jim Jarmusch's highest grosser ever at $14 million, Focus is emblematic of a 21st-century shift in how art-house offshoots of studio conglomerates have perfected what a dominating Miramax pioneered in the '90s.
Focus has its friendly competitors in the niche game. Last year, Fox Searchlight shone brightest with Garden State, Napoleon Dynamite and Oscar underdog Sideways. This year, the 3-year-old Warner Independent scored a coup as the first company to earn nominations for picture (Good Night, and Good Luck), foreign film (Paradise Now) and documentary (March of the Penguins) in the same year.
But only Focus has been a thriving enterprise from the get-go. "The reason Universal chose us was that we weren't neophytes," Linde says. "We were actually very familiar with how to make these movies."
The first sign of change from the days when the awards were often dictated by Miramax co-chiefs Harvey and Bob Weinstein cropped up in the 2002 race. The brothers, famous for their Oscar blitzes on behalf of The English Patient and Shakespeare in Love, triumphed with the musical Chicago as best picture.
But their push to finally bestow the long-denied Martin Scorsese with a directing Oscar for his Gangs of New York was undermined. A freshman Focus sneaked in with its Holocaust drama, The Pianist, gathering three trophies: director for Roman Polanski, actor for Adrien Brody and adapted screenplay.
"We were very aggressive about screening it," Schamus says. "These people are professionals and artists, and given the opportunity to make a decision, they will not shortchange themselves or the movies." In other words, if they see it — and it's worthy — they will vote.
It proved to be the beginning of the end. After last year's split from Disney, which has owned Miramax since 1993, the once-more independent brothers are now starting over at their new Weinstein Co.
Passing of the torch
A gracious Harvey, who has four nominees in the running — best-actress candidates Judi Dench (Mrs. Henderson Presents) and Felicity Huffman (Transamerica) plus song and costume design— is impressed by the recent performances of the companies he inspired. "James Schamus and David Linde have done a fantastic job."
The art of championing risky, low-budget fare has grown more sophisticated. "The business changed when Miramax was sold to Disney. That was the watershed," says Linde about his ex-employer. "The beauty of it right now is that there are a lot of specialty companies making good, strong, original, independent work. It's different than it was 10 years ago."
Tim Bevan, co-chairman of Working Title Films (Love Actually, The Interpreter) and a producer on Pride & Prejudice, wishes this version of Focus was around when his company released Billy Elliot through another Universal label.
"They would have gotten us a better number," he says of the 2000 tale of a boy dancer that grossed only $22 million in spite of a chorus line of pre-opening buzz. "Without Hugh Grant or Julia Roberts in them, these sorts of films need nurturing."
The budgets for the yearly Focus slate of seven to 10 films average about $15 million. Most expensive: The Constant Gardener, estimated at $25 million. But it was money spent to better tell the story of drug firms exploiting poor Africans.
"Universal wanted us to shoot in South Africa," says Fernando Meirelles, the Brazilian director of Gardener. "The problem was with insurance. It's very expensive to shoot in Kenya. We had a meeting with Focus and finally they said, 'If that's your vision, go ahead.' It wouldn't have been the same film otherwise, and they understood."
Focus gladly, and wisely, takes cost-saving advantage of its parent studio's resources, such as the TV networks run by NBC, part of the same corporate family.
Says Linde, "We were able to access a huge amount of cross-promotional time on networks for The Constant Gardener because the film came out at the end of August," during the long Labor Day weekend. "There are 7-second or 15-second spots used to promote other TV shows. They gave us time on shows oriented to adults."
Not that Focus hasn't suffered miscues. Lit adaptation Vanity Fair with Reese Witherspoon. Aussie outlaw adventure Ned Kelly with Heath Ledger. Dead poet bio Sylvia with Gwyneth Paltrow. All wilted.
Schamus tries not to learn from his failures. "People who do make stupid comments like, 'Oh, let's not make another period drama based on literature.' If I had learned that lesson from Vanity Fair, I wouldn't have made Pride & Prejudice. Or Brokeback Mountain."
It is too early to guess if there is another Brokeback breakout among the 2006 lineup. Films include the inspirational On a Clear Day (April 7), about an out-of-work Glasgow shipbuilder (Peter Mullan) who decides to swim the English Channel, and Hollywoodland, a drama about a private eye (Adrien Brody) investigating the death of TV Superman George Reeves (Ben Affleck).
As for whether Brokeback Mountain will earn Focus its first best-picture prize, Schamus isn't taking any chances: On his wife's advice, he is buying a new tux.
-
hidesert !
You're the man! Thanks for posting ;)
-
hidesert !
You're the man! Thanks for posting ;)
Thanks Cham! It's nice to read about the Co-Captains who have been steering the BBM ship towards those Oscars. They really are the new Mini-Moguls and I salute them for their work in promoting all those fine indie films.
-
"Brokeback" Star Slammed by Former School[/b]
'Brokeback Mountain' actress Michelle Williams has been disowned by her former school because of her role in the controversial gay cowboy romance.
Williams, who attended the Santa Fe Christian School in San Diego, California, has been blasted by the school's headmaster as "offensive" for acting as the long-suffering wife of a homosexual ranch hand, played by Heath Ledger.
Jim Hopson has branded the Oscar nominee a poor role model, and hopes his education establishment won't be linked to the film's themes.
He tells the San Diego Union Tribune, "We don't want to have anything to do with her in relation to that movie.
"Michelle doesn't represent the values of this institution. 'Brokeback Mountain' basically promotes a lifestyle we don't promote."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh GODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Get OVER IT. ughhhhhhhhhhhh. (My school would do the same too though, stupid losers!)
-
'Brokeback' Director Bridges East, West
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Film-Ang-Lee.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 3, 2006
Filed at 3:59 p.m. ET
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- His compatriots call Ang Lee ''the treasure of Taiwan'' for his success in bridging cultural barriers and becoming one of the few Asian film directors to make it big in Hollywood.
On Monday afternoon -- Sunday night in Hollywood -- thousands of Taiwanese will tune in to see if this 51-year-old native son can come away with the coveted ''Best Director'' Oscar for his highly acclaimed gay love story, ''Brokeback Mountain.''
The film, buoyed by sterling reviews and vibrant hometown pride, has been a surprise box-office hit on this socially conservative island, attracting the kind of crowds usually reserved for big-budget kung-fu movies and other action thrillers.
Lee left Taiwan for the United States at the age of 23, but many locals still see him as one of their own. His trademark gentle smile and shy demeanor are regarded as hallmarks of the educated Chinese gentleman, for whom the Confucian values of modesty and high achievement reign supreme.
''Taiwanese talents have long exported computers and other technologies to the world, but Ang Lee is among a rare few who have excelled in the field of culture and arts,'' said Taiwanese director Chen Yao-chi.
Chen and others laud Lee for moving beyond the action genre that occupies the handful of Asian directors who have gained a Hollywood foothold.
A number of Japanese have already established themselves in the United States and a few mainland Chinese are also knocking on the door, but most are kung-fu specialists. In contrast, Lee has been able to bring his subtle, Oriental touch to a wide range of prototypical Western themes.
Besides ''Brokeback Mountain,'' Lee has also tackled English period-drama with ''Sense and Sensibility.'' In ''The Ice Storm,'' he explored moral ambiguities in 1970s suburban America. He brought the comic-book character The Hulk to the big screen. And his ''Ride with the Devil'' revolves around renegade southern fighters in the Civil War era.
His highly acclaimed ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' was one of his few Chinese endeavors in recent years.
In some ways, ''Brokeback Mountain'' is a distinctly un-Chinese movie, focusing on the gay relationship between two American cowboys in the conservative American West. But it also possesses a Chinese aesthetic that distinguishes it from most American films.
Visual tableaux like the distant visage of headlights caught against an isolated mountain dawn seem the cinematic equivalent of a Chinese landscape painting from the imperial era.
The incremental buildup to the cowboys' love affair -- fleeting glances fraught with unspoken passion, minute gestures of heart wrenching tenderness -- contains the understated communication typically found in classical Chinese poetry.
Chen said the signal achievement of ''Brokeback Mountain'' was to bridge the gap between East and West, calling it an ''outstanding cross-cultural performance.''
Lee's brother, Taiwanese director Lee Kang, said his brother retains the Chinese traits of displaying a tenacity amid gentle, kind and polite behavior.
''He's true to himself, but he's also a rebellious person'' who constantly reflects on himself and looks deep into social events, he said.
Liao I-mei, a Taiwanese office worker, said she was deeply touched by ''Brokeback Mountain'' for portraying the gay cowboys as ordinary lovers, not perverts.
''Ang Lee made me realize that being gay is not a crime,'' she said. ''If my husband fell into the same situation with another man, I possibly could be more understanding.''
-
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Today/Entertainment/2006/03/04/1472269-sun.html
Brokeback deserves best film
Sat, March 4, 2006
Crash is the only rival with even a hope of edging out Ang Lee's tale of cowboy love.
By LOUIS HOBSON, SPECIAL TO THE FREE PRESS
In selecting this year's five nominees for best picture, Academy members turned a blind eye to the blockbusters of 2005.
They ignored the fact audiences made Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, War of the Worlds and King Kong, the top grossing films of 2005.
Instead they selected five films more significant for their social messages.
The 78th Academy Awards will be telecast on ABC and CTV tomorrow with Brokeback Mountain, Crash, Capote, Good Night, and Good Luck, and Munich vying for the top honour.
Ang Lee says his gay western, Brokeback Mountain, spoke to his heart too loudly to ignore.
He was so moved by E. Annie Proulx's short story of a tragic 20-year secret love affair between two highly conflicted cowboys that he had no choice but to film it.
It is Lee's sensitive insights into the complexities of love that has let it touch audiences around the world.
It is a masterpiece of epic filmmaking and understated acting that has already won a Golden Globe, Broadcast Film Critics Award and British Academy Award. While it won't be a unanimous choice of academy members, it will win on Sunday night.
The only nominee capable of staging an upset is Paul Haggis's searing social drama Crash.
It was released in May, which usually dooms a film's chances for Oscar consideration, but Crash proved far too powerful to be forgotten and earned its nominations at the same time it was being released on DVD.
It is one of the finest pieces of ensemble acting to come out of Hollywood in years and showcases London-born Haggis's flair for writing dialogue and structuring plot.
Crash's examination of race relations in Los Angeles will speak louder and clearer to many voters than Brokeback Mountain's plea for tolerance and understanding, which is its strong point in the race.
George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck looks at how the media, properly used, are a powerful weapon against corruption even at the highest levels of government. CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow's clash with the demagogic Senator Joseph McCarthy may be history, but Clooney makes it a nail-biting thriller.
Like Lee's Brokeback Mountain, Bennett Miller's Capote is a labour of love. What he, screenwriter Dan Futterman and star Philip Seymour Hoffman have created is a mesmerizing, uncompromising study of obsession and repression.
In Munich, Steven Spielberg examines Israel's ferocious reaction to the massacre of its country's athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
As long as Spielberg treats it as a taut political thriller, his film is effective, but when it becomes a polemic on Middle East relations, it bogs down in its own good intentions.
WILL WIN
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
SHOULD WIN
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
-
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Today/Entertainment/2006/03/04/1472269-sun.html
Brokeback deserves best film
Man I love the title of this article. Really says it all doesn't it ;D
-
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Today/Entertainment/2006/03/04/1472269-sun.html
Brokeback deserves best film
Man I love the title of this article. Really says it all doesn't it ;D
It really does. Joel Siegel the movie critic for ABC television which broadcasts the Oscars in the US made his predictions and BBM is his pick for best film. He mentioned all of its awards to date that was kinda of like this title - BBM has earned it and deserves it.
-
OVER 50%!! voted for Brokeback Mountain
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4771070.stm
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=1228&&edition=1&ttl=20060305145509
Damed right to. Enjoy
Brokeback Mountain your Oscar tip
Cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain has topped a BBC News website poll of readers' picks for the best film Oscar.
The film took more than half of the 14,000 votes for best film, with director Ang Lee the readers' choice to pick up an Oscar also.
More than 45,000 users voted in total to find the readers' best film, director, actress and actor winners.
The Oscars take place in Hollywood on Sunday with Brokeback Mountain favourite to win the key awards.
Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain) and Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line) came out on top in the actors' vote.
In a separate BBC News website vote Peter Jackson's Return of the King was the readers' choice for the greatest best picture Oscar winner of the past 10 years.
Brokeback Mountain took 51% of the vote for users' favourite best picture nominee. It is also the bookmakers' favourite to win the Oscar.
The film's lead Ledger received twice as many votes as his nearest rival for the readers' choice of best actor, while Witherspoon took a third of all votes for the choice of best actress.
Ang Lee dominated the votes for best director choice taking 53% of the 9,200 votes cast.
Bookmaker William Hill has Lee and Witherspoon as favourites to win Oscars, with Philip Seymour Hoffman as favourite to win best actor.
Hoffman was second in the vote of BBC News website users to win the Oscar.
In the vote to find readers' favourite Oscar winning film of the past decade the final film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy was the clear winner with more than 25% of the 24,000 votes cast online.
American Beauty, best picture winner in 2000, took second place while Gladiator, winner in 2001, was in third spot.
There will be full coverage of the 78th Academy Awards on the BBC News website throughout Sunday 5 and Monday 6 March. There will also be an Oscars 2006 special on BBC News 24 and BBC World at 0930 GMT on Monday, which is streamed live on this website.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/entertainment/4771070.stm
Published: 2006/03/04 08:21:43 GMT
© BBC MMVI
-
OVER 50%!! voted for Brokeback Mountain
YAY!! heres the poll result from the site
-
Just reading this article make me so painful.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,18359109%255E2902,00.html
-
Oscars bank on 'Brokeback' to grab viewers
Updated Sun. Mar. 5 2006 1:58 PM ET
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The year of the small movie could mean small ratings for the Academy Awards, whose organizers hoped a new host and the cultural buzz over front-runner "Brokeback Mountain" would beef up viewership for Sunday's show.
The Oscars generally lure their biggest audiences in years when blockbusters such as "Titanic" or "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" are favored to win.
This year's best-picture lineup has been heralded as an artistic triumph of daring, character-driven stories, yet none of the contenders had the box-office clout to ensure viewers would tune in.
"Brokeback Mountain," though, has become a phenomenon far beyond those who have actually seen it, entering the pop-culture psyche with its tale of cowboys in love (best-actor nominee Heath Ledger and supporting-actor contender Jake Gyllenhaal).
Whether that will boost ratings is uncertain. ABC, which airs the show, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences assembled an A-list collection of Oscar presenters to help offset a relatively unknown cast of nominees that includes David Strathairn for "Good Night, and Good Luck," Terrence Howard for "Hustle & Flow" and Amy Adams for "Junebug."
The ceremony also had its second first-time host in as many years, Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" taking over from Chris Rock, emcee of last year's Oscars.
"Brokeback Mountain" won top prizes at earlier Hollywood honors including the Golden Globes and was expected to earn best picture at the Oscars and the directing trophy for Ang Lee, who would be the first Asian filmmaker to receive that award.
Yet the ensemble drama "Crash," featuring a huge cast of characters in multiple story lines playing out over a chaotic 36-hour period, was a strong dark-horse contender to pull a best-picture upset.
The other best-picture nominees were the Truman Capote saga "Capote," the Edward R. Murrow tale "Good Night, and Good Luck" and the assassination thriller "Munich."
Acting categories had clear front-runners, as well, with Philip Seymour Hoffman expected to win best actor for the title role in "Capote" and Reese Witherspoon the best-actress favorite for her role as country singer June Carter in "Walk the Line."
But with powerhouse performances across the board, underdog winners were possible in any of the acting categories.
The best-actor lineup was especially strong. Along with Hoffman and Ledger, the nominees were Strathairn as newsman Murrow in "Good Night," Howard as a pimp-turned-rapper in "Hustle & Flow" and Joaquin Phoenix as country legend Johnny Cash in "Walk the Line."
For best actress, Witherspoon faced strong competition from Felicity Huffman in a gender-bending role as a man preparing for sex-change surgery in "Transamerica."
George Clooney was one of the night's big stars, making Oscar history as the first person nominated for directing one movie ("Good Night, and Good Luck") and earning an acting nomination for another (supporting actor for the oil-industry thriller "Syriana"). Clooney also had a screenplay nomination for co-writing "Good Night, and Good Luck."