Brokeback Mountain Forum @ ennisjack.com
The Movie & Story => News Coverage, Reviews & Awards => Topic started by: Jennis on May 05, 2006, 07:19 PM
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Now,i know this is just one persons opinions and he is entitled to say what he likes,but i have to question if he actually watched it at all?Certainly not through the same eyes as most of us on this forum. This part of his review stands out for me...
'' Check out, for instance, the part in which they fall in love. There is no gradual realisation and absolutely no soul searching; the duo grab the first excuse they get to jump under the covers (which, in this instance, is a rainstorm). And what does Heath Ledger say when he wakes up early the next morning? Funny, I'm not queer...''
No gradual realisation.No soul searching...Huh?And referring to Ennis as crusty and Jack a lady will not win you friends and influence people.God forbid if anybody took heed of your hideous opinions and inaccuracies.
Jimmy Jacob,whoever you are,you should not be allowed to publish reviews! >:(
Jennis.x
Review May 6th 2006
Movie
Brokeback Mountain
Post Your Review
By Jimmy Jacob
Certainly, this is a Western with a difference.
Two young cowboys chance upon each other in the course of a sheep-herding job. And if you thought they jump to their feet and yell This Mountain ain't big enough for the two of us! before shooting each other to ribbons, you got another thing coming. These guys fall in love, have sex (though not necessarily in that order) before bringing the proceedings to an overtly sordid end.
And even as the end credits roll their way out of the movie screen, you wonder what the hoolabaloo was all about. Without a doubt, this movie falls way short of this year's Oscar winner Crash or, for that matter, Ms Annie Proulx's hyperbolic statements of appreciation.
If one were to look at Brokeback Mountain with an open mind, it would be realised that the movie's only USP is its homosexual-love-story factor. Take Jake off the screen and replace him with, say, Anne Heche, you would end up with a regular love story that is very boring in parts... and bland as half-cooked spaghetti.
Check out, for instance, the part in which they fall in love. There is no gradual realisation and absolutely no soul searching; the duo grab the first excuse they get to jump under the covers (which, in this instance, is a rainstorm). And what does Heath Ledger say when he wakes up early the next morning? Funny, I'm not queer...
Maybe ... or maybe not. But the movie certainly is.
So, do the lovers ride into the sunset together? As expected, nope. They have to part because of social constrains, marry females and have 'regular' families. But then, love must go on through short 'fishing trips' that lead to a place none other than Brokeback Mountain.
Now, to give the movie its due, the lead actors have really done justice to their roles. Heath is absolutely convincing in his role of the crusty Southerner while Jake is equally adept in his role of the 'lady' in the pair. And moreover, the cinematography and soundtrack of the movie is something you can relish with all your senses.
On the other hand, the movie had great wasted potential. If only Director Ang Lee had not made his characters jump in and out of situations like they were little mud puddles, Brokeback Mountain would have been a much more watchable affair.
For instance, when Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) comes to meet Ennis (Heath) at his home after a long, long time apart, what is the first thing that they do? Of course, they kiss and cuddle each other and, in the process, throw the cat out of the bag - right where Mrs Ennis can see it. You must have heard of cowboys shooting their guns out of turn, but this is simply ridiculous!
To top it all, Brokeback Mountain has its fair share of cliched scenes. And the most notable is the one at the fag end, where Ennis slobbers all over Jack's checkered shirt. Very Bollywood, very emotional, very tiring.
Q.E.D: Don't go to Brokeback Mountain expecting the sky because this one ain't even close. Me? Gimme Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid anyday.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belongs to the author and not Sify.com
Link to original source:
http://sify.com/movies/hollywood/review.php?id=14198863&ctid=5&cid=2426
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I've always though these was the worst lines about BBM :
(....) and soon Ledger and Gyllenhaal engage in a very brave (but discreetly photographed) sex scene. If it weren’t for this scene, which lasts about 30 seconds, I doubt anyone would be paying any attention to “Brokeback Mountain.” Yet one moment of daring does not erase the film’s many mundane passages or moral misdirection.
But most of the lines of the article you posted are maybe even worst! (bland as half-cooked spaghetti? Exquisite metaphor!)
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I've always though this was the worst lines about BBM :
(....) and soon Ledger and Gyllenhaal engage in a very brave (but discreetly photographed) sex scene. If it weren’t for this scene, which lasts about 30 seconds, I doubt anyone would be paying any attention to “Brokeback Mountain.” Yet one moment of daring does not erase the film’s many mundane passages or moral misdirection.
But most of the lines of the article you posted are maybe even worst! (bland as half-cooked spaghetti? Exquisite metaphor!)
Frances,it never ceases to amaze me what some people write ::)
Jennis.x
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Jennis,
I'm wondering if he even watched it as well. ::) Have I finally snapped? When did Jack wear a checkered shirt? And FNIT was not during a rainstorm-unless I have slipped into the land of crazy. No Soul Searching? >:(
This reminds me of the "review" a co-worker gave today- long story short- BBM got brought up and i had to go and defend my movie-again. She bought it because I raved about it and was saying how she was giving the dvd away because she didn't like it. I volunteered to take it but she loaned it to another co-worker. She was telling the group how the movie was nothing but sex and them always kissing each other. ??? I said "what version of the movie do YOU have? I'll GLADLY take that version off of your hands!" Not exactly the same but I don't get how people watch this movie and miss out on the whole meaning of it.
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This guy definitely did NOT watch this film. Or if he did he was on something. Makes you wonder how he finds his way home at the end of the day, doesn't it?
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Jennis,
I'm wondering if he even watched it as well. ::) Have I finally snapped? When did Jack wear a checkered shirt? And FNIT was not during a rainstorm-unless I have slipped into the land of crazy. No Soul Searching? >:(
This reminds me of the "review" a co-worker gave today- long story short- BBM got brought up and i had to go and defend my movie-again. She bought it because I raved about it and was saying how she was giving the dvd away because she didn't like it. I volunteered to take it but she loaned it to another co-worker. She was telling the group how the movie was nothing but sex and them always kissing each other. ??? I said "what version of the movie do YOU have? I'll GLADLY take that version off of your hands!" Not exactly the same but I don't get how people watch this movie and miss out on the whole meaning of it.
''She was telling the group how the movie was nothing but sex and them always kissing each other.???''
We should be so lucky ;)
It's unreal isn't it how some people perceive this wondrous film.And no sweetie,you have not snapped,but that so called reviewer has definately lost the plot.In more ways then one ::)
Jennis.x
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Although i disagree with his lines about 'no gradual realisation' and 'no soul searching', can't help thinking by saying this he thinks because it is a HOMOSEXUAL love affair, there has to be more self doubt and confusion shown more blatantly in the film. I saw Ennis and Jack slip gently into a friendship and i saw doubt particularly from Ennis after the first night of passion. It was so powerful for me because they're love did just happen without much planning and forethought, 'sheep be damned'.
Thanks for posting this Jennis, have to feel a bit of pity for those people that don't get it! :)
PS - can i have a copy of the shagathon dvd too? :P
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speking of terrible reviews, this one croatian critic said something in the lines of:
'I went to see brokeback mountain just to see what all the fuss was about. I can say I basically threw my money out the window. I started thinking about why people all over the world were so thrilled by it and so I came to the only resonable conclusion- because it deals with a very TRENDY theme. what could possibly be a better explination for a shallow story line, neverending scenes and acting that so DOESN'T knock you flat. and another thing that bugged me- the messege of the movie about how love between two man can be stronger than love between a man and a woman.'
oh, give me a break!!!! f****** homophobe. I mean, you can clearly see that this guy never really saw beyond the 'gay cowboy movie' tag which was attached to bbm.
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speking of terrible reviews, this one croatian critic said something in the lines of:
'I went to see brokeback mountain just to see what all the fuss was about. I can say I basically threw my money out the window. I started thinking about why people all over the world were so thrilled by it and so I came to the only resonable conclusion- because it deals with a very TRENDY theme. what could possibly be a better explination for a shallow story line, neverending scenes and acting that so DOESN'T knock you flat. and another thing that bugged me- the messege of the movie about how love between two man can be stronger than love between a man and a woman.'
oh, give me a break!!!! f****** homophobe. I mean, you can clearly see that this guy never really saw beyond the 'gay cowboy movie' tag which was attached to bbm.
You said it so much better than me! Yeah - that really was the message of the movie wasn't it? >:( >:(
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Yeah - that really was the message of the movie wasn't it? >:( >:(
clearly it was. I mean, how could we all have been so blind?!? I think I saw the light after reading this magnificent review. it just opened a whole new spectrum of possible interpretations of the movie to me!!!!! We're clearly waisting our time here discussing something that's actually so obvious,simple and SHALLOW. wow, now I gotta go to church and confess my sins, I think I've become a more complete person after reading ( and translating ) this 'review'. I mean, it's just so deep, you know?
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speking of terrible reviews, this one croatian critic said something in the lines of:
'I went to see brokeback mountain just to see what all the fuss was about. I can say I basically threw my money out the window. I started thinking about why people all over the world were so thrilled by it and so I came to the only resonable conclusion- because it deals with a very TRENDY theme. what could possibly be a better explination for a shallow story line, neverending scenes and acting that so DOESN'T knock you flat. and another thing that bugged me- the messege of the movie about how love between two man can be stronger than love between a man and a woman.'
oh, give me a break!!!! f****** homophobe. I mean, you can clearly see that this guy never really saw beyond the 'gay cowboy movie' tag which was attached to bbm.
Most people don't see past that tag line and it's just sad. I thought it was very well acted- I don't feel like I am watching a movie but rather watching something very real. As for the love aspect- your gender does not matter-love is love-period. No one owns the rights to love.
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Another bad one
By Kevin Sheard
(from "To be")
The marketing for Brokeback Mountain is brilliant. It unashamedly exploits its target liberal audience, and the delayed release on January 13, 2006 to smaller markets is a stroke of genius as hinterland centres aspire to be urbane--Winnipeg, for example, is anxiously waiting to welcome it to its movie screens and by embracing it will let the rest of the world know they too are compassionate, sophisticated folk.
In his essay on Anti-Semitism, Sartre wrote that nothing bothers a liberal more then when a Jew acts like a Jew. It seems nothing offends Hollywood more than when a homosexual has sex.
Brokeback Mountain distances itself from gay sexuality. The man sex is presented as a distasteful part of a story about forbidden love. It captures its audience with a story about how all humans are screwed-up folks, including the Brokeback guys and the film is intent on not dwelling on the dirty stuff they do. Besides, the target demographic is mostly male, under 35 years, and they would rather look at tits.
Director Ang Lee has made an obvious decision to de-sex the gay sex needed to flesh out the story. The only all male sex scene is crudely presented early in the film. It is oddly reminiscent of the highly disturbing Hillbilly homosexual rape scene in “Deliverance” and lacks authenticity, tenderness and emotional impact. Lee’s film is more interested in heterosexual sex-- our homos on the range (Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) each bed either bare-breasted Michelle Williams or bare-breasted Anne Hathaway in four different scenes.
In a Same Time Next Year plot device the horny, closeted gay guys meet regularly under the guise of “fishing trips, ” yet not a single emotional or physical intimacy between them is brought to film. Not only is this a disservice to the story but it also wastes the hunky male leads’ abundant physical beauty. Gyllenhaal .is stunning, photographs brilliantly, and in the current violent war film “Jarhead” delivers an outrageously homoerotic performance that surpasses the highest standard of contemporary gay porn.
In the much-hyped, much-lauded and over-rated Brokeback Mountain, Golden Globe nominee Ledger delivers a mostly one note interpretation of the unsympathetic protagonist Ennis Del Mar. Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist (note the surname) offers considerably more acting depth but disappoints in promotional interviews where he describes filming the gay sex scene as “disgusting and degrading.” He speaks of his commitment to the project (he’d better commit, given current Hollywood star salaries) but also states he’s glad it’s over and on the screen.
Unlike “Rent”, a current film that sensitively portrays and embraces a tragic gay relationship, Lee’s film finds no worth, physical or psychological, in homosexuality. His leading men, particularly Ledger as Del Mar, portray homosexual men as deceitful, shallow, abusive and self-loathing. Although such qualities were common during some of the stories time frame such a focus is out of step with our current time of same-sex marriage and non-discrimination. Much of this film’s audience is young and impressionable, in search of an understanding of the homosexual condition. Lee presents outdated stereotypes, and the film’s subliminal message is that gay men are unhappy, perverse, twisted, psychotic and somehow deserving of an inevitable tragic destiny. (I beg your pardon?)
The opportunity to deal with real and relevant social problems such as gay bashing occurs briefly in the film but then is ignored Seemingly, Gyllenhaal’s character is killed in a bashing assault that is covered up and kept from public knowledge. The great irony here is that the location for the film’s story is in Wyoming, minutes away from the spot where Matthew Sheppard was killed by gay bashers some twenty years later. Brokeback Mountain could have been a brave, honest, humane and visionary film in the hands of a better creative team. All the media coverage that Lee and his cast have given says this film is a story about love that they all care deeply for. This film is not a love story. A much better attempt at this sentiment lives in “Making Love” a film made twenty-five years ago.
As long as Hollywood de-sexes and castrates homosexuality there will not be an honest representation of the gay dynamic. Near the end of “Brokeback Mountain” Gyllenhaals’s character in an argument with Ledger dismisses the whole relationship as a series of “high altitude fucks”. If only it were true. If only the film showed compassion, honesty and understanding for the homosexual condition then it could live up to the hype and accolades thus deserving of the box office bonanza it currently enjoys
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Another bad one
By Kevin Sheard
(from "To be")
The marketing for Brokeback Mountain is brilliant. It unashamedly exploits its target liberal audience, and the delayed release on January 13, 2006 to smaller markets is a stroke of genius as hinterland centres aspire to be urbane--Winnipeg, for example, is anxiously waiting to welcome it to its movie screens and by embracing it will let the rest of the world know they too are compassionate, sophisticated folk.
In his essay on Anti-Semitism, Sartre wrote that nothing bothers a liberal more then when a Jew acts like a Jew. It seems nothing offends Hollywood more than when a homosexual has sex.
Brokeback Mountain distances itself from gay sexuality. The man sex is presented as a distasteful part of a story about forbidden love. It captures its audience with a story about how all humans are screwed-up folks, including the Brokeback guys and the film is intent on not dwelling on the dirty stuff they do. Besides, the target demographic is mostly male, under 35 years, and they would rather look at tits.
Director Ang Lee has made an obvious decision to de-sex the gay sex needed to flesh out the story. The only all male sex scene is crudely presented early in the film. It is oddly reminiscent of the highly disturbing Hillbilly homosexual rape scene in “Deliverance” and lacks authenticity, tenderness and emotional impact. Lee’s film is more interested in heterosexual sex-- our homos on the range (Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) each bed either bare-breasted Michelle Williams or bare-breasted Anne Hathaway in four different scenes.
In a Same Time Next Year plot device the horny, closeted gay guys meet regularly under the guise of “fishing trips, ” yet not a single emotional or physical intimacy between them is brought to film. Not only is this a disservice to the story but it also wastes the hunky male leads’ abundant physical beauty. Gyllenhaal .is stunning, photographs brilliantly, and in the current violent war film “Jarhead” delivers an outrageously homoerotic performance that surpasses the highest standard of contemporary gay porn.
In the much-hyped, much-lauded and over-rated Brokeback Mountain, Golden Globe nominee Ledger delivers a mostly one note interpretation of the unsympathetic protagonist Ennis Del Mar. Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist (note the surname) offers considerably more acting depth but disappoints in promotional interviews where he describes filming the gay sex scene as “disgusting and degrading.” He speaks of his commitment to the project (he’d better commit, given current Hollywood star salaries) but also states he’s glad it’s over and on the screen.
Unlike “Rent”, a current film that sensitively portrays and embraces a tragic gay relationship, Lee’s film finds no worth, physical or psychological, in homosexuality. His leading men, particularly Ledger as Del Mar, portray homosexual men as deceitful, shallow, abusive and self-loathing. Although such qualities were common during some of the stories time frame such a focus is out of step with our current time of same-sex marriage and non-discrimination. Much of this film’s audience is young and impressionable, in search of an understanding of the homosexual condition. Lee presents outdated stereotypes, and the film’s subliminal message is that gay men are unhappy, perverse, twisted, psychotic and somehow deserving of an inevitable tragic destiny. (I beg your pardon?)
The opportunity to deal with real and relevant social problems such as gay bashing occurs briefly in the film but then is ignored Seemingly, Gyllenhaal’s character is killed in a bashing assault that is covered up and kept from public knowledge. The great irony here is that the location for the film’s story is in Wyoming, minutes away from the spot where Matthew Sheppard was killed by gay bashers some twenty years later. Brokeback Mountain could have been a brave, honest, humane and visionary film in the hands of a better creative team. All the media coverage that Lee and his cast have given says this film is a story about love that they all care deeply for. This film is not a love story. A much better attempt at this sentiment lives in “Making Love” a film made twenty-five years ago.
As long as Hollywood de-sexes and castrates homosexuality there will not be an honest representation of the gay dynamic. Near the end of “Brokeback Mountain” Gyllenhaals’s character in an argument with Ledger dismisses the whole relationship as a series of “high altitude f***s”. If only it were true. If only the film showed compassion, honesty and understanding for the homosexual condition then it could live up to the hype and accolades thus deserving of the box office bonanza it currently enjoys
How odd.I certainly have never heard Heath describe filming the sex scenes as disgusting and degrading ??? Where on earth do these people get these things from?Thanks for sharing it Frances.Once again,the mind boggles ::)
Jennis.x
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Frances,i was just thinking.I don't know when that review was put out,but for anyone yet to see the film it has completely ruined it.He has given the whole story away!
J.x
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Frances,i was just thinking.I don't know when that review was put out,but for anyone yet to see the film it has completely ruined it.He has given the whole story away!
J.x
I've found the link on yahoo. The review is from the magazine TO BE.
I agree with you, Jennis
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Re: Kevin Sheard's review
I'm absolutely speechless! Well at first I was sputtering a lot and there were several "What?!"s released as I read it. Now I just don't know what to say. What kind of parallel universe is this guy living in? I guess I don't have anything intelligent to contribute; just needed to sputter to you all. Thanks for listening.
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Re: Kevin Sheard's review
I'm absolutely speechless! Well at first I was sputtering a lot and there were several "What?!"s released as I read it. Now I just don't know what to say. What kind of parallel universe is this guy living in? I guess I don't have anything intelligent to contribute; just needed to sputter to you all. Thanks for listening.
You pretty much had the same reaction as me. My mouth dropped open a few times. I'm not normally one to get speechless but I can't even find the words. ::)