By Martin A. Grove
Awards action: What appeared to be a wide open Oscar race in which several films might share success changed dramatically earlier this week when Focus Features' "Brokeback Mountain" broke out to become the front runner.
With Ang Lee's acclaimed drama dominating critics awards across the country and receiving nearly twice as many Golden Globes noms as any other title it's clearly become the film to beat. It's easy to lose track of how specific films are performing when so many awards are announced back-to-back and the reports of those awards focus on what's just been handed out rather than on providing a an overview of how a film's done in all the awards given thus far.
In the case of "Brokeback," the movie has an especially impressive profile at this early point in the Oscar race. It's already won best picture votes by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. It's also earned eight nominations (more than any other film) in the Broadcast Film Critics Association's Critics Choice Awards and seven nominations (more than any other film) in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Golden Globe Awards.
