Brokeback Mountain

[JG]

i have no problem with getting bashed as a newb.  i've made some pretty stupid jokes on here, when generally i'm a pretty funny guy.

EDIT:  I just took another stupid joke out of this post. 

[NEON MERCURY]

i get bashed all the time...it must be the fact that

a) i have opinions
b) i am a rupublican
c) i am a Christian
d) i hate godard films
e) i am a loser


btw   MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

[pete]

f) you have a persecution complex.

[Ravi]

f) you have a persecution complex.

b) i am a rupublican
c) i am a Christian

[Bethie]

i get bashed all the time...it must be the fact that

a) i have opinions
b) i am a rupublican
c) i am a Christian
d) i hate godard films
e) i am a loser

how about F: you're a gimp.

[Alethia]

ha!  i watched that last night!  weeeeeeeeeeeird huh????

[Thrindle]

Now back to Brokeback Mountain.

Well well... I must say... I'm a little disappointed at the lack of attention the Xixaxers have been giving this movie.  What a shame.

SPOILER it really wasnt that.  they snuck off to have sex a few times a year with each other and so it really wasnt about the forbidden love.  just that they couldnt fully give into it and live that way openly.END SPOILER

Pssst... this is mini spoiler outrage below................................

I guess I disagree completely with Modage. 

This movie was not about the need that these men had for gay sex a few times a year.  It was about love.  Perhaps the scene that most solidifies my opinion is near the end, when there is a flashback to them when they were younger and Ennis is singing into Jack's ear.  This movie wasn't about pure sexual gratification, it was about the connection between two people.  It was about the breakdown Ennis has after saying "I'll see you around" to Jack, It was about the look on his face when he writes, "you bet", on the postcard.  It is the tears that Jack cries when he realises that Ennis's divorce will not make Ennis accept their love.  There is too much between these two to make it about a "high alititude fuck".

This movie had a heartbreaking element that leaves you raw.  To be honest, I'm getting teary-eyed as I type this.  If you can watch this movie and forget for a minute that it's controversial, and forget that you're watching a flick geared toward Oscar buzz, if you can just let yourself remember the last time you really needed someone, then you'll understand why this movie is amazing.  Once again, Ang Lee was dead on.  He captured a truth, and I'm glad, because it needed to be seen.

Now I'm off to the theatre to see it again with another friend of mine.   

[Ravi]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/opinion/01david.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1136178168-3dkFl1oVMf4XiXjrZvIEXw

Op-Ed Contributor
Cowboys Are My Weakness
By LARRY DAVID
Published: January 1, 2006

SOMEBODY had to write this, and it might as well be me. I haven't seen "Brokeback Mountain," nor do I have any intention of seeing it. In fact, cowboys would have to lasso me, drag me into the theater and tie me to the seat, and even then I would make every effort to close my eyes and cover my ears.

And I love gay people. Hey, I've got gay acquaintances. Good acquaintances, who know they can call me anytime if they had my phone number. I'm for gay marriage, gay divorce, gay this and gay that. I just don't want to watch two straight men, alone on the prairie, fall in love and kiss and hug and hold hands and whatnot. That's all.

Is that so terrible? Does that mean I'm homophobic? And if I am, well, then that's too bad. Because you can call me any name you want, but I'm still not going to that movie.

To my surprise, I have some straight friends who've not only seen the movie but liked it. "One of the best love stories ever," one gushed. Another went on, "Oh, my God, you completely forget that it's two men. You in particular will love it."

"Why me?"

"You just will, trust me."

But I don't trust him. If two cowboys, male icons who are 100 percent all-man, can succumb, what chance to do I have, half- to a quarter of a man, depending on whom I'm with at the time? I'm a very susceptible person, easily influenced, a natural-born follower with no sales-resistance. When I walk into a store, clerks wrestle one another trying to get to me first. My wife won't let me watch infomercials because of all the junk I've ordered that's now piled up in the garage. My medicine cabinet is filled with vitamins and bald cures.

So who's to say I won't become enamored with the whole gay business? Let's face it, there is some appeal there. I know I've always gotten along great with men. I never once paced in my room rehearsing what to say before asking a guy if he wanted to go to the movies. And I generally don't pay for men, which of course is their most appealing attribute.

And gay guys always seem like they're having a great time. At the Christmas party I went to, they were the only ones who sang. Boy that looked like fun. I would love to sing, but this weighty, self-conscious heterosexuality I'm saddled with won't permit it.

I just know if I saw that movie, the voice inside my head that delights in torturing me would have a field day. "You like those cowboys, don't you? They're kind of cute. Go ahead, admit it, they're cute. You can't fool me, gay man. Go ahead, stop fighting it. You're gay! You're gay!"

Not that there's anything wrong with it.

Larry David appears in the HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

[killafilm]

This one has my head spinning a bit.

I don't quite understand how a director from Taiwan and DP from Mexico can So capture America.  But looking back it kinda makes sense.  Ang Lee has already been here with The Ice Storm, and Prieto with 21 grams.  Though I have yet to see The New World this is hands down my pick for best cinematography.  The way they used both lush landscapes and intimate intimate close-ups...

Everything just seemed so solid.  The look, score, story (which i'm not surprised by looking at Larry McMurtrys name) and the performances.  I thought both male leads were really great, I guess Ledgers character just stands out more due to being less showy, if that makes sense.  Someone please give Michelle Williams a little gold statue.  This is the first thing I've seen her in and she was fantastic.  Anne Hathaway was great too, that close-up while she is on the phone is Perfect.  And it's always nice to see Randy Quaid and Linda Cardellini.  Speaking of Cardellini, she is hot, and so is every other girl in the movie.  I'm not sure what that means, I just noticed all of the females, including Ennis' daughter are babes.

Mod, I'm going to disagree with you.  While this story might not be new, it is told so So SO well.

A

[Thrindle]

It WAS told so so well!  Now... unfortunately... every monkey in the world is saying so too... I'm a monkey... and I feel like the Brokeback Backlash is going to be coming on full force pretty quick.  So people, go watch it before you hear way too much.

[Pozer]

You said it, sister... best line of the movie:  "Brokeback got us good."

[modage]

i'm going to have to So SO disagree with everyone and say that the movie was merely so so. 

[RegularKarate]

and I'm gonna have to so so SO disagree with you... this movie was one of the best of this year.

maybe you're just a homophobe!!!!


just kidding... cheap shot

but really... Ledger makes this film... Hathaway kind of sucks in it... especially when she's on the phone.

[matt35mm]

I will add to the pile of kudos for this movie.  I think it's the best "Oscar movie" I've seen this year.  I won't get to see The New World for a few weeks, though.

Ang Lee really is a very emotionally intelligent director.  I don't know what to say to people about the movie, though.  If they're uncomfortable with the subject matter, I don't know what I can tell them about it.

What I would probably say is that this movie is a fantastic meditation on the various relationships between men.  The love, the hate, the need to assert domanance, and how all of that affects their relationships with the women in their lives.  It's quite a smart movie in this department, and I found it fascinating.

The cinematography WAS indeed gorgeous.  I forgot who said that they didn't like those picturesque shots, but that's a staple of a western (even though this wasn't quite a western), because these areas are so naturally beautiful.  It wasn't distractingly gorgeous; it was simply complementary to the sweeping vistas and the rustic beauty of the towns.

Heath Ledger's performance was indeed heartbreaking.  When I first heard of this movie, I didn't really know what to think of the cast.  I felt like the financers just wanted some big names, especially for this kind of risky subject matter.  All of the performances were good, in my opinion, but the story mostly belongs to Ledger's character.

Saying it's one of the best love stories ever is pushing it.  There are a lot of great love stories, and this is but one of them.  Even then, the love part is debatable, although I think that there is love there.  In addition to that, there is an addiction to the one person that has understood the pressures of always having to be a MAN, an addiction to the few times a year that they didn't have to be so damned manly all the time.

What this movie has is a genuine and tender soul, and that's what defines it more than the love story, to me.  That's in the performances and Lee's direction.  The potency and it's ability to haunt the audience long after the movie is over is the power of the fine screenplay.  Many audience members were crying at the end (helped by the fantastic end credits music selection), which was earned by the movie, and not done through cheap manipulation.  I appreciated that.

I don't have much in the way of criticisms.  As has been said, it's extremely well told.  I would say it wasn't mindblowing, but just exactly what it needed to be.  I wouldn't be against this winning Best Picture, as I suppose it's the current frontrunner.  I personally thought it was better than Kong and Munich.  A-

[pete]

oh, the movie was pretty good.  didn't know where Ang Lee was going 'til the very last shot, good for him.  That took guts.  That was way more plain and in ways less contrived/ plotted than all of his previous works.  He really had to direct very specific performances and emotions for all of these elements to come together.  my favorite thing to do in the cinema these days is to be overwhelmed, and Ang Lee did that in the end, so good for him.

now onto some babbling...
so weird, all of my favorite American actresses are in the same film together.  I knew about Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway, so I was psyched enough as is.  Then freaking Lindsey from Freaks and Geeks and then Anna Faris!  Anna Faris!  I met her in person once and she was so freaking hot.  When she widens her eyes I wanna eat her like a candy bar.  And Hathaway's funbags!  Who cares about her cankles?  I wanna punch them.