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Brokeback Family Values (Brokeback Mountain)
TheRealityCheck.org ^ | 12/26/05 | David R. Usher

Posted on 12/28/2005 6:59:55 AM PST by bulldozer

These days, the film industry bemoans decreasing box office sales by crying about illegal downloads of movies. If all the major providers of peer-to-peer software had not been shut down, they might have a point.

Industries who think consumers are slaves to their products usually end up in this boat. The consumer goes elsewhere.

“Brokeback Mountain” has netted a paltry $4.9 million in box office sales, nearly identical to “Memoirs of a Geisha”. Both movies have been out for about two weeks. King Kong has earned twenty times more in only eight days of apish reincarnation.

Here is a wake-up call for Hollywood: Nearly one-fourth of viewers gave Brokeback Mountain an “F”, while 69.4% gave it an A, leaving no middle-ground. We can easily guess who these votes came from on both sides of this tin coin.

Golden Globe elites went into plebian parinirvana over the idea of two married cowboys rustling something more than livestock on the range. Monkeys go “ape” seeing themselves in the mirror, too. A “Gone With The Wind” this is not.

The business model for film distribution is changing rapidly in ways Hollywood is loathe to admit. With cable and satellite, viewers do not need to waste money going out to see movies they do not really want to see, out of sheer boredom. We can more easily surf cable to watch the best of the worst, in far more comfortable surroundings, with our favorite snacks just a few steps away. The box office and DVD rentals merely give us time to figure out what we really want to see.

Hollywood no longer has a monopoly on entertainment. The internet and video games are where celluloid ex-pats now reside.

Consumer dollar-votes are most instructive. The fish now know the difference between a real worm and a fake one with a hook on it. We are no longer addicted to seeing the latest insult to family values just so we can pretend we are hip while complaining about it at lunch.

Shock entertainment will be an increasingly marginal market. Those who wish to be successful in film and television will look to the great box office hits, shows, and the legendary acts for new foundations for the film industry.

David R. Usher is President of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, Missouri Coalition


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: brokeback; gay; hollyweird; homosexualagenda; moviereview; movies; pudding; tootsierollmountain
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To: JLAGRAYFOX
The failure of SoreButt Mountain at the box office will make the homo promoters a little more desperate and absolutely insures that it will win the Oscar.
101 posted on 12/28/2005 8:11:39 AM PST by San Jacinto (Hearing something on the network news is reason enough to disbelieve it.)
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To: conserv13

I've never seen "Birth of a Nation", but I was loaned a VHS copy of "Triumph of the Will" by a college professor for a history class I took. I don't speak German, and it didn't have subtitles, so I missed what was said, but there's no missing the message Hitler, Goering, etal. were sending. An interesting sidenote is that John Ford, drafted into the Army after Pearl Harbor, used much of the movie for his own "Why We Fight" series.


102 posted on 12/28/2005 8:12:22 AM PST by ABG(anybody but Gore) (If Liberals had as much passion for our troops as they do for Tookie, the war would be over...)
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To: bulldozer

Well, at least they won't have to worry about the number of illegal downloads of "Brokeback Mountain"!
LOL!


103 posted on 12/28/2005 8:14:17 AM PST by Redbob
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To: Hildy

As soon as Quentin was brought in to fix them after the Carver had his way, I kind of had a thought that he was it. However, the twist with his police photos of his nether-region was a suprise, especially after the whole 4some incident.

I guess for next season we'll see what happens to Matt after the whole crazy ex-girlfriend's dad incident.


104 posted on 12/28/2005 8:14:33 AM PST by kx9088
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To: cvq3842
Actually, nothing first-hand. I have not sat through it. But every review I have seen mentions it is a landmark film, and that it has racist overtones. I took it as a given, but as I have not seen it I will have to say it is second-hand info.

I've sat through it and nothing I can remember about it was overtly racist for its time. I haven't watched the film in years so I'm sure I'm forgetting much of it but now that you mention it I'm going to have to watch it again to see what this may or may not be about...

105 posted on 12/28/2005 8:16:32 AM PST by frogjerk (LIBERALISM - Being miserable for no good reason)
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To: theFIRMbss

If it makes about 11 million at the box office, DVD sales might put it at the break-even point, but seeing that it has increased the number of theatres dramatically and still declined 28% shows that the movie has just about run its course. Considering how much controversy it's generating, and it's brilliant marketing, it's a rather tepid box office showing.


106 posted on 12/28/2005 8:17:06 AM PST by Brett66 (Where government advances – and it advances relentlessly – freedom is imperiled -Janice Rogers Brown)
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To: bulldozer
Ted Baehr of Movieguide.org isn't exactly enthralled with the movie, either: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN: Twisted, Laughable, Frustrating, Plotless, and Often Boring.
107 posted on 12/28/2005 8:18:57 AM PST by Zender500
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To: ssaftler

I love "Rescue Me". It's twistedly funny. Never could get into "The Shield" or "Nip/Tuck" though.


108 posted on 12/28/2005 8:20:20 AM PST by ABG(anybody but Gore) (If Liberals had as much passion for our troops as they do for Tookie, the war would be over...)
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To: TomGuy

That's the whole Marketing thrust (pun intended) of that movie, which is limit its distribution to a few theaters so as to be able to cite viewers per theater numberse (these would be higher as the die hards who want to support the movie would be able to make much more of a difference by cramming in only a few theaters). Having created buzz by creating the fake excitement around the movie, they then open the movie nationwide.

Problem is that everybody now knows what the movie is about and its political propaganda message. With the advent of the internet it's really tough for producers to fool us anymore. Witness what happened to Million dollar baby. They tried to sell it as a boxing story, but the message got out about its euthanasia message and a lot of people who would have been fooled didn't.


109 posted on 12/28/2005 8:22:15 AM PST by winner3000
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To: Syberyenta
Hunh? Have you seen this picture?

Yes. I saw it on X-mas afternoon. Hilarious. But would have been picketed as an anti-gay movie if not for the cast. The 'gay rights' lobby is as sensitive as CAIR to perceived slights and injustices. You can be damn sure that if the cast had been all heterosexual, the movie would have been picketed.

110 posted on 12/28/2005 8:22:27 AM PST by peyton randolph (<a href="http://clinton.senate.gov/">shrew</a>)
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To: Imnotalib

"I think the left will do a movie glorifying pedophiles before they tackle bestiality."

Been done. The Professional. At least in its Japanese release. They may have cut scenes for the US market.


111 posted on 12/28/2005 8:28:45 AM PST by dsc (Islamic sexual violence against women should be treated as the repressive epidemic it is.)
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To: peyton randolph

You have hit upon the difference. Lane is a talented actor who happens to be gay. Degeneres and O'Donnell are professional lesbians.

[Disclaimer: I loved Rosie O'Donnell when she was doing stand-up comedy - and at that time she was still in the closet, and working on her talent rather than her sexuality.]


112 posted on 12/28/2005 8:29:20 AM PST by Slings and Arrows (I strongly condemn violence against adulterous gay cannibals.)
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To: Syberyenta
If you never get to see it onstage (and preferably in New York), you can see this movie and get a tiny inkling of what all the cheering was about.

I was fortunate enough to see it on the stage in NYC, albeit without Lane and Broderick. I laughed so hard my sides hurt. One of the best parts of THE PRODUCERS was its retro non-PC take on homosexuality.

113 posted on 12/28/2005 8:31:21 AM PST by Rummyfan
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To: bulldozer

Using logic.. since queers are 25% of the population it should have done about 25 million by now. I wonder is the studios will see that if you make a movie for 5% or less of the population it just will not draw the dollars.

Idiots


114 posted on 12/28/2005 8:35:56 AM PST by JSteff
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To: conserv13; napscoordinator; meowmeow

We go to an historic theater that gets movies after they've played at the multi-plexes. The movies are $3, an organist plays for 20 minutes before the show on Sat. nights, and the owner wears a tuxedo on Saturdays. The popcorn and soda are reasonable. He tries to get good movies there. It's a nice evening out.

http://www.roxytheaternorthampton.com/


115 posted on 12/28/2005 8:38:38 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: TomGuy
That is a disingenuous comparison. KK is in full release. BBM has only been in selected-city release; full release won't be until the first week of January.

That's true, but they have increased it from 69 theaters the previous week to 217 theaters this week, and it dropped from 8th on the box office to 13th. It is on the downslide.

116 posted on 12/28/2005 8:38:49 AM PST by Always Right
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To: sayfer bullets
Ledger screwed up bigtime.

For Ledger to have made this movie, he must like men more than the average guy does.

117 posted on 12/28/2005 8:42:51 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: apackof2; DollyCali
 
Something I haven't seen on any of these threads - Isn't that movie also a back-handed slap at the state of Wyoming, where the Matthew Shepard killing in 1998 occurred? Though he was killed by drug infested losers and not cowboys, that movie looks like a cheap shot at not only trying to diminish or redefine the image of "cowboy culture" as we know it, but also that of an entire state whose persona is essentially represented by the imagery of the "macho" cowboy.
 
 

118 posted on 12/28/2005 8:45:15 AM PST by lapsus calami (What's that stink? Code Pink ! !)
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To: dangus
Brokeback Mountain is NOT in a select-city release. It is in full, national release. They tried remaining in few theaters within a given city as possible, to create buzz, but the movie is showing in just about every major metropolitan area.

It's not playing here, which is 60 miles north of Phila. and 70 miles west of NYC. The gays are probably driving out of town to see it.

119 posted on 12/28/2005 8:47:40 AM PST by Dr. Scarpetta
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To: Leo Carpathian

You're being too hard on Comedy Central, which would be redeemed by "South Park" even if it were a lot worse.

As for the History Channel . . . well, ever since the Military Channel started up, I've worried where History will get its programming from. 80% of History's shows are World War II-related, which is why those in the industry call it the Hitler Channel.


120 posted on 12/28/2005 8:50:20 AM PST by Xenalyte (Babies, before we're done here, y'all be wearin' gold-plated diapers.)
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