Posted on 12/21/2005 6:58:28 PM PST by wagglebee
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Gay and political films are dominating this year's Academy Awards race with some experts expecting that Oscar will wind up wearing pink, either for left-leaning politics or sexual preference.
As Hollywood starts its annual awards season leading to the March 5 Oscars, key front-runners in main categories are either gay-themed or political films, with Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," a drama of love between cowboys, leading the pack in the all-important best picture race.
"It could be the gay Oscars this year because gay-themed movies could win almost all the major awards," said Tom O'Neill, show business awards columnist for The Envelope.Com., referring to the sudden dominance "Brokeback Mountain" has gained so early in the race.
"'Brokeback' is going to be hard to beat. Rarely do we have this kind of award consensus for a movie, and its director (Taiwan's Ang Lee) is long overdue for an Oscar," O'Neill said.
"Brokeback," the first gay romance to make a bid for mainstream respectability, has already won the top awards handed out by critics in New York and Los Angeles and copped seven nominations for the January 16 Golden Globes, often a key indicator as to which way the Oscar wind might be blowing.
As for political films -- the field is crowded with potential winners: "Munich," "Good Night, and Good Luck," "Syriana," and "The Constant Gardener."
Many experts predict that "Brokeback's" toughest competition could come from either George Clooney's "Goodnight, and Good Luck," a steely-eyed examination of the McCarthy era, or "Munich," Steven Spielberg's study of the price Israel paid for its reprisals for the murder of its athletes at the 1972 Olympics.
DON'T COUNT "MUNICH" OUT
Before the race began and before anyone had a chance to see Spielberg's movie, it was being touted as the odds-on favorite to snare the best picture award, namely because Spielberg is a revered figure in Hollywood and had chosen to make his most serious movie since "Schindler's List."
The film is an examination of the cost of fighting terrorism and whether a democracy can use methods like targeted assassinations without destroying or shaming itself.
The film was hit by a backlash as soon as it was shown to Jewish American and Israeli groups, who argue that Spielberg ignored arguments that Israel was justified in using the methods it does in the war against terrorists.
New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier wrote that "'Munich' prefers a discussion of counterterrorism to a discussion of terrorism; or it thinks that they are the same discussion. This is an opinion that only people who are not responsible for the safety of other people can hold."
David Poland of Movie City News said that "Munich" has to overcome the impression that it is anti-Israeli and possibly can do this "because the anti-Israeli accusation is a neoconservative one and not a mainstream Jewish one."
He noted that at screenings at the headquarters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose members give out the Oscars, "Munich" was well received.
Poland, himself, is optimistic, predicting that "'Munich will still win the Academy Award. I think 'Brokeback' will suffer when it goes into a wider viewing."
Other films with gay characters or gender-challenging themes that have won prominence this year include "Capote," thanks to its standout performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman as writer Truman Capote, and "TransAmerica," with Felicity Huffman winning rave reviews as a man on the verge of completing a sex change.
In this movie, she's a woman playing a man about to become a woman and if that sounds easy, rest assured it isn't.
"Brokeback Mountain" is also doing well at the box office -- even though it is only in 69 theaters, it was last week's eighth-highest-grossing movie.
Tuesday's box office plunged 10%, the largest drop of any movie currently out; King Kong was the only other movie to drop. This comes on top of Monday's plunge. All movies decline from Sunday to Monday, but it's surprising that BM should have been among the fastest decliners, since the decline comes mostly from the Sunday matinee audience.
Tuesday's per-theater take was still quite good for a movie in general: over $5,000. But it was far from the highest take of the year for a mid-week showing, even when compared to mega-wide release movies such as Revenge of the Sith or War of the Worlds, which opened up to 50 times more movie theaters.
BM will expand again to more than 130 theaters, but Box Office Mojo still doesn't expect BM to crack the top 12. Last weekend's take of $2.5 million will probably be the largest take that BM gets, at least until the announcement of the Academy Awards. In comparison, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe opened up to $67 million, and Harry Potter broke $100 million; Kong's $50 million opening was considered a grave disappointment.
Narnia's market grew about 5%. Narnia may be harmed more than Kong by the family-friendly movies opening tomorrow; otherwise, Narnia looks to gross more sales than Kong, despite being a week older and having $45 million more in sales. Did I mention BM probably won't gross $2.5 million all of next weekend?
Well I know at least one Academy member who won't be voting for Munich, and people need to keep in mind that there's a lot of old timers who can vote and won't be diving head first into "Brokeback Mountain."
Oh, i know! They'll get the pig to do it!
Roseanne would be the the crowning nadir
orf their "in your face" declaration to
america, that the freaks control HollyWood,
top to bottom." "And there's not a damned thing
we can do about it!"
Nahh..They'll probably think they are being clever
and have the star of their DemoGenerate Liberal
Fantasy Porn show, Geena Davis, host, making "jokes"
about being "in charge" of the Oscars and america, and giving the Oscar to the Brokehole Sheepdippers
fantasy porn, "winners".
HollyPuke is full of sick perverted creatures that
no longer even have the right to refer to themselves
as human, much less americans.
Here is some dialoge from another delightful film "rumor has it" that is set to come out Dec 25th
Sarah Huttinger: Well, did you sleep with a man who also slept with mom and Grandma Katherine?
Annie: You slept with dad? Dad slept with Grandma Katherine? Ew!
The film was lovingly directed by the meathead rob riener and is sure to become a hollyweird christmas classic!
... Oh, and Bareback Mountin's per-screen take is down 85%, so no-one post any nonsense about the movie theaters being too small to handle the demand; it's even down more than 50% since Friday. I posted Saturday about Friday's modest numbers, and people told me that it was just because the movie theaters were selling out. Well, if they turned back Friday, they sure didn't crash the doors down on Monday to get in.
Don't forget "Memoirs of a Gay-sha." Sure, it's not actually ABOUT homosexuals, but it's not like there'll be a straight man in the theater.
Will and Trigger? Would that make a "wigger?"
On a COMPLETELY UNRELATED NOTE, how come 8 Mile didn't get nominated last year.*
(*I'm going to insist that's unrelated, and you can't prove otherwise.)
I've heard from people i know, who have actually
gone to see the new 'King Kong', that it's really
bad/boring, and the long length of the movie, just
makes it worse. I was strongly advised against seeing it.
Memo to the Motion Picture Academy of America: Do you guys even remember that people used to watch the Tonys? I never did, even though an appreciation of certain rock operas (Chess, Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy) is my one "metrosexual" trait. But real people actually used to care who won the Tonys. Of course, that was in the days of Rogers and Hammerstein, or at least Jerome Robbins.
Seriously! Once apon a time, certain families used to watch the Tonys. Of course, that was when a lot of families had only one TV, but, nonetheless, several straight men used to even watch, if only because their wives held the remo -- I mean, dial -- for the evening.
Beware, Oscar... Tony went gay, and look what happened to him! (Is Tony still a guy, even?)
King Kong was too long, and too gruesome. But it did have its qualities. If you have HDTV, or like to watch DVD on a monitor, I'd suggest watching it in sections, with a remote control. Pretend it's Lord of the Rings, and watch it over three nights. :^D
Elton married his longtime lover-boy today --- wouldn't he be fitting for the job?
Boycotting 95% of movies and definitely the Oscars. No point in renting what we used to called "rewinds" either. Long winter ahead - buying good books to read. Supporting the lifestyle / political agenda of these freaks is not worth my time. Sadly for many of the actors/actresses in these projects, they portray the way they actually live or political ideals they vigorously support. Let's see how far their careers go if no one comes to see them......
My prediction is that Philip Seymour Hoffman will win best actor.
We went to see it. It's actually a good movie. Much better than the Jessica Lange version with horrific natives and nasty insects and bats you'll long remember. Our youngest son and his wife went to see it too and plan to buy it as well when it comes out on DVD. If you don't like giant apes, evil natives, dinosaurs and hungry bugs, don't see it!
Naw, it's apparently academy endorsed soft porn. They're just preparing you for the harder version once they've "softened up" the market.
I haven't watched an awards show (Oscars, Grammy, Tony, et. al.) since sometime during the Reagan administration when Richard Lewis started taking lame potshots at Reagan. Now - while I respect his right to his opinion, I resented him and others of his ilk turning a program designed to honor outstanding achievements into a political forum.
Go figure... Tony was never a guy. Seems that Tony is short for Antionnette Perry.
>than a Prom dress.
Or why movie viewship is dropping faster than pants in a gay bar if someone turns a barshool upside down.
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