Posted on 12/22/2005 8:26:10 PM PST by rightwinggoth
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.
I don't believe it for a second that it scores with women. The only women this scores iwth are left wing looney women who actually believe michael moore is thin.
The homo movie is pure propaganda turkey material. The best we can do is forbid it from school libraries and force the network to put an MA code on the Oscars.
I saw Norma Rae on a long international flight. That was so long ago that is was actually on Super 8 film on a Braniff DC-8-62. It was pretty much a captive audience. What else is one to do at 35,000 feet?
"Walk the Line" is good
It takes an EXPERT to figure this out? In any late-year Oscar categroy, look for the most left leaning actors, movies and whatever. There you can find the winners of the Oscar.
Someone who's so close to being gay that a movie is going to "push" him to it is going to do it, anyway.
I won't go see either of them. I was just stating that 200 million is far from what the movie has made which is why it is not getting the press that BBM is getting. Quite frankly, I am not sure why this Brokeback Mountain is getting so much press. Hollywood has made gay films for years and no one cared, but this one is just making all kinds of noise. I think it is the conservatives who are helping the movie make the well known. This movie without us would have been shown one week and gone on to DVD land, but with our constant discussions on the film is stiring a huge fire over nothing.
I said just that. Here's what I said:
That being said, those theatres are in mostly urban areas and gay friendly places like NYC, LA, and San Francisco. I don't know how well it will do in wider release.
I agree, it is a niche movie and has a rather limited demographic. That said, it had like a 14M budget and I think it will easily make that back. We'll have to see how it ends ups doing but I think once it gets wider release it'll end up with at least making back its budget and probably more than that.
WRONG, FURQUHART!
Brokeback Mountain cost $30 million to produce and market. The movie recovers about 40% of the box office; the theaters get the rest. With overseas BO, and rentals, the rule of thumb is that a movie makes a profit if gross receipts are higher than production and marketing.
The only way Brokeback Mountain will indeed reach $30 million is if the Academy Award process causes sudden interest in February, that is presently absent. Brokeback made $2.5 million last weekend. It will double its audience twice in the coming weeks, but if it makes that much again, I'm King Kong's uncle.
Comaprisons based on per-theater takes are just plain stupid. Brokeback has already met most of its target audience, and day-to-day "legs" for Brokeback Mountain have been terrible. If i's worth mentioning the per-theater take, it's also worth mentioning that the per-theater take is also down 85%.
Look for Brokeback to make $2 million or less next weekend, and still less when it expands to 300 theaters. This movie has already peaked.
And domestic dramas with themes unique to America usually bomb overseas, so the forementioned rule that the movie wil profit if the domestic gross exceeds production and marketing costs probably will not hold true.
If Brokeback Mountain tops $30 million before a slew of Academy Award nominations, I'd keel over in shock.
Unfortunately, there seems to be an overabundance of gay people in the world all of a sudden and they wil ALL go see the movie. Funny, I don't remember there being this many people following an "alternative lifestyle" when I was younger ... must be something in the water.
Is it a choice or are they born that way? If it is a choice, then a moral society needs to reinforce healthy behaviours and help young men, that are interested in a homosexual experience, remain celebate and until married to a woman.
If they are born that way, and I believe that they are spiritually born that way, then they are sinnersas all are, with there own predilection towards the sin of homosexuality. Never-the-less it is still sin and a moral society needs to reinforce healthy choices.
I've got news for you--people who don't think like you get to live and make movies and release them in this country. If they're sinners, that's God's area to deal with. Who's going to stop these people from making these movies--you? The government? How conservative is that?
This is one of many movies I won't see for various reasons. It's not my responsibility to stop propagandists from making movies and releasing them in a commercial industry. If someone is going to "go that way," nothing you or I do will prevent it. If it's God's will, He'll take care of it. And it's none of your or my business if these people who make these movies obey the law and make whatever garbage they want to make. I know many here think it IS their business, but it's not--it's your business to talk about it, to discuss, to warn people away if you like, to not see it. But you can't stop someone from making and distributing a movie like this, and you can't stop someone who wants to see it from seeing it. None of that sounds like any kind of conservatism I'm familiar with.
Let these people make their silly movies for each other--who cares?
I haven't restricted you or anyone from making, distributing or watching any homosexual film. However, immorality is destructive to a society and I retain the freedom to convince others that their homosexual lifestyles are killing them emotionally, physically and spiritually.
Emotionally - Homosexuals have the highest rates of suicide amongst single men. How gay is that?
Physically - Homosexuals have the highest rate of HIV related deaths amongst single and married men.
Spirtually - Do you not know that homosexual offenders . . . will not inherit the kingdom of God. I Cor 6:9-10
Also, did you notice that I didn't restrict you from being a ranting nutjob, though I do retain the liberty to talk about you as a ranting nutjob.
It's always fun to watch you people go on the attack when someone dares discuss this issue without walking in lockstep. It's like clockwork, so predictable, so boring.
Merry Christmas.
Actually, Million Dollar Baby--despite its very controversial ending--was actually a well-done movie. If you've read the original short story, it is a downer because in the end, you can feel the serious regret for that unfortunate decision at the end of the story.
I do think that the movie industry better be VERY careful in regards to Brokeback Mountain. If they deliberately politicize the film the backlash from mainstream America could result in a VERY bad box office for 2006, something all the studios in Hollywood don't want.
Unrequited Love. Every woman's dream. Why do you think Titanic made so much?
There is a small marktet for this in the gay community. The studio's will make a limited amount of money. Now there is a huge Christian, family market out there. If Hollywood was not so politically correctand bent on providing twisted, sick movies that few want to watch, they would be raking in the money-idiots. In past years, the bottome line ruled. Studio heads wanted to make lots of lovely money. This new bunch of libs running the studios are not very good business people.
look on ebay! domain name brokehole.com is for sale
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.