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 can see why it wasn't popular. Imagine going to town and seeing THAT show, with a fellow bunk mate.
So why did the theater owner show that movie? Was he pressured by the studios?
To be fair, it's only in 70 theatres. To make 2.5M in 70 theatres is phenomenal. It's 4-5X what would be considered good. That being said, those theatres are in hmostly urbadn areas and gay friendly places like NYC, LA, and San Francisco. I don't know how well it will do in wider release. But I don't think it can be called a failure just yet.
Why are women drawn to a story of men that deceive them and lie to them and are drawn to other men as opposed to women. I mean, it's not like a Ghost or anything where the woman can imagine the guy falling in love with her. Here, the guy isn't even interested in her.
That said, if Hollywood came out with a female version of this with Salma Hayek and Catherine Zeta Jones I don't think too many guys would be complaining.
True, but if that were the sole reason Farenheit 9/11 would have been nominated. I mean what were LOTR's politics? Braveheart and Gladiator both won big and they certainly weren't liberal movies in any sense.
I think BM may suffer from backlash. I don't know if the Academy wants to be seen as casting it's lot with the gay agenda. I think it'll get nominated, but I think something else will win.
Narnia is worth seeing.
Contracts I would assume. I'm not familiar with his business, or how it works. All I know is that he gets all the new movies at the same time as the big city theaters. I guess He's syndicated along with the rest of them. He has to follow the play-list I suppose.
jeltz25 Don't you think that by showing the movie in select, targeted High "gay" density area's that it would not skew the attendance numbers? Like others said, and I point out, It doesn't seem to do well in "normal" little redneck towns and cities. Even if there is a hidden gay population in them, they will wait for the rental. Better movies have suffered that fate.
No surprises here. The Oscars continue to grow more meaningless by the year. They're nothing more than freak awards voted on by freaks.
Best picture I've seen this year, and one of the best I've EVER seen: WALK THE LINE. On a 5-star scale, I give it 5.1.
MM
Totally DISGUSTING!
Well I just saw the ad on TV and saw 2 cowboys hugging into the sunset and a wife and children-wonder if he was Hiv and gave something to his wife..
spielberg should live in Israel and fight for the IDF sometime and THEN let's see what his views are....
spielberg should live in Israel and fight for the IDF sometime and THEN let's see what his views are....
I think it's safe to say that this "show" is degrading to real cowboys, and was deliberately made to be to a slap in the face to real men in general.
Proud to say I have not given Hollyweirdos any money for 20 years. The worst book is better than the so-called "best" movie.
The ad I saw showed them walking in the sunset with arms around the backs of each other-billed as a real winner-sickly looking wife and child.Love story as it was advertized-did not say homosexual love story.
The Rump Rangers Ride Again!
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