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.
Smart woman, your wife.
Huh, the Oscar favorites are ALL movies I have not, and do ever intend, to see!
And Hollyweird wonders why their numbers are down?
The really sad thing is that I know some screen writers, there is no lack of interesting screen plays, just a biased agenda from Hollyweird that shuns them.
Brokebutt Mountain is one movie I sure wont be renting or seeing anywhere at all.
Hollywood gives all the attention to an amoral movie that has grossed $3 million. Meanwhile a moral film that has grossed $113 million in the last two weeks is not even mentioned.
I still think it will be lucky to top $20 at the box office. It will make some money when all is said and done, but that is only because the actors and directors basically worked for free and the movie has recieved millions and millions of dollars of free publicity and hype. I just can't see straight guys and women going to this movie. Unless they are just flaming liberal and want to make a statement.
If out of those three...I hope it is Ellen. Although, her old tv show was very pro-gay, she is really being considerate of others with her new show...it seems to be very "family oriented." Only my opinion of course.
| Weekend Box Office Actuals (U.S.) Dec 16 - 18 weekend |
| This Wk | Last Wk | Title | Dist. | Weekend Gross | Cumulative Gross |
Rlse Wks |
# of Theaters |
| 1 | - | King Kong | Universal Pictures Distribution | $50,130,145 | $66,181,645 | 1 | 3568 |
| 2 | 1 | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution | $31,837,683 | $113,169,644 | 2 | 3680 |
| 3 | - | The Family Stone | 20th Century Fox Distribution | $12,521,027 | $12,521,027 | 1 | 2466 |
| 4 | 3 | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Warner Bros. Pictures International, Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution | $5,952,452 | $252,598,259 | 5 | 3185 |
| 5 | 2 | Syriana | Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution | $5,605,167 | $22,462,362 | 4 | 1775 |
| 6 | 4 | Walk the Line | 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Releasing | $3,688,031 | $82,607,528 | 5 | 2664 |
| 7 | 5 | Yours, Mine & Ours | MGM Distribution Company, Paramount Pictures | $3,511,110 | $45,202,963 | 4 | 2723 |
| 8 | 15 | Brokeback Mountain | N/A | $2,508,494 | $3,474,311 | 2 | 69 |
Because it cost 200 million to make.
I never watch the Oscars. They give awards to each other for movies I will never watch. I wonder how they can continue to afford making these award winning flops.
You assume that if the movie was in 700 screens, it would make 10 times the money. I doubt it. The 70 screens were carefully picked-in areas where democgraphics support this type of movie. If the Hollywood crowd thought this movie had universal appeal, it would be everywhere. The movie doesn't; it would fail miserably in most venues.
The progress of gay male themes in TV and film is entirely dependent on their appeal to straight women.
Why? Who knows?
Brokeback Moutain creates unwanted images of homosexual violent rape.
They should have titled it:
Two Homo Cowboys In Love.
At least it would have been intellectually honest.
Just another version of the eternal question.
Who the hell knows?
So basically it will pay for itself as a propaganda piece.
What it does is reinforce the gay lifestyle and helps move sexually undecided young men further into a deadly, immoral, decision.
In that sense, it makes men gay.
Women love anything in which guys act, talk, or think like girls.
Have you ever forced yourself to sit through 30 minutes of any popular soap opera? (Don't worry, I've done it on your behalf, so just listen).
Yes, they are stupid. Yes, they are boring.
How can they succeed?
Every single line coming out of the male lead character's mouth is written for a female character, that's how.
What are they feeling, what do they think about some relationship, what are they going to buy, what's happening with their SO, what is the SO feeling or thinking, etc, etc.
I don't know if girls like them porking each other, but they are probably willing to sit through that to get the good stuff, which is more guys acting like girls.
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