Posted on 03/05/2006 3:24:29 AM PST by albyjimc2
HOLLYWOOD (AFP) - Tension reached fever pitch as Hollywood began the final countdown to Sunday's Oscars, with a posse of "serious" films, led by "Brokeback Mountain," set to overrun the big night.
As workers frantically put the finishing touches on preparations for the 78th annual Academy Awards, which start with the legendary red carpet celebrity fashion show, the anxious nominees are crossing their fingers.
In a year laden with small-budget movies packing weighty political or social messages, Taiwan director Ang Lee's film about gay cowboys is the frontrunner for the top awards, including best picture and best director.
"We're almost there and I think 'Brokeback' is still leading the race," said veteran Hollywood Reporter online columnist Marty Grove.
But the aching story of two macho farmhands who fall in love despite themselves and pursue an unfulfilled 20-year romance faces a last-minute challenge from a dark horse, Paul Haggis's racial drama "Crash."
"The buzz is that the threat to 'Brokeback' from 'Crash' is now very real," awards expert Tom O'Neil of the website theEnvelope.com said of the tiny independent movie that may crash Ang Lee's party.
"'Brokeback' has a passionate following, but you also have 'Capote' and 'Transamerica' this year and they may have created a gay fatigue," he told AFP.
But like other pundits, O'Neil is still betting that the offbeat Western which has swept Hollywood's awards season and led the Oscars race from the start will still rope in five statuettes Sunday.
It rides into the Oscars armed with a leading eight nominations, including best picture, director, best actor for Australia's Heath Ledger and best supporting role nods for Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams.
The movie faces off against the six-times nominated "Crash," about a group of ethnically diverse people whose lives collide in a Los Angeles car accident, and George Clooney's political drama Good Night, and Good Luck," which is also up for six awards.
Also competing for best picture are "Munich" -- Steven Spielberg's epic about the aftermath of the Palestinian massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics -- and "Capote," about US author Truman Capote, both of which are up for five Oscars.
"Capote" star Philip Seymour Hoffman is widely favoured to win the best actor Oscar for his staggering title role in Bennett Miller's biopic, facing off against the Australian star of "Brokeback," Heath Ledger, 26.
Also vying for the award is Joaquin Phoenix, who played country star Johnny Cash in the biopic "Walk the Line," nominated for five Oscars, David Strathairn, for his role as newsman Ed Murrow in "Good Night," and Terrence Howard for "Hustle and Flow."
"The Oscars upsets almost always happen in the supporting actor categories, so we may see the jaw-dropper of the evening be Jake or Michelle winning for 'Brokeback,'" O'Neil said.
Most pundits predict that Briton Rachel Weisz will win the women's award for her role as an activist fighting the pharmaceutical industry in Kenya in "The Constant Gardner," with Williams -- Heath Ledger's real-life fiancee -- trailing for her portrayal of his cuckolded wife in "Brokeback."
Also competing for best supporting actress are Frances McDormand for "North Country," Amy Adams for "Junebug" and Catherine Keener, who played writer Harper Lee in "Capote."
Heartthrob Clooney is tipped to beat out Gyllenhaal and win best supporting actor for his role as a CIA spy in the oil industry thriller "Syriana."
Clooney, who is up for three Oscars, also faces competition from Paul Giammati for "Cinderella Man," Matt Dillon for "Crash," and William Hurt for "A History of Violence."
Facing off against frontrunner Ang Lee for best director are "Capote's" Miller, Haggis for "Crash," Clooney as director of "Good Night," and Spielberg for "Munich," the only big-budget film in the major categories.
The politically outspoken Clooney is also nominated for his best original screenplay for "Good Night," the story of newsman Ed Murrow's crusade against the repression of the US and-Communist witch hunt of the 1950s.
The political current running through this year's Oscars is further stoked by the Palestinian best foreign language film contender "Paradise Now," about two friends who become suicide bombers, a nomination that infuriated many Israelis.
It competes against France's World War I story "Joyeux Noel," Italy's story of sex abuse, "Don't Tell," Germany's "Sophie Scholl -- The Final Days" and South Africa's crime drama "Tsotsi," by Gavin Hood.
"Oscar has gone very serious this year," Grove said of the nominees. "In the past, the Oscars were only about great filmmaking and entertainment, but now its about passing on an important message."
Brokeback
Hoffman
Witherspoon
Giamatti
Changing tired subject.
Nominated, yes, you are right.
But we all know they won't actually win anything.
Perhaps "Walk The Line" may win something, but the rest will probably win nothing.
A film celebrating the true bravery of US Army Rangers and their rescue of POWs would never win something from "The Academy."
But the flaming homosexuals, black racists, angry atheists, destructive Muslims and goose-stepping Communists will instead triumph.
March of the Penguins will probably win against Darwin's Nightmare.
Witherspoon will probably win for Walk the Line.
Narnia will probably win for Visual Effects.
""Oscar has gone very serious this year," Grove said of the nominees. "In the past, the Oscars were only about great filmmaking and entertainment, but now its about passing on an important message.""
Evidently, in this era of the "Great Satan" (to them - Bush, of course), Hollywood en masse has seen fit to come out of the closet, beat its collective chest (like King Kong) and shout out: "WE'RE LIBERALS, WE'RE PROUD, AND WE'VE GOT AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE!"
Why do I have a feeling no one's going to be listening this year?
No, that's just another symptom of your latest STD, you sick, twisted, Hollywood freaks.
I'm calling in sick...
The awards is all about queers and immoral people awarding immoral people, do they really think that they are fooling anyone?
"Man On Fire",I'll probably ck it out when it comes on cable."Capote"may be worthwhile if it's reasonably accurate.What a strange man.Anyways,I love a good war flick,but the pervasive anti-war/anti-US message tends to ruin the enjoyment.Hollyweird seems compelled/entitled to ram their philosophy down our throats.
Man on Fire isn't a war flick. It's a re-make of an action/adventure/thriller from a book by AJ Quinnell
I went to see Brokeback Mt yesterday.
If you put aside the story line is about 2 gay cowboys,and the story was about heterosexuals.. this is most definitely NOT a "great love story". It is about two people having a twenty year "affair". What was all the hype about? it is Not a "love story>"
The movie is depressing, boring and way too long. The main characters are unsympathetic, self-centered boring, whining guys. The women are portrayed as dumb and pathetic.
there is virtually no plot or character development.
If this wins an award..especially for directing or acting..it will be very undeserved ( from even a film perspective.) However, the Oscars have always been about political statements, not film.
I mistakenly thought the Academy Awards was last night. Now, I'll have to avoid watching the show again.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Brokedick Mountain? Hollyweird libs wonder why they're so disconnected from reality? Fire up the buldozer and level the scummy place...Surely there are real directors and producer's coming up like Gibson, and Eastwood, in America that will honor their/our country.
Clint Eastwood made Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River, both of which won some kind of awards -- either Oscars or Golden Globes.
"Tension reached fever pitch as Hollywood began the final countdown to Sunday's Oscars, with a posse of "serious" films, led by "Brokeback Mountain," set to overrun the big night."
Laughing out loud here.... The only fever was on the screen when those two guys found each other on the prarie alone with their horses. I guess they could have chosen the horses over each other....that would have really gotten them into Oscar contention.
I plan on reading the book that came with my copy Of "The Great Raid" instead of watching this drivel.
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.