Brokeback Mountain

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I believe it's just in limited release right now in NY/LA/SF. They probably want to gauge public reaction in large cities before even thinking about trying to show it nationwide.

Melon
 
So that's what's going on. I was wondering why my local multiplex doesn't have it. I thought this might be the case.

I'm caught in a dilemma.....I want to see it, but I have to admit I am squemish about the love scenes. This isn't about them being gay love scenes. Honest. Truth be told, I am always horribly embarrassed by intense, graphic love scenes. If it's something like where it's up against the wall and you only see fully clothed from the waist up and just French kissing and a little huffing and puffing, that;'s fine by me, but anything showing graphic horizontal nudity and lots of moaning and groaning I shrink ten inches in my seat and cover my eyes. Being Christian has nothing to do with this. It just has to do with my feeling that sex is something sacred and holy and attempting to splash it out on the screen in a realistic fashion demysifies and degrades it. (Besides, most sex scenes are insipid anyway. They never get it right. Most of them make me laugh. I haven't seen many in the theater but I've rented enough on the small screen!) Call me old-fashioned, but sex-overt, graphic sex, even mostly clothed, is something best implied. That way it has more impact.

This may sound insane to some people, but it's how I really feel. We have trivialized and demeaned sex by demystifying it. Some would argue that this has freed us and made us more open, but it has instead in a way (artistically speaking) made it lose its potency.

I feel this way, and am embarrrassed at watching it on a screen 40 ft high. You may argue that I've missed a lot of good movies this way, no, i've merely covered my eyes. But thus sounds like something special and I don;t want to ruin it by having to walk out.

So Irvine, or anyone who has seen it, I'd appreciate it if you broke down the love scenes for me. Really. Esp if there is any moaning and groaning....(I've read the short story, and if it is true to the page..). And don't try to tone it down just b/c you want me to see it. Anyone may say I was repressed, homophobic, etc, but I assure you that is NOT the case. In this day and age it may be difficult to understand my feeling, but there it is. Maybe sex is something more private and sacred to me b/c I've witnessed all three of my mother's disentigrated marriages. I don't know.
 
OK.t read the MSNBC thingie (which I tried to repost--thanks guys:).

I'll edit that. Just fill me in on exactly WHICH scene the sex scene is during...eg what I'll see on the screen right BEFORE it, so I'll know when to cringe/duck/ go to the ladies room.

And don't lie please....
 
I understand, honestly I get squeamish about sex scenes that aren't tastefully done. It sounds like they are in this movie, and according to what I've read there's very little sex in the movie.


variety.com

It was a record breaking weekend in the limited-release realm, as "Brokeback Mountain" and "Memoirs of a Geisha" both posted spectacular bows.

Focus' gay cowboy drama scored the highest per-screen average of any pic this year.

"Brokeback," which was named best picture by the L.A. Film Critics Assn. over the weekend, made an astounding $544,549 on five plays in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, for an average of $108,910.

"Most of the shows in some theaters, and in other theaters all the shows, sold out all weekend long," noted Focus distribution toppertopper Jack Foley. "This is the kind of film that is happening to us, as opposed to us driving the film."

Focus plans to expand "Brokeback" to between 50 and 60 screens in the top 18 to 20 markets next week and then hold it until Jan. 6, when expansion will continue depending on B.O.B.O. perfperf and kudos. Pic is expected to go wide by the Martin Luther King Day frame.
 
[q]Boston Film Critics go for Brokeback Mountain
Ladies and gents, we now have our official critics' darling, Brokeback Mountain. The interesting thing about Boston is that they were one of the few who predicted Adrien Brody to win for The Pianist, along with director Roman Polanski. Other than that, they are hit and miss. This year, they went for:

Film: Brokeback Mountain
Director: Ang Lee
Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
Actress: Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
Supporting: Catherine Keener, Paul Giamatti
Screenplay: Capote, Dan Futterman
Documentary: Murderball
New Filmmaker Award: Joe Wright for Pride & Prejudice

http://www.oscarwatch.com/Awards/boston.html

[/q]

[q]AFI's Top Ten
(posted by Darbicus in forums)

Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Good Night and Good Luck
A History of Violence
King Kong
Munich
The Squid and the Whale
Syriana
[/q]

[q]New York Film Critics Online Award 'Squid'
The 2005 NYFCO (New York Film Critics Online) Awards
Awards Meeting held at Mo Pitkin's Resturant in the East Village


Picture - The Squid and the Whale
Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)
Actress - Keira Knightley (Pride and Prejudice)
Director - Fernando Meirelles (Constant Gardener)
Supporting Actor - Oliver Platt (Casanova)
Supporting Actress - Amy Adams (Junebug)
Breakthrough Performer - Terrence Howard (Hustle and Flow, Crash, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Four Brothers)
Debut Director - Paul Haggis (Crash)
Screenplay - Paul Haggis (Crash)
Documentary - Grizzly Man
Foreign Language - Downfall
Animated - Wallace & Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Cinematography - March of the Penguins


Top 9:
The Best of Youth (Miramax)
Brokeback Mountain (Focus)
Capote (Sony Classics)
The Constant Gardener (Focus)
Crash (Lions Gate)
Good Night, and Good Luck. (Warner Independent)
Munich (Universal/DreamWorks)
The Squid and the Whale (Samuel Goldwyn)
Syriana (Warner Bros.)
[/q]

[q]Brokeback Wins LAFCA - Anne Thompson Reports
From Anne Thompson and thanks to Twilliams and everyone else in the forum who hunted them down:

Here are the LA Film Critics Winners:

Picture: Brokeback Mountain (over A History of Violence)
Director: Ang Lee (over David Cronenberg)
Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote (over Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain)
Actress: Vera Farmiga, Down to the Bone (over Judi Dench, Mrs. Henderson Presents)
Supporting Actress: Catherine Keener, for four films (Capote, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, The Interpreter), over Amy Adams of Junebug
Supporting Actor: William Hurt, A History of Violence (over Frank Langella, Good Night, and Good Luck)
Screenplay - TIE: Dan Futterman, Capote and Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale
Cinematography: Robert Elswit, Good Night, and Good Luck (over 2046)
Production Design: 2046 (over Good Night, and Good Luck)
Music: Joe Hisaishi, Howl's Moving Castle
New Generation Award: Terrence Howard, Hustle & Flow
Documentary: Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man (over Alex Gibney's Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room)
Animated Feature: Wallce + Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Foreign Film: Michael Haneke's Cachet (over 2046).[/q]
 
The reviews are just amazing. I can't wait to see it. Here's an excerpt from the Rolling Stone review:

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/_/id/6169704

Ang Lee's unmissable and unforgettable Brokeback Mountain hits you like a shot in the heart. It's a landmark film and a triumph for Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, who bring deep reserves of feeling to this defiantly erotic love story about two Wyoming ranch hands and the external and internal forces that drive them from desire to denial. Directed with piercing intelligence and delicacy by Lee, the film of Annie Proulx's 1997 short story -- the unerring script by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana is a model of literary adaptation -- wears its emotions on its sleeve.

That leaves the film vulnerable. The media keep tagging it as the gay cowboy movie, the queer Gone With the Wind, the Western that puts the poke in cowpoke. Coupled with the rise of homophobia as church and state shout down gay marriage, the film is up against it.

Do me a favor: See the movie first and make your judgments later. It's an eye-opener.

...

Ledger's magnificent performance is an acting miracle. He seems to tear it from his insides. Ledger doesn't just know how Ennis moves, speaks and listens; he knows how he breathes. To see him inhale the scent of a shirt hanging in Jack's closet is to take measure of the pain of love lost.

 
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain" led Golden Globe contenders Tuesday with seven nominations, among them best dramatic picture and honors for actors
Heath Ledger and
Michelle Williams and director
Ang Lee, positioning itself as a key
Academy Awards competitor.
 
MrsSpringsteen said:
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain" led Golden Globe contenders Tuesday with seven nominations, among them best dramatic picture and honors for actors
Heath Ledger and
Michelle Williams and director
Ang Lee, positioning itself as a key
Academy Awards competitor.



i am firstly thrilled because the film seems to stand on it's own merits -- it's not a film that's noteable simply because it's a gay romance; it's a film that's noteable because it's (at least we're told, i haven't seen it yet) a superlative piece of filmmaking.

that and freaking Jen from Dawson's Creek is a Golden Globe nominee!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!?!

i suppose stranger things have happened ...

;)
 
Irvine511 said:

that and freaking Jen from Dawson's Creek is a Golden Globe nominee!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!?!

I know, that is too weird..then again Joey is marrying Tom Cruise and becoming a Scientologist :wink: next thing you know Pacey will win the Nobel Prize:huh:
 
The Borowitz Report

WHITE HOUSE ACCIDENTALLY SCREENS ‘BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN’

Cheney, Rove Injured in Stampede for Exit

In what the official White House spokesman today called “a regrettable mistake,” the White House had a private screening last night of the critically acclaimed gay western, “Brokeback Mountain.”

One day after the ill-fated screening, spokesman Scott McClellan said that the White House had launched a “full investigation” to find out how “Brokeback,” which features actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as gay ranch hands, found its way into the White House screening room.

According to one source, however, the decision to screen the film was made by the president himself, who thought that the two ranch hands would be mainly occupied with clearing brush, as he himself is fond of doing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Additionally, the source said, the film was directed by Ang Lee, who directed one of President Bush’s all-time favorite films, “The Hulk.”

Eyewitnesses at the screening said that seconds into the film’s first explicit man-on-man love scene, shrieks of alarm rose up from the audience and there was a frantic stampede for the exit.

In the ensuing chaos, vice president Dick Cheney reportedly trampled top advisor Karl Rove, with both men reportedly receiving medical attention for injuries sustained in the fracas.

Mr. McClellan said that the White House would take “better care” to make sure that films with gay content do not find their way into the screening room, adding, “We feel more optimistic about tonight’s double feature, ‘Capote’ and ‘Rent.’”
 
MrsSpringsteen said:

Mr. McClellan said that the White House would take “better care” to make sure that films with gay content do not find their way into the screening room

...because he'll reserve those particular films for his own bedroom. :silent:
 
Actually the ads for that movie do look like those pictures of Bush at his ranch wearing that cowboy hat :eyebrow:

I hope when I see it I'm not picturing Bush and Rove :wink: something tells me I won't be
 
joyfulgirl said:


kidding kidding!




4619230_4cb8b2f034.jpg



:shh:
 
[q]Can 'Brokeback Mountain' Move the Heartland?

The film has seven Golden Globe nominations, but middle America may have qualms.

By Robert W. Welkos and Elaine Dutka, Times Staff Writers

"Brokeback Mountain" seems to have everything going for it: great reviews, a remarkable opening weekend and dominance in the first wave of the Hollywood awards season, underscored Tuesday by seven Golden Globe nominations, the most of any film.

But there's one important landmark the film has yet to reach — roping in a mass audience.

Over the next several weeks, the movie about two handsome young cowboys falling in love with each other — dubbed by some wags the gay "Gone With the Wind" — will be released across the United States in cities where its themes of repressed sexuality and cultural intolerance may prove a tougher sell than they have in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with their concentrations of cineastes and gay and lesbian populations.

"Brokeback Mountain's" future in the heartland will offer a classic test of whether what the movie business considers its best work will be embraced by audiences whose values may be more conservative than Hollywood's. In some ways, "Brokeback" could prove a counterpoint to the phenomenal success of last year's "The Passion of the Christ," a film disparaged by Hollywood power brokers and many film critics that still emerged as a blockbuster.

The controversial cowboy movie, which is rated R in part for its sexuality, also is hitting theaters at a time when filmmakers and studio executives are worried they are losing touch with audiences, as reflected by a yearlong box-office slump.

At least one national theater owner said he believed "Brokeback Mountain's" appeal would not be limited to major metropolitan cities.

"Between the controversy and the reviews, 'Brokeback Mountain' is becoming a 'must-see' movie of the year," said Jerry Pokorski, executive vice president and chief film buyer for Pacific Theatres and ArcLight Cinemas, which has about 400 theaters across the country. "Maybe in Wichita Falls it will be a different story, but I still believe that good reviews — and good films — drive the business."

Outside of big cities, movies that generate great reviews don't always play strongly.

This year, "Capote" attracted consistently good reviews but has grossed $10.4 million in about 200 theaters. Within movies that have gay themes, the stronger the sexuality, the weaker the films tend to perform. Although toned-down gay-themed movies such as "The Birdcage" and "Philadelphia" were hits, the far more explicit — and Oscar-winning — transgender drama "Boys Don't Cry" sold $11.5 million in tickets.

"I really don't think America is ready for a homosexual love story like this," said Peter Sprigg, vice president for policy at the conservative Family Research Council in Washington. "I'm sure it has a great deal of appeal within the Hollywood community itself, which is already committed to a pro-homosexual ideology, but I can't see it as a big box-office success."

Added Dave Bossie, who was the executive producer of the anti-Michael Moore documentary "Celsius 41.11" and heads the conservative grass-roots organization Citizens United: " 'Brokeback' will not only encounter resistance, but empty theaters. My wife and I watched the trailer in a theater a few days ago and sensed an audible revulsion to two men passionately embracing and kissing on the big screen.

"Blue-collar workers [and] predominantly heterosexual women are not going to pay to see this story in large numbers. The conservative audience that made 'The Passion of the Christ' so successful will be the death knell for 'Brokeback Mountain.' "

A theater owner in Tennessee says early interest has been running high.

"E-mails are running 50 to 1 in favor of the film — and not just from" gay and lesbian organizations, said Jeff Kaufman, vice president of film for Malco Theatres in Memphis, Tenn. The family-owned chain has about 300 screens in small towns such as Blytheville, Ark.; Owensboro, Ky.; and Oxford, Miss.

" 'Brokeback' is a high-quality film, a terrific picture, and there seems to be broad-based interest," Kaufman said. "A gay theme certainly didn't hurt 'The Birdcage,' which had great commercial success."

On Friday, the film, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, will open on two screens in a theater in Plano, Texas, outside Dallas.

"We've sold about 40 tickets over the Internet for the Friday screening, more than for any other movie we are showing, including 'King Kong,' " said Terrell Falk, vice president of marketing and communications for Cinemark USA Inc., which has about 2,000 screens in 200 theaters, primarily in Utah, Ohio, California and Texas.

Interest in acclaimed titles typically fades once a town's core film fans have come and gone.

Still, novelist Larry McMurtry, who with co-screenwriter Diana Ossana adapted Annie Proulx's short story into "Brokeback Mountain," says the film's examination of secret love in the wilds of Wyoming should hold universal appeal.

"People seem to like it — it's striking them in their hearts and in their gut," said McMurtry, the author of "Lonesome Dove."

Robin Glasscock, a bartender at the Proud Cut Saloon in Cody, Wyo., said she planned to go see the movie with her friends.

"I don't know how this community would respond to it," she said. "It's a pretty conservative type of place. I certainly hope they wouldn't be [offended by the movie]. I think it's something they should see regardless."

"Brokeback Mountain" will need to get those kinds of intrepid moviegoers if it is to become a breakout independent film hit on the order of "March of the Penguins" or "The English Patient."

The film's producer and distributor, Focus Features, said it was encouraged that audience surveys showed that ticket buyers in the opening weekend included a significant (but unspecified) number of straight men who came with their girlfriends or wives.

Focus Co-President James Schamus said the stereotype of the "Middle American who votes Republican and runs screaming from the theater at the thought of this movie is being exploded as we speak."

He said: "People keep asking us, 'Is the country ready for 'Brokeback Mountain?' The question should be, 'Are we able to handle the interest in this movie?' "

The film's director, Ang Lee, said he was surprised by how warmly the film had been received so far.

"We thought it was going to be split, and some people would like it and some wouldn't even go to see it, or it would be a laughingstock, like when they call it 'a gay cowboy' movie," Lee said. "Then when they see it, they start to embrace it. It's a wonderful turnaround."

Focus Co-President David Linde said it took time for people to embrace this kind of movie. By slowly releasing the film, he said, Focus hopes to build its word-of-mouth.

"This movie cannot be condensed into one line about gay cowboys," Linde said. "In our marketing, we are trying to get across the depth of the experience."

Not every theater owner is bullish about the film's ultimate prospects.

"I think 'Brokeback,' like "The Aviator' and 'Rent,' will do better in the cities, where audiences are more diverse and have more interest in seeing a film with a narrower focus," said Carlo Petrick, communications manager for Marcus Theatre Corp., based in Milwaukee.

"I don't expect a backlash. It's not about turning people off, but the degree of interest in seeing a love story between two men, if it comes down to choosing between 'King Kong' and 'Brokeback,' people who go to the movies to be entertained will probably choose the former."

http://www.calendarlive.com/printed...rokeback14dec14,0,4500472.story?track=tothtml

[/q]
 
Ok :wink:

I've been thinking about how I saw a few minutes of The View one day last week, they were talking about this movie. I think it was Star Jones who said that women, when they watch Heath and Jake kissing, etc, enjoy it because they are picturing themselves kissing either one of them. What a crock. I guess Star just doesn't want to admit that it's merely hot. I will admit it :shrug: Honestly I'm not into watching two men in a porn movie or anything like that (not just because it's men but any hardcore porn, just not my thing), but kissing, softcore, romantic stuff handled in a tasteful way, yes.

When I watch a woman kissing a good looking guy in a movie I might picture myself and that's one reason I enjoy it. I think this movie is a whole different dynamic, especially for women watching it. Of course that's just one small aspect of this movie, the real appeal of it for me is that it sounds like a good movie with a beautiful story. And it will be refreshing to see the subject manner handled in the proper way, which I'm sure it will be.
 
well, so begins Ang Lee's assault on traditional values.

already, heterosexual marriage is being destroyed because of the hot man love between Heath and Jake's characters:

[q]Still, Westerns have been a tough sell of late. And a Western that takes a different look at cowboys might be even dicier.

"It depends on whether people are able to see past the fact that it's two guys and see it's a big, sad, aching love story in the way that Dr. Zhivago was or Far from the Madding Crowd or even Titanic," says Howard Rodman, professor and chair of the writing division for USC's cinema-TV school.

Already a few wagons are circling against the movie. Straight Talk Radio, a daily national radio program hosted by a man who describes himself as a former homosexual and his wife, denounced the movie as "homosexual propaganda."

"I just spoke with a married man on the telephone who is contemplating leaving his wife and children," says host Stephen Bennett. "He says he's gay, and Brokeback Mountain has influenced his decision. We can sadly expect to see a lot more men like former governor Jim McGreevey of New Jersey not only resigning from their jobs but from their wives, children and families."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2005-12-13-brokeback_x.htm

[/q]
 
:crack:

Well there goes any hope I had of meeting a guy when I go see the movie, they're all going to run off w/ guys :shrug:

Seriously, I wouldn't get too concerned w/ some anomaly like that guy, what rational person thinks that way?
 
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