Posted on 12/12/2005 3:41:51 PM PST by Nice50BMG
By CHRISTY LEMIRE, AP Movie Writer1 hour, 26 minutes ago
Wildly varying films have received kudos from critics during this busy awards season, from biopics about Johnny Cash and Truman Capote to classic stories about romance and a royal ape.
But one appears to be riding to the front of the pack heading into Tuesday's Golden Globe nominations: "Brokeback Mountain."
The story of cowboys who fall into forbidden love in Wyoming has been named the year's best picture in recent days by critics groups in New York, Los Angeles and Boston; its director, Ang Lee, has received top honors from all three and from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
One of the film's stars, Heath Ledger, won the best-actor award Monday from the New York Film Critics Circle, and his co-star, Jake Gyllenhaal, was named best supporting actor by the National Board of Review. "Brokeback Mountain" also appears on the American Film Institute's list of the top 10 movies of the year.
Tom O'Neil, a columnist for the awards Web site theenvelope.com, said "Brokeback Mountain" is one of only two shoo-in nominees for best drama at the Golden Globes, scheduled for Jan. 16; "Good Night, and Good Luck," about Edward R. Murrow's battles with Sen. Joseph McCarthy, is the other. The film from director George Clooney received the best-picture award Monday from the National Board of Review, which described it as "extraordinary."
"There is a curious consensus building behind 'Brokeback Mountain,'" O'Neil said. "At the same time, we're seeing previous front-runners like `Munich' and '(Memoirs of a) Geisha' fall behind. Neither film has gotten the enthusiastic support of film critics, which is a crucial element behind a best-picture rival."
"Brokeback" also has all the key ingredients needed for a best-picture Oscar nominee, O'Neil said — and the Golden Globes increasingly have been a predictor for Academy Awards success in recent years.
"It is epic, it's a wide-screen, big-canvas movie. Oscar voters frequently confuse best picture with big picture. This is big in its ideas, in its cinematic range, in its landscape views of Wyoming in the '60s," he said. "It feels important — it's making a social statement about something that's becoming more acceptable in America but is still slightly dangerous."
Similarly, the fact that Lee has received so much praise could bode well for him. The veteran Hong Kong helmer lost the best-picture and best-director Oscars for his 2000 martial arts epic "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," though the movie did win for best foreign-language film, and Lee won a Golden Globe from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for best director.
"There is a feeling that this is a director who is overdue for his laurels," O'Neil said.
Beyond "Brokeback" and "Good Night," about six other movies could sneak into the best drama category, he predicted. One of them is "Capote," which has earned Philip Seymour Hoffman rave reviews and best-actor honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Online.
O'Neil said "King Kong," Peter Jackson's epic remake and one of the year's most anticipated films, probably won't get a Globe nod, but it should be a best-picture nominee at the Oscars.
In the musical or comedy category at the Golden Globes, "Walk the Line" is a likely contender. Joaquin Phoenix stars as Cash, but Reese Witherspoon runs away with the movie as his on- and off-stage partner, June Carter Cash. The performance has earned Witherspoon best-actress awards from reviewers in New York and Boston.
"Even in the Hollywood, commercial, popcorn genre she's worked in, she has extraordinary respect from a cross-section of critics here," said Gene Seymour, film critic for Newsday and president of the New York Film Critics Circle. "She's very, very engaged in her character — she really knows what to do in front of a camera, always. She has an amazing capacity to connect with people."
Other possible nominees, O'Neil said, include "Pride and Prejudice," "Casanova" (which also stars Ledger), "Mrs. Henderson Presents" and "The Squid and the Whale," a dark comedy about divorce which has earned writer-director Noah Baumbach top screenplay honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle. The New York Film Critics Online named "Squid" the year's best movie.
"There were a lot of quality films and I think you're seeing it in all different genres," said Annie Schulhof, National Board of Review president. "If you're in the mood for a biopic, go see `Capote,' go see `Good Night, and Good Luck.' If you're in the mood for a political thriller, you have `Syriana.'"
If they'd said "sheepherders and forbidden love", the zoophiliacs would've gotten confused.
I always thought Maurice was seriously repressed.
Just look at the woman he finally wound up with.
[Barbara the uber butch cop]
LOL!
The dog that didn't bark .. or hump your leg
Wasn't that a great line when she looked at him with bedroom eyes and said, "Maurice, show me your brownie" [Browning automatic, i.e.]?
I sort of mentally 'tuned out' every time she and he were onscreen together.
[they gave me the willies]...;D
The episode wherein Maurice drilled for oil and hit the "primordial water" and then started selling it in bottles was a killer.
Like Barbara *needed* to be more manly and Maurice needed to be more whiny.
[the dude played a mean bagpipe, though]....;]
If Peter Singer lurks here, expect a sequel based on that post....;D
[oddly enough, I just flipped on the "Style" channel and a flaming nancy boy is discussing women's fashions right now. no place is safe, any more]
It isn't. It is about gay shepherds.
Shepherds herd sheep. Cowboys wrangle cows. These two twinkletoes herd sheep. That makes them shepherds.
Wearing a cowboy hat does not a cowboy make.
Hey, Ennis,
Wanna check my mole?
Should we ping SISU and pissant to this mess?.....:]
Are they gay shepards?
;-)
ROFL!
Noooo....but they're terminal smartasses who might enjoy piling on this....;)
All the key ingrediants....gay lifestyle promotion, christian bashing. What more does a film need to win an award?
Women's fashion is a very gay area. That's why all the women look so stupid in designer clothes - the designers are interested in 12-year-old boys!
Cyborg says keep your day job.
That's always been my opinion.
I dress like a "weirdo" [according to my mother] wearing "unfashionable" clothing yet I'm very comfortable, happy and people frequently compliment me.
Go figger....:))
My mother gives me clothes because she thinks I'm a frump :-).
"What more does a film need to win an award?"
Somebody getting "euphorically" starved to death in the end?
Well, what do you have that's black or red?
We could get an online clothes-swap thing going...:))
I'm 44....how old do I have to be for my mom to stop dressing me?
Or telling me to cut my hair and get a more "mature" hairstyle?...:))
My mother is a frump.
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.