Shame. I probably won't see this till its out on DVD at the end of next year.

I'll be very happy if my cousin's theatre gets it...

Bill O'Reilly VS "Brokeback Mountain" ?

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/

Billy always gets the least articulate, least attractive, and least liberal, liberal to be the counterpoint on all his shows.

I think the world has long ceased giving a rat's ass about what O'Reilly has to say. But the whoremonger will jump on anything so long as it feeds his egoism.


The odd thing is that the film's events show the result of the realization of the arguments proposed by conservatives. Keep it hidden, suppress it, vilify it, deny it, and let it tear people into pieces and shatter their lives.

it's climbed back up to 90% fresh!

Sounds like Bill Maher and his 'representative conservative panel'

Well, I keep wondering about Ennis' eldest daughter. I think its one of the weaker points of the film. Mostly because one wonders why she keeps trying to keep Ennis in her life after 20 years of rejection. She's seen as the redemption, the finale wherein Ennis finally opens up to someone, and tries to be there for her. But early on her and her sister refuse assistance swinging, and later he tells her she can't move in with him even though she begs. To me, she very well could be the person who still opens up to Ennis, but I wish Lee had spent more time on her, as he had the two wives. It felt a bit out of the blue, how sympathetic she was towards him, even though her younger sister is never to be around. Its not really picking, I know what Lee was trying to do at the end [at least I think I do] but it was the weakest relationship/character developement in the whole film.

Heck, Fox News has the least articulate, least attractive, and least liberal, liberal co-anchor for one of their shows.

Jeff, you're starting to sound as off the mark as I usually am.

By the way, I was thinking about the movie while doing my top 12 list yesterday, and am I the only one who found the Jack/Lureen relationship more interesting than the Ennis/Alma one?

Eh, I've decided box office predicting really is not my forte. I'm more of a "cinema as art" type of person so I prefer to write (often times scathing) reviews and talk about the social context of them rather then their long term money-making prospects, though that is fun sometimes too.

I thought Jack/Lureen were interesting, but I felt that Hathaway, while delivering a splendid performance, somehow got sort of lost in everything else. I would have liked to have seen her character fleshed out more, instead of how it was handled. I'm a big Anne Hathaway fan though so that might have had something to do with it though.

I think the transition of Hathaway's character did get lost somewhat in the story. At the beginning, she was so vibrant riding the horse and full of energy, while at the end she became a shadow of herself during that heartbreaking phone scene. We see more emotion from Michelle Williams' character, but we didn't know very much about when Hathaway started losing interest in the marriage, even though she still cared for Jack.

The theater I go to, which is an hour from me in St. Cloud/Waite Park, got Brokeback Mountain this last weekend. I was kind of surprised they got it this soon, since usually a movie has to be in at least 800-900 theaters before they get it (and this was only in 483 at the time). I was definitely excited though because I was dying to see it. I was curious how this movie would play there before seeing it, but figured it would have a decent amount of people that were curious about it seeing it anyway. My mom and I were originally going to see the 4:00 show, but instead decided to go to the 6:45 PM show. I thought there would be enough curious people so that it might do pretty decent, this is not a big city after all, just a bigger town. We were there almost a half hour early and since the previous showing wasn't out yet we waited on the bench. This other woman across from us saw it wasn't out yet either and she sat down and waited too. Every couple of minutes another couple would come and soon there were a ton of people standing around waiting and more and more as it got later and later. Finally like 20 minutes before it was going to start the other show got out. Holy fucking shit! That was for the 4:00 show and my god, people kept coming and coming and coming. Seriously, people were coming out for 15 minutes. There were people of every age, but a ton of older couples, and then young teen couples too. There were elderly crimpled people and everything. Some people had been sitting for awhile or something though because after the huge crowd was gone there would be another couple or sometimes a couple of couples coming out every few seconds. I was amazed, and very pleased, especially since that was a matinee. As I looked behind me there was a line of scattered people halfway through the lobby. I have not seen anything like this at my theater since seeing "Scream 3" opening night. My mom was amazed too. I think she had this idea in her head that since it's a gay romance that it would be mostly a bunch of gay people seeing it. Like 5 minutes before it started we finally got to start going in, and there was someone there checking tickets. This also surprised me because they never check tickets for "R" movies unless it's some big "R" movie that will attract teens and they will try to sneak in. Oh, and while standing in line there was this woman who ended up eventually saying, "I knew like half the people in there," talking about the people in the show before us. And she's probably right, as she was talking to everyone. A few of the people she asked what they thought and everyone that told her really liked it. One girl was like, "It was very, very good. You'll love it." And that was about the same reaction from everyone she talked to and I didn't hear anything negative from people coming out of the theater. Anyway, as we got in the people were just piling in. When the previews were going people were still coming in, and this was their biggest screen it was on too. It was a 300 seater, which managed to get around 80% full. There was one couple that came in a half hour or so into the movie.

****WARNING: DON'T READ THE SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE, I INCLUDED SPOILER WARNINGS AND YELLOW FONT FOR THEM (SO YOU HAVE TO HIGHLIGHT THEM TO READ THEM, WHICH MAKES IT LESS EASY FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT ANYTHING SPOILED FOR THEM TO ACCIDENTILY READ THEM, AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND NOT READING THE SPOILERS UNLESS YOU'VE SEEN IT****

At first I was slightly disappointed in the movie, or maybe a little more than slightly. It wasn't as romantic as I expected, or as powerful. I didn't cry, nor did my mom. I did find it sad, but I don't know, it was a little too subtle. This movie ended up coming back to bite me later though as I just haven’t been able to stop thinking about it and today while listening to “A Love That Will Never Grow Old” I started crying thinking about it. And then again later when not even listening to the song but singing it in my head and thinking about the movie I got tears in my eyes. I had heard that the movie is played in such a straight-forward way that it doesn’t sink in how powerful it is right away, and I couldn’t agree more. It has made me kind of depressed all day. It really stays with you. The more I think about it the more I love it. I never give out 10/10 ratings on a first viewing, though I thought it might be possible with this one before seeing it. It ended up being different than I expected though and I can easily tell this will be one of those movies that gets better with each viewing. When I saw Garden State in theaters I gave it an 8/10 (B+) and really liked it, but was disappointed and didn't find it that funny. Yet I couldn't get it out of my head all the way until it came out on DVD, and when I watched it on DVD I loved it much more. I gave it a 9/10 (A-), and when I saw it again that changed to a 9/10 (A). The Good Girl in theaters was an 8/10 (B+), then on DVD a 9/10 (A-). The first time I saw Monster it was a 9/10 (A-), and then I saw it a second time and it went to a 9/10 (A) for one night before I changed it to a 10/10 (A+) the next morning. Kissing Jessica Stein took 7 viewings to get to a 10/10 (A+). Mean Creek took 3. I think the more I see this movie, the more I’ll appreciate it. It’s a slow burn kind of a film. It’s very subtle and doesn’t scream at you with its power, it’s really quiet and when all is said and done it’s kind of like, “That’s it?” because you expect it to be so effective, however it doesn’t truly become as effective until later. I find it more sad and tragic now than I did at the time, even though I found it both of those things before too. I want to see this in theaters again for sure, a few times even. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous! The cinematography is great, the performances are great (Heath’s performance really stays with you), the music (both score and otherwise) is great, and while there are some flaws and things I would have changed (like, I think it would have benefited from a voice-over narrative by Ennis), the more I think about it the more I appreciate it. It’s haunting and tragic. It’s more powerful when you think about it, versus in the moment. *****SPOILERS***** It’s really sad to think of how things were left between Jack and Ennis, and how Jack died before they could make up, so he died without being able to be with the one he truly loved, and Ennis lost the true love of his life and will probably end up alone and living a life of regret, and even in the chance that he would find someone again he will never love them as much as he loved Jack. His heart belongs to Jack, and what they had on “Brokeback Mountain.” It’s sad in the end to think back on simpler times in the beginning, when it was just them in the wilderness, and how that had to change when their time on the mountain was cut short in the middle of August and they had to go back to their other lives, when nothing was ever truly the same again. Even in the moments they were with each other things were more complicated now. Man, this movie is so fucking sad. *****END SPOILERS*****

Sometimes it’s a bit hard to like Ennis. He's a bad dad and even husband and no, not for cheating. I think he goes overboard in the kitchen scene, the final one that Alma is in. I can see he's conflicted though, and I don't blame him. He loves Jack and wants to be with him but he's scared and knows he can't be and he's afraid of letting himself feel this way. He’s basically just going through the motions with Alma, which is why it seems like he doesn’t care so much about her or the kids sometimes. Yet in the end you kind of end up loving Ennis, especially when you think about the movie more. You end up really caring about him, as you do Jack, and you feel bad that things had to be this way. The character of Ennis, made possible by Heath’s amazing performance, really haunts you. *****SPOILERS*****Jack is more likable during the movie and it’s really sad that he dies, and Ennis’ sorrow and regret stays with you and breaks your heart.*****END SPOILERS*****

It will be great to watch this on DVD with subtitles because it's hard to understand what is being said sometimes, especially with Ennis. While the mumbling can make it hard to hear what he’s saying at times, in the end I can’t imagine this character being as great without the mumbling. I don’t know why, but I ended up liking it and it just added to things. I can’t imagine him being as great had he been plain-spoken.

My mom thought the movie was really good, and so did I. I think the people expecting much less will like it quite a bit since they’ll have nothing to be disappointed with, though I can see some people not understanding at all and a lot might think Ennis is just an ass. As for me, I started out disappointed (but still loved it), and now the more I think about it, the more I love it. I am looking forward to watching it again. I'm so glad it is doing great at my theater. People were waiting outside for the next show when we got out.


BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - 9/10 (A)

I can't write a review for it yet really until I see it again. I want to be able to write a more complete review, and for that I need another viewing. It has a good chance at becoming a 10/10 (A+) with another viewing or two. It is my #1 film of the year right now, and I'm sure it will remain that way as I can't imagine anything else I have yet to see to be better, or even as close to as great.

I don't get why "A Love That Will Never Grow Old" isn't eligible for song at the Oscars. It won the Golden Satellite award for Best Original Song even, and it's a GREAT, BEAUTIFUL song! I think this is bullshit!

This better win for song at the Golden Globes. It's just so great and since it's not eligible to be nominated for an Oscar then it should at least win at the GG.

Thanks for your post Mike. You really nailed some of the key elements of the film.

BTW I have seen it 10 times and counting now, and it just keeps getting better and better. There are so many layers to this and you keep finding and seeing new stuff and insights..

No problem!

Ahhh, doubting the oscar potential




This line is just hilarious.



so offmark.



Show you how much Cannes knows...