What Movie Did You Watch This Weekend?

[bubba]

then you know "what Lola wants Lola gets"

Hey I had to re-register for some reason and it wouldn't let me use the same name.  So you can call me Lola (it is better than Bubba).

I actually like having this discussion with you, but I know we are never going to get anyplace.


It was like a vote against Brokeback was a vote for homophobia.   And nothing I can say about that is going to change your mind.


The day I saw Crash (and I didn't see it in theatres, I saw it on pay for view in a hotel room) I turned to my husband and said "I bet that wins best picture"  He disagreed.......but I knew it was the kind of thing the academy would like..  it covered all the basis and appealed to a wide audience.


Brokeback I saw in the theatre and fell in love with the film, of course I hoped it would win, but didn't die on Oscar night.  It will go down in history as a great movie.


Just like many other movies that haven't got their dues, and have got a lot less than Brokeback did.............and yes Colour Purple was one of them, Malcom X, I could name lots..

[brokebacktom]

The day I saw Crash (and I didn't see it in theatres, I saw it on pay for view in a hotel room) I turned to my husband and said "I bet that wins best picture"  He disagreed.......but I knew it was the kind of thing the academy would like..  it covered all the basis and appealed to a wide audience.

I rented to movie (Crash) after it was nominated right before the Oscars. I too predicted it to win. It was fluff most will like, a movie trying to say something. Yet at tahe same time saying nothing at all. It was a safe alternative to Brokeback.

[bubba]

Not many films have the possibility of making their audiences better people. I don't expect "Crash" to work any miracles, but I believe anyone seeing it is likely to be moved to have a little more sympathy for people not like themselves. The movie contains hurt, coldness and cruelty, but is it without hope? Not at all. Stand back and consider. All of these people, superficially so different, share the city and learn that they share similar fears and hopes. Until several hundred years ago, most people everywhere on earth never saw anybody who didn't look like them. They were not racist because, as far as they knew, there was only one race. You may have to look hard to see it, but "Crash" is a film about progress.


http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050505/REVIEWS/50502001


Oh I think it had something to say, whether it got through to people or not, who knows!


Funny enough just like Brokeback!

[doodler]

I suppose, if you think you are winning or losing something.
A majority of people used to think the earth was flat, too.

You are skirting my question.  You said "Lord Ebert is the only one who counts in my book."
Ebert says that Crash was the Best Film of 2005.
So do you agree with Ebert?

Well, to borrow a WONDERFUL quote from morrobay...

"I didn't say I was right I said that was what I believe."


(Thanks, Nancy!)

[andy]

"However when my opinion goes with the majority, I feel I have the edge."

Mmmm, call me a pessimist but I've never thought that justification for anything. Is there still a flat earth society? I wouldn't put it past some folks.

Anybody have memories of a movie called The War Boys?

[bubba]

Well keeping my quote in context, it was about movies!  


If two people don't like a film, and that film was praised by the large majority of critics, and the public.  And won Oscars and was big at the box office.  I feel I have "a edge" when someone says the film was horrible.

Not that they could take it or leave it, but that it was horrible.


I am sure many people on this board feel justified in defending Brokeback as a wonderful movie.   I think people who criticize it or simply said they didn't get it have been accused of having no soul.

 


Roger Ebert got death threats, because he rated it in his top three (but not the top one)!


I didn't threaten to kill anyone!!  he he

[Lyle (Mooska)]

It was like a vote against Brokeback was a vote for homophobia.
And nothing I can say about that is going to change your mind.

Why do you keep insisting it didn't have anything to do with it might be a better question for you to answer? And I'd be willing to change my mind if you could come up with something that would convince a person otherwise, especially when it now has become the general concensus and every year, especially around Oscar time there are numerous new articles that bring it up.  Is it only because Roger Ebert doesn't believe it?  In this argument Roger Ebert's opinion doesn't really matter and might even be suspect in that he has an African American wife and so Crash just might be a little more on his wavelength?  As someone posted once, if Ebert had a gay son instead of a black wife he would've been for Brokeback Mountain.  (That's an interesting idea to ponder, but it points out why Ebert had a vested interest in supporting one film over another and also an interest in defending ampas' decision.)

If you choose not to believe that there was any homophobic influence in ampas's decision you also have to disregard 78 years (at that time) of all of the things that have been used to pick the winner of best picture being proved wrong.  Not just one or two or a handful of these things but EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM! (And it's the year a lauded gay themed film with no serious competition is in the mix?) You must know that every year people know what is going to win Best Picture.  Look at how many internet sites always have the right answer.  What explanation best fits the reason why everyone (but Ebert?) was wrong about BBM?

To not believe there was any homophobic influence in ampas's decision, you'd also have to disregard the items that were published beforehand about ampas members dissing the film in public and items published afterwards about ampas members dissing the film and even admitting they hadn't seen it and didn't want to.  You'd have to disregard the opinions of film historians like Robert Osborne and film reviewers like Kenneth Turan and Diana Ossana who stated it in an Entertainment Weekly article.

You'd have to dismiss the overwhelming and unprecedented amount of groups that gave only one film seven times as many Best Film awards than any other that year.  It wasn't even close. (Do I have an edge here?)

Just like many other movies that haven't got their dues, and have got a lot less than
Brokeback did.............and yes Colour Purple was one of them, Malcom X, I could name lots..

Yes, everyone could name a lot, but that's the point you don't seem to get. A lot of movies that people like don't win and we all have our favorites that don't, but we all know every year what the general c oncensus is of what will win Best Picture.  Out of Africa was poised to win Best Picture in 1985, not the Color Purple. Malcolm X wasn't going to win best picture, most of all because it wasn't nominated.  Look at it backwards, too, if Crash had lost the best picture award do you seriously believe most critics (or anyone) would think it had been robbed?

And it wouldn't have been so obvious that homophobia was a factor in 2005 had there been any film that was seen as a legitmate contender to win best picture.  There was no Saving Private Ryan or Avatar or L.A. Confidential or The Social Network that would have been such an obvious alternative. The alternative was invented.  It played out as clear as it ever could be the reason BBM lost. There was even a subsequent year to bear it out.  Why weren't people railing about Milk not winning best picture and calling ampas homophobic that year?  Well, because Milk wasn't the concensus that year. It was Slumdog Millionaire that was going to win.  (By the way, Roger Ebert tried a mea culpa of sorts that year by insisting that ampas was going to award Milk best picture.  Really?)

[doodler]

In MY opinion, homophobia was part of the reason Brokeback lost. But not the only one and not the major one. A lot of people... not Oscar voters, just regular people... simply did not like Brokeback. A lot of people didn't want to see it period. And homophobia was not the main reason for either of those. There are way more films that come out every year that I have no desire to see than ones I'd like to. That doesn't mean I have a phobia about or hatred for their subject matter... they're just about something that doesn't interest me or a genre I'm not into.

[Ennis Del Mark]

Saw the first showing of MAGIC MIKE today.  Not bad at all, much better than I expected, really.  It's not a campfest by any means, but there are some cheesy scenes and cliches.  Lots of nice male almost-nudity (no full montys, dammit) and the cast is surprisingly good.  I really liked the way it ended. 

[killersmom]

Thanks for the review of "Magic Mike", Mark. (Say that 3 times real fast! ) It is not one I am interested in seeing in the theaters, (although the hot bods look good) so I'll wait for it to be out on DVD.

[killersmom]

Lets bring the discussion back to the movies we have watched currently, be they in the theater, on TV, DVD's , old or new. The discussions about awards and impacts on the public are best taken to those threads dedicated to these subjects.
Thanks.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Saw the first showing of MAGIC MIKE today.  Not bad at all, much better than I expected, really.  It's not a campfest by any means, but there are some cheesy scenes and cliches.  Lots of nice male almost-nudity (no full montys, dammit) and the cast is surprisingly good.  I really liked the way it ended.  

I saw it yesterday/Sunday afternoon. For my money Matthew McConaghey stole the show. I thought he was very funny.

Spoiler Alert (Maybe/Sort Of)

I would have liked to have known what ultimately became of "The Kid." By the end I think I had developed more sympathy for him than for Magic Mike himself.

[bubba]

In MY opinion, homophobia was part of the reason Brokeback lost. But not the only one and not the major one. A lot of people... not Oscar voters, just regular people... simply did not like Brokeback. A lot of people didn't want to see it period. And homophobia was not the main reason for either of those. There are way more films that come out every year that I have no desire to see than ones I'd like to. That doesn't mean I have a phobia about or hatred for their subject matter... they're just about something that doesn't interest me or a genre I'm not into.

AMEN to that.   My son and his girlfriend just spent Canada Day at Gay Pride this weekend...........but they did not like Brokeback, just didn't care for it as a movie, no agenda....


Anyway as Killersmom says "back on topic"


I really want to see MAGIC MIKE!   

[Jeff Wrangler]

I really want to see MAGIC MIKE!   

You should see it! 

[bubba]

I know!!  I am going to spend the next month with my son and his fiancee.  I know she will go with me for sure!