<p>They cut off Best Picture - ****ers.</p>
<p>To all the Crash fans out there, I know I've given you a hard time, but it's only because I really wanted Brokeback Mountain to win. Whether BBM is the best film of the year, I really don't know since I haven't yet seen Good Night & Good Luck and Munich as well as other "great" films that were not nominated: The Squid & The Whale, In Her Shoes, etc. I did see Crash and thought BBM was better of the two. Crash tried to manipulate my emotions in an obvious way, and that, I thought, was a clumsy move. The director should've trusted the viewer more. Also, I think the racial tension in the real world is much more subtle than how it is portrayed in the movie (I believe the director/writers were trying to make a point about racism in real life but didn't succeed). The acting was, for the most part, great. I was disappointed by Don Cheadle's and Terrence Howard's performances. Matt Dillon's acting is strikingly similar to his real life persona (minus the racism), so I question whether he's really a good actor. Thandie Newton's performance was underrated (maybe critics thought she was over-acting). I'm glad she won something at the British Oscars (BAFTA).</p>
<p>I really wanted BBM to win because to have a gay-themed movie be appreciated, or at least watched, by mainstream America would be a dream come true for me. I thought that an Oscar Best Picture win would solidify its status as a legitimate film, instead of as just another gay cowboy movie. In the end, the religious fundamentalists who sent out 60,000 signatures to petition BBM's 8 Oscar nominations triumphed, and I took that as a personal insult. At least BBM still won in nearly every major awards event, including the Critics' Choice Awards, Golden Globe, Venice International Film Festival, and the British Oscar Awards (BAFTA). The directing by Ang Lee was exceptional; his foreign perspective combined with his skill for American storytelling set this film up for greatness. The performances were moving. I thought Heath Ledger captured what it's really like to be subjected to prejudice, to feel afraid for feeling something you can't even fully comprehend and to deny yourself in the process. He was next in the line-up to win Best Actor, but Hoffman's performance in Capote was just WOW.. if only Capote had been released in a different year. Unlike the other Best Actor nominees, however, Heath didn't have a "real" character to compare himself to (he was left to interpret the character in the short story), so he should be given additional credit for his originality. Some people are annoyed by his macho but fragile, sensitive persona. Well, duh. That was his role.</p>
<p>Jake Gyllenhaal's performance was also great (hence the BAFTA and National Board of Review wins). His character was my favorite in the movie. Michelle Williams hasn't had much success with the awards events (even though she tied with Amy Adams at the Golden Globes for Best Supporting Actress), but she deserves more credit than she's gotten. Her performance was emotionally charged and powerful. </p>
<p>I have tremendous respect for Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal for taking on this movie. The original actors would've been Josh Hartnett and Colin Farrell, but I don't know why or how they got replaced. The original director also gave this movie up (I don't know for what reason), but I'm glad it fell on the hands of Ang Lee.</p>
<p>Colin farrell in a insightful, romantic, gay-themed movie.. lol I cant imagine it.. with his reputation and all</p>
<p>Heath and Jake <3 (and joshhartnett)</p>
<p>I've never actually seen a movie like BBM before. I liked it alot though. Coming from a place where I've never ever met a gay person in my life, that movie kinda.. gave me insight?.. I dont know how to explain it.
BUT
JAKE! His acting. Brilliant. He's gonna get best lead actor one day. Loved his acting since watching DOnnie Darko. <3 jake I really wanted him to get best supporting..</p>
<p>I've yet to see Crash..</p>
<p>Yeah I didn't like crash either... I thought it was WAYYY too "in your face biotch". Its definately unrealistic. I thought that the scene where terrence howard gets mugged and gets all gangster on them is incredibly fake. I still don't understand what happened when the arab fellow shot the girl. He was at point blank range and missed? or was it the magical cloak that protected her lol? I found the detective's mother really random. The thug being the detective's brother was also random. Its as if they tried wayyy to hard to make everything fit. Omg I laughed so hard though when the arab is buying the gun and the clerk calls him osama.
Another thing I didn't understand was whether or not the locksmith heard sandra bullock when she was saying he was going to sell the keys.
ALl in all I thought her performance was pretty good. The part where she slips is a HUGE reach also though.</p>
<p>I thought munich was better but I feel as if they continued more than they should have. The ending was pretty boring. There was so much momentum and then its just cut off. Ending at that final sex scene</p>
<p>The Persian guy had blanks - remember, his daughter said he can't read English...</p>
<p>The movie just was a liberal claptrap of EVERYONE IS RACIST OMG</p>
<p>
[quote]
Another thing I didn't understand was whether or not the locksmith heard sandra bullock when she was saying he was going to sell the keys.
[/quote]
yeah, the locksmith heard her. the whole point of the movie is that everyone has racist tendencies (even if you think you don't). i think the complex relationships and the implausibility of the actions in the movie were just an overt way to show the subtle racism that plagues America...</p>
<p>Brokeback Mountain, not Crash, is the better film. I already explained my logic as to why. </p>
<p>One of the main reasons BBM lost was because it had already run out of steam by Oscars night.. the interest had piqued. For a long time, BBM and Good Night, and Good Luck were head-to-head, not BBM and Crash. I really don't get people's sudden infatuation with Crash in the final weeks before the Oscars. If it's so great of a film, why didn't more critics give it praise before? Also, Oprah's interest in Crash may have helped (I don't know if the show she devoted to Crash was before or after the votes were cast). According to several highly-respected movie critics, Crash's being set in LA also helped, since most voters (comprised of Hollywood actors and actresses) are from there and could relate to the movie. The voters are certainly not movie critics in the strict sense.</p>
<p>Why didn't more awards shows reflect that Crash is the best film of the year?
Crash managed a Best Picture win only at the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (Ebert really pushed for this win). Brokeback Mountain won Best Picture at the following awards shows:</p>
<p>Boston Society of Film Critics Awards,
British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (British Oscars),
Broadcast Film Critics (Critics' Choice Awards),
Dallas Fort-Worth Film Critics,
Golden Globe Awards,
Independent Spirit Awards,
Iowa Film Critics,
Las Vegas Film Critics,
London Critics' Circle,
Los Angeles Film Critics,
New York City Film Critics,
PGA Golden Laurel,
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics,
San Francisco Film Critics,
Satellite Awards,
Southeast Film Critics,
Utah Film Critics,
Vancouver Film Critics Circle,
Venice International Film Festival</p>
<p>BBM is also #1 on the top ten list of movies. This list was voted on by film critics: <a href="http://www.moviecitynews.com/awards/2006/top_tens/00_chart.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.moviecitynews.com/awards/2006/top_tens/00_chart.html</a></p>
<p>Finally, if you go to moviefone.com, you will find that Brokeback Mountain's average critic rating is 92/100. The following gave it a perfect 100: Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Hollywood Reporter, Chicago Sun-Times, Los Angeles Times, and Rolling Stone. ( <a href="http://movies.aol.com/movie/main.adp?tab=reviews&mid=25424%5B/url%5D">http://movies.aol.com/movie/main.adp?tab=reviews&mid=25424</a> )</p>
<p>Crash's average critic rating is 72, with a perfect score only from Entertainment Weekly and Chicago Sun-Times (Ebert's review.. I told you he really pushed for this film to be voted Best Picture, at least in Chicago).
<a href="http://movies.aol.com/movie/main.adp?tab=reviews&mid=20745%5B/url%5D">http://movies.aol.com/movie/main.adp?tab=reviews&mid=20745</a></p>
<p>it's all subjective</p>
<p>Crash was an amazing movie which also raised highly relevant topics</p>
<p>nice to see it earn major recognition</p>