...to the 2006 Porkies?
For the first time ever the Porkchop has seen a majority of the films nominated by the Academy-to be precise, 3 of 5.
Here are my reviews:
Brokeback Mountain:
If you are in your 30s to 60s and are in a book club, you have likely read Annie Proulx. If you are fond of her style of writing (i.e., elaborate character sketches without any plot development) or you are gay, you will love it. If you are not gay but support the gay lifestyle (like the Porkie) you will support the filmmaker's intentions but will lament the fact that it is just not that good a movie. I frankly agree with Gene Shalot's (sp?) appraisal of Jake Guyllenhall's (sp?) character. It is not a great love story for our time, gay or otherwise. It is a study in human misery and forbidden love, but the story is complicated by Jake's character's apparently insatiable sexual appetite. In a time when Gay men and women are fighting to assert their right to legally sanctioned committed relationshipts, Brokeback Mountain is neither a step forward or backward, all things considered, but not that satisfying in any event.
Goodnight and Good Luck:
A movie you can enjoy with your parents (they can explain it to you): a beautifully shot, skillfully acted little film. It's like
NPR: You resist it but it touches youi and you're glad you did it. Maybe more like giving blood. In any event, you don't wanna do it but it feels good when you do.
Crash:
A movie about race relations NOT written and directed (thank God) by Spike Lee--which means that the characters, white and black (though, alas, not Asian or Hispanic) are protrayed in multiple dimensions (which is to say, in contradistinction from Lee's films), more than one dimension.
Not having seen the other two movies, I suspect "Brokeback Mountain " will sweep all categories for political reasons with which I do not entirely disagree. The best movie (as if we were judging such things) is "Goodnight and Good Luck" by a long shot.
