My Brokeback Mountain site has moved!- December 21, 2005 The new page is here: www.davecullen.combrokebackmountain Thanks so much to Parenthetical Greg, my new brokeback webmaster, for setting it all up. He has been amazing. And thanks to all the moderators who have been taking over the discussion. This will simplify everything greatly. (For you and for me.) Soon we will also have a real discussion board there, which will be so much easier for all of you to use, and I won't have to keep having these comment-thread posts on the...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/homos/2005/week51.html#a1849 Mrs. Henderson Presents- December 21, 2005 No time to say a lot, not much worth saying. Really lightweight, annoying little trifle. Mainly for tittering old ladies feeling a little naughty. A breast! they're going to show a breast! Oh my! Junior high school humor for senior citizens. Quite the unfortunate combo. And completely confused in tone. First half did not belong with second half. What the hell hell happened to Stephen Frears The Grifters and Sammy & Rosie Get Laid (nothing like it sounds) are two of my all-time faves. Been...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/12/21.html#a1847 Sin City is vile- December 19, 2005 I just noticed Sin City showing up on critics' year-end top ten lists. (Chart here.) Ugh. Gives me the shivers. Really revolting film. And stupid, too, at least the first 30 minutes. First film I ever walked out of. My initial reaction here. That little post also comments on the miserable experiment that was the film Yes, my second-ever walkout, two months later. Roger Ebert put it 9th on his list. Huh. One of us has a big problem.http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/12/19.html#a1829 Brokeback Mountain wins NY Critics: Pic, Director, Actor- December 12, 2005 Brokeback wins biggest yet at most important award outside the Oscars! NY Film Critics hand it Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. Heath Ledger finally gets his due, from the most important source. (And was 2nd with LA, the next most important.) Nice! Brokeback swept both awards that really mean something: NY and LA film crits. This is SO sweet. (Thanks for the emails, so I didn't have to monitor. Gotta get back to work. That's all till tonight.)http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/12/12.html#a1792 'Official critics' darling, Brokeback Mountain'- December 12, 2005 Oscarwatch began its latest post this way: "Ladies and gents, we now have our official critics' darling, Brokeback Mountain." In the last 24 hours, it has won best picture and director honors from the LA and Boston film critics groups, made the AFI top ten list (no winner is picked), and trounced most of its rivals on the Broadcast Film Critics nominations by leading the pack with eight, double any other film except Crash (with six.) Philip Seymour Hoffman also seems to be cleaning..http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/12/11.html#a1789 Brokeback Mountain breaks box office records- December 11, 2005 First a little background. Brokeback Mountain is using a strategy called "a platform release," where a film opens in a few theaters (five, in this case) to build buzz, and then rolls out gradually. The key number to watch in the early weeks is the per-theatre average. Anything above $10,000 is great for an arthouse pic, but to really blast off into the stratosphere, they are looking for $20-30,000. The biggest average ever for an indie pic was Syriana, with $74,900, just two weeks...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/12/10.html#a1786 Brokeback Mountain wins top LA Film Critcs Awards- December 11, 2005 Brokeback Mountain grabbed best picture and best director. Heath Ledger took second for Best Actor. Phillip Seymour Hoffman won it for Capote, which I also loved a great deal. Full list at Oscarwatch. A whole wave of more awards coming in the next three days: NY Film Critics, National Board of review, AFI top ten list, and noms from Golden Globes and Broadcast film critics. Full calendar here.http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/12/10.html#a1785 Brokeback Mountain starts bombarding your TV tonight- December 8, 2005 Well, Brokeback Mountain has been written up in just about every print outlet imaginable the past two weeks. It exceeded all expectations there, but no telling how that will translate to actual acceptance. Phase 2 seems to be kicking off tonight: they reach your TV. Separate interviews with Heath Ledger and Ang Lee consume the entire Charlie Rose show tonight, and according to reports from reliable readers, Jake Gyllenhaal will appear Thursday on The Today Show, MTV's Total Request Live,...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/12/07.html#a1781 |