Indie Spirit Award Noms just announced- November 29, 2005 Taking this quick writing break to spread the good word, announced just in the last hour. Nom list. Press release. I was happy to see two of my favorite small films of the year, Mysterious Skin and (to a lesser extent) Me and You and Everyone We Know nominated. (Skin for best director for Gregg Araki--quite the coup; and Me & You . . . for best first feature and best first screenplay.) Most of the big awards were dominated by films also in the running for Oscars: Capote, Brokeback Mountain,.http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/11/29.html#a1773 Watching Brokeback Mountain -- just about perfect- November 20, 2005 Watched Brokeback Mountain last night. Wow. Just about perfect. Every bit as moving as the short story, and then some. They really fleshed out the characters, and I empathized with them more strongly. Enough that I'm not angry at Ennis anymore. I totally understand why he did it. How he thought he had to. The problem with preconceptions is that it was hard not to sit there in the first half hour thinking, "Heath Ledger is doing fine, but 'a revelation' Not quite getting that." (And there...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/11/20.html#a1767 Nine hours still Brokeback Mountain!- November 19, 2005 I've got to finish a chapter, get my hair cut, pick up my pants from the dry cleaners, and then I get to meet Annie Proulx, and possibly Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana and Ang Lee. And then I get to watch Brokeback Mountain. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Stayed in working last night, worked my ass off all week, feel wrung out like a dishrag, but I got lots of copy so I'm happy and I like myself again and tonight is my night off. And what a night! Going dancing afterward. (Yes, I've been really good all...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/11/19.html#a1764 How (much) will Brokeback Mountain change America- November 14, 2005 Friday, The Hollywood Reporter published this wonderful piece, Ang Lee's 'Brokeback' explores 'last frontier'. It opens like this: There's no doubt that a $13 million quality movie like Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," which has wowed festivalgoers and reviewers in Telluride, Venice and Toronto, will play well in big movie markets around the country. The question is, how broad will it goNo one knows that answer, because no one has ventured into this territory before. The movie is a...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/11/14.html#a1760 They're pitching Jake Gyllenhaal for supporting- November 7, 2005 I ran across this SAG For Your Consideration ad a few weeks ago and had no time to post. If you're not aware, the actorsstudioshandlers decide themselves whether an actor is nominated as best actor or supporting. And among other things, they use the FYC ads to indicate how they want themselves slotted. It's Heath for best actor Jake for supporting for Brokeback Mountain. Prolly cause Heath was getting most of the raves, so Jake was a longshot unless they downgraded, and he was also a leading...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/11/06.html#a1758 13 days till I meet Ang and Annie- November 7, 2005 Ahhhhhhhhh. Thirteen days till I see Brokeback Mountain. It's closing the Denver Film Fest Nov. 19. Ang is receiving the Mayor&146;s Lifetime Achievement Award, award, and will be interviewed onstage afterward. That will be very cool. (Especially since I think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of the few true artistic masterpieces of the last decade in film.) Annie Proulx, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana are also coming. Even better. But the best part: Ang and Annie are attending..http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/11/06.html#a1757 The launch of my love affair (with Brokeback Mountain)- November 7, 2005 As anxiously as I've watched the Brokeback film project develop, undevelop and redevelop over the years, I had never actually read the story. I guess because I missed it when it first came out, and then I wanted to see it as a film first. (Book-first rarely works out well. By designlength books are nearly always far deeper and more complex, and the film never lives up. But I can appreciate a great film, and then go read the book for addeddifferent levels of complexity. Almost...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/11/06.html#a1756 Jake's big break (Jake Gyllenhaal, of course)- November 6, 2005 Shew! For a minute (week or two, actually), Jarhead was beginning to look like this year's Alexander. (Which I had to see in spite of the withering reviews, and yes, it really was that bad, though Colin Farrell was not.) A consensus Oscar contender for possibly best pic and definitely best actor just a few weeks ago, its stock suddenly plummeted once people actual saw it. Early buzz was baaaaaaad. And then the actual reviews poured in for opening day Friday, and they were only half...http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/11/06.html#a1755 Capote- November 6, 2005 I swore off blogging for a bit to stay focused, but this I need to talk about. Just saw Capote. Extraordinary. Especially for a writer. What a gift to get such a glimpse at his process. But . . . Huge but. But what a cynical take on him. I just don't buy it. He got all those people to open up to him by faking empathy When he was truly just cold blooded, calculating and entirely manipulative I guess there are con artists that good out there. I just found it way too hard to swallow. Now I totally.http://blogs.salon.com/0001137/categories/films/2005/11/06.html#a1754 |