Brokeback Mountain
So tonite I headed out of my apartment in the rain to head down the street and check out this flick. On the way there I stopped off to pick up some beer and munchies at the deli. I guess the christmas rush cleared out the tall boys so I had to go with a couple 12 oz. Lite bottles. Also got some wasabis and a can of peanuts. The peanuts might have been a bad call because I ate like half a can of em and they made me all farty. Not loud smelly farty just gassy non-toxic. Which I'm sure the people around me would have appreciated if they'd known how much farting was going on in my area.
Anyway, Brokeback. It was definitely one of those movies that I wish I could have done a media blackout on and gone in ice cold. If I knew nothing about it going in I would have been floored when the cowboys started hooking up and that would have been awesome! But unfortunately it was impossible avoiding hearing this is a 'gay cowboy' movie. I read a bunch of articles that gave the studio props for making a movie like this. Acting like nobody would touch it because of the content and how they were brave etc. But I really don't give them that much credit for having the balls to make this film. I don't think the studios concern was some sort of social backlash. I just think they were concerned about its dollar potential in the long run. I mean you can't really rake in the backend on a flick like this with brokeback action figures in mcdonalds happy meals or whatever.
So what did I think? I thought this movie was good. The first 40 minutes or so were total great. The first chunk of this flick had shot after shot of shots that looked like paintings. Colors and movement were all really beautiful. The air smelled really clean on the screen and it was nice looking at sheep. I like sheep. Acting-wise Heath Legnor was the standout. He was mumbley good. Jake Gyllennehallall did a nice job too but I think I would have preferred someone less-known in the role. The sheep were also very convincing. I liked watching this flick. It was really coolio to finally see some gay dudes up on the screen that weren't all bouncing off the walls and stuff. And it definitely widened my eyes to think about how it sucked total for dudes in smaller towns to have to go sneaking around and act straight and stuff.
This movie had some problems tho. One problem was it moseyed along too much and dipped into borrrrinngg more than once- but the bigger problem for me was nothing ever really got under my skin and made me all emotionalized. As the movie moved along I became pretty aware that it wasn't plucking at nerves on me at all. Something about it seemed a little cold and distant. Not sure why. I bought their relationship. I bought the struggle they had with their personal lives. I was onboard with where the story went. But when push came to shove I was just watching a good flick sorta whatever whatevery-- when I was really hoping that I'd be sitting in a crowded movie theater all proud that I was man enough to cry at a gay cowboy movie. But that was never really a threat... which was sort of a bummer.
Three Good Things About this Movie
- Heath Legnor carried this movie a long way. He was seriously good and fun
to watch and listen to.
- It was nice seeing a flick that registered as important.
- There were shots of a herder dog doing herding and it was cute seeing a
dog do work and stuff.
Three Bad Things About this Movie
- The aging process for both characters didn't work for me.
- For all the controversy this is really pretty much by-the-numbers
stuff.
- It had a soapy and watery feel.
All in all I'd say this is a movie to see especially on the big screen because of the big shots. It looked great. I really did like watching it even when I was bored. I appreciated that it was so different and thinky. It had all the elements of being a truly great love story. But something held it back from tumbling down the mountain, breaking away from the straight gay love story, splashing down something deeper... and becoming truly fierce.