Heath's movie gets the boot

[PiNkUniCoRn]

CINEMAS in two US states have outraged moviegoers by refusing to show Heath Ledger's gay cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain.

The cinemas, in Utah and Washington, pulled the flick after the influential Conference of Catholic Bishops gave it an "O" rating for morally offensive.
In Australia, where the film opens on Australia Day, conservative groups are also rallying for a boycott because of the film's controversial storyline about two cowboys who have a secret love affair for 20 years.

Just two hours before a Salt Lake City cinema complex was due to show the film on Friday, all screenings were cancelled after the owner learned of the plot.

The only explanation was a ticket window message which read: "There has been a change in booking and we will not be showing Brokeback Mountain. We apologise for any inconvenience."

While Salt Lake City is the home base for America's conservative Mormon population, a local newspaper noted that other new movies with R-rated content, such as the marijuana-fuelled comedy Grandma's Boy and the horror movie Hostel, opened on schedule.

The move incensed the film's distributor, Focus Features.
"Only hours prior to opening the theatre management reneged on their licensing agreement with Focus Features and refused to open the film as scheduled," a spokesman said.

"Given the gigantic grosses already being posted in Salt Lake City for Brokeback Mountain, this is their loss."

In Poulsbo, Washington, west of Seattle, customers were told they would be refunded for their Brokeback Mountain tickets after the cinema pulled the film at the last minute.

In Australia, Christian Democratic Party national president Fred Nile said the party would support local cinemas in a boycott of the film.

"We would support the decision by any theatre chain to ban the film and we support those theatres in the US that have made the decision," Reverend Nile said.

http://entertainment.news.com.au/story/0,10221,17776774-7485,00.html

[cinditude]

lol I just got on to post what you just posted so I'll post the highly subjective reveiw from STRATTON

Brokeback Mountain

Review by David Stratton

An epic American love story based on the short story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx. Set against the sweeping vistas of Wyoming and Texas, it is the story of a range-hand and a rodeo cowboy who meet in the summer of 1963 and unexpectedly forge a lifelong connection.

Margaret: http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/img/five.gif David: http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/img/five.gif

Watch "Brokeback Mountain" trailer [M-rated] (About Media Players (http://www.abc.net.au/broadband/help/)):





Getting a release later in January is what I predict will be one of the best films of 2006, Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, which stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two cowboys who discover something rare and forbidden when they are working alone on Brokeback Mountain one summer.

At the end of summer Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) goes back down the mountain and marries his fiance Alma (Michelle Williams), has a couple of kids while Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), goes back to the rodeo. Four years down the track, after his own marriage to Lureen (Anne Hathaway), Jack initiates a reconnection. The relationship between the two men which endures for twenty years has an impact on both their marriages.

This exquisite film was made by the Ang Lee who seems to be able to bring such truth to his films, despite the wide variety of genres and cultures that he explores. With Brokeback Mountain he worked from a screenplay by Larry McMurtry’s and Diana Ossana which they adapted from a short story by E Annie Proulx.

In making Brokeback Mountain Lee has made all the right choices – using Rodrigo Prieto as cinematographer and Gustavo Santaolalla as composer, collaborators of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu on both Amores Perros and 21 Grams. The effect is sublime.

Casting Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal was a stroke of genius, neither have been better in their lives, they are just so beautiful and the rest of the cast is outstanding. For me, this is an absolutely perfect film in every way. So moving, so wonderfully done.

Further comments

MARGARET POMERANZ: For me, this is an absolutely perfect film in every way. So moving and so wonderfully done. David.

DAVID STRATTON: It is. It is, quite simply, a great love story. And it's done with such subtlety and such dignity and such grace. And as you say, Ang Lee is really an extraordinary director because he tackles so many different kinds of films. Who would believe that the man who made 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' could make such a subtle, tender film as this.

MARGARET POMERANZ: After 'Hulk'.

DAVID STRATTON: After 'Hulk'.

MARGARET POMERANZ: But, you know, every shot in this film, I have seen it twice now, and second time you just look at what he does with that camera, and every shot has a point. Do you know, this is why I go to the movies, for the possibility of seeing something as good as this.

DAVID STRATTON: It's so graceful and so tender. So pertinent. And people have mocked Heath Ledger a little bit for some of the things he's done.

MARGARET POMERANZ: He's wonderful in this.

DAVID STRATTON: But he is fantastic. And so is, I mean, the two of them are really good. And the women are good, too. It just is a really terrific film. I'm gonna give this 5 out of 5.

MARGARET POMERANZ: Look! I would give it 10 out of 5. I just think it's so sublime.

DAVID STRATTON: You can't.

[Davomaxi]

Cool - Ang Lee is an outstanding director and I would like to see this. Let the normal people who can handle this enjoy a good movie and leave all the uptight nutjobs babbling in their own hysteria.

[twistandshout]

I thought the "O" rating denoted ringhole.

[tim-e]

Oh noes! A movie about gay love in the mainstream... that's got to be morally offensive!



pffft.

[risk]

:lol: at margaret & david's conversation.

[jootsiejuice]

Fred Nile needs a nail bomb in the mouth.

[DJ Fusion]

For the most part, the critics agree that Brokeback Mountain is one of the year's most commendable films.

Then there's Gene Shalit's point of view.

The veteran Today show critic has been taken to task by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation over his negative review of the gay cowboy western, in which he referred to Jake Gyllenhaal's character, Jack, as a "sexual predator" who "tracks Ennis down and coaxes him into sporadic trysts."

The group claimed that Shalit's statements, delivered during his "Critic's Choice" segment on Thursday's Today show, promoted "defamatory anti-gay prejudice to a national audience," and criticized NBC News for providing the eccentric critic with a platform from which to air his views.

"Shalit's bizarre characterization of Jack as a 'predator' and Ennis ( Heath Ledger) as a victim reflects a fundamental lack of understanding about the central relationship in the film and about gay relationships in general," GLAAD said in a statement. "It seems highly doubtful that Shalit would similarly claim that Titanic's Jack ( Leonardo DiCaprio) was a 'sexual predator' because he was pursuing a romantic relationship with Rose ( Kate Winslet)."

GLAAD demanded an apology from both Shalit and NBC News and urged supporters to contact the network and complain.

In addition to offering his searing analysis of the romantic relationship between the lead characters, Shalit commended Ledger's performance in Brokeback and allowed that the film had a "few dramatic peaks." He concluded that Ang Lee's much-nominated oeuvre was "wildly overpraised, but not by me."

"Shalit has every right as a film critic to criticize Brokeback Mountain," GLAAD retorted. "But his baseless branding of Jack as a 'sexual predator' merely because he is romantically interested in someone of the same sex is defamatory, ignorant and irresponsible."

The group reported on its Website that GLAAD representatives had spoken with a Today show producer, who promised to bring their concerns to Shalit's attention.

While Shalit may not be a Brokeback fan, his colleagues in critique have clamored to commend the cowboy drama.

To date, the film has been named Best Picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle and deemed one of the year's 10 best films by the American Film Institute and the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

The kudos don't stop there--Brokeback is up for eight Critic's Choice Awards, seven Golden Globes, a Writers Guild Award, a Producers Guild Award, a Directors Guild Award and four Screen Actors Guild Awards, to name a few. And that's before nominations for the Academy Awards are announced on Jan. 31

Wow, I guess art and cinema are really only subjective so long as you agree with everybody elses opinion these days.

[Breakme]

i am not usually one for blondes but omg i <3 heath

[phunkdust]

Fred Nile needs a nail bomb in the mouth.
He's a bit of a looney tune. I had the misfortune of meeting the guy once.

[Suteki]

Good ol Fred Niles, he does tend to pop up abit. I remember his quest to have Marilyn Manson, the anti-christ communing to Australia to recruit new Satanists to his cult, denied entry to Australia during BDO 99. Good times.

As to this, what a load of crap. If the Catholics don't like it they don't have to watch it or allow any of their fellow Catholics to watch it, but sweet jesus removing the movie all together for their own agenda?

[BMoney]

Mormon: HOW DARE THEY!! That homosexual filth is against God's way!! Now, where are my 11 wives???



I've been to Utah several times. I still can't get the smell out of my clothes.

[Diva M]

Doesn't it also come down to freedom of choice? If you don't want to go see a movie about a gay love story, no one's dragging you in there and sticky taping your eyes open to force you. Personally I'm looking forwad to seeing it.

[Mickstah]

What if Satanists found The Passion of Christ offensive to their beliefs?

[maas]

i guess freedom of speech and democracy only applies when its the conservatives pushing for a certain agenda.

i cant understand the censorship. if someone in those states is desperate to see it they will most likely download it or buy a pirated copy off the street.

[magictorch]

What if Satanists found The Passion of Christ offensive to their beliefs?

Why would they? It's not like the movie denied Satan existed, or that he was evil.

Christians' and Satanists' beliefs aren't that different in that respect!

A lot of people were offended by the unsubtle anti-Semitism throughout the movie though, but I don't think that many expect Mel Gibson to produce a historically-accurate film with a balanced and unbiased perspective these days...

[MidgetFidget]

Fred Nile needs a nail bomb in the mouth.
QFT

I can understand them wanting to censor it if it had full on sex scenes, but from what I've read it's really mild and conservative in that aspect.

p

[loopi]

I'm looking forward to seeing this film, apparently the cinematography is brilliant.

[Imperial Tee]

All this hoo-haw is not because of the fact that this is a gay movie but rather because it is a gay cowboy movie. Westerns have for some bemusing reason been declared a hallowed bastion for all the sacred attributes of American manliness, when in truth they have nothing but thinly disguised odes to manlove all along.

below is a link to an article in the Guardian highlighting Hollywood's long tradition of homoerotic flirtation in the Western genre.

http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,1675408,00.html

[nrjize]

:lol: All cowboys are gay (well at least in the movies I've seen).

Seriously though - this is to be expected, it happens with any media that depicts gay people as normal functioning members of society. Looking forward to seeing this for sure :).

From the article Imperial linked to above:

Let's get real, folks. The western, America's trove of foundation myths and "morality" tales, literally throbs with latent homoeroticism. Examine the following list of cowboy-movie titles and tell me which one isn't a gay porno movie: Man Hunt, Rawhide, Little Big Man, Two Rode Together, Seven Men From Now, Heller In Pink Tights, The Lusty Men, All The Pretty Horses, The Naked Spur, Dirty Harry, Rancho Notorious, Heaven's Gate, Saddle Tramps, A Fistful Of Dynamite or Bareback Mounting. OK, the last one isn't a gay porno movie yet, but give 'em a couple of weeks. Why, even supermasculine John Wayne's back catalogue suggests the western is a tad light in the stirrups: Men Without Women, Rough Romance, Two-Fisted Law, Pals Of The Saddle, Blue Steel and, best of all, Ride Him, Cowboy! That closet door is fairly straining to open.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Imperial Tee]

Ride 'em cowboy

[Mickstah]

:lol:

Awesome movie title list.

[tim-e]

Two-Fisted Law! :-D

[pomrocks]

Thread really should have been named;

"Heath's movie gets the arse"

[pisstake]

The stupidity of the whole thing is that banning it has just increased its profile exponentially and the cinemas that are screening it are packing every session.
When will the nutters realise that banning something is publicity you can't buy

[NrGiZa BuNnEe]

I saw the preview a few weeks ago. It looks like a beautiful film and I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

[Junglejunkie]

Im actually looking forward to seeing this too.

[alexmac]

it's just another media beat up

Only 2 cinemas in the whole of the USA have refused to show it.
it's not really that bad

[Heist9000]

The cinemas, in Utah and Washington, pulled the flick after the influential Conference of Catholic Bishops gave it an "O" rating for morally offensive.

Maybe if one of the cowboys was a religeous man and the other cowboy was 9 years old they would have liked it better

[funkyhouser]

Those pussies should be publicly slapped about and then shot in the gut by clint eastwood. And then he should squirt some chewin' tobacco on their dead skulls and leave em for the buzzards..heh damn fags

[legal-affairs]

Those pussies should be publicly slapped about and then shot in the gut by clint eastwood. And then he should squirt some chewin' tobacco on their dead skulls and leave em for the buzzards..heh damn fags
What a lovely chap you are. Still, it's nice to have a contender for least favourite n00b of the year so early.

[skywalkin_]

Homer: Hey what does this last question say? It's been blacked out... oh hang on i can just make it out...

Army recruiter: Oh no please don't read that!!!! I could go to jail!!

Homer: ...Are you a ho.. mo..

Army recruiter: LALALALALAAAAAALAAA!!!!! I'm not listening I can't hear you!!


You can trust the simpsons to show us the lighter side of everything that is wrong with American society :lol:

[nickko]

Maybe if one of the cowboys was a religeous man and the other cowboy was 9 years old they would have liked it better

:lol: