Tuesday, March 14, 2006
The Crash Bash
As faithful readers know, I thought Crash deserved the Oscar for Best Picture. Although I thought Brokeback Mountain was a better-than-average movie, I did not think it a great movie. My views have led to some arguments with friends, a flavor of which is in some of the comments to my posts on Brokeback and on the Oscars, but most of which have been by private emails. Although I don't always agree with Roger Ebert about movies, he is the reviewer whose tastes coincide most closely with mine. So, I was delighted to find this article by Ebert about the continuing controversy. I can only say, I agree completely with what he wrote and wish I had the talent to write as cogently. But then that's why he's a famous movie reviewer and I'm just a crockhead.
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Stephen King gave a different opinion in Entertainment Weekly, dismissing Crash as middle-of-the-road liberal guilt tripping. You may need to be a subscriber to read this: http://tinyurl.com/mq4qa. It is also worth reading the reader's comments; most support Crash. I wanted Crash to win, because the award often goes to the safe liberal cause movie, not the best artistic achievement. It is a crass award, basically. Brokeback Mountain is a movie that will have name recognition in 20 years. Crash may, but only because of the Oscar. It needed the Oscar much more than BBM did. It was an amazing year at the Oscars: independent films, a lapse of sixty years since any one picture won so few Oscars (3), forty years since all four acting winners were first time nominees, and on and on. And it is amazing what a nerve Brokeback Mountain touched, in gay and non-gay audiences alike. Crockhead wouldn't be having to continually defend his movie if it weren't for the skittishness about gayness that BBM elicited. Is there a word for fear of homophobia? Homophobiaphobia?
Thanks for the Ebert article - I only paid attention to Jon Stewart reviews after the Oscars, and missed all the vitriol over the Best Picture winner.
I guess my Crash comments in the other thread reveal that deep down I'm a really a gay, anti-semitic, traitorous, racist pig. Bummer. :)
p.g., Crockhead wouldn't be having to continually defend Crash, if his motives for thinking it is a better movie than Brokeback weren't continually being attacked by Brokeback supporters. Why can't we just have a difference of opinion without being labelled a homophobe or homophobephobe?
Dan S., I take it you have now seen Brokeback Mountain?
No, I still haven't seen it. I'm a very confused gay homophobe right now (Vote Against Crash = pro-gay, Not Seen Brokeback = homophobe).
Actually, the movie I enjoyed the most last year was Millions. It wasn't an objectively great movie, but I loved its treatment of money, and it's depiction of sainthood (a young boy tries very hard to do give away a bunch of money he and his brother found to the poor, but keeps running into obstacles). So, I guess you can add "communist" to list of personal attributes revealed by my movie tastes.
Millions is a terrific movie. I think Ebert put it on his "ten best" list, too.
(There isn't some secret Catholic agenda going on here, is there? We can come up with a new name to add to your list. You're a Pro-Catholic Subversive now, too.)
My son is going to join the Roman Catholic church on Easter Sunday. I guess with all the ex-Catholics we have in our church, it's only fair to give them a soul back once in a while. I have some other things I could say, but I think I will save my comments for a main blog entry.
Haven't seen either film yet, but your comments have made me eager to see Crash. I want to see Brokeback, too, but somehow I feel I've heard so much about it, there's no surprise left.
Which of these nominees won the Best Picture Oscar?
1941 -- How Green Was My Valley, The Maltese Falcon, Citizen Kane
1962 -- Lawrence of Arabia, The Longest Day, To Kill a Mockingbird
1964 -- Dr. Strangelove, Zorba the Greek, My Fair Lady
1965 -- Dr. Zhivago, The Sound of Music, A Thousand Clowns
1970 -- M*A*S*H, Love Story, Patton
1971 -- Fiddler on the Roof, The French Connection, The Last Picture Show
1976 -- Rocky, All the President's Men, Network
1979 -- Apocalypse Now, Kramer vs. Kramer, Breaking Away
1985 -- The Color Purple, Out of Africa, Witness
1989 -- Driving Miss Daisy, Dead Poet's Society, Field of Dreams
1992 -- The Crying Game, Unforgiven, A Few Good Men
1996 -- Shine, Jerry McGuire, The English Patient
pg, who cares?
You obviously don't care, even though it might seem obvious that the "best" movie didn't always win, the "losers" may be highly memorable, and it begs the question as to why you were so adamant about this year's contest. BTW, did you read Ebert's Answer Man column today about Academy voters who refused to watch BBM? Seems to validate Stephen King's assertion that the Academy voted for Crash because they are scaredy-cats.
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