Issue date: 1/27/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: courtesy Focus Features Pictures such as this, which is not a scene in Brokeback Mountain, but used nonetheless, are contributing to the media-driven controversy surrounding the film.

Well, 2005 is over, and with that, it will be awhile before we see another slew of movies released so quickly like we saw over this past winter break. As much as I would like to have seen every major movie released in the past few months, that would have been an accomplishment usually only reserved for full-time movie critics of daily newspapers, not part-time critics of bi-monthly college newspapers.

So, I will apologize in advance and say that I have not gotten around to seeing the following movies that are likely to make big news in the next few weeks: Munich, Capote, Transamerica, and Pride and Prejudice. Regardless, I was at the movies quite a bit over break to catch up on the movies making the headlines.

As anyone who watched the Golden Globe awards last week saw, Brokeback Mountain matched all the critics' hype it had been getting prior to the awards and took home the awards for best picture in the drama category, best director of a motion picture, best screenplay, and best original song.

I was quite excited to see this movie with such an intriguing storyline, and while this position puts me at odds with the majority of critics (and, unfortunately, in the comfort of redneck America), it just wasn't that good. As you probably know by now, it tells the story of two gay cowboys in Wyoming and the struggles they face to reconcile their relationship with their profession. For one, it was very hard to feel the love and romance between the lead actors, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall. Additionally, there was a very poor sense of time, as the plot jumped around continuously, and was also filled with a view questionable plot holes (such as the decision to have them make out right in front of one's house where they could (and would) be easily seen by a hurt wife).

I will not back down from my contention that March of the Penguins is the best film of the year, nor that Wallace and Gromit is the second-best, but I will be realistic and concede that neither stands a chance at the Oscars for Best Picture (although I will be infuriated either do not win in their respective best documentary and best animated film categories).

Continued...

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