Prediction: "It's Going To Be A Very Political Year At The Oscars"

December 26th, 2005 3:44 PM

Terry Mattingly at Get Religion surveys the landscape for this year's Oscars, and predicts that new gay-cowboy movie is going to be a phenomenon: "I think it’s going to be one of the three or four hottest religion/cultural stories of the year in 2006. More than one friend of mine out on the left coast has said that 'Brokeback Mountain' is a dead lock for the best-picture Oscar, in part because the competition is so weak and all of the true blockbusters this year are films for young people that the academy will laugh at. One thing is certain, it’s going to be a very political year at the Oscars." (USA Today adds to the mix "Syriana," and "Munich," and "Good Night and Good Luck.")

At TimesWatch, Clay Waters noticed the kind of politicized flattery "Brokeback" is drawing at the New York Times, with Stephen Holden raving, "This moving and majestic film would be a landmark if only because it is the first Hollywood movie to unmask the homoerotic strain in American culture". Mattingly addressed it earlier here.