Beneath the Fireworks

Random Pic: In the wine cellar at Heidelberg Castle

So here’s my (truncated) two cents on the movie beneath the fireworks, which some of you have asked/commented about. Never would I be so foolish as to say more than a few peripheral comments, since after all, most of us have our minds made up about the film after hearing the premise.

I’m just putting it out there, since some wanted to know. If you don’t like it, send it right back. It’s cool.

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Brokeback Mountain. Everyone has an opinion, not so much about the merit of the film, but more so about the subject matter at hand. So yeah, it has two gay cowboys. And yeah, they are in love. Big time.

Ok.

What strikes me the most is all the fuss. I mean, we have movies about gay sports players (Might Ducks-Emilio Estevez), journalists (the two hour yawn, Capote), and corporate types (Philadelphia). What I don’t understand is this: The gay cowboy movie has always seemed so strikingly obvious. I mean, they’re out on the ranch roping steers and wearing chaps… How could you not see it coming?

Nearly every single person (that I’ve talked to) who has seen the film has said it was great. And those who didn’t necessarily enjoy it conceded that artistically, in the realm of moviemaking, it is a masterful work and beautifully tragic story. And they are absolutely right-it is both and more.

Those who have not seen it yet, for various reasons (read: one very big reason, like, gay cowboys), are entirely entitled to their opinion. Just the fact that they have an opinion, as long as it’s not demeaning to their fellow man, well, I respect that.

I thought it was easily the best movie of the year and Ang Lee deserves his Oscar.

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I’m sending a strongly worded letter to Webster’s Dictionary, requesting an amendment to their definition of the word ‘anticlimactic.’ It should, somewhere in there, include seeing the New England Patriots’ Cheerleaders. Today at the hospital they stood awkwardly at the door as people gathered to gawk. Half were generally unimpressed while the other half was too intimidated to go say hello. They’re just dancers. Come on now.