"On a purely cinematic level, 'Brokeback Mountain' never seems to take a wrong step. Here is an example of a filmmaking team firing on all cylinders. Every aspect of the production excels, yet does not overpower the whole -- the writing, the direction, the cinematography, the performances, the score and on down the line. And that's really saying something, when you consider that 'Brokeback' could be the career best for all involved. Director Ang Lee, who took home an Oscar for 'Brokeback,' was the perfect choice to portray a story about characters who can't address their feelings. 'Sense & Sensibility,' 'The Ice Storm,' 'The Wedding Banquet,' even 'Hulk' -- they are all strands of the same thematic thread, but never has Lee evoked the tortures of repressed passions as beautifully as in 'Brokeback.' The actors are also, dare I say, revelations. Yes, that is an overused critical phrase, but few could have ever expected such a level of subtlety, perception and restraint from Ledger and Gyllenhaal".Not to mention fellow Oscar nominee Michelle Williams (forever erasing any memory of 'Dawson's Creek'), and Anne Hathaway, who with one immensely powerful last scene, facilitates a whole new understanding of the film with just a flitter of the eye and a few simple pauses between words. Finally, we can't forget screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, who will likely never be able to write another such perfectly modulated, perceptive script as this.Long after the endless parade of lame "gay cowboy" jokes and pointless bickering about awards tallies are over, I think the film will easily stand on its own as a landmark cinematic achievement. 'Brokeback Mountain' will last because it is about not about issues, but the human condition itself. It leaves us both haunted by the prejudices that doomed the lovers of Brokeback Mountain, and emboldened into believing that our society can, at last, rise above them.
The Video: Sizing Up the Picture
'Brokeback Mountain' on Blu-ray trails the HD DVD release by a couple of years, but packs no new surprises. The film is again presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and 1080p/VC-1 video, and I could not detect any difference in the transfers. In general, this is lovely and occasionally even gorgeous presentation that suitably captures the movie's earthy, film-like texture
No, this is not a pristine presentation. There is grain throughout, but I didn't find it intrusive; rather, it adds to the experience by giving the movie a touch more grit. Colors are quite good, from the lush greens of the mountain countryside to the vivid blues and reds of the oft-cited fireworks shot used in much of the promotion for the film. Yes, hues are a bit more subtle and natural than most modern films, but colors remain stable and clean, and fleshtones lovely. Depth and detail are also excellent, particularly compared to the previous standard DVD edition. The early scenes as Jack and Ennis first meet up on the mountain are more textured and three-dimensional. Close-ups are also improved, and I could see every strand of Anne Hathaway's ever-more-hilarious hairstyles as the movie progresses. For example, in the key scene near the end of the film as Ennis visits the Jack's parents, there is a low, almost whispery sound of the outside wind that fills the rear channels. Moments like this are eerie, haunting and highly effective. Also more active is the "fireworks" scene with Ennis, and a couple of rodeo and bar scenes. Ultimately, 'Brokeback Mountain' on Blu-ray still doesn't really overwhelm or pummel, but faithfully replicates the subtle style of the soundtrack.
The Supplements: Digging Into the Good Stuff
* Featurette: "A Groundbreaking Success" (HD, 14 minutes) - The most relevant of the new featurettes. The usual assortment of film critics and historians are trotted out to proclaim 'Brokeback' a classic, as well as what looks to be comments new and old from cast and crew (the Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal chats seem fresher, while Ang Lee's interview in particular appears dated). Unfortunately, at only 14 minutes, this barely scratches the surface. I read interviews with Ledger and Gyllenhaal, both of whom said they got letters from fans whose lives were changed by the film. Where is this kind of emotional material? How about some genuinely insightful perspective on how 'Brokeback' has influenced the political landscape for gays and lesbians in America? Or the backlash against the film? 'Brokeback Mountain' is the kind of hot-button movie tailor-made for a substantial documentary, but sadly, this isn't it.
* Featurette: "Music from the Mountain" (HD, 11 minutes) - Next we have this nice look at the making of the film's score, although I only really liked it because of the vibrant personality of composer Gustavo Santaolalla. He's passionate and enthusiastic, and having won an Oscar for his efforts, certainly deserves his own featurette.
* Still Montage (HD, 3 minutes) - "Impressions from the Film" is total fluff -- a nearly 3-minute montage of movie stills over excerpts from Santaolalla's score. How about a real still gallery, with never-before-seen production and publicity photos? Maybe Universal is saving that for the next special edition?
* Original Featurettes (SD, 25 minutes) - The remaining extras are all from the first 'Brokeback' release and will already be familiar (i.e., boring) to fans. "Directing from the Heart: Ang Lee" (8 minutes), "From Script to Screen: Interviews with Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana" (10 minutes) and "On Being a Cowboy" (6 minutes) are pretty good, but were clearly produced before the film was released and offer no perspective on the film's impact. A bonus is that even supporting cast are interviewed, including Randy Quaid, Linda Cardellini and Anne Hathaway. This fluff might be fairly interesting if you'd never heard anything about 'Brokeback Mountain,' but it's just a yawner otherwise.
* TV Special (SD, 22 minutes) - Finally, there is the Logo television special "Sharing the Story: The Making of 'Brokeback Mountain,'" which runs 22 minutes. This, too, has been played so incessantly on cable that it's now yawn-inducing. More interviews with all the cast & crew and plenty of on-set footage make it a good little TV doc on its own terms, but this is old news if you've already seen it on TV, or on the original DVD release.
"Dakota Fanning is negotiating to play lead singer Cheri Currie in "The Runaways" the biopic of the '70s all-girl band that already has "Twilight" star Kristen Stewart playing Joan Jett.
Scripted and directed by Floria Sigismondi, the film begins production in late spring. At 15, Fanning is the same age Currie was when she made her debut with the Runaways as the lead singer who belted out hard-edged tunes like "Cherry Bomb." Currie became caught up in drugs and a hard-partying lifestyle.
John and Art Linson are producing with River Road Entertainment's Bill Pohlad, with Jett serving as exec producer.Fanning, who most recently starred in "The Secret Life of Bees" and "Push," and voiced "Coraline," is also booked to play a vampire in the "Twilight" sequel "New Moon."Source: www.variety.com
Dakota Fanning could pass as Amanda Seyfried's little sister.
"A nationally-recognized Washington Post environmental reporter spoke in Moscow Monday. Juliet Eilperin’s headlining presentation was held at the 1912 Center. She spoke about the environmental policies of President Barack Obama, specifically whether or not she believes he will be able to follow through with environmental promises made during his campaign. “This is a rare opportunity for an inside-the-Beltway perspective from one of the country’s top environmental reporters,” said Kenton Bird, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Media. “Juliet Eilperin will help us better understand how well President Obama will be able to implement his agenda for the environment, including climate change, public lands and the Endangered Species Act.”She graduated from Princeton University in 1992 after working on her undergraduate thesis in Mexico City. After college, she lived in Seoul, South Korea for a year on a fellowship. She began reporting for the Washington Post in 1994 as its House of Representatives reporter and has been the Post’s national environmental reporter since 2004. Jake Gyllenhaal and Salma Hayek at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, on 22th February 22, 2009.She ventured to the Arctic with Salma Hayek and Jake Gyllenhaal to investigate climate change, and traveled with Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential race.
Eilperin said her background in politics helped her with her environmental reporting, especially while on the campaign trail.
She published her first book, “Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship is Poisoning the House of Representatives.”
“Congress isn’t a representation of the people … because of how we draw congressional lines”, she said". Source: www.uiargonaut.com
"Jen’s appeal lies in that girl-next-door quality she embodies so thoroughly. More than any other A-list actress, she makes you feel you know her. You can imagine chatting with her over a bottle of wine on a girls’ night out. Her latest film, Marley & Me, shot to the number one spot as soon as it came out in America at the end of last year. It’s already made over £100 million in the US alone, and Jennifer makes no attempt to hide her enthusiasm for the heart-warming romantic comedy.She does say that she has no idealised expectations about anything – including romance. Is there such a thing as a perfect relationship? ‘I don’t have one and I don’t think it exists. We are just fooling ourselves if we think it does. Whoever said that every relationship has to last for ever? That’s hoping for too much. I think every relationship is a world unto itself. The truth is, I’m very romantic. It’s a shame that people stop being romantic out of laziness. And communication is vital. People often expect their partner to read their minds and when that doesn’t happen, they get upset, then the other person gets even more upset, and it is all because they didn’t talk it over at the beginning.’ Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston attending the UK premiere of "Marley & Me" held at The Vue Cinema, Leicester Square on 2nd March, in London, England.
Did her role as a mother in Marley & Me make her wistful about starting a family herself? ‘Of course I’d like to be a mother some day, and I love children. But a movie like this reminds you that you start your life with expectations and dreams, then life unfolds and it doesn’t always turn out the way you’d imagined. Jennifer is godmother to four-year-old Coco, daughter of her best friend Courteney Cox, and says all the Friends are still close, although Courteney is the only one she sees on a regular basis. ‘You have grand plans, like, “We’ll have dinner once a month.” And then life happens; times change". Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Ok, Jen, the notion of a solid or perfect relationship is more and more inexistent these days, because nobody is perfect, but at least some of us, married women in a stable relationship, like to pretend we have one because I think my hubby is perfect for me. And how much did Jennifer flirt spuriously in "The Good Girl" with Jakey? (within the story she was a unfaithful married woman, in real life she was married to Brad Pitt, although shooting "The Good Girl", Jennifer said they used padding under the sheets in the motel scenes). Jake Gyllenhaal and Jennifer Aniston attending "The Good Girl" Hollywood Premiere, on 7th August, 2002. Jake and Jen attending the 9th Annual Hollywood Film Awards in Beverly Hills, on 24th October 24, 2005.Jen and Jake at the 18th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, in Los Angeles, on 14th April 14, 2007.
"Reese Witherspoon (in Valentino) puts one hand on her hip as she poses with an indestructible gelatinous mass at the premiere of her new animated flick, Monsters vs. Aliens, on Monday (March 9) in Berlin, Germany. The blob, voiced by Seth Rogen in the movie, is called B.O.B. and stands for Bicarbonate Ostylezene Benzoate.
Monsters vs. Aliens will open in Germany theaters on April 2 and is also voiced by Kiefer Sutherland, Stephen Colbert, Paul Rudd, Rainn Wilson, Will Arnett and Hugh Laurie".Source: Justjared.buzznet.com
"It’d originally been set for a June 2009 release but Disney, producer of Ubisoft’s best-selling game Prince of Persia, thought it best to move the film’s showing to May of 2010 so as not to compete with Tranformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen... allegedly, coz that would be like The Mummy Returns showing on the same day as The Dark Knight.
Anyway now that it’s been moved to May 2010, it should go up against Thor and Shrek Goes Fourth which should be a tighter competition. I guess people should just give this movie some confidence since I for one am waiting for Jake Gyllenhaal to run up walls in his Aladdin costume". Source: backlinemedia.com
"What’s a Michael Bay movie without car spiraling out of nowhere. This week, explosion rocked Long Beach as seen in this video from the upcoming Transformers sequel. It’s awesome enough to see in live action (but that’s because its simulated of course). Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen hits theaters June 26, 2009". Source: backlinemedia.com
"In his teens, Jimmy becomes smitten with Chloe (angelic Marley Shelton), who a few year later announces her engagement to a neighborhood slimeball sporting an ear cuff and a mullet. Jimmy gets jealous and hits the road on a mission to stop the wedding -- encased in a bubble of his own design but otherwise ill-prepared for coping with the real world his mommy never told him about.
"Bubble Boy" is not only full-court-press hilarious but truly well-acted and skillfully structured as well". Source: www.splicedwire.com
"Liv (Kate Hudson) and Emma (Anne Hathaway) are best friends who since childhood have planned every detail of their respective weddings. At the top of their bridal "must have" list: a ceremony at New York's ultimate bridal destination, the Plaza Hotel.Now, at age 26, they're both about to get married; they're about to realize their dreams; and they're about to live happily ever after.When a clerical error causes a clash in wedding dates - they're now to be married on the same date! - Liv, Emma and their lifelong friendship are put to the ultimate test. Liv, a successful lawyer who is used to getting what she wants, including the perfect job and the perfect man, won't settle for anything less than the perfect wedding she has dreamed of for years. Emma, a schoolteacher who has always been good at taking care of others, but not so much in looking after herself, discovers her inner Bridezilla and comes out swinging when her own dream wedding is imperiled". Source: www.smartcine.com
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"On a purely cinematic level, 'Brokeback Mountain' never seems to take a wrong step. Here is an example of a filmmaking team firing on all cylinders. Every aspect of the production excels, yet does not overpower the whole -- the writing, the direction, the cinematography, the performances, the score and on down the line. And that's really saying something, when you consider that 'Brokeback' could be the career best for all involved. Director Ang Lee, who took home an Oscar for 'Brokeback,' was the perfect choice to portray a story about characters who can't address their feelings. 'Sense & Sensibility,' 'The Ice Storm,' 'The Wedding Banquet,' even 'Hulk' -- they are all strands of the same thematic thread, but never has Lee evoked the tortures of repressed passions as beautifully as in 'Brokeback.' 
The actors are also, dare I say, revelations. Yes, that is an overused critical phrase, but few could have ever expected such a level of subtlety, perception and restraint from Ledger and Gyllenhaal".
Not to mention fellow Oscar nominee Michelle Williams (forever erasing any memory of 'Dawson's Creek'), and Anne Hathaway, who with one immensely powerful last scene, facilitates a whole new understanding of the film with just a flitter of the eye and a few simple pauses between words. Finally, we can't forget screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, who will likely never be able to write another such perfectly modulated, perceptive script as this.
Long after the endless parade of lame "gay cowboy" jokes and pointless bickering about awards tallies are over, I think the film will easily stand on its own as a landmark cinematic achievement. 'Brokeback Mountain' will last because it is about not about issues, but the human condition itself. It leaves us both haunted by the prejudices that doomed the lovers of Brokeback Mountain, and emboldened into believing that our society can, at last, rise above them.
Close-ups are also improved, and I could see every strand of Anne Hathaway's ever-more-hilarious hairstyles as the movie progresses.
For example, in the key scene near the end of the film as Ennis visits the Jack's parents, there is a low, almost whispery sound of the outside wind that fills the rear channels. Moments like this are eerie, haunting and highly effective. Also more active is the "fireworks" scene with Ennis, and a couple of rodeo and bar scenes. Ultimately, 'Brokeback Mountain' on Blu-ray still doesn't really overwhelm or pummel, but faithfully replicates the subtle style of the soundtrack.
