Brokeback Mountain
Yes yes, gay cowboys. Actually, not strictly cowboys, as they herd sheep. Titters aside, this is one of those rare movies that earns it's accolades. The film isn't so much about homosexuality, but loneliness, or rather the roots of loneliness. Repression, denial. The two primary characters, Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) could have been lifted right out of a Sam Shepard play, and there is a subtlety and complexity in the different ways they deal with their situation. Ledger is phenomenal as the shy, introverted, angry, alcoholic Ennis, a walking emotional wound. The performance of the year. Gyllenhaal is almost as good, as is the rest of the supporting cast, and the film is gorgeous.
Good Night And Good Luck
More of a message than an actual narrative, and that message is straightforwardly delivered in the very first scene. Getting that out of the way, the film diffidently recalls the battle between newsman Edward R. Murrow (played by David Strathairn) and Joseph McCarthy (played by Joseph McCarthy), which is to say that Murrow gets to use a better-looking, better-filmed stand-in for his end of the debate. Hardly seems fair. The film uses a blend of black-and-white cinematography and archival footage, but visually, it's unremarkable. Strathairn, who I normally like, gives not so much a performance as a recitation of Murrow, only allowing anything resembling a personality to occasionally surface through the haze of his pensive cigarette-holding. In fact, the only thing I can bring myself to recommend about this film are some musical interludes sung by Dianne Reeves. A disappointment.