Two mini reviews and twice as nice!

***** Warning - don't read further if you don't want to know anything about Crash or Brokeback Mountain- I can't review without accidentally revealing too much, other than both are highly recomended!!! ***

Review One - Crash.

F'ing Brilliant.

Fin

Sat night we scrimped out on Skyfire for tennis, a video, a few drinks and frozen meal (sammiches for The Hun). I'd seen Crash on the shelves before but couldn't get The Hun into it (he hates Brendan Fraser - I say it's jealousy (see my obesession with his Bedazzled performance)) but my whinging got us out of Cinderella Man (BOOO!!! IH8Uruss!!!). When it started, I wasn't that into it - I thought the opening monologue was a little too blah-blah-blah mushy and that the film was being stereotypical (the two black guys arguing - spesh re: sandra hugging Brandon closer) and racist just for the sake of being racist. But the slow beginning kinda balances out then end - it just gets so tense for the last half that I had tears of relief (albeit, hidden behind the couch cushion). I was relieved that the girl wasn't shot and I was relieved that the woman wasn't on fire, but both meant a gut-wrenching couple of seconds.

It does raise interesting issues though - seeing which characters you agree with and which characters you are against and why you feel that way. What are your gut feelings and how have they been ingrained in you? As a person, I tend to trust the best in people, then quickly judge and then return quickly to empathy. I see-saw back and forth always thinking the best of the people and then quickly jump to insult. So whilst The Hun was still talking angrilly about the Persian man with the gun, I was already back to feeling sorry him. And so on.

But I hafta cut it short so I can talk about my fav, but I gave it

FIVE OUTTA FIVE - GETTIT!

Review Two - Brokeback Mountain.

F'ing Brilliant.

Fin

I'm having difficulty writing about it as I'm surfing the forums about it and getting distracted!

I was lucky enough to see this with a friend who had seen it before and was able to warn me when 'it' was coming up (you know what I'm talkin 'bout). For all of the worried ones out there - it lasts less than ten seconds and once you're past it - you're past it. I mean, this might jus be a personal thing (having never seen actual pr0n, let alone actual gay pr0n) but I entered the movie with my friend on the proviso that I couldn't promise I wouldn't giggle. Instead, I cried. It was an absolutely beautiful love story. The type of love to last decades with minimal contact and ALL of the obstacles against them (wives, childrens, little means of contact, fear of being discovered and fear of what it actually meant) is that type of thang that makes me bawl like a baby. When I saw The Hun after it and gave him a big hug, I had to explain that it wasn't pent up randiness from all the man love, but just the reassurance that is needed after witnessing somebody lose so much.

I was fearful at first as I'd heard Jack described as a predator - so seeing him for the first time made me instantly anxious and it took a little time for me to get comfortable with him on screen - but then I became totally absorbed in his character (I never woulda picked the 'giver' and 'taker' roles)! His depth of love for Ennis and his want for it all to turn out for the best - his blind optimism that it could just happen and not worrying about the consequences - I saw parts of him in me (take that both ways). The way he was always so reassuring and in love - it jus cuts me up.

I didn't warm to Ennis straight away - too much hiding under the hat and 'baccy chewin talk didn't do much for me, but as he started to warm to Jack, to talk more, share jokes, smile at him - I really really warmed to him. The final straw was in Jacks flashback and Ennis was the one to hug him - you don't see that sensitive side of him through the movie until the very end. Just seeing that image now makes me teary.

Emotionally, I was OK during the 'break up' fight - it didn't really seem like it would be the end and they'd fought before and talked about the same stuff before. My friend was teary, but I held up - only wavering when Ennis had his hand up to his face and was finally starting to tell Jack how much he had affected his life. But I was sniffling and rubbing my eyes with the backs of my hands after the shirt hugging and the 'I swear...'. And I didn't even realise at that stage that Jack had taken Ennis' shirt after that first time...

The only thing I would change would have been the fathers mention of the other man coming to move in. I don't want that to be there - I want it to be Jack and Ennis, not left hanging somewhere confused between. I don't like the possibility that had he lived, Jack would've been in the hut with the chatty-womans husband, I want it to be that Jack would still have waited for Ennis and stopped it with the 'other men' once he realised how much it hurt Ennis - particularly when he was living the batchelor life.

I loved it - loved it, Loved it, LOVED IT!

Girlies - get out there and see it and get swept up in the one of the most grippingly beautiful and sorrowfully tragic love stories that you will ever see.

Fellows - get over your homophobia and see it with your girlfriend - appreciate the film, appreciate what you partner gets out of it, and appreciate the real power of real love. AND I DON'T CARE THAT IT SOUNDS CHEESY,

FIVE OUTTA FIVE - GETTIT!