Want a good reason to go to the movies this week? Well, here's four for you!

First up, there's the seminal gay cowboy flick Brokeback Mountain by acclaimed director Ang Lee, starring Hollywood hotties Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. Nominated for eight Oscars, this one is a definite must-see! Hee-Hah!

Next, Ralph Fiennes return to the silver screen with yet another acclaimed performance in The Constant Gardener.

While some may find it not so much a cause for celebrations, the girls will no doubt be blown away by the presence of his stunning co-star: hot mama Rachel Weisz. Playing the role of an assassinated activist in Kenya, she fuses brain and sensuality, and has been winning accololades since the Golden Globes. Let us pray she triumphs at the Oscar too.

Can't get enough of hubba-hubba Jake Gyllenhaal? Worry not, cos he also stars in another film that opens this week. Directed by Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, Jarhead is an adaptation of one U.S. marine's experience during the gulf war. If you think that you're gonna witness scenes of enacted violence and battlefield carnage, you can't be more wrong — it is a film about the anticipation to kill, rather than the actualling killing itself. Sounds boring? Well, the desert is ablazed with scenes of the glorious bare torso of Jake I-love-you-so-much Gyllenhaal. That in itself is four reasons to go to the cinema this week, and the also the next.

If you're the sort who has a low tolerance for dialogues, The New World might just open a whole new celluloid horizon for you. The fourth feature of idiosyncratically intellectual filmmaker Terence Malick, the film retells the story of Pocahontas in a masterly melange of painterly cinematography lyrical voice-overs, and minimal dialogue. A must-see for those who loved Badlands, thought Days of Heaven was divine, and who felt whoever voted Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture at 1999's Oscar should be shot dead.

Well, so what are you waiting for? Jump into your rodeo outfit, don that cowboy hat, and lasso your way into the cinema! It's fishin' time!

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Once upon a time, when there wasn't avenue for public cruising, people headed up to the mountains. And if they were married — those were the times — they told their wives and kids they were going up there fishin'. With their best buddies, of course. Oh yah, can't forget them fishin' rods too.

Well, that was just my imagination. But in truth I speak because I'm shattered by the utterly heartbreaking and socially-informed romance Brokeback Mountain is, queer or otherwise: two gay cowboys discover their sexuality and their deep love for each other while herding horses up in the verdant green of the mountains. After coming though the wilderness and having shared many nights of incendiary consummation, alas, civilisation and proprieties beckon them back with false dreams of blissful marriages and happy families.

Succumbing to delusions of the respectability of straight living, these Malboro men soon find out the price they have to pay for snuffing out what they truly had under the boots of hetero-normativity, like a burnt cigarette butt. Incidentally, Jake's and Heath's are equally hot too. Though I dig brunette more... But I digress.

The Venice triumph and queer politics' sounding board of 2005, Brokeback Mountain broke all rules of Hollywood filmmaking, defied many a conventions (the Western genre's for one), and look at the sky darlin's: the horizon is ablazed in rainbows. Based on a short story by celebrated writer E. Annie Proulx, whose sexuality I might venture to add bends suspiciously towards comradely Choraic love, Brokeback Mountain is sense and sensibility for all self-respecting gay men, especially those still living in the hinterlands of the closet. Yes, you, I'm talkin' to you!

Kudos to Ang Lee, a dark horse for this year's Best Director Oscar, and the miraculous performances of all the actors and actresses involved, Brokeback Mountain is an amazing piece of cinema in a long while. Every gesture and every frame speaks volume for the silent heartaches, not only between the gay lovers, but also between them and their respective spouses. Michelle Williams deserves special mention for she electifies the screen with the naked intensity of devotion betrayed. In fact, passion remains unrequited for everyone in this tragedy of a love that dares not speak its name.

A love story for all wonderous seasons to come and that have been, it is a wide-screen romance best watched with one arm safely snugged in the folds of your partner, and the other guarding over the Kleenex. And after you have cried enough, perhaps it is time to tell the snickering straight brats two seats down the row to F-off. Cowboy style.

Alex Au writes on Fridae:
READ in asia, the mountain may be missed
READ how to brokeback
and
READ more about Brokeback Mountain
READ Fridae Lifestyle Music Review of the original soundtrack
READ Fridae Lifestyle Movie Review in Chinese

A notable big screen romance for straights and those who are still on adulterous high with The Engilsh Patient. The Constant Gardener teams up British stars Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz with Brazilian wunderkind director Fernando Meirelles, and the result is a strong, sweaty, muscular feature that is both a passionate love story and a riveting political thriller.

Fiennes plays a low rung, horticulturally inclined British Diplomat Justin Quayle whose quiet demeanour makes him a non-threatening presence in the bureaucracy.

The same can't be said for the woman he married. Tessa (Weisz in her Golden Globe-winning role) is an impassioned activist fighting for greater medical support in Africa. A constant gadfly to her fellow politicos, she soon uncovers a pharmaceutical conspiracy that threatens the lives of thousands of Kenyans living in the AIDS and TB-stricken region. Her disclosure will scandalise not only the local government, but also the big bosses back home. Naturally, she becomes the target of assassination whose death sends Quayle on a mission to uncover the truth.

Even as the film takes the form of constant flashbacks, there is a very palpable exigency driving it in a surge of forward motion. Audience will be kept at the edge of the seat as the film drives its exposition to its final denouement. Admittedly, much of the film's energy derives from Weisz's heartfelt performance that manages to convey a surprisingly depth of vulnerability behind her confident postures. It is unfortunate that the film loses a third of its bite and steam after her exit.

Still, the wonderfully nuanced performance of Fiennes manages to hold the film together. You don't need to be able to tell the lilies from the violets to enjoy this film.

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Reclusive director Terence Malick always seems to be making up his own cinematic language as he goes along. His films often take the form of melanges of dream-like visuals layered with musing voice-overs. The New World is not an exception. Set in Virginia's Jamestown colony in 1607, Colin Farrell stars as Capt. John Smith, while mesmerizing newcomer Q'Orianka Kilcher plays Pocahontas.

It's an oft-told tale made strikingly original by the filmmaker's daring approach — a drifting, almost painterly omniscient perspective that subverts and discards narrative conventions to a point where The New World tells its story with pictures and music instead of words.

Profoundly evocative and profusely poetic, The New World is a marvelous film whose achievements are sadly snubbed by this year's Oscar's voters. Those familiar with Malick's oeuvre, however, will not be disappointed by the director's latest vision even if it went unrecognised by Hollywood industry. With three brilliant features behind him (Badlands, Days of Heaven and the triumphant The Thin Red Line), The New World adds another feather to his cap.

Have you ever heard a wolf cry to the blue corn moon? Or paint with all the colours of the wind? Now you will. Savor this one.

Oh all those beautiful boys baking semi-nude in the burning fields of the Arabian desert...Such cruelty, these men in uniforms, and what brutality you can't help but fall in lust with them.

The same can't be said for the film though, which is most likely to split the audience into the twin camps of supporters and detractors. Sam Mendes has come a long way down from American Beauty. Road to Perdition was a sign. He must have missed that in the dark.

Having said that, there is no denial his latest still is a pleasurable assault on the senses. Harnessing the talent of cinematographer Roger Deakins (The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo) to paint in harsh, desaturated palette the portraiture of the desert landscape, the film articulates through its visuals much of the oppressive emptiness experienced by these young warriors-in-khakis as they awaited their first encounter with the enemy forces. Based on the memoir of Anthony Swofford, it recounts his experience as a jarhead (slang for a US marine) in the first gulf war. The bloodshed never came, and towards the end of the film a young marine asked, to no one in particular: "Are we ever going to get to kill anyone?" Well darling, you can desert storm me anytime you want...

In the role of Swofford is Hollywood's young rising star Jake Gyllenhall, and what impeccable pecs he has. He has been working those acting chops I see... Thoroughly mesmering in every frame, he captures the cockiness of a young jarhead, still wet behind his ears, with knee-jellying bravado. He struts, he sneers, he reads Camus in the loo, and you wonder what else this boy will do when no one's watching.

In fact, everyone in this film is so ruggedly gorgeous you'd feel as if you're drowning in a heatwave of masculinity, forgiving any faults the film does possess — hollowness, for example. Though it retreads the territory of Full Metal Jacket, it has none of the intellectual restraint. What we see here is merely a commendable rigour to details and a conscious effort in keeping the actions to the minimal — kind of tried-and-tested formulaic in its execution. Having said that, the film is still worth watching for the charisma of its stars.

Audience who can't get enough of this lean, mean fighting machine can get a second ride on Brokeback Mountain, the seminal gay film from Hollywood this year, along with Transamerica.

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The late musician Johnny Cash was a giant in American rock 'n' roll. He wrote and sang songs about tough love and hard labour. Through his quavering baritone, one could always sense the hurt and unhappiness he's experienced throughout his life.

It's no surprise then that such a hard man would make for a very interesting biopic. Based on Cash's own autobiographical accounts, Walk the Line traces his life from his poor childhood picking cotton in rural Arkansas; his brother’s death for which he was blamed; his unsuccessful career as a door-to-door salesman, and the career switch that turned him into a multi-million-dollar music star. More importantly, the film shows how his passionate love for his wife, singer June Carter, helped him through his darkest, drug-addled days.

Walk the Line is an actors' movie, and Joaquin Phoenix plays Johnny Cash with a profound sense of darkness and misery, that is assuaged only when he is performing on stage or in the presence of his wife June. Meanwhile, Reese Witherspoon imbues June with a warmth and vivacity that belie her own sadness over Johnny's drug addiction.

Both Joaquin and Reese have received Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively. The film also received three other nominations in the technical department.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Woody Allen's name became synonymous with smart and insightful films about human relationships. Films like Annie Hall, Manhattan and Hannah & Her Sisters were on must-see lists for anyone with an IQ of 120 and above.

His latest film Match Point is such a well-crafted study of human lust and ambition. It stars brooding stud Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Chris, a struggling tennis coach who yearns to be rich and successful. He befriends Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode), son of a wealthy business tycoon, and starts to date Tom’s younger sister (Emily Mortimer).

Everything seems set for Chris to move up the ladder of life, until he meets Tom's alluring fiancee Nola (Scarlett Johansson). With her husky voice, pillowy lips and pert butt, Nola is temptation personified. Chris wants her bad, but pursuing her would ruin his chances for wealth and success. Wouldn't it?

Match Point poses philosophical questions about the nature of luck and ambition, yet the film manages to be quite easy to understand. The performances are wholly convincing, and the elegant drama that will keep you engrossed from the first frame to the last. In short, it will win you game, set and match.

Now here's a movie that lesbians might want to organize group outings to. Not only does it stars the beautiful Charlize Theron, it is also just the kind of movie that’ll confirm your suspicions that the world would be better off without men.

Inspired by a true story, Charlize plays an ordinary American woman who goes to work in a mine that has predominantly male workers. The women employees are frequently harassed by the men. Because she is exceptionally attractive, Charlize bears the brunt of their attacks. When enough is enough, she files a class-action lawsuit against her mining company for sexual harassment. The impact of these actions is so huge that companies in America begin to change their policies with regard to sexual harassment to protect women at the workplace.

North Country is one of those gritty "working-girl-kicks-ass" movies in the tradition of Erin Brockovich and Norma Rae. Unfortunately, the film is so melodramatic and manipulative that you come to resent the film for trying to lecture you on women's rights. (LGBTs are the last people who need a lecture on this.)

The strong performances by Charlize and Frances McDormand (playing her friend) make the film bearable. But only just. They've received Oscar nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively.

Like North Country, we suspect this is also a movie that’ll appeal more to the dykes than the gays and trannies. Real: The Movie revolves around what is possibly the best soccer club in the world, Real Madrid.

Five short stories are weaved around the club, each story tells of a person whose life is changed by Real Madrid. Ansou (Maguette Coly), for instance, walks for two days every week just to get to a TV set to watch Real Madrid play. Another fan is woman footballer Megan (Jessica Bohl), who breaks her leg but is inspired by Ronaldo to get up and play again.

These stories are intercut with plenty of footage showing Real players like Beckham, Ronaldo and Zidane in action and off-the-field. Strictly for football fans.

Hello, Dick. Hello, Jane. See Dick make a fool himself. See Jane do something stupid. See this movie fail spectacularly at the box-office. Laugh, Dick and Jane, laugh.

Indeed, you'll be hard-pressed to have Fun with Dick And Jane. The film stars Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni as a successful white-collar couple who lose all their savings when the stocks of dot.com company Globodyne suddenly plummet, much in the manner of Enron's collapse 4 years ago. To maintain their upper-middle-class lifestyle, the couple turns to robbing various joints for cash.

Jim Carrey is always a delight to watch, but the tedious script does't give him much to go on. Tea Leoni is initially funny, but her neurotic act loses steam after the first 30 minutes. By then, the film should really be called Flop with Dick and Jane.

Based on the life of Martial Artsmaster Huo Yuanjia, this is Jet Li's most important martial art film to date. The biopic is set during the pivotal period in China's history, between the late 1800's to the early 1900's, when China was besetted by internal civil unrest and the threats of foreign invasions.

The film charts the evoultion of Huo Yuanjia from a cocky, young Martial Arts practitioner into an enlightened shaman of the craft. It is packed with many spectacular fight scenes that really showcase the grace and power of the martial arts. Thanks to the muscular direction of Ronny Yu, this is a very butch film charged with severe doses of testosterone, ideal for boys (and girls).

I Not Stupid Too is a comedy centered on the theme of generation gaps parents are facing with their children, it probes into the difficult relationships parents have with their children today. The narration progresses through the eyes of eight-year-old Jerry as he and his older brother Tom face the pressures of school and demands of their wealthy but ever-bickering parents.

Though the pet subjects of local film-maker Jack Neo remain invariantly plebeian, this sequel to the highly successful I Not Stupid is still an entertaining romp through the heart and soul of Singaporean heartlanders, crushed under the pounding wheel of Capitalism. Local audience will be tickled pink by a rumpy, and ever reliant Selena Tan. But as usual, the limelight rightly belongs to veteran Xiang Yun.

Steve Martin returns as the proud patriarch of the Baker family in this sequel to the original Cheaper by the Dozen. The Baker family is essentially a family of human-rodent hybrids, having twelve progenies to its claim — hence the title. This time, all twelve Baker kids and their parents, Tom (Steve Martin) and Kate (Bonnie Hunt), are going on vacation, returning to their summer cabin in Wisconsin for one last hurrah before the kids grow up and go their separate ways.

It’s occasionally amusing, so watch it if you’re in the mood for slapstick family comedies.

In all its earnesty, this Geisha is prime Camp material and this is what makes it such wicked entertainment. It is essentially a piece of sustained cat-fighting in the regal and bombastic tradition of All About Eve, with just a small touch of Elizabeth's self-importance.

Geisha, despite detractions from critics all round — panning its utter hollowness, as if its source novel is a definitive apologia of oriental fetishization — will no doubt leave its teeth mark seething in the annals of the Celluloid Closet. With lines like "I shall destroy you," uttered breathlessly by the inimitable Gong Li as Hatsumomo — protagonist Sayuri's rival — you can bet your money's worth that you won't be hearing the end of it anytime soon.

Geisha leaves no doubt that it is Hollywood gloss painted most beautifully. But with so many colours flying across the screen like lurid verbal bitchery, with so many costume changes — giving The Promise a run for its own pitiful box-office returns — you would expect Geisha to be more than an one-act drag routine, which it is sadly.

However, if you left all expectation at the doors, you would be throughly amazed at how adaptable you are suddenly to Japanese speaking in English as if they have been under the tutelage of their colonial masters all along. It is a film that truly tests your forgiving nature.

Watch, and learn.

READ Fridae Lifestyle Movie Review

Winner of Best First Film at the Venice Film Festival last year, this Odyssian tale of inter-generation bonding between a French teenager Reda (Nicolas Cazale) and his father (Mohamed Majd) as they make their pilgrimage from France to Mecca is quite deserving of the accolades it has gathered so far. Apart from the truly magnificant visage of Cazale — an ethereal hybrid of Aamir Kahn's regality and Gallic seductiveness — this film also features some truly beautiful moments of quiet humanity.

Coming home on day, Reda was told that he has been appointed to ferry his father across europe and the middle-easten lands to the holy destination of Mecca. All these familial responsibilities in spite of his imminent final exams.

Though the premise is susceptible to charges of being cliche, the way in which director Ismael Ferroukhi paces his story is quite a departure from most road-trip movies before it. Many aspects of the story have been deliberately left unclear and unresolved. Despite such flaccidity, the ending does pack a huge emotional wallop which will no doubt undo the hardest of hearts. Then again, watching gorgeous Cazale on screen does harden other parts of one's physiognomy. Enjoy...

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