A review from Movie Man Mike:

Brokeback Mountain. (A-). This film has gotten much early press because of the Oscar potential attached to it. It is one of those films that caused me to reflect on the film quite a bit afterwards, and I generally believe that to be the mark of a good film. I also found myself reading other reviews and analyses of the film to see how others reacted to it, and at least one analysis changed my understanding of one of the key scenes in the movie. The film opens in the 1960s in Wyoming with two men, Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar, taking on the job of sheep herders for a flock of sheep high up in the mountains. The scenery in this film is spectacular. The film then takes you on a journey of the relationship between these two men over the next twenty years or so. What drive this film is the tension between society's demands that Jack and Ennis conform to its expectations and Jack's and Ennis' desires to be together. Much of the relationship between the men is developed through their actions and facial expressions, which requires a special acting and directing talent. (Ennis in particular plays the silent type). One of my criticisms of the film is that the love scenes between Jack and Ennis betray the director's lack of experience with the subject-matter. Perhaps you can chalk it up to an attempt to tailor the film to a wider viewing audience, but the scenes were nonetheless a little off the mark for me. While the performances from both Ledger and Gyllenhaal were solid, in my opinion, the Oscar buzz for Ledger is a bit too hyped. I suspect that much of the praise for Ledger comes from the fact that he is a straight man risking a promising acting career to play a gay role. If that's the reason for the Oscar buzz, I say that we need a lot more Brokeback Mountains to help us get past that way of thinking. This is Hollywood after all... Finally, the story drags a little in the middle as it progresses through the years of Jack's and Ennis' lives, but ultimately, it is a well-told story and one well worth seeing.