Prepare for Brokebacklash

With Brokeback Mountain racking up awards left and right, to go with its record per-screen averages, it'll only be days (maybe even minutes) before someone starts proclaiming "hey, wait a minute, it ain't that great." Whatevs. The great thing about this one is that if someone doesn't like it you can call them a homophobe, and then they'll get all mad at you and try to prove they're not. Try it, it's fun!

Anyway, the latest big prize to come Brokeback's way is Best Picture from the New York Film Critics Circle. The group also selected Ang Lee as Best Director and Heath Ledger as Best Actor.

Taking another cue from their L.A. counterparts the New Yorkers also honored A History of Violence by naming William Hurt and Maria Bello as the year's best supporting players. They went a lot more mainstream when it came to Best Actress, giving the prize to Oscar frontrunner Reese Witherspoon.

If there's one other thing that's emerging as a consistent critics' fave this year besides Brokeback it's the screenplay for The Squid and the Whale. The Noah Baumbach script has picked up prizes from New York, L.A. and the day's other major group to announce: the National Board of Review.

The Board has been under heavy scrutiny this year (for reasons too complex and boring to even mention) and they're frequently viewed as a little tacky, but they're really old (older than the Oscars) and they're not going anywhere. However, this year's announcement feels less interesting than normal, mostly because what makes the group special is they're usually first.

This year they're another voice in the chorus, albeit one that proclaimed Good Night, And Good Luck. the Best Picture of 2005. Brokeback was still heavily honored in the form of Ang Lee as Best Director and Jake Gyllenhaal as Best Supporting Actor.

The film also landed on the Board's top ten list, which was topped by Good Night and then listed in alphabetical order:

Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
A History of Violence
Match Point
Memoirs of a Geisha
Munich
Syriana
Walk the Line

The Board agreed with the L.A. critics and chose Philip Seymour Hoffman as Best Actor (which sets the stage for a Hoffman/Ledger showdown at the Globes, SAG and Oscars). Their most questionable choices came in the female acting categories with the selection of two of the year's most unjustly overhyped performances: Felicity Huffman in Transamerica and Gong Li in Memoirs of a Geisha.

One more interesting thing to note: in a sign of the strong year for quality animation each major group has so far selected a different film for Best Animated Feature. L.A. picked Wallace & Gromit, New York went for Howl's Moving Castle and NBR opted for Corpse Bride. Again, I can't stress enough how much I hope these three are the finalists for the animated feature Oscar.

Tomorrow brings the Golden Globe nominations where Brokeback should score in a major way. It's likely to land eight noms (Drama Picture, Drama Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Director, Screenplay, Score, Original Song), which would be an impressive Globes showing indeed.

Award watchers will be looking closely at how Globe voters treat several other major contenders including Munich, King Kong, Walk the Line, Good Night, And Good Luck., Capote, Match Point, Cinderella Man, Memoirs of a Geisha and Crash. A History of Violence may even be in for a surprisingly strong showing. All but Walk the Line (a "musical") are angling for Best Picture - Drama nominations, which will leave a lot of disappointed contenders.