Got "Milk"

"Brokeback Mountain" was the favored picture in the 2005 Oscar race. It was nominated for more Oscars than any other picture that year and, indeed, won a bunch of them including ones for its adapted screenplay and its direction. But when it came time to give out the best picture award, however, that Oscar surprisingly went to "Crash," one of the least-deserving picture winners ever. Why? Some say it was because "Crash" made Los Angeles look and feel good and the majority of Oscar voters live in L.A. But then the homophobia emerged. Tony Curtis and Ernest Borgnine were among Academy voters who came out publicly and said no matter how good the picture was, they could not vote for a movie about gay cowboys.

Yesterday, I published my first poll on this years Oscar race and, lo and behold, the top voter getter in the picture category was "Milk." Will it do what "Brokeback Mountain" couldn't? Well, here's the trailer for the film and it looks like top Oscar quality material to me. And perhaps Hollywood will be more open to embracing a political film based on a true story starring the notoriously straight Sean Penn when it couldn't acknowledge a fictional film about someone spending a lifetime longing for his cowboy lover. We'll just have to see.