colburr

Where oh where has the Laramie of my college career gone to? Apparently, things have changed in Laramie since I graduated UW last year. There is a gay student union, a large glass student union, statues and art I have never seen, teachers and classroom buildings I have never seen...oh and a bar called the Double D...at least this is what MTV wants me to believe. Oh and how can I forget that everyone in laramie is prejudist, racist and wears cowboy clothes. Everyone down from the lawyers to the limo driver were wearing cowboy hats. I think that the way MTV portrayed Wyoming as a backward state full of cowboys and cowboy emblems is a hate crime. If every other line in the movie wasn't about fearing Wyoming then I wouldn't know what do with myself.

MTV really went out of their way to research the movie before making it. Shepard was a political science major, not an art history major...was that a gay stereotype MTV? Diminishing his major means diminishing the fact that Matt wanted to use the major to pass legislation for gay awareness. The double D? He was taken out of a bar called the Fireside...a very uncowboy place. MTV has over made Laramie into "The Real World" as they do everything, they of course are so hip and still in touch with the teens of today, that they can feed anything to the young Britneys and Timberlakes of the world and call it golden. That is the trouble, they are respected as a place where teens get info, now what do the teens think of Wyoming, of Shepard, of Russ and Aaron. MTV seems to say that the society Aaron and Russ lived in caused them to murder, the society being Wyoming...because hate crimes couldn't happen in forward thinking cosmopolitan towns like New York City. They are too advanced...fear Wyoming and its evil, open space ways!!! That was the problem all through this ordeal that the Shepards, and the students of UW faced.No one gave the people any credit. Where was MTV in '98 to film the peace vigils and the non-violence speeches in Laramie after the murder. There was no violence in Laramie, there were no riots...at the end of this film MTV doesn't explain how the students came together to dialog..instead they throw up footage of when the Rev. Phelp's group came to Laramie for a DAY!!!. I am tired of being painted as backwoods just cause I'm from Wyoming. It can happen anywhere!!!! Wake up!!! Matt Shepard's death was a terrible tragedy that hurt alot of people, and gives nightmares to those who survived its wake. Matt Shepard as a person doesn't deserve to be immortalized through the creative genius that made Road Rules vs. Real World and that took Music Television and turned it into "Reruns of old shows we made, live TV and sitcoms, Total Request Live, reruns of total request live, reruns of the highlights of reruns of total request live and maybe a few videos TV" Let Matt Shepard have the dignity of having his true story be told.

PS The license plate numbers in Wyoming stand for counties...Laramie's number is 5(Albany County), not 2 and 11 as MTV put on the cars...research!!!!! 2 is Laramie County, 11 is Park County

If you see one movie at all in your life from here on out...go and see this amazing film!!!!!! Come Oscar time I would bet that you will see this film on Best Picture, Best Costumes, Best Actor, Best screenplay...the list goes on. What I love most about The Patriot is that it is a throw back to glamorous epics...Ben-Hur, Gone With The Wind, Lawrence of Arabia...DeMille must be smiling in his grave. There is no sex, limited swearing...and not surprisingly...a fantastic achievement. maybe the studios will perk up their ears and see what movies should be about again. Wow! What a cast! This film is the epitome of ensemble acting...from Gibson to the children to Rene A. (Clayton from Benson)fabulous, effortless..these are words I would use to praise this film. GO SEE THIS FILM!!!!!The battle scenes alone will help you to find a new seat on the edge of your chair. Wait until you see the smoky imagery at the Battle of Cowpens...it will leave you wanting more and not wanting the film to end.

This movie is an over-hyped, over-drawn out picture and if you can see something else...do that. For three hours I sat and waited for something to happen that related to any of the foreshadowing set up in the beginning or in the previews that I have been seeing for a year...hmmmm nothing there either. The acting is terrific however, it is just to bad that most of the characters are uneeded. If you were to remove most of the characters it would not matter and I find that disturbing to a picture labled "best of the year". I found myself feeling like I was trapped in the middle of a story...it had no beginning and no end...just a middle. I felt like it was impossible for me to escape the middle. I knew nothing about the characters or why they were doing anything that they were doing. In fact, I started not to care. This movie left me numb to films that are long with nothing to say and then throw in pretty pictures of Venice as a draw. This kind of film makes me ill, because I think that noone likes it but that they have to becuase they have too. Becuase it is "art". Blah! And please...don't compare this to the mastery of Hitchcock. Hitchcock gave us insight into the warped minds of his characters. Hitch gave us background and suspense, if he foreshadowed...it had meaning. He never used his scenery as the main point of the picture, it helped the characters not overshadowed them. Shame on those who would call this film quality!