In the technical categories, "Titanic" was expected to win all of them. As it turned out, Best Make-Up went to the guys who worked on "Men in Black." That's the only technical award that DIDN'T go to "Titanic," but I can honestly say that all the technical awards went to the ones who deserved it, as did both screenplay awards. As far as the documentary, short film and foreign film awards, your guesses are as good as mine.
Robin Williams for Best Supporting Actor? Nope. A good actor with an okay performance in a great role in "Good Will Hunting." His Boston accent kept coming and going. It shoulda gone to Burt Reynolds for "Boogie Nights." Kim Basinger for Best Supporting Actress in "L.A. Confidential"? Another great role in a great movie, but her performance wasn't NEARLY as good as Julianne Moore's in "Boogie Nights." Helen Hunt for Best Actress? Uh-uh. Her performance in "As Good as It Gets" is overrated. Then again, so is the movie. Judi Dench in "Mrs. Brown" should probably get it. I haven't seen the movie, but the little I saw of her in it impressed me. As for Best Actor, Jack Nicholson should NOT have gotten it. The credit should go to the one who cast him in that role in "As Good as It Gets." He was just doing "Jack" the whole time. I haven't seen "The Apostle" but what I HAVE seen makes me think that Robert Duvall shoulda gotten it.
Regular visitors of this web site will be shocked by this: "Titanic" did NOT deserve to win Best Picture. Though I preferred "Titanic," I honestly think that "LA Confidential" is a better film. Best Director DEFINITELY shoulda gone to James Cameron, but "LA Confidential" deserved the Best Picture Oscar.
Okay, now for the show as a whole: Billy Crystal was great, as usual. His opening was priceless, and I hope that he hosts it again next year. I thought it sucked that they cut a lot of the speeches short. I mean, everyone knows that it's gonna run late, so let these guys talk, ya know? And what the hell was that crap with the Oscar-winning actor/actress role call? Could that've been any longer? A brilliant waste of time, if you ask me. And that "King Kong" thing, what was that?! I loved the clips of every Best Picture winner, but the thing with the bear was silly. Stanley Donen's song and dance acceptance speech made up for it, though. But the best acceptance speech wasn't his. I'd say it belongs to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the winners for Best Original Screenplay for "Good Will Hunting."
I love James Cameron, but I think that after the success of "Titanic," success has officially gone to his head. I nearly puked when he shouted, "I'm the king of the world." Hell, it was one of the corniest lines in the movie! Why remind us of it? And that moment of silence was lame, pretentious, and inappropriate.
We're still waiting on "Spider-Man," James.
Other than all that, I thought it was a very entertaining show. I really don't know if there will be a host out there as good as Billy Crystal. He's got a quick wit, his opens are hilarious, and he puts so much work into it. If he decides not to do it anymore, he'll be a tough act to follow.