There can be no denying that the year 2000 was a very weak year for movies. There were times where I tried to argue that it wasn't the case, but really, it was. Typically, a movie like "Erin Brockovich" wouldn't have been nominated for Best Picture. I mean, it was a great movie, but it was released too early in the year. A great movie released earlier in the year is usually forgotten about by the time the Oscar-worthy movies come out in autumn. Then there's "Gladiator," a movie that's pretty good, but by no means is it great. But that's the movie that walked away with the Oscar for Best Picture.
This year's Academy Awards ceremony wasn't hosted by Billy Crystal, who I think is the best at hosting the Oscars. This year, it was hosted by Steve Martin. I'm not a huge fan of his, not that I hate him or anything. I guess I'm indifferent to him. Well, I ended up being pleasantly surprised by his hosting. His introduction was pretty weak, but no one can compete with Billy Crystal's movie parodies. That being said, Steve Martin did a really good job of keeping the show moving along, and his off-the-cuff remarks were very good.
There was something that Steve Martin said that I thought was a joke, but it turned out to be true. The person who gave the shortest speech would win a big-screen TV. Well, as I said, it turned out to be true, and it's a strategy that seemed to work. Last year's Oscar telecast was over four hours long. This year, it was "only" about three and a half hours, but the show can still be a lot shorter.
Yeah, the winners give long-winded speeches and all that, but most of the speeches this year were pretty short. What made this year's show drag, what made it come to a screeching halt, was when two Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to these two old people who took 20 minutes to get a single sentence out. I'm sorry if I seem like a cold-hearted bastard, and I'm sure the old farts deserved those awards, but my God, it was painful to watch them struggle to put simple words together. There was one guy, I forget which one, who would say a sentence, stop, have a silent, goofy grin on his face for a minute, then continue his speech. He'd say another sentence, stop again, have that grin on his face, then continue. And so on and so on. Forget about it. There should be only one Lifetime Achievement Award given out every year, and it should go to someone who's coherent. Or just give it to a dead guy. They can say something like, "We're presenting a Lifetime Achievement Award to the great Orson Welles," then they spend a few minutes showing clips from his movies, the audience applauds, and then the show continues. That'll shave a half an hour right there.
Bob Dylan won an Oscar. Who'da thunk it? His song from "The Wonder Boys," which is called "Things Have Changed," won Best Original Song. With the exception of Bjork's song from "Dancer in the Dark," all the songs nominated kinda sucked, if you ask me. But yeah, Bob Dylan won an Oscar. I dunno, I just think that's weird. I know that he has tons of fans, and he's considered a genius by many, but that's because of his lyrics. As for singing, well, I think he's got one of the worst singing voices I've ever heard. His voice is almost as grating as Macy Gray's.
The Oscar for Best Original Score went to Tan Dun, who did the music for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Though I was bitter about all of it's nominations, I wanted to see "Gladiator" win in this category, because the music was done by Hans Zimmer, who I like a lot. Also, it woulda been cool if "The Patriot" won, giving John Williams his millionth Oscar.
Speaking of winning a millionth Oscar, Rick Baker did just that. He won yet another Oscar (which he shared with Gail Ryan) for Best Makeup in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." I have a feeling that he'll win another one next year for his work in this summer's Tim Burton flick, "Planet of the Apes."
Best Foreign Film went to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," a movie I loved. It was also nominated for Best Picture, but I'm not so sure that I like that. Call me a racist, but if it's nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, then it shouldn't be nominated for Best Picture. Foreign language films have their own Oscar category, ya know? Whatever, it's a non-issue, really. Besides, I really liked the movie. And for the record, I think it was a lot better than the movie that ended up winning Best Picture, "Gladiator."
I was really happy with the winners for the two screenplay awards. Best Adapted Screenplay went to Stephen Gaghan, the guy who wrote "Traffic." I was rooting for "Traffic" most of the night, so I was happy to see it win a major award. As for Best Original Screenplay, that went to Cameron Crowe, who wrote (and directed) "Almost Famous." The first time I saw "Almost Famous," I was slightly disappointed because I usually love Crowe's movies, and I think my expectations were too high. After seeing "Almost Famous" a second time, I appreciated it a lot more, though. I was delighted to see Cameron Crowe win an Oscar. He deserved it.
I was ecstatic to see Benicio Del Toro win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his work in "Traffic." He really was amazing in that movie, and even though it woulda been cool to see Willem Dafoe win it for his creepy portrayal of a vampire in "Shadow of the Vampire," I'm very happy with Del Toro's win. As for Best Supporting Actress, that one was a bit of a surprise. A lotta people expected Kate Hudson to win it for her role in "Almost Famous," but she didn't. The award ended up going to Marcia Gay Harden for her role in "Pollock," a movie I never saw. Though I didn't see the movie, the clips I saw proved that the award may have actually gone to the person who SHOULD have gotten it.
Nobody was surprised to see Julia Roberts win Best Actress for her amazing performance as the title character in "Erin Brockovich." She was fantastic in the movie, and it just seemed like it was her time, ya know? Her speech was probably the longest one of the night, but it was also the best. She was truly happy to win that award, and it was obvious. She was absolutely glowing.
Russell Crowe won the Oscar for Best Actor, but I woulda preferred seeing Tom Hanks get it for "Cast Away," or Geoffrey Rush for "Quills." Still, Russell Crowe is a great actor. I remember back when I saw him in a little-known New Zealand (or maybe it was Australian) movie called "Romper Stomper," and I thought he was great. He slowly made waves in American movies, and the role that impressed me the most was the one he played in "L.A. Confidential." He later did "The Insider," which got him an Oscar nomination, so he really does have the talent. I just don't think that "Gladiator" is the movie he shoulda won it for. Still, I'm happy for him, and he gave a very good, very thought-provoking speech.
Best Director was the category that I really had my eye on. In the year 2000, there were two great movies released that were directed by Steven Soderbergh. Those two movies were "Erin Brockovich" and "Traffic." Soderbergh was nominated for Best Director for both of those movies. Incidentally, both of those movies were also nominated for Best Picture. Logic would dictate that Soderbergh's double nomination would split the vote, and he'd end up not winning anything. Many thought that Ridley Scott would win it for "Gladiator," others thought that Ang Lee would win it for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." I'm happy to say that the Oscar for Best Director went to the one who deserved it, Steven Soderbergh. He won it for "Traffic." After he won that Oscar, I figured that it was possible that "Traffic" could win for Best Picture, but it didn't. As I mentioned earlier, it went to "Gladiator." That's okay, though. Steven Soderbergh won Best Director. YAY!
In general, I thought that the Oscars were really good this year. Steve Martin did surprisingly well, but he was no Billy Crystal. Hopefully, they'll get him back next year. Also, they should repeat what they did this year where they gave a big-screen TV to the winner with the shortest speech. And stop giving Lifetime Achievement Awards to crippled old people!