Last year, the movie voted Best Picture by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was "Gladiator," and it didn't deserve it. This year, another movie starring Russell Crowe won Best Picture, "A Beautiful Mind," and once again, it didn't deserve it. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I liked how the Academy Awards began this year. I'm not talking about when Joan Rivers spent several hours yapping with uninterested celebrities, nor am I talking about the Barbara Walters Special, or the horrible half-hour that precedes the actual show with badly edited footage of celebrities being interviewed. I'm talking about when Tom Cruise, alone on stage, spoke about the importance of movies after the horrible events of September 11th. I don't know who wrote the speech, but it was very good. In the arrogant, self-indulgent world of Hollywood, the speech coulda been insulting, self-serving, and foolish, but it wasn't. It was very good.
Then the show began.
Whoopi Goldberg was the host, and she's always been a good host, but she's no Billy Crystal. As it turns out, she wasn't even around that much. The opening monologue was pretty short, and there was no big musical number (for which Billy Crystal is famous for), and throughout the show, her appearance was no more than sporadic, sorta like the Oompa-Loompas in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." And only a couple of her jokes were funny. She's done a lot better in the past, I don't know what was up with her that night. They should just bring Billy Crystal back, ya know?
This year, the Oscar telecast was pretty dull. There was nothing about it that really stood out. There was a very cool performance by the Cirque du Soleil, but other than that, there was nothing that made the show this year very exciting. It didn't help that when all the songs nominated for Best Song in a Movie were performed, I damn near fell asleep. The one from "Monsters, Inc." that had John Goodman and Randy Newman singing was pretty good, but the others sucked. And there weren't even any big surprises! There were no real shockers when the winners were announced, and there's always at least one. I gotta say, this year's show was pretty blah.
As usual, the first award presented was for Best Supporting Actress, and that went to Jennifer Connelly for "A Beautiful Mind." I was cool with that because she's been in a lotta movies that a geek like me can appreciate, like "Labyrinth," "Dark City," "Requiem for a Dream," and coming soon, the feature film version of the Marvel Comics superhero, "The Hulk." But I woulda liked to have seen Marisa Tomei win it for "In the Bedroom." Most people think that her win for "My Cousin Vinny" was a fluke, so I wanted her to get her validation. Oh well. When it came time for Jennifer Connelly to give her acceptance speech, she read off of some paper she wrote on. I dunno, that just seemed kinda weird to me, less genuine. Does that make any sense?
After that came the string of less important categories, like for documentary, short film, sound editing, stuff like that. I won't bore you by writing about those.
Throughout the evening, special Oscars were handed out. A humanitarian award was handed to Arthur Hiller, a filmmaker who seems like a swell guy. Up there on stage, giving his speech, he looked to be truly honored to have had that award given to him. I'm happy for him. An honorary Oscar was also given to Sydney Poitier, the first black man to win an Oscar for Best Actor. The guy is a real class act, he accepted the award with dignity and poise, and he gave a very moving speech. Finally, an honorary Oscar was given to Robert Redford, and it's about time. I may not like the guy a lot as an actor, and I've only liked a couple of the movies he directed, but by founding the Sundance Film Festival, he's done a world of good for independent films. His contributions to film can never be denied.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" won very well-deserved Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects, but it also won for Best Makeup. See, I have a problem with that. Of the films listed, yes, it deserved to win, but the movie that truly had the best makeup last year was "Planet of the Apes," and it wasn't even nominated. What the hell happened there??? I'll admit, the movie is a disappointment (probably more to me than most others because it's directed by my favorite director, Tim Burton), but the revolutionary makeup by Rick Baker can't be ignored. It's probably the best makeup work ever put into a film, and the Academy completely ignored it. Were they just annoyed that Rick Baker won too many Oscars, and they wanted to give someone else a chance? "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" had fantastic makeup, but I assure you, it wasn't the best makeup on film last year, not by a longshot.
"Black Hawk Down" won for Best Editing. Are the Academy members on crack? Did they even notice the brilliant editing in "Moulin Rouge," or the very complex editing in "Memento"? Both of those movies were nominated, and one of those two should have won. On the plus side, "Moulin Rouge" won Oscars for Art Direction and Costume Design. By the way, I liked the prerecorded skit about costume design that was done by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. That was good stuff.
As for the music categories, Best Original Score went to Howard Shore for "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." I own the soundtrack, and it's awesome. The only other nominee who I thought had a chance was John Williams for "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," which I also own, and it's just as good. But since John Williams already has about a million Oscars, I was happy to see Howard Shore win one. As for Best Original Song, like I said, all the songs pretty much sucked (and seeing an abridged version of all of the nominees performed back-to-back is the best cure for insomnia I've ever seen). Fortunately, the one song that wasn't so bad, "If I Didn't Have You," the one by Randy Newman from "Monster's Inc." was the winner. Of course, I'da been really happy if "Come What May" from "Moulin Rouge" won, but it wasn't nominated.
The Oscar for Best Song would be the only Oscar for "Monster's Inc." In the category of Best Animated Feature Film (a brand new category... it's about time), the Oscar went to "Shrek," which is probably the one that shoulda won. That movie is hilarious, and it's got a sense of humor that kids AND adults can appreciate.
My favorite movie last year, "Amélie," was nominated for five Oscars, but the only one that it really had a chance at winning was Best Foreign Film. At the Golden Globes, it lost to "No Man's Land," but I figured that for the Oscars, "Amélie" would definitely win. Well, it didn't. Once again, it lost to "No Man's Land." I was pissed off, but having not seen "No Man's Land," my bitching was unjustified. Well, I finally saw "No Man's Land," and though it's a very good movie, it's NOT as good as "Amélie," so I'm gonna be bitching about that one for a while.
For Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Published, the Oscar went to Akiva Goldsman for "A Beautiful Mind." I dunno. I mean, it was a very good script, cleverly adapted, but this is the same guy who wrote the horrible "Batman & Robin," the last "Batman" movie, and without a doubt, the worst one of the recent four. I woulda preferred seeing Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens get it for "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." I'm not a huge fan of the movie, but I gotta give it the respect it deserves, and I think the degree of difficulty is much higher in that one than in "A Beautiful Mind." As for Best Original Screenplay, the Oscar went to Julian Fellows for "Gosford Park." Ugh. Bad choice. VERY bad choice. "Gosford Park" is an okay movie, but it's nowhere near as good as any of the others nominated, which are "Amélie," (I woulda LOVED to see it win in that category), "Memento" (I'da been happy if that one won, too), "Monster's Ball," and "The Royal Tenenbaums." "Gosford Park" was a poor choice considering the other films nominated.
For Best Supporting Actor, the Oscar went to Jim Broadbent for "Iris." I never saw "Iris," but I don't doubt Jim Broadbent's talent. He was also in "Moulin Rouge," and he was very good there. I think most people expected to see Ian McKellen win for "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," but even though he was good in the movie, I don't think it was an Oscar-worthy performance.
Best Actress went to Halle Berry for "Monster's Ball," but I don't think she shoulda won it. I appreciate the significance of her win (she's the first black woman to win the Oscar for Best Actress... really, she's only half-black, but I guess that's good enough), but I don't think she shoulda won. The winner really shoulda been Sissy Spacek for "In the Bedroom" (I also heard great things about Judi Dench in "Iris," but like I said, I never saw the movie), but the one I really wanted to see win was Nicole Kidman for "Moulin Rouge." The Oscar for Best Actor went to Denzel Washington for "Training Day," and out of every award handed out on Oscar night, that was the only one I was really happy about. Denzel is one of the best actors on the planet, and "Training Day" had the best performance of his career. It was his time. I was scared that Russell Crowe was gonna win it for "A Beautiful Mind," but I'm really glad that he didn't. He won it last year for "Gladiator," and he didn't deserve it. He's a fantastic actor, but he already has his Oscar. Besides, in my opinion, Denzel's performance was better. It's as simple as that.
Best Director went to Ron Howard for "A Beautiful Mind," and though I was happy that he finally got recognized for years of great movies, I don't think he deserved the Oscar. It shoulda gone to Baz Luhrmann for "Moulin Rouge" or Jean-Pierre Jeunet for "Amélie." Unfortunately, neither of those directors were nominated (which is especially unusual for Baz Luhrmann since "Moulin Rouge" was nominated for Best Picture). Still, I'm happy to see Ron Howard win, and I'm especially happy to see Robert Altman (director of "Gosford Park") NOT win.
For Best Picture, like I said at the beginning of this commentary, the winner was "A Beautiful Mind." The other nominees were "Gosford Park," "In the Bedroom," "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," and "Moulin Rouge." I woulda been very happy if "Moulin Rouge" won, but unfortunately, it didn't. Once again, it went to a Russell Crowe movie that didn't deserve to win.
So what can I say? The Oscars this year had a lot more lowlights than highlights, but there's always next year. Hopefully they'll bring back Billy Crystal, or maybe they should try Nathan Lane, who was hilarious as a presenter. Well, no matter who it is, I can guarantee you that I'll watch it. I just hope that the Academy does a better job of picking winners.