For the first time in years, the movie that won the Oscar for Best Picture is a movie that actually deserved it. That's pretty amazing considering that an overrated Russell Crowe movie got a Best Picture nomination yet again, and overrated Russell Crowe movies seem to always get the Oscar (two years ago, it was "A Beautiful Mind," and the year before that, it was "Gladiator"). Last year, "Chicago" won Best Picture (I can't believe that "Chicago" won Best Picture when the year before, "Moulin Rouge," a much better movie, did not... it lost to "A Beautiful Mind"), so for three years straight, the Best Picture winner didn't deserve the win. Not since 2000 has a movie deserved it's Best Picture win, the year "American Beauty" was declared Best Picture. But finally, in 2004, the right movie won the Oscar.
Truth be told, I'm not a big fan of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." In fact, I'm not a big fan of any of the three films in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (though I liked "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" the best). I'm not into those kinds of stories, so I can't get into those kinds of movies. Still, the movies are incredible. All three films are masterpieces. True, I don't really like the movies all that much, but I respect them tremendously, and I can be objective and say that the movies are excellent.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and it won all 11... a clean sweep. Many would say that it really won for all three films in the trilogy, not just the third. The way I see it, that's fine. As long as it gets some Oscar recognition. Keep in mind, it won all those Oscars, but that's not the type of movie that usually wins Oscars. Sci-fi, horror, fantasy, action, adventure... none of these are typical Oscar winners, unless it's for Best Visual Effects or something like that. The fact that "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" won all those Oscars is a really big deal, and it probably won't happen again, not for a while, at least. Trust me, three more overrated Russell Crowe movies will win Best Picture before a sci-fi, fantasy, or action film will.
This year, the Oscars were hosted by Billy Crystal, and it opened the way the Oscars usually open when Billy Crystal is the host, with Billy Crystal being digitally added to movies from the year before. I'm sure some people are sick of it, but I love it. It's always funny. This year, the funniest part was seeing ultra-liberal documentarian Michael Moore being stomped on by one of the monsters from "The Lord of the Rings." Republicans must have really loved it, but ultimately, it just shows that Michael Moore can take a joke (unlike Republicans, who are doing what they can to get Howard Stern off the air... ASSHOLES). After all that, Billy Crystal did a musical number that was really funny. I think Billy Crystal should host it every year. Steve Martin is funny, as is Whoopi Goldberg, but Billy Crystal is my favorite.
Despite Billy Crystal being there, I gotta tellya, it was a very boring show. There was no drama, there were no movies I was really passionate about (none of the movies nominated for Best Picture were even in my list of Top 10 Films of 2003). I was curious to see who'd win, but there was nothing for me to really go nuts about.
Probably the worst thing about the show was the nominees for Best Song. Ugh. There were five nominees, and all five of them were performed. The two songs from "Cold Mountain" (I think they're titled "Scarlet Tide" and "You Will Be My Ain True Love") were done back-to-back, and I don't think I've ever been more bored in my entire life. My God, those songs are BORING!!! The song nominated for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" was no better. I like Annie Lennox, but I wasn't into the song at all (the song is titled "Into the West"). Then there was a song from the movie, "A Mighty Wind," and it was performed by Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara, and they performed while playing their characters from the movie. It was funny seeing Eugene Levy dressed like that, but the song itself (titled "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow") was totally boring. As it turns out, the best song that was performed was from the French animated film, "The Triplets of Belleville" (which is also the title of the song). It was a fun song that I would have loved to see win, but it ended up going to Annie Lennox. It's the one Oscar that I feel SHOULDN'T have gone to "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
A little more than half of the Oscars that are handed out on Oscar night are for categories that no one really cares about, so I'll get them outta the way first. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" won Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Makeup, Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, and Best Original Score. Best Cinematography and Best Sound Effects Editing went to "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" (this year's overrated Russell Crowe movie). Of course, the only reason why it won those two Oscars is because "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" wasn't nominated in those categories.
I didn't see any of the documentaries nominated, so I can't say anything about 'em. The winner for Best Documentary-Short Form was "Chernobyl Heart." The winner for Best Documentary Feature Film was "The Fog of War." One of the nominees was "Capturing the Friedmans," which I haven't seen, but I've heard a lot about. I'll probably rent the DVD. It's the only documentary that was nominated that I have any interest in watching.
Although I normally don't care about the short films that get nominated, this year was different. I hadn't seen any of the short films nominated, neither the live-action short films or the animated ones. Still, in each of the two categories, I had a favorite. For Best Animated Short Film, I wanted "Destino" to win. Years ago, Walt Disney himself and surrealist painter Salvador Dali got together because they were gonna make an animated short film, and possibly include it in a sequel to "Fantasia." Unfortunately, it never got past the storyboarding stage. Years later, Walt's nephew Roy Disney decided to use the storyboards and make a short film based on it. I was hoping that "Destino" would win, but the Oscar ended up going to an animated short called "Harvie Krumpet." It might be great, I dunno, but it woulda been nice to see "Destino" win. Then again, I've never seen "Destino," but a collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali has got to be pretty damn cool. As for Live Action Short Film, there was one called "Most" that I wanted to see win. I've never seen it, but it was co-produced and co-written by William Zabka. You may not know the name, but if you're a fan of films from the 80s, you definitely know the face. William Zabka played the bully in several well-known films, including "Back to School" ("Chas"), "Just One of the Guys" ("Greg Tolan"), and most memorably, "The Karate Kid" ("Johnny Lawrence"). He also had a small role in "National Lampoon's European Vacation." I woulda loved to see this guy get an Oscar. Sure, it would be as a producer, but to say that William Zabka is an Oscar winner would be awesome. But he didn't win. The Oscar ended up going to a short film called "Two Soldiers." For all I know, it's a masterpiece, but I woulda loved to see William Zabka win an Oscar.
I was disappointed with the nominations for Best Foreign Language Film. The French film "Irréversible" was my pick for the best film of 2003, and it wasn't even nominated. Sure, it's an extremely dark, brutal film, a movie that's notorious for having people walk out of it, but nevertheless, it's brilliant. I never heard of any of the films that did get nominated, and I have no interest in seeing "The Barbarian Invasions," the French-Canadian film that won the Oscar.
Okay, now for the awards that people actually care about. Best Animated Feature went to "Finding Nemo," and even though I didn't see the other two films that were nominated ("Brother Bear" and "The Triplets of Belleville"), I'm pretty sure that "Finding Nemo" deserved to win. It's a great movie.
The Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay went to "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," and even though it probably deserved the win, I would have liked to see "American Splendor" get it. As for Best Original Screenplay, that went to "Lost in Translation." I thought the movie was okay, but not great. It has an awesome performance by Bill Murray, but aside from that, it's an overrated movie. Still, I was happy to see Sophia Coppola win the Oscar. I remember when "The Godfather Part III" came out, and the media totally ripped on her performance in the film. I have to agree with a lot of it, it was a horrible acting job, and it was a major reason for the film being such a disappointment. Still, I don't think she deserved a lot of what was being said, she was just a teenager at the time. Do I think that she deserved the Oscar for "Lost in Translation"? No. To be honest with you, if her last name wasn't "Coppola," I doubt she would have even been nominated. Hell, the movie woulda probably never been made! Still, I'm happy that she won the Oscar.
Renée Zellweger won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Cold Mountain." I'm not a fan of Renée Zellweger, I'm not into her acting, but her acceptance speech was very nice, and she showed a lotta class and poise. Still, I think the Oscar shoulda gone to Marcia Gay Harden for her incredible performance in "Mystic River." Also, I woulda been happy to see Patricia Clarkson win the Oscar.
As for Best Supporting Actor, that Oscar went to Tim Robbins for his performance in "Mystic River." I think that Tim Robbins is a great actor, but I wasn't all that impressed with him in "Mystic River." I think he did a good acting job, but he's done much better in other movies where the role was more challenging. I woulda preferred seeing Benicio Del Toro get it for his great performance in "21 Grams."
In the category of Best Actress, no one had a chance against Charlize Theron. Her performance in "Monster" is the kind that makes Oscar voters happy, but most importantly, it really is an astonishing performance. It has to be seen to be believed. She deserved to win that Oscar more than anyone else did that night. I'm thrilled that she won.
Like with Tim Robbins' win, I don't think that Sean Penn deserved his Oscar for "Mystic River." He's given better performances before. If Sean Penn were to win an Oscar for Best Actor this year, it shoulda been for "21 Grams." Instead, it was for "Mystic River." He was a little too over-the-top, if you ask me, but Sean Penn really IS a great actor, and it's about time he wins an Oscar.
Best Director went to Peter Jackson, the man who directed all three films in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. He really, truly deserved the Oscar, what he's done is amazing. He won Best Director, and even though he looked kinda goofy with his unkempt look, and his tux that looked about three sizes too small, he was the man on Oscar night, and the world is his oyster. He can make any movie he wants. He's living the filmmaker's dream.
As for Best Picture, like I said, that honor went to "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." A well-deserved win.
Then the Oscars ended. In general, it was a very boring show. It lacked drama, and there were no films I was really passionate about. On the plus side, a genre film won Best Picture (and everything else it was nominated for), Billy Crystal was hilarious, and the beautiful and talented Charlize Theron won Best Actress, something I never woulda thought possible after seeing "Reindeer Games." I have a feeling that next year will be a lot more interesting... especially if "The Passion of the Christ" gets some nominations.