Because I want to see if he holds the Oscar in his hands, strokes it, and murmurs, “My precious.”
PAD
78 comments on “WHY I HOPE PETER JACKSON WINS TONIGHT FOR BEST DIRECTOR”
That would be great. I’ll make sure I don’t have a drink in my hand when they anounce the winner.
Haha. That would be incredibly amusing. And there is, of course, the flip side, muttering psychotically under his breath as someone else takes the Best Director Oscar: “Tricksy hobbit…stupid, fat hobbit.”
Here’s hoping that Return of the King will take another!
Oh, that’d be marvelous.
LotR is 2 for 2 on the night so far, so we’ll see!
TWL
strokes it, and murmurs, “My precious.”
Hmmmmm….Don’t think I want to see anyone do that. 🙂
lotr: make that 3 for 3 so far!
ahhhh…to dream…..if only peter jackson had done hulk!
aw heck, if anyone else other tahn ang lee would of done hulk!!
Hulk became a much better movie after reading the movie adaptation. I would have given Ang Lee an extra thirty minutes to an hour to flesh out the beginning better.
lotr: 5 for 5
>>ahhhh…to dream…..if only peter jackson had done hulk!
aw heck, if anyone else other tahn ang lee would of done hulk!! <<
I just realized that Hulk didn’t even get a nomination for SFX.
…That’s just wrong.
( not that I’m unhappy that Lord of the Rings: Return of the King won it.)
Dale
Did anybody see that commercial with Tiger Woods as Bill Murray from Caddyshack? I effing LOST it!! ROTFLMAO!
lotr: 8 for 8
LoTR: 9 for 9
10 for 10! (Just picture to go.)
No “my preciousssss”, though. Ðámņ.
TWL
I have to admit Best Song seemed to be the biggest travesty.
Has any film won every single nomination it got before?
Has any film won every single nomination it got before?
Sure, especially the ones that only got one or two nominations.
Ok, ok, I know what you mean…seems to me there were a few that were both heavily nominated and managed to pretty much clean up.
Highlight for me so far–Michael Moore getting squashed! Give the man props for being a Shatneresque good sport about it.
I want to see if he holds the Oscar in his hands, strokes it, and murmurs, “My precious.”
Actually, I’d rather he sent out a fake indian to decline the award and then she yells out “I’m the king of the world!” Just to, you know, dìçk around with everyone.
Moore getting squashed was a cute moment in an intro montage that went on way, way too long for my tastes.
Anyone know how well “Titanic” did in terms of #awards vs. #nominations? I’m thinking it may have swept everything it was nominated in.
(I did like Crystal’s “it’s official: every single person in New Zealand has now been thanked” line quite a bit.)
We’ll see if LotR breaks the genre barrier in a few minutes…
TWL
Titanic was nominated for 14, won 11, Tim. (Missed both Actress awards and Makeup)
Ben-Hur was nominated for 12 and won 11. (Missed Adapted Screenplay)
And LOTR will either go 10 for 11 and piss a lot of people off, or tie the record in a few minutes…
Titanic was nominated for 14, won 11, Tim. (Missed both Actress awards and Makeup)
Ben-Hur was nominated for 12 and won 11. (Missed Adapted Screenplay)
And LOTR went 11 for 11…
And here I was hoping that if Sean Penn won, he’d end his speech with a return to his roots: “Hey, bud … let’s party!”
And now, as Mr. Kate Capshaw reads the nominees, opens the envelope…
HOT dámņ!
11 for 11.
TWL
Whoa, sorry about the near-doublepost. Browser hung, I didn’t know if the first had gone through.
Thanks for the info on Titanic and Ben-Hur — I still suspect there are other films who’ve won a whole lotta awards and made a clean sweep, but it looks like LotR seems to have trumped things for now.
Delighted. ‘Night, all.
TWL
Maybe this’ll convince them to film the Hobbit. I loved that book, but I could never force my way through he LOTR novels.
Plus it’s got more dwarves in it. How can you go wrong with dwarves?
Well I guess RotK has the best winning percentage of all time if nothing else.
It looks like they pretty much rewarded them for the entire trilogy, not a shock but…
I guess after the surprising Nominations the Academy played it safe.
IMO, the Academyt did NOT play it safe. They did something that I certinaly NEVER expected (and I think many people didn’t expect). LOTR won BEST PICTURE. This just VERY amazing, imo. Not only is Return of the King an amazing film, but its a FANTASY movie. Do you guys know how amazing it is that this movie won?! I mean it was going up against a Clint Eastwood film, a Russel Crowe film, an indentent type film (Lost In Translation), and Seabiscut.
I would have though Seabiscut would have won before Return of the King. Just amazing.
I like the other movies a lot, BUT Return of the King deserved it the MOST, imo. It was just the most amazing movie I have ever seen. Really. No doubt about it.
They deserved every Oscar they got, imo.
Wow.
DF2506
11 for 11
Not bad, eh? I looked it up, and it ties Ben-Hur and Titanic at 11, but they got more noms. A couple other films went 100% at 9 and 5 noms (I’ve already forgotten the 9, the 5 was “It Happened One Night”).
Shame that Sean Astin didn’t get the nom, I’m betting it was close on the voting.
The real surprise (outside of sweeping through Adapted Screenplay) was Best Actor. I was pullin’ for fellow Chicagoan Bill Murray, and I thought Depp had a chance after the SAG award, but I’m happy to see Spicoli get it too.
Lamest presenters: Stiller and Wilson: it’s an old shtick, and they’ve beaten the dead horse with it (sorry). Best Dressed? Hard to say. Nothing really stood out (except maybe Angelina Jolie’s nipples – a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen). Possibly Catherine Zeta-Jones. Liv Tyler probably had the coolest hair, and Nicole Kidman the best necklace. Supposedly Alison Krauss was wearing $2M shoes, but you couldn’t see them under the dress! The designer must be steamed.
I thought that Catherine Zeta-Jones and Jennifer Garner (Jennifer Garner especially, imo) were the best dressed!! Though Liv Tyler looked good too.
I thought Stiller and Wilson were ok. Not bad. Not great though..
I think one of the most suprising people on the Oscars tonight (other then Lord of the Rings winning so much, imo) was Jack Black & that guy from Elf..I was suprised with how funny they were (I never really thought of them as funny before..)! Especially the ‘words’ to the Oscar hurry-up theme (‘Your boring! heheh). Also thought the bit from the Pink Panther director was pretty cool.
Also I think Billy Crystal was the PERFECT host. Just hilarous. The spoofs of the movies at the beginning was really good (hilarous really) and the songs he did were all good, especially the Clint Eastwood song!
And I do agree. Sean Astin should have got a nom for supporting actor (though many of the the actors & actress in the movie deserved to get noms!)
As for Bill, I thought Lost In Translation was OK, but not great. I think theres much better movies that he could have got it for. I did feel sorry for him though! He was so upset about not winning. 🙁 I hope he gets another chance at the award & hopefully it’ll be with a much better picture (imo, of course)!
I’m so VERY happy about Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King winning. Its such an AMAZING film. Deserved it. 🙂
DF2506
” Thought the Oscars tonight were the best of all the Oscars I’ve seen. Just a great night. From the carpet stuff to the very end, I really enjoyed watching them tonight. I’ll definitly be back next year!! (I swore if Return of the King didn’t win Best Picture that I wouldn’t watch the Oscars again!!) “
Two movies took home the gold in every catagory they were nominated for: Gigi and The Last Emperor. Both went 9 for 9.
With that kind of lopsided performance, it seems fairly obvious:
Don’t click on that link above. It’s just spam. Tried to put spybots on my computer and attmepted to stick all these cookies there, but thankfully, I have them blocked.
That’ll teach me to click on random links when I’ve only had four hours of sleep.
After last nights Oscars I find myself a little lost… Over to decades of dislike for the Academy went right out the window… Now I have to find something new to complain about…
I’m surprised someone hasn’t written in a Spinal Tap joke about LOTR going to 11.
I’m ecstatic that LOTR and the fantasy genre in general is getting the kudos it deserves.
Well, Roger Ebert titled his Oscar wrapup article Precious cargo.
And, for the record books, he explains:
“LOTR” tied with “Titanic” (1997) and “Ben-Hur” (1959) among all-time Oscar champions. It also became only the third movie to sweep every category in which it was nominated, after “Gigi” (1958) and ”The Last Emperor” (1987), which both went nine for nine.
I don’t get all the Billy Crystal love. He’s sometimes funny, but way too inconsistant to justify all the outpourings of near-worship he seems to get from people. I liked Steve Martin much more as a host (although you could even see the exact moment when the audience at last year’s awards turned on him, when he made a Roman Polanski joke in his opening monologue).
Historical Question:
Has any movie before ever won Best Picture without having received any nominations for the four acting categories?
So? The Anti-War actors got their awards big deal. I boycoteed this show and dont ever plan on watching it ever again. Hollywood does not go by talent anymore. The only good thing is LOTR actually won it.
Crystal’s my favorite host, followed by Whoopi.
As for Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, I dunno, I think they were okay. Maybe I’m biased because I saw Starsky & Hutch a few months ago at a screening, and thought it was funny seeing Stiller in that getup again.
I am not amazed, however, at Return of the King sweeping. It was pretty much the scuttlebut two years ago that Fellowship and Two Towers would not win major awards because the Academy wanted to wait until the final installment to reward the entire trilogy. It’s also not surprising for the same reason it wasn’t surprising that Titanic won all its awards: When you have such a huge production, you tend to have greater representation in the Academy. So many people in the voting pool may have actually worked on those films, that they naturally voted for their own work.
Personally, though, Fellowship was my favorite of the three films.
So? The Anti-War actors got their awards big deal. I boycoteed this show and dont ever plan on watching it ever again. Hollywood does not go by talent anymore. The only good thing is LOTR actually won it.
Calling Sean Penn an “anti-war actor” is kind of missing the point. He’s generally considered one of the two or three best actors of his generation. The fact that it’s taken him this long to get an Academy Award just underscores the fact that the Oscars have had a problem identifying talent for a LONG time.
That said, the “presumed frontrunner” (per critics and sources like Entertainment Weekly) won in EVERY major category this year. The biggest surprise was Salvador Dali losing Best Animated Short…
With that kind of lopsided performance, it seems fairly obvious:
Someone slipped in a ringer.
That smacks of tolkienism!
The Anti-War actors got their awards big deal
I know this has been said many times, but I gotta ask. If Anti-War actors are bad… then being a Pro-War actor is good????
Travis
Has any movie before ever won Best Picture without having received any nominations for the four acting categories?
Yeah, An American in Paris (’51), The Greatest Show on Earth (’52), Around the World in 80 Days (’56), Gigi (’58), The Last Emperor (’87) and Braveheart (’95). I’m pretty sure about those, but I’m prepared to be corrected. I should think there’s probably a few more in the early days of Oscar as well.
How can you go wrong with Dwarves? Guess you’ve never seen Under the Rainbow.
Has any film won every single nomination it got before?
Pretty much every ‘Foreign Language’ winner.
So? The Anti-War actors got their awards big deal.
Gotta throw ’em a crumb sometime. Their ideological opposites tend to win things like California governorships, presidencies and Oscars for best director.
Gorgonfoogle wrote: I don’t get all the Billy Crystal love. He’s sometimes funny, but way too inconsistant to justify all the outpourings of near-worship he seems to get from people. I liked Steve Martin much more as a host (although you could even see the exact moment when the audience at last year’s awards turned on him, when he made a Roman Polanski joke in his opening monologue).
I tip my hat to anyone who has the skills and moxie to host a tough, highly scrutinized gig like the Academy Awards. Only a handful of Hollywood folks can pull it off successfully, and Billy Crystal is one of them, in my opinion. And considering I’m not a big fan of awards shows, I thought Crystal did just fine.
By the way, with each passing year, I gain a little more respect for Sean Penn. I don’t agree with some of his political views, but last night I thought the former “Bad Boy of Hollywood” was restrained and actually quite classy accepting his well-deserved award.
Russ Maheras
Actually, I thought there was a fair amount of restraint shown all ’round. I was flat-out stunned at all the things Tim Robbins didn’t say, for instance. (Completely agreed about Sean Penn — I thought his speech was surprisingly good.)
About the only political statement that came up (not counting a few of Crystal’s one-liners) was in Errol Morris’ acceptance speech for The Fog of War — but given the film’s subject matter, for him NOT to make a comment or two would have been extremely odd. I thought his comments were on point and well stated.
(Of course, Crystal’s “Can’t wait to see HIS tax audit” just afterwards was lovely, too. 🙂
TWL
Plus it’s got more dwarves in it. How can you go wrong with dwarves?
What, you didn’t see The Littlest Groom?
I thought the sight of Michael Moore getting stomped out of existence by one of Lord: RotK‘s gigantic elephants would’ve made up for any “anti-war” statements during the show.
This year, as usual, I played the predictions at oscar.com. I had my highest percentage of correct predictions ever, with only three mis-guesses: Supporting Actress (I thought the Academy would throw a curve as they so often do in this category and went for Shohreh Agdashloo over Renee Zellweger); Best Adapted Screenplay (I thought it was the one category Lotr wouldn’t win and chose Mystic River instead); and Best Animated Short (like a lot of people, I thought it would go to the collaboration between Disney and Salvador Dali).
Still, I’ve won a cappuccino from a friend who swore up and down that LotR: RotK wouldn’t win. It was also fun reminding her of why last year’s winner of Best Director didn’t show up to present the award to this year’s winner. (To refresh memories, last year’s Best Director was Roman Polanski, and there would’ve been complications if he’d been there to present an award.)
I think voters got caught up in Ring fever…I mean, was the music for ROTK different than FOTR? And I too thought Mystic River would get adapted screenplay since odds were it wouldn’t win Best Picture.
I was kinda hoping Johnny Depp would take best actor like he did at SAG…I figured Murray and Penn split the vote there.
Thanks Kim! I couldn’t figure out why Spielberg was there either.
But, there was something…i dunno, passing of the torch-like to him presenting the award to Jackson.
• 
That would be great. I’ll make sure I don’t have a drink in my hand when they anounce the winner.
Haha. That would be incredibly amusing. And there is, of course, the flip side, muttering psychotically under his breath as someone else takes the Best Director Oscar: “Tricksy hobbit…stupid, fat hobbit.”
Here’s hoping that Return of the King will take another!
Oh, that’d be marvelous.
LotR is 2 for 2 on the night so far, so we’ll see!
TWL
strokes it, and murmurs, “My precious.”
Hmmmmm….Don’t think I want to see anyone do that. 🙂
lotr: make that 3 for 3 so far!
ahhhh…to dream…..if only peter jackson had done hulk!
aw heck, if anyone else other tahn ang lee would of done hulk!!
Hulk became a much better movie after reading the movie adaptation. I would have given Ang Lee an extra thirty minutes to an hour to flesh out the beginning better.
lotr: 5 for 5
>>ahhhh…to dream…..if only peter jackson had done hulk!
aw heck, if anyone else other tahn ang lee would of done hulk!! <<
I just realized that Hulk didn’t even get a nomination for SFX.
…That’s just wrong.
( not that I’m unhappy that Lord of the Rings: Return of the King won it.)
Dale
Did anybody see that commercial with Tiger Woods as Bill Murray from Caddyshack? I effing LOST it!! ROTFLMAO!
lotr: 8 for 8
LoTR: 9 for 9
10 for 10! (Just picture to go.)
No “my preciousssss”, though. Ðámņ.
TWL
I have to admit Best Song seemed to be the biggest travesty.
Has any film won every single nomination it got before?
Has any film won every single nomination it got before?
Sure, especially the ones that only got one or two nominations.
Ok, ok, I know what you mean…seems to me there were a few that were both heavily nominated and managed to pretty much clean up.
Highlight for me so far–Michael Moore getting squashed! Give the man props for being a Shatneresque good sport about it.
I want to see if he holds the Oscar in his hands, strokes it, and murmurs, “My precious.”
Actually, I’d rather he sent out a fake indian to decline the award and then she yells out “I’m the king of the world!” Just to, you know, dìçk around with everyone.
Moore getting squashed was a cute moment in an intro montage that went on way, way too long for my tastes.
Anyone know how well “Titanic” did in terms of #awards vs. #nominations? I’m thinking it may have swept everything it was nominated in.
(I did like Crystal’s “it’s official: every single person in New Zealand has now been thanked” line quite a bit.)
We’ll see if LotR breaks the genre barrier in a few minutes…
TWL
Titanic was nominated for 14, won 11, Tim. (Missed both Actress awards and Makeup)
Ben-Hur was nominated for 12 and won 11. (Missed Adapted Screenplay)
And LOTR will either go 10 for 11 and piss a lot of people off, or tie the record in a few minutes…
Titanic was nominated for 14, won 11, Tim. (Missed both Actress awards and Makeup)
Ben-Hur was nominated for 12 and won 11. (Missed Adapted Screenplay)
And LOTR went 11 for 11…
And here I was hoping that if Sean Penn won, he’d end his speech with a return to his roots: “Hey, bud … let’s party!”
And now, as Mr. Kate Capshaw reads the nominees, opens the envelope…
HOT dámņ!
11 for 11.
TWL
Whoa, sorry about the near-doublepost. Browser hung, I didn’t know if the first had gone through.
Thanks for the info on Titanic and Ben-Hur — I still suspect there are other films who’ve won a whole lotta awards and made a clean sweep, but it looks like LotR seems to have trumped things for now.
Delighted. ‘Night, all.
TWL
Maybe this’ll convince them to film the Hobbit. I loved that book, but I could never force my way through he LOTR novels.
Plus it’s got more dwarves in it. How can you go wrong with dwarves?
Well I guess RotK has the best winning percentage of all time if nothing else.
It looks like they pretty much rewarded them for the entire trilogy, not a shock but…
I guess after the surprising Nominations the Academy played it safe.
IMO, the Academyt did NOT play it safe. They did something that I certinaly NEVER expected (and I think many people didn’t expect). LOTR won BEST PICTURE. This just VERY amazing, imo. Not only is Return of the King an amazing film, but its a FANTASY movie. Do you guys know how amazing it is that this movie won?! I mean it was going up against a Clint Eastwood film, a Russel Crowe film, an indentent type film (Lost In Translation), and Seabiscut.
I would have though Seabiscut would have won before Return of the King. Just amazing.
I like the other movies a lot, BUT Return of the King deserved it the MOST, imo. It was just the most amazing movie I have ever seen. Really. No doubt about it.
They deserved every Oscar they got, imo.
Wow.
DF2506
11 for 11
Not bad, eh? I looked it up, and it ties Ben-Hur and Titanic at 11, but they got more noms. A couple other films went 100% at 9 and 5 noms (I’ve already forgotten the 9, the 5 was “It Happened One Night”).
Shame that Sean Astin didn’t get the nom, I’m betting it was close on the voting.
The real surprise (outside of sweeping through Adapted Screenplay) was Best Actor. I was pullin’ for fellow Chicagoan Bill Murray, and I thought Depp had a chance after the SAG award, but I’m happy to see Spicoli get it too.
Lamest presenters: Stiller and Wilson: it’s an old shtick, and they’ve beaten the dead horse with it (sorry). Best Dressed? Hard to say. Nothing really stood out (except maybe Angelina Jolie’s nipples – a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen). Possibly Catherine Zeta-Jones. Liv Tyler probably had the coolest hair, and Nicole Kidman the best necklace. Supposedly Alison Krauss was wearing $2M shoes, but you couldn’t see them under the dress! The designer must be steamed.
I thought that Catherine Zeta-Jones and Jennifer Garner (Jennifer Garner especially, imo) were the best dressed!! Though Liv Tyler looked good too.
I thought Stiller and Wilson were ok. Not bad. Not great though..
I think one of the most suprising people on the Oscars tonight (other then Lord of the Rings winning so much, imo) was Jack Black & that guy from Elf..I was suprised with how funny they were (I never really thought of them as funny before..)! Especially the ‘words’ to the Oscar hurry-up theme (‘Your boring! heheh). Also thought the bit from the Pink Panther director was pretty cool.
Also I think Billy Crystal was the PERFECT host. Just hilarous. The spoofs of the movies at the beginning was really good (hilarous really) and the songs he did were all good, especially the Clint Eastwood song!
And I do agree. Sean Astin should have got a nom for supporting actor (though many of the the actors & actress in the movie deserved to get noms!)
As for Bill, I thought Lost In Translation was OK, but not great. I think theres much better movies that he could have got it for. I did feel sorry for him though! He was so upset about not winning. 🙁 I hope he gets another chance at the award & hopefully it’ll be with a much better picture (imo, of course)!
I’m so VERY happy about Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King winning. Its such an AMAZING film. Deserved it. 🙂
DF2506
” Thought the Oscars tonight were the best of all the Oscars I’ve seen. Just a great night. From the carpet stuff to the very end, I really enjoyed watching them tonight. I’ll definitly be back next year!! (I swore if Return of the King didn’t win Best Picture that I wouldn’t watch the Oscars again!!) “
Two movies took home the gold in every catagory they were nominated for: Gigi and The Last Emperor. Both went 9 for 9.
With that kind of lopsided performance, it seems fairly obvious:
Someone slipped in a ringer.
PAD
Okay, That pun was painful!
Oddly enough, though, it rings true.
Peter, I was wondering if you seen this :
http://veepers02.budlight.com/service/RetrieveCard?id=0023BF2E-626C-11D8-99E1-B3EE4054966E
You get a mention there.
Don’t click on that link above. It’s just spam. Tried to put spybots on my computer and attmepted to stick all these cookies there, but thankfully, I have them blocked.
That’ll teach me to click on random links when I’ve only had four hours of sleep.
After last nights Oscars I find myself a little lost… Over to decades of dislike for the Academy went right out the window… Now I have to find something new to complain about…
I’m surprised someone hasn’t written in a Spinal Tap joke about LOTR going to 11.
I’m ecstatic that LOTR and the fantasy genre in general is getting the kudos it deserves.
Well, Roger Ebert titled his Oscar wrapup article Precious cargo.
And, for the record books, he explains:
I don’t get all the Billy Crystal love. He’s sometimes funny, but way too inconsistant to justify all the outpourings of near-worship he seems to get from people. I liked Steve Martin much more as a host (although you could even see the exact moment when the audience at last year’s awards turned on him, when he made a Roman Polanski joke in his opening monologue).
Historical Question:
Has any movie before ever won Best Picture without having received any nominations for the four acting categories?
So? The Anti-War actors got their awards big deal. I boycoteed this show and dont ever plan on watching it ever again. Hollywood does not go by talent anymore. The only good thing is LOTR actually won it.
Crystal’s my favorite host, followed by Whoopi.
As for Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, I dunno, I think they were okay. Maybe I’m biased because I saw Starsky & Hutch a few months ago at a screening, and thought it was funny seeing Stiller in that getup again.
I am not amazed, however, at Return of the King sweeping. It was pretty much the scuttlebut two years ago that Fellowship and Two Towers would not win major awards because the Academy wanted to wait until the final installment to reward the entire trilogy. It’s also not surprising for the same reason it wasn’t surprising that Titanic won all its awards: When you have such a huge production, you tend to have greater representation in the Academy. So many people in the voting pool may have actually worked on those films, that they naturally voted for their own work.
Personally, though, Fellowship was my favorite of the three films.
So? The Anti-War actors got their awards big deal. I boycoteed this show and dont ever plan on watching it ever again. Hollywood does not go by talent anymore. The only good thing is LOTR actually won it.
Calling Sean Penn an “anti-war actor” is kind of missing the point. He’s generally considered one of the two or three best actors of his generation. The fact that it’s taken him this long to get an Academy Award just underscores the fact that the Oscars have had a problem identifying talent for a LONG time.
That said, the “presumed frontrunner” (per critics and sources like Entertainment Weekly) won in EVERY major category this year. The biggest surprise was Salvador Dali losing Best Animated Short…
With that kind of lopsided performance, it seems fairly obvious:
Someone slipped in a ringer.
That smacks of tolkienism!
The Anti-War actors got their awards big deal
I know this has been said many times, but I gotta ask. If Anti-War actors are bad… then being a Pro-War actor is good????
Travis
Has any movie before ever won Best Picture without having received any nominations for the four acting categories?
Yeah, An American in Paris (’51), The Greatest Show on Earth (’52), Around the World in 80 Days (’56), Gigi (’58), The Last Emperor (’87) and Braveheart (’95). I’m pretty sure about those, but I’m prepared to be corrected. I should think there’s probably a few more in the early days of Oscar as well.
How can you go wrong with Dwarves? Guess you’ve never seen Under the Rainbow.
Has any film won every single nomination it got before?
Pretty much every ‘Foreign Language’ winner.
So? The Anti-War actors got their awards big deal.
Gotta throw ’em a crumb sometime. Their ideological opposites tend to win things like California governorships, presidencies and Oscars for best director.
Gorgonfoogle wrote: I don’t get all the Billy Crystal love. He’s sometimes funny, but way too inconsistant to justify all the outpourings of near-worship he seems to get from people. I liked Steve Martin much more as a host (although you could even see the exact moment when the audience at last year’s awards turned on him, when he made a Roman Polanski joke in his opening monologue).
I tip my hat to anyone who has the skills and moxie to host a tough, highly scrutinized gig like the Academy Awards. Only a handful of Hollywood folks can pull it off successfully, and Billy Crystal is one of them, in my opinion. And considering I’m not a big fan of awards shows, I thought Crystal did just fine.
By the way, with each passing year, I gain a little more respect for Sean Penn. I don’t agree with some of his political views, but last night I thought the former “Bad Boy of Hollywood” was restrained and actually quite classy accepting his well-deserved award.
Russ Maheras
Actually, I thought there was a fair amount of restraint shown all ’round. I was flat-out stunned at all the things Tim Robbins didn’t say, for instance. (Completely agreed about Sean Penn — I thought his speech was surprisingly good.)
About the only political statement that came up (not counting a few of Crystal’s one-liners) was in Errol Morris’ acceptance speech for The Fog of War — but given the film’s subject matter, for him NOT to make a comment or two would have been extremely odd. I thought his comments were on point and well stated.
(Of course, Crystal’s “Can’t wait to see HIS tax audit” just afterwards was lovely, too. 🙂
TWL
Plus it’s got more dwarves in it. How can you go wrong with dwarves?
What, you didn’t see The Littlest Groom?
I thought the sight of Michael Moore getting stomped out of existence by one of Lord: RotK‘s gigantic elephants would’ve made up for any “anti-war” statements during the show.
This year, as usual, I played the predictions at oscar.com. I had my highest percentage of correct predictions ever, with only three mis-guesses: Supporting Actress (I thought the Academy would throw a curve as they so often do in this category and went for Shohreh Agdashloo over Renee Zellweger); Best Adapted Screenplay (I thought it was the one category Lotr wouldn’t win and chose Mystic River instead); and Best Animated Short (like a lot of people, I thought it would go to the collaboration between Disney and Salvador Dali).
Still, I’ve won a cappuccino from a friend who swore up and down that LotR: RotK wouldn’t win. It was also fun reminding her of why last year’s winner of Best Director didn’t show up to present the award to this year’s winner. (To refresh memories, last year’s Best Director was Roman Polanski, and there would’ve been complications if he’d been there to present an award.)
I think voters got caught up in Ring fever…I mean, was the music for ROTK different than FOTR? And I too thought Mystic River would get adapted screenplay since odds were it wouldn’t win Best Picture.
I was kinda hoping Johnny Depp would take best actor like he did at SAG…I figured Murray and Penn split the vote there.
Thanks Kim! I couldn’t figure out why Spielberg was there either.
But, there was something…i dunno, passing of the torch-like to him presenting the award to Jackson.