*** Official Post-Oscar Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Mark Pfeiffer]

I'd say that A Beautiful Mind is the best thing Howard and Goldsman have ever done, which makes them more than worthy winners, and Monster's Ball showcases the best work Berry has turned in. While I had my preferences (Moulin Rouge), I don't see anything wrong at all with the results, although Amelie's loss is a little baffling. (No Man's Land is a good film, but the fact that Amelie is the most successful French film in this country seemingly would have put it in the driver's seat.)

As for the show, somebody needs to tighten it up. I watched it at an Oscars party (where I won the pool, thank you very much), so amid all the chitchat, I really didn't hear much of Whoopi's blather. What I did hear wasn't funny. It would be fun to see Ben Stiller host, but I imagine he's too young and offbeat to host this staid program.

 

[Matt Krapf]

A little TOO Politicized/Racialized. Making this the year of:

Sidney Poitier

Halle Berry

Denzel Washington

Whoopi GoldBerg,

and Aaliyah(who got more applause than Chuck Jones)

Just an observation. I wonder what next year's "Statement" is going to be?

 

[ReggieW]

I was disappointed that Amelie was shut out, but not that surprised. Regardless, Audrey Tautou is still the ultimate babe (not to mention that she has this "Chaplinesque" quality about her) - and has been since I first saw her in "Happenstance." I am happy for Denzel, but really felt that Russell Crowe should've squeaked by him this time around. Ironically, I felt that Crowe's Oscar for "Gladiator" was pretty undeserved (not to mention the film itself for best picture). It's interesting that Crowe would lose for strong material like "The Insider" and "ABM," but instead take the trophy for a big summer flick like Gladiator. All in all, I thought the evening was entertaining, though a bit too long.

Reg

 

[David Oliver]

The Illuminati has informed me that HTF has used up their allotment of the word 'robbed'. It is suggested that if you were going to use 'robbed' you now use 'deserved to win, in my opinion'.

 

[Bill J]

Face it, people, LOTR was NOT the best film of the year.

 

[Kristian]

My random (but hopefully coherent) thoughts on tonight's telecast:

* Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson's skit was laugh-out-loud funny.

* Cirque du Soleil's performance was a joy to watch.

* Seeing John Williams conducting was great. As a lover of film scores, it was awesome to see that montage of classic films put to the themes that accompanied them.

* Halle Berry deserved her Oscar. And her acceptance speech was quite moving.

* The "In Memoriam" segment is always moving to me, and this year was no different. Seeing the images of George Harrison put to his classic "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" brought a tear to my eye.

* The New York segment was also great, especially Woody Allen's hilarious presentation of it.

* I was happy with every award LOTR won, and saddened with every one it lost.

* Jim Broadbent winning was the first big shocker of the show. While I'm one of Iris' few supporters here, Ian McKellen deserved it much more. *sigh* There goes fantasy acting's last hope...

* Randy Newman's win was another huge shock. It was certainly a "body of work" Oscar, as it certainly wasn't the best song by any means.

* Except for Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind won all the wrong awards. While I was happy that Denzel won, I wasn't happy that the movie continued to win awards after its strongest link lost.

* Whoopi Goldberg wasn't that bad (certainly better than last time she hosted), but Billy Crystal or Steve Martin could've done it much better.

* Sidney Poitier's speech was moving, but Robert Redford's was a bit boring, IMHO.

Overall, it was a good show, but I was dissapointed more this year than I was with most of the Oscars in recent years.

 

[Rob Willey]

Nice moments:

Woody Allen who usually spends Oscar night playing in his jazz combo

Randy Newman finally winning -- I guess he just needed John Goodman to do his vocals

Catherine Martin winning two statuettes

Biggest disappointments:

Jill Bilcock not winning for editing Moulin Rouge

Christopher Nolan not winning for the script to Memento

Roger Deakins not winning for cinematography on The Man Who Wasn't There

Rob

 

[todd stone]

LOTR = ROBBED. Yeesh, I'm happy ron howard won, as he did my favorite movie, Willow and thats as close as that movies getting for an award
and chris lynch Donald Sutherland and Glenn Close were HORRIBLE! They looked like zombies and have NO CHEMISTRY!

 

[Craig S]

Well, I just got home. I missed winning our Oscar pool by one point!!
In absolutes, however, I didn't do so well - 13 for 24. The HTF consensus picks were 15/24.
The biggest surprise by far was Randy Newman winning Best Song in what was obviously a makeup award. His song this year was not one of his best by a long shot, but it was a fairly weak field, so we should have seen it coming - but not one of us did.
There's no way Washington & Berry were upsets. They were both in tight races and were pretty much co-front runners with Crowe & Spacek. Also, Julian Fellowes should have been considered the front runner for Original Screenplay after his Writer's Guild award.
BHD winning Editing was a minor, but pleasant, surprise - it was my personal choice. Also glad to see BHD take Sound. Two truly deserving wins.
I was hoping Amelie would win, but No Man's Land was always in the running. I guess this year "reality" won out over fantasy in more than one category.
I was glad to see Howard Shore win for Score. His work on FotR gets more impressive to me each time I listen to the CD.
Biggest disappointment was FotR not taking one of the "big" awards. Once McKellen lost I figured that was it for FotR. Another disappointment was Memento being shut out.
The Academy really spread it around. 4 each for FotR & ABM, 2 each for MR & BHD, and 1 for a bunch of other films. ABM will be seen as the big winner since all 4 were in the prestige categories.
All in all, kind of a boring night - we could have used a few more surprises.
I'll post my thoughts on the show itself in the other thread.

 

[Terrell]

I agree about the racialized feel of the Oscars. Halle I thought deserved it, and not because she was black. Denzel didn't in my opinion. It just had a feel as if no blacks have ever won anything. There have been a number of black winners and a number of black nominees before tonight. During Poitier's era was a time to maybe cry foul, but not now.

 

[Terrell]

No, that wasn't directed at you Tomoko. These type of threads usually degenerate into bithcing. Although this forum carries a discussion in a more civilized manner than most.

 

[Michael*K]

Whoopi? Ugh. Bring back Billy Crystal.

I think Black Hawk Down should have won Best Picture, but considering that it wasn't even nominated, I was satisfied with the win by A Beautiful Mind. Having finally broken down and gone to see LOTR yesterday, I could easily see why it was passed over.

 

[Bill McA]

Did anyone notice that the male 'Oscar-bringer-outer' was Silas from Survivor Africa?

Where did Will Smith disappear to during his big moment as the Best Actor was announced?

What does Samuel L. Jackson have against Sidney Poitier?

 

[Terrell]

By the way, did anyone find it hilarious when Woody Allen said he was developing a film about a man with a foot fetish who falls in love with a woman writer's footnotes? His whole presentation was hilarious.

 

[Bill J]

I think Black Hawk Down should have won Best Picture, but considering that it wasn't even nominated, I was satisfied with the win by A Beautiful Mind. Having finally broken down and gone to see LOTR yesterday, I could easily see why it was passed over.

I agree 100%. Black Hawk Down was easily the best film of the year. I think that Memento was the second best, but A Beautiful Mind was the best of the nominees. And LOTR shouldn't have been nominated at all, in my opinion.

 

[todd stone]

michael*k O? and why was LOTR good for being looked over? FILL US IN o wise one.

 

[MatS]

maybe Poitier is a Sith

 

[Tomoko Noguchi]

I'm interested in how people can say LOTR was not the best when IMDB says it is the number 3 movie of all time. Of course, we are just stupid people, what do we know?

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Some random notes…
Best Picture: A Beautiful Mind – Ha, what did I tell you? I called this one after seeing the film the day after Christmas. How’s that for a prediction?
Best Actor: Denzel Washington – I called this too and he would have been my choice as well. He won because it was a strong and solid performance.
Best Actress: Halle Berry – While I didn’t predict this one, I’m glad she won. Very deserving.
As always, there were some that should have won and some that shouldn’t have in my opinion. But overall, I’m satisfied with the awards.
Sidney Poitier’s speech was moving and Robert Redford’s was inspiring.
No Man’s Land was my second choice for Best Foreign Film behind Amelie. I’m happy for it.
Other than maybe for the Director’s Guild Awards, the other Guilds do not provide a clear winner as to who the Academy will pick. So are critics awards and polls even those run by the Variety, the industry trade newspaper.
I’m glad Black Hawk Down was recognized in two categories.
In the end, I was 12 for 24. Not good. Oh well…
Unless I made a mistake, here are the final tallies:
4 Wins: FOTR, A Beautiful Mind
2 Wins: Black Hawk Down, Moulin Rouge
1 Each: Pearl Harbor, Shrek, Iris, Monsters, Inc., Gosford Park, Monster’s Ball, No Man’s Land, Training Day
~Edwin

 

[Bill J]

LOTR is number 3 on IMDB becuase it is a very recent film and people become obsessed with it and vote hundreds of times just so it will become number 1 on an internet poll.