Inspector Hammer!
Senior HTF Member
After now having the great pleasure of finally seeing A Beautiful Mind, I have to say that Russell Crowe SHOULD have gotten it instead of Denzel Washington. Not saying that Denzel wasn't great, he was incredible in Training Day, but he can't even begin to touch what Russell Crowe did here. His performance as John Nash, the incredibly brilliant, but mentally disturbed mathematician knocked my socks off!
Film after film, he's proving to be one of the great one's of our time, right along with Tom Hanks IMO.
It almost seems as if the Academy frowns upon recreations of real people in films. Denzel Washington should have gotten his first Best Actor Oscar for Malcolm X but didn't. Jim Carrey should have gotten it for Man on the Moon but wasn't even nominated. Almost as if they have the attitude that all the actor is doing is impersonating another person so big deal they don't deserve it. That's just ridiculous if that's the case.
About the film though, I found it very intriguing that this man was one of the most brilliant minds of all time and changed the way we percieve game theory and economics, but was also, as pointed out by Roger Ebert, a man who for a time could be seen walking the campus nervously smoking and muttering to himself. I found it rather inspiring that he was able to overcome his handicap by process of simple problem solving. He, along with his loving and supportive wife played by Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, recocnized what was happening in his mind, and found a rather simple solution to it and was able to function academically once again. Reason, consequence, solution. Others with this illness unfortunatly are not so fortunate.
Not saying that it was easy for him to overcome this illness, I can't even begin to grasp the nature or sevearity of what he went through for years. I'm simply saying that he took what he knew and understood as fact, that everything has a pattern, and consequently, a solution, and was able to apply it, and find his way back to sanity.
In closing, I must say that I feel that Russell Crowe was so robbed of this Oscar. It's a real shame the the Academy failed to recognize a performance of this calibre. I mean if he didn't get it for THIS performance, he never will! :frowning:
Film after film, he's proving to be one of the great one's of our time, right along with Tom Hanks IMO.
It almost seems as if the Academy frowns upon recreations of real people in films. Denzel Washington should have gotten his first Best Actor Oscar for Malcolm X but didn't. Jim Carrey should have gotten it for Man on the Moon but wasn't even nominated. Almost as if they have the attitude that all the actor is doing is impersonating another person so big deal they don't deserve it. That's just ridiculous if that's the case.
About the film though, I found it very intriguing that this man was one of the most brilliant minds of all time and changed the way we percieve game theory and economics, but was also, as pointed out by Roger Ebert, a man who for a time could be seen walking the campus nervously smoking and muttering to himself. I found it rather inspiring that he was able to overcome his handicap by process of simple problem solving. He, along with his loving and supportive wife played by Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly, recocnized what was happening in his mind, and found a rather simple solution to it and was able to function academically once again. Reason, consequence, solution. Others with this illness unfortunatly are not so fortunate.
Not saying that it was easy for him to overcome this illness, I can't even begin to grasp the nature or sevearity of what he went through for years. I'm simply saying that he took what he knew and understood as fact, that everything has a pattern, and consequently, a solution, and was able to apply it, and find his way back to sanity.
In closing, I must say that I feel that Russell Crowe was so robbed of this Oscar. It's a real shame the the Academy failed to recognize a performance of this calibre. I mean if he didn't get it for THIS performance, he never will! :frowning:
I'm figuring that out one year at a time, give me a few more let downs like this one, and i'll probably be joining you in your opinion. 
If your a member of the Academy, you should be REQUIRED to see the films in either a theater, or a private screening room!
