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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

It's Oscar Time! (Yeah. Great.)

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10:40 / 24.03.03

Well folks, the results are out. Anyone want to say anything, or is the mundanity of the results overwhelming.

Personal views: hurrah for Miyazaki and Spirited Away, because it's great, and I kind of don't mind that Chicago got Best Picture, because it was a damn good film (bar the irritating telephoto at times), but not damn good direction. Polanski and Brody seem a little token; Julianne Moore was robbed of Best Actress, hurrah for Chris Cooper, and best of all, a posthumous one for Conrad Hall, who really was the best thing (and Oscar-worthy) in Road to Perdition.

Eminem gets an Oscar. What the fuck?

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

10:59 / 24.03.03

Yay for Chris Cooper. But I like Adaptation so much I'm biased (Cage was robbed!)

And what about Michael Moore, eh?

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

12:16 / 24.03.03

I didn't watch for the first time since I can remember. I don't know if it's because I'm going all Indy, or that I just don't want to wade through the endless production numbers that feel like something left over from the 40's, but I just had no interest at all in watching this year.

How was Steve Martin? I actually read in the paper yesterday one of the "hype people" saying his monologue would be the greatest of ALL TIME! Beating out Bob Hope at his peak, Carson at his peak? I'd be a bit shocked.

But then, what do I know, I LIKED it when David Letterman hosted.

12:28 / 24.03.03

Yay Chris Cooper, indeed. Michael Moore: oh dear. He's a lovely guy, I've met him, but some days he just needs to know when to shut up. And how to phrase things... I agree with his sentiment, but am not so hot on the phrasing of it. Ah well.

Having moved across the country, and being exhausted, I didn't stay up til 4am to watch.

Matthew Fluxington

12:29 / 24.03.03

I thought Steve Martin was funny last night.

I was vaguely annoyed by some folks winning as a result of split votes - I really don't think Adrien Brody or Roman Polanski would have won otherwise. I do feel that Rob Marshall was robbed of his directing Oscar - he deserved it a lot more than anyone else who was nominated.

It's a shame that Charlie Kaufman lost best adapted screenplay too, but that's to be expected, I suppose.

The Apple-Picker

12:38 / 24.03.03

My favorite thing about the whole three and a half hours was Sean Connery's outfit.

My least favorite thing about the whole three and a half hours was the overabundant Halle love.

13:01 / 24.03.03

I wanted Adrian Brody to win just because the rest of them already had oscars, especially Nicholson.

Matthew Fluxington

13:17 / 24.03.03

Matthew Fluxington

13:18 / 24.03.03

Even though Nicholson played the lead character of the best film nominated in that category?

Sorry. Loaded question.

14:06 / 24.03.03

Gah. Daniel Day Lewis didn't win?!!

15:07 / 24.03.03

Flux: the award is for "Best Actor," y'know: not "Lead Actor In the Best Nominated Film."

Actors sometimes give tremendous performances in films that don't deserve them, and excellent films sometimes have subpar performances. ideally, each performance should be judged on its own.

And holy shit, for what Adrian Brody put himself through to play that part, he deserves something...

15:18 / 24.03.03

Wow! That's such a cool shirt! I used to have something like that, but not as good.

15:24 / 24.03.03

Looked like Catherine Zeta-Jones had gained exactly as much weight during her pregnancy as Renée Zellweger has lost since shooting Bridget Jones.

And Steve Martin was dead funny. "Here's a man who has got the same name as the actor who played in the first James Bond movies."

15:26 / 24.03.03

That's such a cool shirt! I used to have something like that, but not as good.

So, you used to be a Goth, then?

(Welcome aboard, BTW.)

15:55 / 24.03.03

Brody gave my favorite Oscar acceptance ever. Nothing like putting that 'get off the stage' tune to a dead stop in order to make a war protest that didn't come across like Hollywood claptrap.

I found it interesting that many of the presenters seemed to take a beat before speaking, almost a silent protest. That was more effective than those (other than Brody) that opened their mouths, but maybe they just couldn't read the teleprompter.

Meryl Streep rocked, and so did Peter "more class than Oxford" O'Toole. So good to see the old boy still has it.

Charlie Kaufman wuz robbed, but Marshall wasn't. For once, the Academy got it quite right, giving the Oscar to the editor of Chicago rather than its director.

Hey, I wonder if Teen People will report the fact that Polanski won best director? Nah.

16:23 / 24.03.03

Brody's speech didn't exactly seem anti-war so much as wanting a peaceful and swift resolution. As someone who played a victim of the Nazis, I doubt he would've wanted no one to stand up and fight against Hitler and the Axis, ya know? It seemed more to me like he knew the horrors of war and wanted it over as quickly as possible - a little different than, say, Michael Moore's speech

16:59 / 24.03.03

In a backstage interview after the Oscars, Mr. Brody proclaimed that he is also in favor of kitties, puppies, and chocolate-chip ice cream.

Brody's remarks, heartfelt though they doubtless were, were also very safe. "We are praying for a swift and peaceful resolution..." With the possible exception of Saddam Hussein himself, I don't anybody, of any political stripe, is actually in favor of a drawn-out, painful and inconclusive military action.

17:16 / 24.03.03

I missed Moore's award and subsequent speech. Was there more than what's reported here?

Matthew Fluxington

17:31 / 24.03.03

That's everything that I remember, except that his last words on stage was something to the effect of "if the Pope AND the Dixie Chicks are against ya, you've got to know you're wrong".

It looks a lot better in print than it did on screen - obviously, I'm in agreement with the guy, but I thought his deliverary seemed hysterical and embarassing. If he said the same words without the strident/smug tone, spoke calmly, and didn't look like a dishevelled mess, it would have come across a lot better.

17:33 / 24.03.03

From CNN:

Accompanied on stage by his fellow documentary nominees, Moore, who won best documentary feature for "Bowling for Columbine," wasted no time in lighting into President Bush, the 2000 election and the war in Iraq.

"I've invited my fellow documentary nominees on stage with us here in solidarity with me," he said, "because we like non-fiction and we live in fictitious times. We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man who's sending us to war for fictitious reasons, whether it's the fiction of duct tape or the fiction of orange alerts. ... We have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons. We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you."

Actually, CNN cleaned him up, here: he actually said "the fictition of duct tape," which only made him sound more like an idiot.

Moore then defecated on the backstage carpet and tore up a photo of the Pope, before being subdued with a tranquilizer dart and released into the wild (okay, I made that part up).

Listen for yourself: Windows Media file of the speech hither.

17:42 / 24.03.03

Yer, just found it on Filepile. I'd have been a lot happier to see who was booing - would have been a good time use that 'sound of the oscars' thing meant to reveal the true human hearts of the winners just before a word from our sponsors.

Moore. Erm. Nice words, but it's a shame, really. Waving his hands in a limp impersonation of Bob Dole, the guy looks more like the little dictator than Noah Taylor did in Max. As he often does, Moore came of as the crazed zealot, though I suspect he was just terribly nervous.

--

17:52 / 24.03.03

Bah, I love disheveled ranting zealots.

Fuck, my MOM was clapping for him.

18:07 / 24.03.03

Here's the post-award Q&A with Moore.

18:28 / 24.03.03

Entertainment Weekly Online reports that much of the booing was coming from the union stagehands, one of whom "confronted" Moore backstage.

Ouch. So much for being a friend of the working man.

19:15 / 24.03.03

I didn't see many movies this year, but I was happy to see that Roman Polanski won. "Repulsion" and "Cul de Sac" are two of my favorite films ever, so that's cool.

21:00 / 24.03.03

Y'all. Denzel Washington rules. Presenting the award for Best Actress:

"Via nose.... Nicole Kidman."

Anyway I thought it was funny.

Brigade du jour

21:02 / 24.03.03

I just want to say god bless Adrien Brody - he was so cool, the absolute underdog, and he made me go from wanting to see The Pianist to really really wanting to see The Pianist. Even if it was directed by a nonce. Albeit an Oscar-winning nonce.

Oh, and who the fuck booed Michael Moore? I want names, addresses and physical descriptions!

21:09 / 24.03.03

But Moore always looks disheveled, that's his whole steez!
I don't know how I feel about giving an award to a pedophile, but then a year or two back didn't they give a lifetime achievement award to someone who named names during the McCarthy era? (His name escapes me at the moment.)
Yes, what Brody said was safe. I liked it that way. Cos it really is less alienating, and it IS something we can all agree on. I love Susan Sarandon but I was afraid she'd go off--I liked her flashing the peace sign. Subtle, effective. We all know where she stands anyway.
Why didn't Jack Nicholson take off his sunglasses? Who does he think he is? Dude, yr inside, and yr in yr sixties (IIRC)...give up the Rebel routine.
Sean Connery's outfit was funnier than any of Steve Martin's jokes, and that's saying a lot cos I liked Steve's performance. "They can be thin...or skinny." Bwahaha.
Whew, I'm done now.

Brigade du jour

21:12 / 24.03.03

The McCarthy guy was Elia Kazan, director of, among other things, On The Waterfront, which rocks the asses of several snow leopards, successively or concurrently, depending on your preference.

It was weird, I remember Spielberg clapping exuberantly, then cut to Nick Nolte and Ed Harris looking like a pair of miserable fuckers. But maybe their dads got in trouble or something, I don't know.

Matthew Fluxington

21:16 / 24.03.03

It was Elia Kazan, and he totally fucking deserved his award, too. They're not giving out the "nice, clean-living people" awards, they're honoring people for their work. The fact that Kazan was an informant doesn't change the fact that On The Waterfront is one of the best films ever, and the fact that Roman Polanski was a statutory rapist doesn't change anything about his career either.

Matthew Fluxington

21:20 / 24.03.03

Well, Ed Harris is a total no-talent fuckhead, so fuck him and his opinions. [mild hyberbole]If you ask me, the kind of person who would inflict a film as godawful as Pollock on the world is in no place to judge Elia Kazan's bad decisions. [/okay, maybe not that mild]

21:23 / 24.03.03

All I can say is ED HARRIS is one the finest actors of our generation and deserves a fucking Academy Award soon. He's like a Gene Hackman, terrific in everything he does and more of a chameleon than Jack, Robert DeNiro or a lot of other more famous actors.

The Return Of Rothkoid

21:34 / 24.03.03

Can I just ask: HOW much surgery has Steve Martin had? I mean christ: he's got the shiniest, stretched eyelids I've seen in a while. It's an odd, odd look.

I'm in agreement about Moore's speech being better in print than live. It struck me as being a bit wank and truculent, really - dragging the other nominees up there to hide behind, perhaps? Fine sentiments, that nobody I think disagrees with, but ill-presented, maybe.

Anyone see how old Jack Palance is looking. I mean, he is, but... you know?

Tryphena Absent

21:38 / 24.03.03

I was glad Moore said something. It's about time someone got a bit political at the Oscars, I would have preferred it if Susan Sarandon or someone a little more eloquent had been vocal but at least Moore's nice and reliable.

Sean Connery has no taste- what the hell is that shirt? Something inside me is shuddering as I type.

21:50 / 24.03.03

That shirt ruled! I think he stole it from the wardrobe dept. of Seinfeld. Im sure it was the Pirate shirt.

Steve Martin was great. Nicole Kidman bored the hell out of me. Eminem??? WFT?

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