Oscars: The Grouch
Hey now, that's more like it! My only regret is that all those celebrities weren't boldfaced. Let's rectify the situation, shall we?
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StumbleUponI'm glad to hear that Russell Crowe is being beautifully minded. Do you think Brian Grazer is keeping him sedated? That isn't wholly facetious—as a producer, you've thought about pumping actors full of barbiturates, right? I mean, there's no way you let a guy like that loose when there's zillions at stake. He seems to me very vulnerable. Part of it is that's he's taking blows both as Russell Crowe and as a surrogate for John Nash, on whom it's open season. It's sweet that his former directors Ridley Scott and Michael Mann still treat him fondly and even let him around their women. Was Julian Schnabel displaying his wife?
Let's get substantive for just a New York minute. Who did the people you really, really, really trust think will win? Jennifer Connelly—everybody must have been saying, "It's in the bag." (She's really a sweetie, isn't she?) Does anyone outside Fox think Nicole has a chance? (She's very deserving—for The Others.) Who do the lovely Tom and Rita like? Was anyone fulminating about some picture or performance that got unjustly passed over? Gene Hackman? Steve Buscemi? Tom Green? What's the most popular conjecture re: an upset? Anyone think that, against all odds, it's going to be a hobbity kinda night?
Finally: You tantalize me with your line about "having to repeat the same two-sentence conversation five more times with the same five hundred people." What, I sit here thinking, are those two sentences?
"Darling! So terrible you weren't nominated."
"Well, Russell has slept with half the academy."
"Sweetie! Breathtaking! Badgely Mischka?"
"He wouldn't leave my house until I put it on."
"Hey! Love the lips!"
"Thanks. Did you get tickets?"
"I voted for you!"
"I voted for you! Are you nominated?"
"You are so brilliant!"
"Thank you. Marvelous quote in last week's New York Times. We really do need a comedy Oscar."
David
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Notes From The Fray Editor:
Dira Necessitas said "I love Denzel, but Crowe was robbed" and touched off a long argument. Other topics of interest were Halle Berry's speech (many posts, few defenders), Gwyneth Paltrow's dress (no compliments), and Russell Crowe's choice of roles (one post, strong if slightly wild views).
Reader Comments From The Fray:
See, this is what really depresses me about Hollywood and its movies. Ron Howard makes consistently squishy, feel-good movies that are just next-door-to-really-good enough that he gets Oscars, or is at least a real contender for one. He could put that manipulativeness to work for him and turn out some really brilliant films if he could get rid of the Here Comes the American Hero attitude (I think he played the Opie and Ritchie Cunningham roles too long.) A bit of a darker, more cynical attitude could have boosted several of his films to another level altogether. Imagine Apollo 13 directed by a cross between Howard and David Lynch. Doesn't that sound like a good idea? Actually, given Lynch's films, he would have been a much better choice for director of A Beautiful Mind. We would have gotten a really good view of a schizophrenic mind, I think...
--Kathleen
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So maybe the Academy gave into some sentimentality and political correctness. So what? If it was the triumph of style, it was not at any great sacrifice to substance. Rather, I think Hollywood brought substance to the rest of us this year with their stylistic choices. Through some partly deserved and partly symbolic gestures, they set an example and gently reminded the rest of us as a society that of which we are capable but have yet to achieve fully. Indeed, in Hollywood at least, the only two remaining groups snubbed by Oscar are wizards and hobbits - and there is always next year!
--The Bell
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