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Lord of the Bo-Ring
Mar. 1st, 2004 06:13 pmLast night's Academy Awards show had to have been the most predictable in years. Usually, it's predictable but they at least throw in a couple of upsets or surprises to get folks to wake up. Not this time. It's as though the academy voters simply said to themselves, "Aw, to hell with it. Just go with the ones everyone thinks is going to win. We don't want to tax ourselves while we get our botox treatments." The only entertaining thing about it was Billy Crystal. There ought to be a federal law making him permanent host until he is somehow incapacitated. And I got a big laugh out of the obnoxious Michael Moore getting squooshed by the stampeding elephant-type thing from ROTK.
The show was little more than Prom Nite for LOTR, sweeping every category it was nominated for a la "Titanic." I knew it was going to happen months ago, when the media (and New Line) began its Miramax-esque campaign to give Pete Jackson "his due." Perhaps they thought this was a neat way to compensate for the Pulitzer or Nobel lit prize no one ever gave JRR Tolkien. As a 27-year SW fan, I find it curious the Oscars never saw fit to give GL his due for a genuinely breakthrough film series. Nor will they ever. Anyone who sincerely believes this win for ROTK (it even won best freakin' song...a song I don't ever recall hearing in the film itself) will somehow translate into statuettes for Eppy III is deluded. Same goes for Johnny Depp's nomination for what most folks would consider a summer popcorn film. I have a better chance of finding HC or EM in my bed. In fact, they gave ROTK this award not because they've suddenly opened their eyes to genre films but because now they don't have to give ANY genre film any major awards for several decades, if ever. Did Halle Berry's win truly open the door for other African American or minority actors? Nah.
The fact of the matter is no one ever wins an Oscar just because an actor is
good or a movie is good. A lot of the time, all of the nominees are good. Or all of the nominees are okay, but not great. It depends on the "crop." A
nominee wins because the campaign for that nominee is successful. You need a
lot of allies in the media willing to keep up the drumbeat as well as a lot of good will in Tinseltown. New Line had the advantage of media corporate ties within the Time Warner conglomerate. (ROTK admittedly had some pretty weak competition this year.) Charlize Theron was on scores of t.v. shows,
demonstrating her worthiness by showing folks just how pretty she is in real
life as opposed to the nasty serial killer she played.
Since the show didn't grab my attention much, I spent more of my time watching TPM on Fox and a show about Las Vegas cheats and scammers on the Travel Channel.
The show was little more than Prom Nite for LOTR, sweeping every category it was nominated for a la "Titanic." I knew it was going to happen months ago, when the media (and New Line) began its Miramax-esque campaign to give Pete Jackson "his due." Perhaps they thought this was a neat way to compensate for the Pulitzer or Nobel lit prize no one ever gave JRR Tolkien. As a 27-year SW fan, I find it curious the Oscars never saw fit to give GL his due for a genuinely breakthrough film series. Nor will they ever. Anyone who sincerely believes this win for ROTK (it even won best freakin' song...a song I don't ever recall hearing in the film itself) will somehow translate into statuettes for Eppy III is deluded. Same goes for Johnny Depp's nomination for what most folks would consider a summer popcorn film. I have a better chance of finding HC or EM in my bed. In fact, they gave ROTK this award not because they've suddenly opened their eyes to genre films but because now they don't have to give ANY genre film any major awards for several decades, if ever. Did Halle Berry's win truly open the door for other African American or minority actors? Nah.
The fact of the matter is no one ever wins an Oscar just because an actor is
good or a movie is good. A lot of the time, all of the nominees are good. Or all of the nominees are okay, but not great. It depends on the "crop." A
nominee wins because the campaign for that nominee is successful. You need a
lot of allies in the media willing to keep up the drumbeat as well as a lot of good will in Tinseltown. New Line had the advantage of media corporate ties within the Time Warner conglomerate. (ROTK admittedly had some pretty weak competition this year.) Charlize Theron was on scores of t.v. shows,
demonstrating her worthiness by showing folks just how pretty she is in real
life as opposed to the nasty serial killer she played.
Since the show didn't grab my attention much, I spent more of my time watching TPM on Fox and a show about Las Vegas cheats and scammers on the Travel Channel.
