There was one reason to watch this year's oscars. That is, the host and his allies (Colbert, etc).

They often don't give director and best picture to the same movie. Like with Saving Private Ryan and Shakespeare in Love.

Course, I thought Clooney ought to have won both...out of those nominated.

but best screenplay and best film usually correlate, and with the addition of best director, you think it'd have the edge over crash, which was lousy.

clooney is awesome, he should have won all three, as should some of the other nominees.

stewart and co. were pretty good too i thought.

I didn't think so...didn't Lost In Translation and Sideways win Best Screenplay the past two years? That's usually the "throw a bone" category. This year was an exception...in that Brokeback won for Adapted and Crash for Original, which surprised me. I actually thought George Clooney would win that one.

LA people (execept perhaps LA Weekly readers) seem to love Crash for some reason. So do my parents and one of my friends. Most likely this is a result of liberal self-rightiousness and the like...patting themselves on the back for caring about racism, being flattered that it was showing many different parts of LA, and such. :P

As was noted in New York magazine though, almost no East Coasters liked it.

I didn't think it was "lousy" though, just not particually great. The acting was almost great enough to make up for the fact that it was gratingly obvious and self-important. And I did like that Haggis stole his screenplay's structure from Magnolia, which in turn fused the styles of Network and Short Cuts.

But Hoffman! HOFFMAN! That was more good than Brokeback getting snubbed in actor/picture was bad, for me at least :/

fuckin a

well, that is why there is p.s. style post. hoffman is awesome, and he is the only one i could accept ledger losing to. he's great, and i love him, and i knew from the first line he had in capote that he would win.

but it's not only that brokeback lost, but it lost to the ONE movie i minded it losing to. any other winner and i would have been far more tolerant. but crash angers me so. same thing happened all night...the ONE thing i didn't want to win was the winner. but i should be used to that in life, because people are stupid. especially ones who have different taste than me. haha. just kidding. mostly.

i'm such a jerk about things because i think i have really good sense in things artistic. but really, i suppose, i should ask "what do i know".

and i know i'm rambling. sorry.

I agree with you thoroughly. I woke up and checked to see who won and was like WHAT THE FUCK?!?!? I didn't think there was a snowball's chance in hell of something like that happening.

I would have been happy if Strathairn won, thought he was better than Heath actually, but yes. PSH is amazing and totally deserved it.

I haven't seen Memoirs, nor read it, because I have an instinctive problem with a white man writing about the experiences of oriental women, particularly those in a profession that has become an obsession for many westerners. So...in principle, I'm onside with your indignance. It's hard to know though, whether the awards were merited without having seen the film.

I was very happy Ang Lee got the award for Direction...I personally think he should have already won one, so I am happy they took his new work seriously.

i read it in high school and thought it was alright, and i went to the movie because my japanese exchange student visiting wanted to. we both disliked the film thouroughly. it was orientalist borderline rasict. and while i'm not a japanese person, and shouldn't claim to be, i did decide to get a degree in studying that culture and language. and i think i know blatant orientalism when i see it. and it is still very much alive, obviously. yuck.

i was happy with ang lee too. one of the things that was worth seeing. brokeback is a stunning film, and at least they acknowledged that in some sense.

I should also add that I was quite disappointed that Sin City was not nominated for ANYTHING considering, if nothing else, it's technical acheivements. As much as I love Brokeback, I would still be inclined to argue that Sin City was actually the best movie of the year. But of course, it came out too early since, as usual, nothing that came out earlier than October got any nominations. That's what really irritates me.

Except Crash...I think it came out before Sin City!

But you're right, it should at least have won for makeup and visual effects over Narnia and Kong.

with you on this one too

I liked Crash.

good for you then. brandon always says that if you like something i don't, you'e the winner because you took something good from it. but i just couldn't get anything for myself.

Yeah...and the fact that they cast Chinese actresses, and then wasted their incredible talents is even more offensive as far as I'm concerned.

I also think Zhang's other major movie this year (Wong Kar-wai's 2046) was totally snubbed for foreign film.

agreed on both counts (the latter more than the former, because i found almost EVERYTHING about MOAG offensive, but i'm a snob.)

If it were possible i'd give her best actress for 2046, actually (though Miranda July comes close).

Hey, I'ma snob too...tis cool.

i was thinking about you last night while i was watching it...i was pretty disapointed too.

I hate to tell everyone, but Brokeback Mountain certainly wasn't movie of the year, and other than giving the individual awards to those who deserved them, the academy missed the boat on awarding the right movies with the right prizes. Other than Capote, I've seen all the nominated films for Best Picture and none of them came even close to Good Night and Good Luck--none.

honestly, i thought crash was the ONLY film on the list i'd be unhappy to see win, i thought all the other four were great, and each had merits worthy of best picture. i had particular pull for brokeback because i'm an ang lee fanatic, and i loved this film from the day i found out he was making it, so i'm obviously biased. but if good night and good luck had won, you wouldn't hear a peep of complaint from me.

Agreed.

Though I have to say my favorite movie of last year (Gregg Araki's child-molesation-aftermath drama Mysterious Skin) wasn't even nominated for an Independent Spirit except for director. Araki lost to Lee.

The other huge disappointment there for me was Me You and Everyone You Know losing Best First Feature...to Crash, of all things, which isn't even a real indie.

They really ought to ban movies from the specialty divisions of the majors, unless they were aquired for distribution after the film was completed...this overlap with the Oscars is really bothersome to me.

Dead on. Ugh, Crash. GRRR, Geisha.

i am NEVER watching the oscars again.

that's such a lie and we both know it. :-P

well...at least not next year's!

I laughed for an unreasonably long time after reading that.
I was so thinking the same thing. =)

ok, so I didn't hate crash, in the same way that I didn't hate Die Hard. but I definitely agree that it didn't deserve an oscar in any category.

what I am happy about is that a whole bunch of unusual films were nominated in lots of categories. they're... you know... moving in the "right" direction. I don't think there should be a necessary correlation between best direction and best film, otherwise why have two categories??
--- what comes to mind is in TV....The West Wing where, no matter what the content, I am always in COMPLETE AWE of the direction. but not every season is so worthy of best drama... you know?----

I am not suprised at all that BM didn't win because... well because it is a simple movie. it's a gorgeous wonderful important movie yes. but it's kind of quiet and simple (with huge roaring emotions that are artfully directed). hollywood is not a huge fan of simple, I don't think.

either way, baby, I love to see you rant. it makes me smile. =)

I would like to comment about MOAG, but I fear you will bite off my head.

I talk too much

i'm sure you liked moag for some reason, but any talk of buying into it's fake japaneseness will not be tolerated, you're correct.