TankGrrl - Annotations On Life
| March 25, 2003 (You probably expected to be here.) |
| My Academy Awards viewing pleasure |
Some of those I admired who died this past year and were honoured during the show:
- Billy Wilder - Wilder was a writer, producer and director. To many filmmakers, including Cameron Crowe who absolutely idolises him, Wilder is the gold standard. 'Spirit of St. Louis', 'Seven Year Itch', 'Stalag 17', 'Double Indemnity', etc.
- George Roy Hill - Oh my. Hill won an Oscar for his direction of 'The Sting. He filmed Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s 'un-filmable' book 'Slaughterhouse Five' and did great justice to John Irving's 'The World According to Garp'.
- Leo McKern - A great actor and comedian (he was Rumpole). And an Aussie, to boot. McKern was very a prodigious actor and in high demand for most of his career.
- Ward Kimball - A legendary animator, writer and producer. One of Disney's '9 old men'
- Richard Harris - If you don't know... well, if you don't know who this is don't tell me.
- James Coburn - Ditto. ;)
Peter O'Toole was so absolutely deserving of this. He reall y should have won before (he was nominated for 7) but he wasn't very lucky. At least he got a BAFTA for 'Lawrence of Arabia'. I think he should have at least won in '73 and '65. He had no chance against Gregory Peck in '63. He was generally up against really stiff competition each year he was nominated. Anyway... I love him. He's brilliant. :)
Presenters:
- Harrison Ford is still hot even if he is showing his age (and, yes, he's supposed to play Indy again, nonetheless).
- Geena Davis. Oh. My. God. Did she look awesome or what. *drool*
- Brendan Fraser is such a cute person. And he's so much funnier than most people know.
- Renée Zellweger. I was in fear for her the safety of her eyes. I thought her cheeks were going to swallow them whole. WTH is with that? She looked like some giant kewpie doll.
- I cried a little when Olivia De Havilland came out and I definitely did for Julie Andrews' spontaneous standing ovation. And Luise Rainer... OK I really cried for her. It's so good that she is not forgotten by an industry that has, at times, treated her poorly. She was a unique and individual person back when such a thing was frowned upon in Hollywood. It's good that Hollywood is giving her due. It's sad they turned her away from them all those years ago. She could have contributed so much more (after winning two, count em, TWO consecutive Oscars).
The winners (or 'go-to-ers in p.c. Oscar-speak'):
- Adrien Brody was so wonderful to watch when he, to everyone's surprise (he was up against Nick Cage, Daniel Day-Lewis, Michael Caine and Jack Nicholson for god's sake!), won best actor for his role in Roman Polanski's 'The Pianist'. His sentiments about peace were low-key but so very pognant. And it was great how he got the orchestra to stop! heh! And then Polanksi himself wins best director (I still have question about some of the seedier bits of Polanski's past, but no one can deny he is one of the great directors of the last 100 years). I'm dying to see this movie.
- 'Lilo & Stitch' lost, but it lost to Miyazaki's 'Spirited Away' so it was no big surprise. Otherwise, it would've taken animated feature easily.
- Conrad Hall won, posthumously, the cinematography statue for 'Road to Perdition'. (Extreme trivia: His dad wrote 'Mutiny on the Bounty'). I haven't seen it, but I am a fan (he was the cinematographer [and won for an Oscar] for 'American Beauty', nuff said).
- LOTR:TTT won, deservedly so, the visual effects statue. They were up against Spider-Man and Star Wars:Episode II - The Longest Title.
I'm not gonna go into the 'Bowling for Columbine' speech, but I must (in the interest of fairness) point out that my friend and yours Andy Ihnatko seems to be after Mr. Moore about some possible innaccuracies. Wild. Apparently Roger Ebert is cc'd on the email volleys between Andy and Mr. Moore. Andy? Dude, I never knew you were so aggressive! That marathon musta done something to you, brah. hehe (but, seriously, go get em, champ)
Oh! And 'The Chubbchubbs' won best animated shot. I loved this one! Go find it somewhere and watch it. It's hilarious!Posted by Maggie at March 25, 2003 12:34 AM Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)