Oscars…
So, as I do every year, I watched the Academy Awards last night, even with the surreal “War Commercials” (the updates from Peter Jennings that were placed during the commercial breaks, so that we wouldn’t forget, apparently). My reactions:
1) It was good to see awards going to “newbies”….Chris Cooper, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Adrien Brody, Nicole Kidman. It’s good to see genuine emotion in their responses. If I have to sit through YET ANOTHER award given to someone like Jack Nicholson or Meryl Streep, who fawn and demure over the experience, even though they’ve been up there before….
2) Adrien Brody—grab that moment. Lip-lock on Halle Berry (her husband sitting in the front row, fer chrissakes), Shout down the orchestra, and make a statement on the war that is heartfelt, wishing for peace, and at the same time supportive of the soldiers over there. THAT’S how you do it.
3) “Fictional election results, giving us a fictional President…” OK, Mike, Look– I *agree* with you on that point, but come on, man: there’s a time and a place. This was neither. So, congratulations: in a room full of people who largely share your political leanings, you managed to be boo’ed off the stage. Fat-ass loudmouth.
4) Best Director to Roman Polanski: Given the fact that Peter Jackson, who has succeeded in filming something that people thought was unfilmable, did three films back-to-back-to-back, and pulled it all in under-budget wasn’t even nominated, I suppose that I shouldn’t be too surprised that the Academy gave the Oscar to an unrepentant child-raping sexual predator. Doesn’t mean I have to like it, though.
5) I find it delicious that for the rest of his life, Marshal Mathers now has the right to be called “Academy Award Winner Eminem.” “Lose Yourself” *was* the best song of that bunch—it was a perfect distillation of the film, but I was stunned that it actually won.
…aside from the above thoughts, the main result of watching the awards was, as is the case every year, a rise in my desire to actual get a screenplay finished and sold. Which is a good thing, I suppose.