Sunday, March 05, 2006

Obligatory Oscars Post

1. John Stewart - teh funny. Very much of a piece with his TDS personna, which probably doesn't resonante with some people. But then, I'm firmly a member of Generation Irony, so his comedy is right in my wheelhouse. Incidentally, a main reason why Kalin's piece on Stewart was that it took a colorable premise, that that very ironicism is deadly to progressive politics, and 'articulated' (used advisedly) that premise in as non-sensical a manner imaginable. I'll also second Dan Drezner on one point:
he entire show had an off-kilter feel to it... in that Stewart gently mocked how out of touch Hollywood might be with the rest of the country, while the rest of the show seemed dedicated to proving that Stewart was understating his case.
"And none of those problems ever ocurred again."

2. This was a crap year for original songs, so of course "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" won. That being said, the track is kinda tight. But the interpretive dance number, just strange. And what's the deal with the rumors that all the other actor's pressured Howard not to perform the song? Dude learned how to rap for the movie, let him show it off, unless it would just be terrible for the ceremony to be sullied by a nominee uttering the word "Bitch" on stage. [Edit: I realised after I posted this that the link could look like I'm saying something I'm not. Merely pointing to RIA's post on the dirty word kerfluffle, nothing more.]

3. Can we just save everybody some time and not bother with nominations or awards for any 'visual effects' and like categories next time Pete Jackson makes a movie?

4. As to award winners, I'm ok with several of them. I thought that "Crash" winning for original screenplay is fairly scandalous - the movie succeeded (if it did for you) in spite of, rather than because of, the script. Good Night and Good Luck probably should have won, as the film was all about the words, silly.

5. I can see Rachel Weisz winning, though I thought Keener's performance was superior. In fact, I think the two best supporting performances were from Capote (once again, how did Clifton Collins not get nominated? And he's the same dude who played the hitman Frankie Flowers in "Traffic", who knew?)

6. Good for Reese and P.S. Hofmann.

7. Crash? Meh. Capote and Syriana were better movies, if you ask me. Actually, I think the Best Documentary nominees were stronger then those that got the nod for Best Picture. Murderball was better than Crash, damnit. (But of course, look at the cute lil' penguins...bah.)

2 comments:

Mr Furious said...

If you're a Clifton Collins fan, check this out.

I'm pegging this as an excellent movie that goes nowhere, because, unlike "Training Day" it doesn't have Denzel's debut as a bad guy.

--

As too the Oscars, I didn't watch any of it. "Crash" was the only movie nominated for anything that I saw, and I didn't think it was all that great... Good performances from Matt Dillon, Terrence Howard and the storeowner and locksmith, and that's about it. And you are right about the screenplay too. In a word? Hamhanded.

reader_iam said...

I like irony just fine; I just think that it loses its power when it becomes the dominant mode (as opposed to be a counterpoint to a dominant mode) and too easily verges into sarcasm and nastiness which does more to inflame than enlighten.

This is of course NOT directed at YOU, Pooh; it's just my observation about the morphing of irony over the past couple of decades, that's all.