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Oscar Wrap-Up
More info: www.abc.com
Review
by : Matt
McConnel 
To start
with, the first award was the only one that I really cared
about. Two Towers was not going to get much more than the
special effects nod, and Frida for the art direction. Chicago,
Gangs of New York, The Pianist, great movies all, but not
the ones I was watching for. Spirited Away. Best Animated
Feature. Hell yeah.
Initially
I was depressed. While I do not always agree with the venerable
Ed Johnson-Ott of NUVO
(who will probably never see this unless he does an ego search
over the web), he is an intelligent fellow who wrote a really
well-considered article on his picks, and not-picks, for this
year's extravaganza. In both of our opinions, Spirited Away
was the underdog. Not a sure loser, but a definite low list-er
if the Academy's track record held true. Thankfully it did
not; the very first award set the tone for the evening. It
was a night of surprises and pleasant ones at that.
Frida,
by one of my all time favorite directors Julie Taymor, picked
up two awards for, oh gee, you guessed this one. Makeup and
music. The music one was a real surprise as Frida was up against
the powerhouse of John 'I have eight of these damn things'
Williams for Catch Me If You Can. Twin Towers was the favorite
for Documentary short subject, as was the long subject winner
Bowling For Columbine. The story with Bowling gets even Moore
bizarre as Michael Moore in a stunning show of good nature
and political outspokenness brought up all the other nominees
who he had just beaten, and as I looked at the screen all
I could think was: 'Oh dear mercy, they gave Michael Moore
a live microphone.' Sure enough, along with his peers, he
proceeded to go off on a tear. The fascinating thing was that
the audience was really split on the issue. There were applause
to drowned out the boos, and vice versa. The entire moment
is then capped by Steve Martin talking about what a great
show of love there was backstage as the Teamsters helped Michael
Moore into the trunk of his limo.
Moore's
was not the first, but certainly the most spectacular, salvo
in the evening's 'any acceptance speech you can make, I can
make better' contest. Moore remained king of the acceptance
mountain until the winner of best lead actor, Adrien Brody,
who I might add must have done one hell of a job to beat Daniel
Day Lewis, got on stage, and embraced presenter Halle Berry.
Now, when I say embrace what I am trying to say is he grabbed
her and kissed her full on, no-holds barred, you haven't seen
this shit since high school. Brody then went on to give a
choked speech that brought the house down as he is probably
the only recipient in Academy history to shout the band down.
He saluted the troops in Iraq, including a childhood friend.
His acceptance, though long, was classic; in his own words
to the band director: "Hang on a minute; you only get one
shot at this."
Speaking
of classy, Peter O'Toole. About damn time I say. Though I
was thrilled at his reaction to the announcement (also known
as the 'I'm not dead yet damnit' approach), his accepting
the award was tribute a long time coming. Speaking of a long
time coming, the Academy finaly saluted Nicole Kidman with
a best actress nod. Oh Mr. Washington… Baaaaaad Mr. Washington.
"By a nose…" He says…
Chicago
was of course the big winner of the evening, but the memorable
moments really had nothing to do with it strangely. It was
the smaller awards that were the surprises and gleaned some
of the more interesting snippets. The most interesting snippets
of all however came from Steve Martin who after the riotous
opening monologue came back to rib the audience again and
again. One almost got the sense that he was not playing to
his direct audience, but to the television viewers. Regardless,
he was hilarious. So much so, and so ribald was his humor
that I doubt he will ever be invited back. But it was a fun
evening, especially in light of the specter of war that constantly
loomed in the form of acceptance monologues and Peter Jennings's
visage materializing on the screen at regular intervals. The
entire production was light on the song and dance, something
I look forward to, but on the whole I would give it three
and a hal… Oh wait. I'm not reviewing this. Heh.
Matt's
normally the anime guy, but he keeps annexing. Email him here.
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