WeatherGrrrl's Station

For a bit of fun the three of us filled in the ballots just to see how often we agreed with the Academy. As it turns out, not often. I scored highest with 10 of 24 followed by Sub-Evil Boy with 5 and Phi with 3. Not a bad showing for me, I suppose, especially given the history of Oscar voting. Did they seriously think that Titanic was so much better than LA Confidential?

I watched the event time shifted an hour later using that wonderful invention TiVo. No need to watch the ads or boring lists of thank yous from people desperate for their next job.

Favourite acceptance speach – Jorge Drexler for Best Original Song. Al Otro Lado Del Rio. He sang a cappella. It was short. It was beautiful. He should have been asked to perform the song on stage during the preceedings instead of Bandaras and Santana!

Favourite winners – Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth for Best Original Screenplay for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. An amazing script that made you engage the old grey cells. Best Script seems to be becoming the award where the Academy says sorry to the film that should have won Best Picture.

Most disappointing miss – Kate Winslet for Best Actress for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Time after time she has turned in superb performances and yet doesn’t seem to get the credit she deserves from award shows like this.

Favourite Oscar show host – Billy Crystal. Chris Rock was a disappointment. If you’re going to employ someone with an edge you need to let him do his thing. I’m assuming he didn’t write most of the material used as it was pretty poor and he’s a huge talent., Perhaps his material is too adult for this show?

Unsung Hero – Sean Penn for replying to Chris Rock’s diatribe against Jude Law. No, you don’t wait for The Star to become available, you employ talented actors and actresses.

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Brilliant. I was a little ambivalent about seeing this movie. I thought I knew something of Howard Hughes and did not see the connection with a movie called The Aviator. Plus I can’t say I’m the biggest Martin Scorsese fan so I went to the cinema hoping for the best but not expecting too much. A speedy three hours later and, wow, we came out of the theatre quite elated and chatting about what we had just experienced.

The biggest surprise was Lonardo Dicaprio’s performance, which was excellent. He captured beautifully the highs and lows of his character’s life. He certainly elicited a sympathetic response from me as Hughes shows the early signs of his mental decline. Cate Blanchette was equally excellent as Kate Hepburn. In fact all aspects of the production were well served by its crew.

I’d certainly recommend this movie as three hours well spent. Check out Phi’s views here.

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