Here are my non-comprehensive predictions of who will win, not who should win. We’ll see how it turns out. I’m online if anyone wants to chat while watching.
- Actor in a leading role: Sean Penn
- Actor in a supporting role: Benicio Del Toro
- Actress in a leading role: Charlize Theron
- Actress in a supporting role: Shohreh Aghdashloo
- Art Direction: Girl with a Pearl Earring
- Directing: Lost in Translation
- Documentary Feature: The Fog of War
- Makeup: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Best Picture: Mystic River
- Visual Effects: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Writing (Adapted Screenplay):
American SplendorMystic River
Update: Okay, so I was correct about Best Actor, Best Actress, Documentary Feature, Makeup, Visual Effects. Not such a great record compared to my predictions last year.
Lord of the Rings wins for best editing.
Let me repeat: the 201-minute movie that left all of the scenes with the major evil character on the cutting room floor wins for best editing.
Jamie Lee Curtis makes a joke flattering her husband, Christopher Guest, and he makes a face like he’s an extra in a Preparation H commercial.
Twice.
Don’t feel guilty about the Phil Collins and Sting joke. They suck.
The band performing the excellent song from The Triplets of Belleville features one guy playing the bicycle and another playing a vacuum cleaner.
I think the vacuum cleaner is out of tune. Otherwise it sounds great.
Love the “Triplets” performance. Gets the vibe of the movie pretty much perfectly. If I hear these songs a few more times, I’ll definitely want the CD.
There’s a great scene in “Triplets” where they make music using a vacuum, a bicycle tire, and a newspaper folding and unfolding. Very funny stuff.
Will Farrell and Jack Black sounded awful until they got to the song. Couldn’t those two have set this song up just a little better?
Will Ferrell and Jack Black present the Oscar for best song. I see Ferrell and have to do a double-take because I think it’s Bush.
I sat through more than 49 hours of Lord of the Rings, and I’m pretty sure that the Annie Lennox song is nowhere to be found, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t win for best song.
Annie Lennox says her thank-yous, apparently hogging all the time allotted to the three people who are sharing the award, the music plays, and then the woman with the big hair has her say. Then the music plays again. It’s awkward moments like this that make an awards ceremony more real, isn’t it?
Okay, is there a rule at the Academy Awards that you give best song for the most boring song possible? Do they try to choose the song that we’re most likely to forget before the show is even over? I like Annie Lennox and all, but come on. Choose something interesting.
But, you know, Lord of the Rings hasn’t been getting enough attention tonight, so I can’t complain.
Happy for Denys Arcand winning best foreign film. Great jab at LOTR: “I’m so happy that Lord of the Rings didn’t qualify for best forign film.”
The Candadian Les Invasions Barbares wins for best foreign language film.
Master and Commander wins for best cinematography. Kind of surprising that Lord of the Rings didn’t win here, too.
You know, maybe LoTR should have won for best foreign language film, too. They spoke a lot of Elvish, didn’t they?
So did someone forget to nominate LOTR for “best cinematography?” Not that I’m complaining. Still, cinematography is about more than wide-open vistas. I wouldn’t be surprised if real cinematographers weren’t cringing at that choice.
If they didn’t give the award to Annie Lenox, you know they’d give it to !*&*%! Sting.
This is getting embarassing. LOTR for adapted screenplay?
Francis Ford Coppola and Sofia Coppola announce the award for adapted screenplay.
…it goes to freakin’ Lord of the Rings!
Do they even watch these movies before they vote? This was a horrible screenplay!
Again, let me point out that major important scenes were dropped from this story to make this movie.
Peter Jackson obviously uses the same fashion consultant as Michael Moore.
Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins come out to present for best original screenplay. It looks like Robbins has taken his peace sign off.
Woo-hoo! Lost in Translation gets best screenplay.
Congrats to Sofia Coppola, whose name I’m not sure I can spell. Interesting speech, calling attention to her cinematic “ancestors.” The Godard and Antonioni connections make a lot of sense.
Hmm…I wonder if Tim Robbins has changed his mind about peace? Maybe seeing Will Ferrell on stage (looking like Dubya) confused him, too.
Weird. Best director before the acting nominees? I’m shocked beyond belief. Peter Jackson won for LOTR.
Tom Cruise announces best director: Peter “is that a clip-on tie?” Jackson wins. Really? Really? This sucks. Even Ian McKellen looks pissed off.
Adrien Brody hasn’t regained any of that weight he lost for The Pianist.
As much as I’m bummed about Peter Jackson winning best director, at least he wasn’t as crass as James Cameron winning for “Titanic.” No “I’m king of the world” here. Not even an “I’m lord of the shire.” Pretty classy.
Hell, I kind of respect the guy for wearing a clip-on tie to the Oscars.
Funny. Adrien Brody tried to make out with Charlize Theron, too, and she kinda snubbed him. Somebody’s gotta keep this guy away from awards ceremonies.
Good joke about South Africa.
The nominations for best leading actress illustrate that there were several good roles for women this year. Too bad the clips they choose are all rather histrionic.
Charlize Theron wins for her role in Monster! Wow. She very generously thanks Christina Ricci.
Indie film. Female director. Very cool.
Good point, G. They could have chosen several other scenes for the actresses, especially for Diane Keatons’ role.
Wow, Sean Penn didn’t punch any photographers on his way to the podium.
I *still* think that Sean Penn won for the wrong film. 21 Grams was much better.
Great googaly moogaly. Just when you think it can’t get any worse, Sean Penn wins for Mystic River. And he gets a standing ovation!?! Give me a break!
Billy Crystal, in a joke, seems to acknowledge that many expected Bill Murray would get the best actor award.
And motherf*kcing Lord of the Rings wins for best picture. Sad, sad, sad. And all those irritating little hobbits come up on stage, too.
“Oscar, my precioussss!”
The long acceptance speeches go on for so long that the camera just starts panning the audience at random. Jude Law doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he’s bored.
And the show is over well before midnight. They line all the winners up on stage, and there is not a single non-white face to be found.
Yikes, no wonder the internet seemed slow tonight.
Thanks for filling me in on everything I missed (even though I was at an Oscars party). I’m very happy that Errol Morris won and very hacked that Triplets of Belleville did not. I was also disappointed they wouldn’t let the Belleville director play the clip from the film for the song performance.
Who was the female actress that recieved a dedication.
Audrey or Catherine Hepburn
Katherine Hepburn, who passed away last year.
Oscar Goes to Babylon
It’s Oscar night in Bush’s America, one of the most public and most lavish displays of self-congratulation that you’ll ever see. With an auditorium full of people professionally trained in the art of creating eye-pleasing spectacles, you can count on…