This is March Madness. A whole calendar year of real pain, real agony, real joy and fake boobs has already past. I’m not talking about the NCAA my friends, but rather the always-exciting Oscar race that comes to a conclusion on a March Sunday each year. It’s always fun to catch a glimpse of your favorite stars at these big events. Behold the glamour, the jewelry, the clothing (or lack thereof) and the talent. Wait, something’s not right … (insert Joan Rivers looking like a cow joke here) …. oh, I know, the talent is missing.
Sadly I wish I could say that this year was filled with deserving performances and huge snubs, but it wasn’t. Nonetheless, the Academy still messed up. Starting from the bottom of pile, we have the supporting nominations. The most popular snubs this year go to Jamie Foxx and Steve Buschemi. Each of their performances (for Ali and Ghost World respectively) were exceptional. There’s no reason why Ethan Hawke should have gotten the nod. He’s already got Uma, what more does this man need? Other notable snubs include Jude Law for “A.I.” and Frances McDormand for “The Man Who Wasn’t There.”
It’s kind of sad how the Best Actor and Actress races are always between two nominees. Maybe if they actually nominate the people who deserve nominations, each race would be so much more rewarding to watch. The worst snubbed actor and actresses are: Audrey Tatou for “Amélie,” Gene Hackman for “The Royal Tenebaums,” Thora Birch for “Ghost World” and Billy Bob Thornton for “The Man Who Wasn’t There.” Lesser snubs include Naomi Watts for Mulholland Drive and Guy Pearce for “Memento.” Denzel Washington, Renee Zellweger and Sean Penn should have been excluded, but there is such a shortage of Oscar quality performances this year. I don’t blame the Academy, but they’re still wrong.
Moving onto the Best Director category, I must admit I do agree with 4 out of the 5 nominations, but that’s because everything else is pretentious crap. Despite the commercial success of “Black Hawk Down,” Ridley Scott should not have been nominated. Todd Field should have gotten the nod given his movie, In the Bedroom, was one of the few highlights of the year. The Best Director category is a great example of how much better competition would be if there were enough deserving nominations. Instead of the usual one frontrunner/one sleeper fight, this is a three-way tie (favorites are Ron Howard, Peter Jackson and Robert Altman).
Normally there is a one and only favorite for the Best Picture category, but it has been a tough race between “A Beautiful Mind” and “Lord of the Rings.” “Moulin Rouge” is not going to win despite its amazing technical efforts. Some argue about whether it should have been nominated in the first place. I don’t completely disagree with the nomination, I just feel the movie could have been substituted by other equally great films. Some movies that could have filled that fifth spot include: “Shrek,” “Mulholland Drive” and “Amélie.” In when it comes to the Academy, Lady Justice isn’t blind, she’s wearing binoculars.
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