So Crash won Best Picture. It seems some members of the Academy did know how to quit Brokeback Mountain after all. It’s a shame as Ang Lee’s film (along with all the other Best Picture nominees) were superior to the LA set racial drama. But just how often do the Oscars ever award the best film “Best Picture”? It is a surprisingly rare occurrence. The only one’s I can think of in recent memory were The Return of the King, American Beauty and Schindler’s List. And let’s not forget that recent Best Picture winners have included Chicago, Braveheart and Driving Miss Daisy. Maybe in the long run Brokeback Mountain will be more admired because it didn’t win, in the same way we now look back fondly at Goodfellas (beaten by Dances with Wolves in 1990) and Raging Bull (beaten by Ordinary People in 1980). But never mind.
Some other random thoughts:
- How on earth did Memoirs of a Geisha win so many technical awards?
- Jon Stewart was actually OK as a host despite some rocky moments of blankness from the Hollywood throng. The pre-prepared Daily Show-style segments were excellent but I think Stewart struggled to modify his style to a very different environment.
- The whole ceremony seemed a lot better paced than in years gone by.
- There was little sign of any tedious “This is Hollywood” dance routines. Thank God.
- The main reason Crash won was the flood of Lionsgate DVDs
- I think Flags of Our Fathers will win Best Picture next year.
Anyway, here are some post-Oscar links for you to peruse:
> David Poland dissects the Oscars at The Hot Button
> Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily posts her ‘I told you so’ piece on the Crash upset (she predicted a Crash upset quite a while ago)
> Kenneth Turan of the LA Times is pissed that Crash won
> Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere is upset too
> The hilarious "Gay Cowboy Montage" from last night’s show over at YouTube
> The Guardian review the night in quotes
> Kristopher Tapley at Movie City News reviews the evening
> Defamer do a roundup of the Oscar live blogs
> Jackie Finlay from BBC News on who said what backstage
> Andy Denhart of MSNBC with a slightly unfair assessment of Jon Stewart as Oscar host
> USA Today on what we never saw on TV
> Jocelyn Noveck of the AP asks if there was a Brokeback Backlash
> Roger Ebert reports from the Oscars
> David Carr on the LA aspect to the Crash win
> Lynn Elber of the AP on the TV ratings drop for the Oscar telecast
> Wikipedia’s incredibly detailed entry on what happened at the 78th Academy Awards