I will be live-blogging the Academy Awards tonight, and it appears that this will be a long, long night — the Academy has removed speech restrictions for the Oscar winners for the first time in recent memory. Odd, don’t you think, or perhaps the Presidential election has something to do with it?
7:25 – Catching the pre-awards show, and it’s as lame as ever. I felt sorry for Nicole Kidman and Renee Zellweger, who were cursed to sit on either side of Billy Bush and forced to respond to his inane non-question commentary. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he then re-enacted the “Uma-Oprah” debacle from several years back. I’m sure that the Academy appreciates that walk down Memory Lane …
7:35 – The opening sequence rocked! Loved the elephant stepping on Michael Moore as he protested the Battle of Gondor, and Jack Nicholson made a great Gandalf. Seriously. Somehow, though, I feel it will be downhill from here …
7:44 – All right, the opening songs were terrific, too. [Dammit, I liked Clint Eastwood in Paint Your Wagon!] …
7:50 – The first award was announced at the 20 minute mark. And you wonder why this show takes so doggone long? Best Supporting Actor: Tim Robbins, who seems a bit rattled to have won; normally he’s a better speaker, even if his material stinks. Nothing political, just a good plea for abuse victims to seek counseling…
7:59 – Angelina Jolie onstage to “Wild Thing”. Okay … First Oscar to Lord of the Rings: Art Direction.
8:05 – Finding Nemo for Best Amimated Feature — coooooool. Sweet moment in the speech, too, although I think his wife was embarassed. (Hi, Linda!) …
8:12 – 2nd Oscar for Lord of the Rings: Best Costumes …
8:20 – No surprise: Renee Zellweger wins Best Supporting Actress for Cold Mountain. She was terrific, and of course she was expected to win this one…
8:27 – A very nice tribute to Bob Hope and his Oscar presentation career. It would have been nice to show how his work on screen, where his legendary approach to comedy could be appreciated by a new audience … Mickey Rooney’s still with us! I agree with Linda — it’s good to see him …
8:34 – I guess there IS a time limit on speeches tonight, and even that brown-nosing didn’t give the Best Live-Action Short winner a break …
8:58 – Bily Crystal has it working tonight. Great little bit about what’s going through people’s minds! Lord of the Rings wins #3 for Visual Effects, the second year in a row they won …
9:03 – For such an accomplished comedian, Jim Carrey has lousy timing tonight … Linda notes Carrey’s huge ears, which his shaved head highlights. I’d have said something first, but my ears are just as bad, which is why I don’t shave my head …
9:07 – Funny wheelchair gag. I didn’t see that coming! …
9:14 – Make sure you visit Linda’s terrific blog. Great design and use of color, and Linda writes well …
9:18 – Lord of the Rings wins #4: Makeup. Scarlett Johanssen needs to get a cup of coffee and wake the hell up …
9:22 – Lord of the Rings wins #5, Sound Mixing, and the comedy definitely suffers whenever Billy Crystal isn’t involved. John Travolta did well, but Sandra Bullock’s portion was a dud. The audience is starting to look uncomfortable during these sketches. Who’s writing these — Saturday Night Live? …
9:43 – Errol Morris makes the first political speech of the night, but his claim of “millions died” could also be said of our departure from Southeast Asia as well …
9:52 – Great commercial take-off on Caddyshack, with Tiger Woods in the Bill Murray role. Why didn’t American Express use that during the Super Bowl?? …
9:57 – Lord of the Rings #6 – Best Score. Looks like a Rings night to me …
10:00 – LotR #7: Film Editing. New Line Cinema brings you the Academy Awards — not that I’m complaining, mind you! …
10:07 – I’m going to predict that “A Kiss At The End of The Rainbow” wins the Best Song Oscar, but I liked “Belleville Rendezvous” the best …
10:14 – I’ve changed my mind — the Oscar should go to “You’re Boring”, by Jack Black and Will Farrell, who sang it beautifully! One the best moments of the night. Instead, it went to LotR — #8 — for Into the West. Lesson for the night: Don’t bet against the Rings juggernaut …
10:21 – Thanking the Academy for not making LotR eligible for the Foreign Language category was the highlight of acceptance speeches thus far …
10:30 – LotR #9, Best Adapted Screenplay, and if there was one nomination that had to be a lock for LotR, this one was it. First appearance of Peter Jackson on the stage, and hopefully not the last …
10:33 – Is Susan Sarandon having a wardrobe malfunction? And welcome to Ian of Pinwheels and Orange Peels, another great blog. Sofia Coppola won her first Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. She’s more animated than she was in the entirety of Godfather III …
10:39 – If you’re not in the Twin Cities, you’re probably not seeing an exceedingly lame ad for Eyewitness News starring Ed Asner as Lou Grant. I mean, how pathetic is that? Three decades later and he’s using that persona to shill for a local news show. Just remember that Ted Baxter used to be his anchorman …
10:42 – LotR #10, Peter Jackson, for Best Director, and he gets a (very) chaste kiss from Liv Tyler. Is it too late to go to film school? Dang …
10:48 – I knew Charlize Theron would win, but I loved Adrien Brody’s breath freshener …
10:54 – I’m predicting that Bill Murray wins in an upset for Best Actor, while Ian wonders why Diane Keaton keeps dressing like she’s nominated for that category …
11:00 – This is why I don’t gamble in Vegas. Sean Penn won for Best Actor, made a dumb WMD reference, and then gave a gracious speech about the quality of the work from everyone that was and wasn’t nominated, followed by the thank-yous. Probably the last opportunity for political speechifying, and it seems like there just won’t be much this year. Anyone taking bets for Best Picture? …
11:05 – LotR #11 and a “clean sweep,” as Steven Spielberg exclaimed as he announced the Best Picture award. 11 Oscars ties Lord of the Rings with Ben-Hur and Titanic, and also marks the first time a fantasy movie has won the top prize. A very funny moment during the acceptance speeches, when producer Barrie M. Osborne revealed that he had once dated Billy Crystal’s cousin, apparently to Crystal’s surprise.
Great finish — and the show wrapped up at three hours, 39 minutes. Not too bad, and a relatively entertaining experience, if short on stars embarassing themselves politically. My film won all of its nominations, so how can I complain?
Thanks to Linda and Ian and everyone else who checked in tonight. Don’t forget the caption contest and come back soon!
Skip to content
Thus every blogger, in his kind, is bit by him who comes behind.