Hey Academy: hire a frakin' translator already! It's silly and obnoxious to make these Oscar winners from other countries stumble through their acceptance speeches in broken English, and then cut them off after 30 seconds.
Though, even with that problem, I do have to admit it was pretty nice seeing people from non-English-speaking countries getting a share of the little bald guys for once.
And does Daniel Day-Lewis get nominated for every role he plays? Wait, nevermind, that's Jack Nicholson I'm thinking of. Apparently that's why they let him sit in front and strike up conversations with the presenters; they're calling out his name half the time anyway.
I've been wondering if it's just the luster of newness that makes it seem this way, but the Best Actor category has been absolutely stellar the last 3 years. The 3 performances that won-- Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote, Forrest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland, and, of course, Daniel Day-Lewis this year-- are 3 of the absolute best ones I've ever seen.
But it's not just the winners that are so striking. Here, for instance, are the losers from 2005 (Hoffman's year):
* Terrence Howard - Hustle & Flow as "Djay"
* Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain as "Ennis Del Mar"
* Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line as Johnny Cash
* David Straithairn - Good Night, and Good Luck. as Edward R. Murrow
Comparatively, the winner in 2001 was Denzel Washington for Training Day, which, let's be honest, was a make-up Oscar for 1992, when he was robbed out of the Best Actor nod for Malcolm X... by another make-up Oscar (Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman). In 2000 it was Russell Crowe. For frakin' Gladiator.
1 comment:
By the by, my favorite "thanks for your career here's an Oscar that you really don't deserve," winner was The Duke for "True Grit." He beat out both Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman for "Midnight Cowboy." But in fairness to The Duke, he did act like he was drunk in a scene with the grace of a young Foster Brooks or a young Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Red Sonya." Good Post,
Spouse of Grimsaburger
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