In Reply to: The Academy ... note - It's a tirade posted by RGA on March 26, 2001 at 22:14:27:
Agreed, on nearly all such points. I very much enjoyed **Gladiator** in the theatres as well, purchased the DVD, but have subsequently had my experience of it effectively ruined by virtue of its Best Picture award. It's a fun movie, to be sure, but it's by no means a superior or groundbreaking film; to confer such a mantle upon it is, I suspect, to risk outright embarrassment. In this regard, **Gladiator** now joins the likes of **Braveheart** and **Titanic**.Bad air! Bad air!
I liked Russell Crowe in **The Insider** and felt that he probably should actually have won the award for Best Actor *last* year. In this respect, I was shocked that he won, actually (he seemed to be in a daze as well) -- although I don't know that he faced quite so formidable a collection of opposition this time around. Good for him, I say.
Look, I've nothing against Julia Roberts, but how is it that Ellen Burstyn didn't win the award for Best Actress in recognition of her performance in **Requiem for a Dream**? I mean, c'mon, we've witnessed a deluge of Erin Brockovich-type characters in cinema over the past two decades (usually strutting their well-trod stuff in equally "well-made" formula films [to borrow (a now desparaging term) from 19th century French dramatist (sic) Alexandre Dumas Fils] with graftable plots, instantly transplantable characters and poignantly encouraging finales). Burstyn twisted, contorted and effectively broke herself to deliver the *second* performance of a lifetime in **Requiem**, and she's rewarded with...what? A joke at Russell Crowe's expense?
Bad air! Bad air!
Among major studio releases, I thought **O Brother Where Art Thou** the finest film of the year. Critics tend to view Coen Brothers' efforts with a single set of lenses, however ("Keen, still *another* suitably offbeat Coen Brothers' film; let's pigeonhole it right *here*, shall we?"), so I suspect that it'll take some time before their latest effort is proper digested.
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Follow Ups
- Re: The Academy ... note - It's a tirade - whackamus 14:53:22 03/27/01 (8)
- Re: The Academy ... note - It's a tirade - Victor Khomenko 16:38:58 03/27/01 (7)
- Please relax! the Academy is a trade/professional association - Celluloid 09:28:22 03/28/01 (6)
- Thanks for that! - clarkjohnsen 12:01:11 03/29/01 (3)
- Ah, Clark! - Victor Khomenko 21:49:56 03/29/01 (2)
- Matinees in Boston are $5.50 n/t - clarkjohnsen 12:19:15 03/30/01 (1)
- Got me there, I forgot about matinees... love them too... (nt) - Victor Khomenko 12:32:57 03/30/01 (0)
- Re: Please relax! the Academy is a trade/professional association - RGA 00:00:54 03/29/01 (1)
- RGA: Nice post, but please, Ebert & ilk are reviewers/consumer guides NOT critics!! (you are easily as qualified as he!) - Celluloid 20:35:24 03/29/01 (0)