i think charlize theron was awesome is monster, i´d like 21 grams, but still think she deserved it.

Wow Irish. Finally something went your way tonight. Im actaully happy for you. Plus, I wanted Penn to win.

damm, they won, well the life is unfair sometimes hahaha

I don't know if I can EVER watch the oscar's again after tonight. The amount of hypocrisy in the academy is unmeasureable. I am speechless after tonight's winners. I'm going to bed & will argue with you guys tomorrow. THIS SUCKS, F**K LOTR!!

11/11

I would like to thank you all for sharing this wonderful wonderful night with me.

Irish- maybe next year will be better dude.

Lombardi- no hard feelings.

So I would appreciate it if all of you would pay homage to this true masterpiece right now. Even if you really dont mean it.

PURE PITY AWARD. Just because it was the last of the movies and it was fantasy. Pure BULLSHIT. Mystic River is DRAMA, not artificiality like LOTR. What was the only thing unCGI? The actors?

[doesn't expect an argument]

Don't bother...we can see what your made of. Maybe a good nights sleep will clear ALL our heads.

If you can't discuss things without getting upset then maybe people should just let it go.

Congratulations to all the winners for giving us some really great films this year. Films that took us away from our everyday lives and troubles, even if only for a few short hours!

By the way, I am sadden by the way things went down hill here tonight. I know this is not the way Geoff or Sc want these boards to go.

I am sure when you read these posts tomorrow that you will be embarrased by what everyone bitched, pissed and moaned about. Please don't carry these feeling onto other threads.

You are all still members of the same board.

nnnnh....GAH!

i know this kinds of discussions are bullsh***t (no offense there) since they come down to taste at last, but this whole pro-LOTR/con-LOTR-battle starts to freak me out.

even if you don´t like the TriloGy (i do, but i can well understand if people don´t like it) - you cannot deny the effort that Peter Jackson made on this project, speakinG of production ranGe/orGanization/loGistics (and YES, all this belonGs to a movie!!!). coordinatinG this kinds of thinGs is actually called DIRECTING!!!

no matter if the script wasn´t the most insiGhtful (it wasn´t) and the actinG wasn´t brilliant (hell i KNOW it wasn´t) - it didn´t win this cateGory, and riGht so! but THE ALL IN ALL effort he made was spectacular.

clint eastwood was in the business for decades, Jackson was doinG his first huGe project and look how he pulled it off!

puttinG an almost unfilmable, meGa-complex 1000-paGes-novel to screen and keepinG the project under budGet even, can you imaGine what that means?! hell, Lost in Translation (which i love)took 27 days to shoot, LOTR took 3 years!

this is not only the hype, or the CGI, it´s keepinG a huGe chunk of film toGether. and this, my friends, is effort, no matter what you think about it!

sorry for the rant. off to bed now. niGht.

"Jesus" I whisper as I step onto the silent battlefield in the aftermath. I stayed up 'til 5 this morning (it's almost 10.30 now) and thoroughly loved the show--I was neutral until I wanted LOTR to get all eleen--they may as well have done!

I can't believe the tears being shed because LOTR won so many. As much as you bash them, and as much as you personally think that other films were better, can you seriously deny LOTR the awards it recieved? Fair enough, you think Jackson shouldn't have won against Eastwood or Coppola, but can you really deny the greatness of LOTR, even if it isn't your personal cup of tea? I think it was a remarkable piece of filmmaking, and every reward it recieved was just--perhaps not the song one which Annie Lennox won, I preferred the Belle Rendevouz one personally.

Overall it was a good night, but was I the only one who didn't find Billy Crystal funny at all? In fact, the funniest thing all night was Adrien Brody's freshening his breath before giving Charlize her award...

Speaking of Ms. Theron, I'm not really into her to be honest. Naomi Watts was the nicest there that I SAW, with strong competition from Angelina Jolie and Samantha Norton.

Mick

I would like to make a suggestion. Now that the Oscars have passed and the saga of Lotr is over, we should never have to talk about these movies again.

I dont know what it is about these movies that gets people on here so passionate, whether it be with hate or love. What ever it is, I accept the fact that I have done nothing to help the cituation to say the least. I dont like the behavior of myself when discussing Lotr, and I dont like the behavior of some others on this board.

I suggest that we finaly, once and for all, agree to stop talking about Lotr. As much as it pains me to say this, I think it is best for all of us if we acknowledge and obey my proposal.

I'm down with that! Sounds good to me.

Thanks Irishman, I thought I was the only one who didn't get this LOTR thang!!

11 Oscars...none for acting.

Nice to See Sofia C find her niche after making a mess of GFIII

I saw the awards last night. Although I didn't see any of the movies nominated, just from the previews I've seen, including the powerful one they showed last night, I am glad that Sean Penn won. I always thought he was an excellent actor, and seemed very deserving of the award.

Sofia's movie, I hear, is very good as well, and I am assuming she too, was worthy of her oscar.

I don't usually see any Billy Crystal movies, nor is he my favorite comedian, but I love it when he hosts the Oscars. I thought he was pretty funny. Matter of taste I guess.

TIS

F***!!! LOTR won every damn award possible. I think Clint Eastwood or Sofia Coppola deserved Best Director, and Mystic River for Best Picture. Oh well, I'm glad Charlize Theron and Sean Penn won. Ditto for Tim Robbins.

BillyCrystal isn´t my favorite host either, i much prefer Steve Martin, he was hilarious last year. but i Guess he has this way to keep thinGs repectable and not embarass anyone, he´s the riGht Guy for it, since all the Academy wants is a niGht without bloopers and blunders (i´d loved to have some ).

Bill Murray was my favorite for best actor but still a well-deserved win for Sean Penn. he really kept his cool up there (well, more than others)

the only award that LOTR did not deserve IMO was that best sonG award. (yeah, but i won´t start that all over aGain...)

basically all the oscar-nominated sonGs usually bore me to death(apart from Eminem´s 8 mile last year), but that Bellevue Rendezvous SonG really wasn´t bad, at least not Your Annual Oscar Ballad.

as for the score:
hottest male: adrian brody
hottest chick: Naomi Watts (and am i the only one who thouGht Scarlett Johansson was cute?)

Congratulations to all the winners.

Congratulations to LOTR for it's big night. It was worthy and deserved every award it received. The scope and size of the overall project is hard to imagine. Peter Jackson deserves the highest acclaim for putting it togheter, getting a team together including actors to buy into it, and pull it off. This LOTR project will be looked at as a high acheivment in film making for many years. It will become a classic like Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Laurence of Arabia etc, etc. Who will be talking about Mystic River and Lost in Tranlation in 20 years ? It deserves to be recognized as one of the most awarded films.

No it doesn't. I'm so glad now that at least for the time being this who "LOTR Craze" will have a break! WOO HOO!

I guess everyone views films in a different light. I for one didn't like Lost in Tranlation. I just kept asking myself, where is this going? My girlfriend and another couple all watched it together and none of us cared for it. When I think awards I think something that is something special.
Lost in Tranlation did not do that for me. If you think it was all that special, great for you. Like I said we all like something different. Thank God they give all of us something that we like sooner or later.

I agree with you fathersson, I didn't see the big "thing" with Lost in Translation either. I wish 21 Grams was nominated more. But I'm glad Sean Penn finally won. I just Benicio & Naomi would have won too.

I did not see Penn's film- YET but I did hear many good things about his acting and the film itself. Dark, but good. One that I plan on seeing.

the only reason I stayed up throughout the entire, surprisingly boring, academy awards last night, was to see my boy Sean win. I knew it was gonna happen but I wanted to see it. I was extremely impressed by the way he handled himself and how gracious he was, just goes to show how Hollywood is always trying to portray him as an asshole. And Johnny Depp, too. Very impressed by how HAPPY he looked...lol. He hardly EVER looks happy. All in all, I missed Steve Martin, and I thought Adrien Brody , Will Ferrell, and Jack B were more funny than Billy. I expected a little more from him, I dunno.
Too bad Benny didn't win, but he'll have his chance, soon as he finishes his new film (hasn't even started yet) a biopic about Ernesto Che Guevara, the Lead actor nom will be waiting for him, I KNOW it.

I was extremely happy for BOTH Tim Robbins and Sean Penn, as both are excellent actors and I've enjoyed their work for years. They showed a great deal of class in their acceptance speeches and each apparently realized there is a time & place for political stances.

I was particularly touched by the end of Sean's speech, where he thanked his wife Robin for helping him learn to begin to enjoy the fame his talent has brought him. Very nice touch!

I was also very happy for the attention devoted to Sophia Coppola. First American woman EVER to receive a Best Director nomination (eat your heart out Barbra Streisand/Penny Marshall, etc.) Seems she knew when to get out of the acting thing and has earned great respect in the motion picture business! It was sort of sweet that she seemed almost disbelieving of the entire thing!

I guess as long as a Michael Moore isn't nominated for anything there's little need to worry about buffoonery at the Oscars.

Apple

Speaking of Michael Moore...

In the beginning of the Oscars where Billy Crytal had the whole skit thing going with all of the movies, and there was the battle scene in Lotr where the elephants were running. Then Michael Moore pops out of nowhere puting down the war that they were fighting and the elephant stepped on him. I thought it was painfully hilarious.

Hehehe, Bill Murray looked like if he had something stuck on his butt when Sean Penn won. I thought he was going to fight and wrestle with Penn when he recevied the award, he looked so incredibly mad. Poor guy.

The Academy Awards have Fucked Up Many Times IN The past.

1991, 1998, 1999, 2001.

The Silence Of The Lambs won just because JFK was too "controvertial".

Titanic won cause it was a big budget specatle.

Saving Private Ryan lost cause those people in the Academy Are Nuttyer than Squier Turds!

I say the same for "Cast Away".

Last Night they outdid themselfs...

I will never, Ever, EVER, watch the oscars Again...

I enjoyed very much wtaching the Oscars this year as I'm glad LOTR ROTK at least broke the fantasy barrier of never winning Best Picture.

So let me get this straight:

For the past three years, our culture has been bombarded with this HUGE spectacle of CGI and Epic nostalgia, making Billions of dollars, having billions of fans, and has become the most overrated thing since Titanic, and NOW it's finally getting the credit it deserves.
That makes no sense to me.

This has been one of the worst Oscar Ceremony's I have ever seen. Not because LOTR sweeped everything (though that did help), but because it was so predicable. The past few years have been very controversial and surprising, that when we finally get a calmer one, it is boring.
Though luckily the humor made up for it.

Billy Crystal's opening was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Especially when he spoofed "Something's Gotta Give". The Stiller/Wilson thing was funny, but they can never top what they did two years ago. The Will Ferrell and Jack Black song was also funny, and it was great to see Adrien Brody again. It seemed like he disappeared off the face of the earth when he won last year's Oscar. He was funny also.
Another thing Crystal did that made me laugh was the New Zealand jokes. "Well, it's official: They've run out of people in New Zealand to thank". And after that, "People are now moving to New Zealand, just to be thanked."

And whoever said it earliar was right, FFC did look proud of Sofia's screenplay win, as did Nicolas Cage.
And in my opinion, Charlize looked the greatest.

About the 11 wins, ROTK will never equal (or surpass) the greatness of Ben-Hur.

They also screwed up in 1980 & last year when Martin Scorsese didn't win! I'm in the same boat with you, I don't think I'll ever watch the Oscar's again! I'll follow what happens, but won't watch them all the way through probably.

Hey there, Mike Sullivan!!

You do point out some pretty good examples (though 'Silence of the Lambs' far surpassed the utter fantasy of JFK)...

My biggest all time beef is Apollo 13 being up for Best Picture...and not even a nomination for Director Ron Howard. Completely shameful. Even if he didn't win, a nomination was deserved at the very least.

...but even against all that, just think of how many times The Academy got it right!

Don't watch again if you don't want to; it won't make a single bit of difference, and you'll probably feel better the next morning.

Apple