The entire night rested upon one moment: the Best Picture Oscar…and the Oscar went to “Crash,” the movie with the biggest cast, took home the gold of the Academy Awards.
It also took the Oscar for Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay, the insider theory being that “Crash” won because the cast made up most of the voting population.
For a night that had so many political overtones there was no flag burning, pot smoking or Michael Moore rants. Jon Stewart, taking a break from being America’s funniest reporter on the “Daily Show,” appeared small and awkward at times; he seemed like the kid who had been invited to dine at the adult table.
Stewart lightened the mood with his college humor in a year that contained many controversial films, especially with the tribute to all the gay undertones that were present in Westerns prior to “Brokeback Mountain.”
Reese Witherspoon secured her place on the walk of fame by winning Best Actress for “Walk the Line.” Witherspoon marked her accomplishment by saying: “People used to ask June (Carter) how she was doin’ and she used to say, ‘I’m just trying to matter.’ I know what she means. I’m just trying to matter and live a good life and make work that means something to somebody. You have all made me feel that I might have accomplished that tonight with this honor.”
Phillip Seymour Hoffman took home the Oscar for Best Actor. People who didn’t even see “Capote” knew that he had to win the Oscar, just for putting on the annoying voice. Rachel Weisz grabbed the Best Supporting Actress even though her previous roles consists of “The Mummy” and “The Mummy Returns.”
George Clooney added another title to an already long list by winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Syriana.” Ben Stiller showed off his ability to dance around in green spandex while presenting the award for Best Special Effects, which went to “King Kong.” Ang Lee finally redeemed himself from making “The Hulk” by winning the Best Director Oscar for “Brokeback Mountain.” “Brokeback Mountain” also took home Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Other highlights of the evening included the Honorary Oscar to Robert Altman, which usually marks the end of a career; however, Altman made it clear that no Honorary Oscar is going to kill his career.
There was also The Science ‘ Technology Awards, which include the unseen workers of Hollywood. The Academy graciously only aired two minutes of these, knowing that anymore would make our retinas burn from the dorkiness of the winners.
Tom Hanks was hit with a violin, demonstrating the Academy’s new foolproof system of getting people to wrap up their speeches.
Will Ferrell showed up sporting a redneck burn (thanks to make-up) along with Steve Carrel and his feminine look to present the Best Achievement in Make-Up Award to “The Chronicles of Narnia.”
The “March of the Penguins” continued with the makers bringing giant stuffed penguin friends on stage to accept the award for Best Documentary. The evening got slightly confusing when Three 6 Mafia appeared and won for Best Song with “It’s Hard Out Here for A Pimp” from the movie “Hustle ‘ Flow,” making people wonder how pimps fit into this Oscar’s theme of a return to glamour.
“Memoirs of a Geisha” took home all the aesthetic awards: Best Costume, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction making. It was a very pretty film to look at.
The best part of the Academy Awards was that it only lasted three hours and 33 minutes. Although this seems long, in the past viewers have been up until 2 a.m. trying to discover who would go home a loser.
Leave a Reply