Awards Night

[nobbie]

I saw the complete 4 hours of the „Oscar 2004“ night, and really enjoyed the „life“ that has come back to the show after the tragedies (September 11, Iraq War) that have overshadowed the last ones. Billy Crystal's opening speech and singing, his performance in the hilarious, LOTR-based opening short as well as his funny moderation of the whole show were just great :)

Most of the 11 Oscars that LOTR got were deserved (one for each ending, as Billy Crystal said ;)), although I was not quite sure about the ones for Film Editing and Sound Mixing, or the one for Music (Song). All nominated songs, for example, were songs that support the films and not so much masterpieces on their own with a clear winner. But it's typical for the Academy to give the Oscar to the most popular film of the show if there is no clear winner at hand. Although 11 Oscars are a great success, LOTR – like James Cameron's „Titanic“ in 1998 – did not get a single Oscar in the acting categories (Actor/Actress in a Leading Role, Actor/Actress in a Supporting Role), which in my opinion, are the Oscars that distinguish the good movies from the outstanding movies. If a film gets the Best Picture, Best Directing and at least one Actor in a Leading Role Award, it's a true masterpiece. Such film were, for example, „Gone with the Wind“ (1940), „Ben Hur“ (1959), „French Connection“ (1972), „One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest“ (1976), „Amadeus“ (1985) or „Silence of the Lambs“ (1992). So, neither LOTR nor „Titanic“, who both got 11 Oscars like „Ben Hur“ in 1959, can beat the aforementioned films let alone „Ben Hur“, which is still clearly the most outstanding movie with regard to the number of Academy Awards won AND Award Categories won, including Best Film (Sam Zimbalist), Best Directing (William Wyler), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Charlton Heston), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Hugh Griffith) and Best Music Score (Miklos Rozsa) :)