Briefly, the Oscars

The Oscars were right tonight. They were right to award 'Crash' best picture, and not Brokeback Mountain. I will tell you why, first... I have seen both. I thought Brokeback Mountain on the whole sucked. It had nothing to do with the gay at all. I didn't like it because the storyline went nowhere, and certainly never got resolved. Our characters did not grow as people over the story, either. It has half acted, in my eyes. The best thing about that movie was the way it was filmed, which was crazy impressive. How that movie wasn't nominated for 'best cinematography' is beyond me (as are many things).

That being said, I just watched Crash last weekend. I don't even remember it being in the theatres, or a single commercial for it. Too bad, because that film was amazing. After I watched that film, I felt like I had been punched in the gut to hard I couldn't breathe. The acting was phenomenal, the writing was brilliant, the story was fascinating, and it kept being important until the end. It reminded me of Magnolia in the way it was a true ensemble cast. All huge stars in their own right, but only there to contribute their little bit to the story.

In fact, that is why I used to love Phillip Seymour Hoffman so much. He was a brilliant character actor, who didn't draw too much attention. But, he handled every role with passion and finesse. Remember him in Almost Famous as Lester Bangs? Remember him as that crazed escape pervert in Cold Mountain? Remember him as that creepy caretaker in Magnolia? How about as the even creepier AD in Boogie Nights? Those were all interesting and unique characters expertly played. I just came up with those off the top of my head. He was a regular William H Macy.

I speak of him in the past tense because tonight he deservedly won Best Actor. Problem with that is... no more bit part cameos. Now he is a huge important star and can only probably do action movies going forward. Also, me may already be a scientologist. Remember William H Macy? His name used to be the very stamp of great character acting. Sometime after Fargo he must have decided 'fuck it, I am cashing in'. I knew that very second when I watched the engaging film 'Cellular' on a plane flight to London and Macy showed up to collect league minimum for a phoned in performance.

Oh, and the best acted film ever? Forrest Gump. Have a great week, and we'll talk soon. That movie is so crazy good, though, it deserves its own entry.