Red carpet roundup
Feb. 28th, 2005 12:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gogmagogWell, after watching the Oscars I feel like Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons, immediately going online to express his displeasure. XD
But seriously, I was disappointed to see Million Dollar Baby sweep the Oscars, for the following reasons:
1. It furthers the whole "better dead than disabled" stereotype.
2. It seems dishonest to spend most of a movie building up a heroine as courageous, determined and refusing to give up, and then show her giving in (to depression) and giving up (life).
3. The plot holes and stupidities in the film are massive. And admittedly, some of these may be due to the story it was based on, but still... Like the much-vaunted scene where Clint kills Hilary, at her request? Y'know, if the movie is set in America post-1990 or so (and I believe it is), all a patient on a vent has to do to die is...ask. Any patient on a vent can legally request to be taken off it - they're sedated and then the vent is removed, letting them die peacefully (as anyone who'd skimmed, say, Christopher Reeve's biography or did any kind of research on the subject would have found out). Instead, of course, he removes her breathing tube BEFORE injecting her with adrenaline, which is BONEHEADED and ensures as painful a death as possible, suffocating before the adrenaline kicks in. There's more on these problems here, which is a cool disability issues magazine website. (The disability issues/rights movement, surprise surprise, is NOT pleased with the film at all.)
4. Clint Eastwood's record on disability rights is sketchy, to say the least. So it makes the film's final "sacrifice" come off a little less selfless and more "let's get rid of the inconvenient disabled person."
I was also sad to see the sweep for the following reasons, which are a little less defensible and much more subjective:
1. Clint Eastwood looks like the Mummy. Seriously, you can tell the guy's had quite a bit of plastic work done and none of it helped.
2. Dammit, Hilary Swank already has one Oscar. Stop hogging the glory, girl! I still haven't forgiven you for The Core.
3. By the same token, the fact that Clint Eastwood has a directing Oscar and Martin fucking Scorcese doesn't is a travesty.
4. As for Morgan Freeman winning Best Supporting Actor...well, OK, I was actually glad for that, he was criminally overdue for an Oscar anyway.
As I was expecting, Finding Neverland (which I was rooting for) was overlooked. Oh well, Best Score is at least something. And I do think the Academy will give Kate Winslet an Oscar eventually. Johnny Depp, on the other hand, I'm afraid will go the same way as Scorcese - always abridesmaid nominee, never a bride winner.
Other opinions: Cate Blanchett is good, so I approve of her win, though I have yet to see the film and in the snippets I have seen she looks and sounds more like Lauren Bacall than Katharine Hepburn; Jamie Foxx's speech made me all "awwww" inside; I'm betting Annette Bening is going to call a hitman on Hilary Swank tomorrow morning ("I'll never win an Oscar with that bitch around!"); and the first Spanish-language Best Song won (from The Motorcycle Diaries). Woo, Latinos represent!
But seriously, I was disappointed to see Million Dollar Baby sweep the Oscars, for the following reasons:
1. It furthers the whole "better dead than disabled" stereotype.
2. It seems dishonest to spend most of a movie building up a heroine as courageous, determined and refusing to give up, and then show her giving in (to depression) and giving up (life).
3. The plot holes and stupidities in the film are massive. And admittedly, some of these may be due to the story it was based on, but still... Like the much-vaunted scene where Clint kills Hilary, at her request? Y'know, if the movie is set in America post-1990 or so (and I believe it is), all a patient on a vent has to do to die is...ask. Any patient on a vent can legally request to be taken off it - they're sedated and then the vent is removed, letting them die peacefully (as anyone who'd skimmed, say, Christopher Reeve's biography or did any kind of research on the subject would have found out). Instead, of course, he removes her breathing tube BEFORE injecting her with adrenaline, which is BONEHEADED and ensures as painful a death as possible, suffocating before the adrenaline kicks in. There's more on these problems here, which is a cool disability issues magazine website. (The disability issues/rights movement, surprise surprise, is NOT pleased with the film at all.)
4. Clint Eastwood's record on disability rights is sketchy, to say the least. So it makes the film's final "sacrifice" come off a little less selfless and more "let's get rid of the inconvenient disabled person."
I was also sad to see the sweep for the following reasons, which are a little less defensible and much more subjective:
1. Clint Eastwood looks like the Mummy. Seriously, you can tell the guy's had quite a bit of plastic work done and none of it helped.
2. Dammit, Hilary Swank already has one Oscar. Stop hogging the glory, girl! I still haven't forgiven you for The Core.
3. By the same token, the fact that Clint Eastwood has a directing Oscar and Martin fucking Scorcese doesn't is a travesty.
4. As for Morgan Freeman winning Best Supporting Actor...well, OK, I was actually glad for that, he was criminally overdue for an Oscar anyway.
As I was expecting, Finding Neverland (which I was rooting for) was overlooked. Oh well, Best Score is at least something. And I do think the Academy will give Kate Winslet an Oscar eventually. Johnny Depp, on the other hand, I'm afraid will go the same way as Scorcese - always a
Other opinions: Cate Blanchett is good, so I approve of her win, though I have yet to see the film and in the snippets I have seen she looks and sounds more like Lauren Bacall than Katharine Hepburn; Jamie Foxx's speech made me all "awwww" inside; I'm betting Annette Bening is going to call a hitman on Hilary Swank tomorrow morning ("I'll never win an Oscar with that bitch around!"); and the first Spanish-language Best Song won (from The Motorcycle Diaries). Woo, Latinos represent!
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 11:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 02:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 12:49 pm (UTC)Remember, Kubrick died without an Oscar, and he didn't get one for his last movie simply because it was pretty awful.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 02:11 pm (UTC)But it's kinda standard Academy operating procedure to overlook great stuff that should have won, then give the award for some lesser role (see: Washington, Denzel, among others).
(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 02:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-02-28 03:31 pm (UTC)