And the Winnwers are....

[Darth Turbogeek]

ART DIRECTION
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
Tim Yip

ACTRESS -- SUPPORTING
Marcia Gay Harden
POLLOCK

FILM EDITING
TRAFFIC
Stephen Mirrione

SHORT -- LIVE ACTION
QUIERO SER
(I WANT TO BE...)
Florian Gallenberger

SHORT -- ANIMATED
FATHER AND DAUGHTER
Michael Dudok de Wit

COSTUME DESIGN
GLADIATOR
Janty Yates

ACTOR -- SUPPORTING
Benicio Del Toro
TRAFFIC

SOUND
GLADIATOR
Scott Millan
Bob Beemer
Ken Weston

SOUND EDITING
U-571
Jon Johnson

CINEMATOGRAPHY
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
Peter Pau

MAKEUP
DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
Rick Baker
Gail Ryan

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
BIG MAMA
Tracy Seretean DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS: STORIES OF THE KINDERTRANSPORT
Mark Jonathan Harris
Deborah Oppenheimer

VISUAL EFFECTS
GLADIATOR
John Nelson
Neil Corbould
Tim Burke
Rob Harvey

MUSIC (SCORE)
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
Tan Dun

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON
Ang Lee

MUSIC (SONG)
WONDER BOYS
"Things Have Changed"
Bob Dylan

ACTOR -- LEADING
Russell Crowe
GLADIATOR

ACTRESS -- LEADING
Julia Roberts
ERIN BROCKOVICH

WRITING (ADAPTED)
TRAFFIC
Stephen Gaghan

WRITING (ORIGINAL)
ALMOST FAMOUS
Cameron Crowe

DIRECTING
TRAFFIC
Steven Soderbergh

BEST PICTURE
GLADIATOR
Douglas Wick
David Franzoni
Branko Lustig



Not too fowl.... pretty resonable. Gladiator takes the night, but Traffic and Crouching Tiger do well too. Julia Roberts got her award, while Russel Crowe got his.

It's nice to see a good movie win, not an arty farty POS.

[Darth23]

Cameron Crowe for Almost Famous screenplay!

:D

[JonathanLB]

Yeah at least they didn't give any awards to LOSERS (i.e. movies that didn't make money at the box office, LOSERS, art film pieces of crap).

This is more like it. Movies that are good make money, and if they come to theaters and bomb, that means they sucked or they had a sucky marketing department, but usually it just means they sucked.

Thank God they shut out Chocolat from winning anything.

Julia Roberts is retarded, she's not at all a good actress, so that was the only choice that I knew would piss me off.

Crowe over Hanks is a great one, though, and so is Gladiator as Best Picture.

Steven Sodomy or whatever his name is shouldn't have even been nominated for Best Director, his movies were not that great. Traffic was real good, but not one of the best ten of the year. What a stupid mistake to give him best director over Ridley Scott AND Ang Lee!

I like the fact that good movies won the awards, but they still messed up the films that should have won. Score should have went to Gladiator, while Gladiator should not have won Visual Effects. There are many more examples.

[Darth23]

Almost Famous only made 30 million bucks, but Cameron Crowe won. :D

Pollock has only played on like 12 screens, but it won for Supporting Actress. :D :D

There's absolutely nothing wrong with a movie that doesn't make much money winning oscars.

I think that audiences and maybe distributors are more willing to take a chance on different kinds of films now. A few years ago, Crouchign Tiger wouldn't have made more that 30 or 40 million dollars - and many theater chains wouldn't have bothered showing it.

I'm STILL trying to figure out how Traffic has made 100 million bucks though.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Hollow Man did have better effect unfortunely the movie had a terrible plot which probably cost it the award. The only thing that I was mad at was best supporting actress I thought Kate Hudson deserved not some actress in a film nobody has seen or will see. I was very happy that Gladiator won to me it was the best movie of last year. Not sure about Sodenburg(sp) I was surprised he won mostly because I thought the fact he had two nods it would have negated him. I think what hurt Scott was the fact he is considered a commericial director and has the same stigima that Spielberg has. I think Lee was hurt because it was a foriegn film like I said the academy is very biased so I new they would never pick it.

[Darth23]

Yeah - I think the Academy feels like it's throwing him a bone with the Foreign Film award and the other awards.

They DID like Sense and Sensability, though.

[JonathanLB]

Yeah, well Darth, you gave one real example.

Almost Famous was almost famous, and it made a lot of money, just not a TON of money.

I'm talking about dinky little films that nobody has heard of, and I think almost everyone has heard of Almost Famous because it really was almost famous! :) hahaha

Kate Hudson deserved to win, so they screwed up there.

Hudson is SO HOT, wow, she is hot, and she's a great actress too :)

[Darth23]

I wasn't aware that 32 million was a lot of money - Hollywood-wise.

Remember - the highest grossing picture in HISTORY SWEPT the Oscars.....

:b

[JonathanLB]

Damn right, Titanic rules. LONG LIVE THE BOAT MOVIE.

hehe, ok so it didn't deserve all of those Oscars, but it deserved many of the technical ones, probably even Score, James Horner is very good actually, I just got tired of "My Heart Will Go On" played all of the time.

I still think it deserved the two sound Oscars (duh, Skywalker Sound did the sound!), and a number of other technical awards. L.A. Confidential should have won Best Pic, though. You know, maybe James Cameron should have won Best Director, because after all he went through a lot just to bring that movie to theaters, and I think that's admirable. He stuck by his project, forfeited his salary, and didn't let all of the negative publicity stop his ship from coming in. I actually think his Best Director win was well deserved. I just wish the Picture award would have went to Confidential, but Cameron is one of my all-time favorite directors, and he stuck with his movie, and truly showed the Hollywood studios that their money was well-placed, and he knows what he is doing...

[Force Master Hunter]

Man, I so love the fact that POS Chocolat won NOTHING..

Let me savour that.....


Ahhh.

Of course, the quote of the night goes to fellow Aussie Russel Crowe...

"God Bless America
God save the Queen
God Help New Zealand
Thank Christ for Australia!"

Onya mate!

[JonathanLB]

haha, stupid Chocolat POS. Eat that. :)

[ReaperFett]

not too bad in the end

The Bull won best supporting actor. Not seen Traffic, dont care, its his year

Gladiator won costume, beating films with few costumes

CTHD didnt win best pic, meaning that the risk of crappy rip-offs is lower

Joachim Phoenix won precisely zip. That is the sweetest thing


BUT, more importantley! U-571 beat Space Cowboys to best sound editing!

[JonathanLB]

Dude Phoenix RULES, that was a real sham. How stupid.

[jjwr]

The guys definetly on his way up, he was actually rather good in 8mm, a sick movie, but a good performance.

[ReaperFett]

granted Phoenix could rule over Keanu Reevs, but few others. He nearly ruined that film for me

[Darth23]

I thought he was pretty good in Gladiator.

I didn't catch Quills (did ANYONE?)

[ReaperFett]

actress I thought Kate Hudson deserved not some actress in a film nobody has seen or will see

Oh, Im sorry, I didnt know they had to be in a film a certain amount of people have seen! How stupid of me! I thought it was on acting ability!

[CMJ]

It seems I'm the board's Oscar Guru so to speak(maybe self appointed..but whatever). I was thrilled with last night.

The Good:
1.GLADIATOR winning Best Picture. For the 2nd year in a row I agreed with the choice.
2.Soderburgh winning. If he hadn't won it would have been a shame. The fact that he directed TWO nominees for Best Pic meant he HAD to win. So deserving I was astonished.
3. Marcia Gay Harden for POLLOCK. I saw the film on Thursday(yes I'm like one of 12 non Academy members to see it) and she was FANTASTIC. I was rooting for her and nearly fell off my couch yelling for joy when she won. Ed Harris would have been fine by me if he had won too. It was a great small film.

The Bad:
1. CTHD winning Best Score. I knew it would but I was really hoping GLADIATOR would win.
2. THE GRINCH for make-up. Another category where I knew my persoanl choice had no chance(SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE).

Those are my current BIG thoughts. I have thoughts about each individual category, I might post category by category analysis later. But overall I was pleased with the way the awards went last night.

[Darth23]

Oh, Im sorry, I didnt know they had to be in a film a certain amount of people have seen! How stupid of me! I thought it was on acting ability!

You're SO naive.... :^PPPPPPP


But seriously, it pissed me off when all these movies come out at the end of the year, play in like NY and Cali only, then all of a sudden all the media experts are buzzing about how they're the odds on favorite for the Oscar.

[Jedi Master Carr]

That was more of a crack, Reaper. I really just felt that Hudson got robbed, she did win the Golden Globe and I thought she did a very good job in that movie. Also I despise art house films which Pollock is as far as I can tell so I will never see it.

[ReaperFett]

but I dislike Kung Fu on wire fighting. Still will see CTHD though

[Darth23]

Hey!

They were really FLYING in that movie!

[CMJ]

You had asked if anyone had seen QUILLS in a previous post. I have(geez...I really DO see alot of these smaller films don't I?) and Phoenix was pretty terrific. I really think he's a hell of a young actor. Overall QUILLS had it's moments...but the ending(the last 20 minutes or so)were VERY disappointing and nearly ruined the entire film. Geoffery Rush really deserved his nomination though.

[Dutchy]

Yeah at least they didn't give any awards to LOSERS (i.e. movies that didn't make money at the box office, LOSERS, art film pieces of crap).

This is more like it. Movies that are good make money, and if they come to theaters and bomb, that means they sucked or they had a sucky marketing department, but usually it just means they sucked.

I'm glad to see there's still some humor on this board. :)

[Jedieb]

The laughs never stop Dutchy! ;)

Remember, Batman and Robin and Wild Wild West BOTH made over $100M, while Almost Famous made only $30M. And we all know $30M is isn't much by today's standards. In fact, it may not have been enough to cover that movie's budget once distribution and advertising costs are factored in. (Although it will surely break even once it's other income sources come in; overseas BO, video, pay per view, cable, etc.) Still, the movie wasn't a money maker but all I've heard from people who saw it is how good it is. It just proves a point, money doesn't mean you've got a good film. It just means you've got a movie that made money, for one reason or another.

[Doc Milo]

I agree with Jedieb -- but would go one step further.

Money and BO take doesn't mean you have a good film...

And neither does winning an Oscar for best picture mean you have a good film...

I saw American Beauty last year -- I thought it was a piece of trash. If you're going by what deserves Oscars, last year I'd say either The Sixth Sense or The Green Mile should have won.

The Academy is all about internal politics. Otherwise films like American Beauty or The English Patient, or Ghandi wouldn't win.

Here's a rule they should go by -- if it puts you to sleep, it can't win best picture :)

[Force Master Hunter]

Oooooh, I like that rule.

BO makes a good moive not. Nor does gold statues. Gladiator was good movie. CTHD, good movie. Sixth Sense, good movie robbed by a utter piece of @#%$.

I really have to agree with the politics thing There have been some bloody awful pieces of crap named best moive and thankfully most disappear and are never heard of again.

Chocolat is the type of moive that wins usually. Thankfully, not this year. It's nice to see something I can watch without puking get up there.

[CMJ]

AMERICAN BEAUTY was an outstanding film. It was by far the best of the nominated films(and my personal favoite film of the year). GREEN MILE was also great....I wouldn't have been dissapointed with it winning, but man AB was a classic. It will be remembered for years to come as a classic film.

[Jedieb]

I have to agree with CMJ Doc, I thought American Beauty was an outstanding and thought provoking film. I'm surprised you didn't like it, but I guess you have your reasons. I've read some glowing reviews for Chocolat, but I haven't heard anything from anyone I know that's seen it. Has anybody here actually seen it?

[zoar]

I saw Quills. Not a bad movie actually. Phoenix was so so but Rush was incredible as the Marquis De Sade. The movie is about the Marquis last days in a French asylum for the insane. During his confinement he smuggles out his erotic writings with the help of a laundry maid played by Kate Winslet. This ticks off Napoleon so he sends a doctor (Michael Caine),versed in the latest torture methods, to put an end to the Marquis obscene writings. Actually its more funny than it is serious.

[Darth23]

Ghandi was GREAT.

:)

[CMJ]

I have seen CHOCOLAT. :) Is anyone really surprised? I thought it was a nice, sweet little film. Fior what it was...it was very good. I wouldn't have nominated it for Best Picture....but I can see how it might get nominated. I know my parents LOVED it.

[Jedieb]

From what I've read it's unique in that it's a sensual movie that manages to deal with sexual themes without being explicit. Which is one of the reasons it appeals to older or more conservative viewers. But I seriously doubt it would have received many Oscar nominations if it had been released in Jan. or Feb. instead of just under the Oscar deadline. Films that have early release dates like that and are still remembered at Oscar time earn their nominations the hard way. They don't have that recent buzz going for them.

[CMJ]

It also has themes of tolerance...and a slight anti-establishment/religion tone to it. Overall it was very "cute." Judi Dench was wonderful(actually all the performances were good, hers just stood out)...and the score was very memorable.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Personally I thought American Beauty was a good movie just not the one I would have chosen as the best movie of 1999. If I exclude TPM which I must to be fair I would have chosen The Green Mile, I loved that movie and thought it was the best dramatic film of the year. Of course that is just my opinion. I also disagreed with Chocolat getting nominated, it sounds stupid to me, maybe because it sounds too much like a French film but only in english (I have never really cared for French films they don't make any sense). I would take Remember the Titans, The Patriot or Almost Famous over Chocolat any day they are all just better movies IMO. And I agree I think Chocolat was nominated because it came out so recently. I hate when the Academy does that, I wish they could change the rules about that and require a film to be in more theaters than just two on the last day of the year, to me a film that meets those qualifications does not deserve a nomination for that year, maybe next but not year.

[Doc Milo]

I guess there are just some movies that a whole lot of people go ga-ga over, and I just don't like at all. "American Beauty" was one of them for me. I just found nothing redeeming (storywise and character-wise) about it.

Another of these films was "There's Something About Mary." Everyone kept telling me how great this film was. "You have to see it." "It's a laugh a minute." I laughed maybe once (if I'm kind) during the whole movie. I found it dull, sick at times, offensive at others, utterly devoid of class, and humorless.

I found American Beauty much the same -- but with better acting -- (with the whole "Lolita" storyline; I just don't need to see some middle-aged fool lusting after his teenage daughter's friend) and AB had that whole "dark humor" thing going, which I really don't care for. I like light, but not stupid humor. (I'd never go see "Dude Where's My Car" or "Road Trip" for instance. Thought "American Pie" was so-so but basically a "Porky's" wannabe that failed miserably. Then again, I'm strange about comedies. I might be the only guy I know that enjoys "romantic comedies." For instance, I enjoyed "Shakespeare In Love," and had no problem with it taking home the Oscar. I just assume leave darkness to SF, Fantasy, Horror, and Suspense/Mystery. I don't need it in my comedy. I think the only dark comedy I enjoyed was "Heathers" -- and that had some horror/suspense elements to it that made the "darkness" work.) (Was AB classified a comedy? I don't even know. It didn't appeal to me whatever it was classified as, anyway.)

On another note: I rented and saw "Gladiator" tonight. I thought it was good. Have no problem with it -- considering the rest of the competition is movies I wouldn't go to see anyway -- winning Best Picture. But I enjoyed "The Patriot" a whole lot more. I was more emotionally attached to the characters in "The Patriot." And for the first hour and a half of "Gladiator" it felt like it just hadn't begun. I had a very vague clue as to what the central plot was. I never got to feel Maximus' rage over the loss of his wife and child, because I really never get to see him with his wife and child. I never grow to care about their family connection before their murders. Whereas in "The Patriot" I get to know the type of man Benjamin Martin is and to see his relationship with his family, and learn about his relationship with his wife through his relationship with other members of his family. I got to care about the character, I got to care about the family, and I was emotionally attached throughout the entire movie. I think "The Patriot" was a better movie than "Gladiator" over all.

I also had a problem with some of the cinematography with "Gladiator" especially during the battle scene at the beginning. And the special effects were adequate at best, IMO. But overall, I have no problem with it winning, only because it's the only nominated film I've seen, and will see, because the others just don't appeal to me as something I would want to watch.

[ReaperFett]

Patriot would never win, as hundreds of English would form a lynch mob :)

[Jedieb]

You're not the only one who likes romantic comedies. I especially like classic romantic comedies; Hepburn & Tracy films, The Thin Man movies, Cary Grant films, etc. But I'm also a big fan of dark comedies. I Love You To Death comes quickly to mind, as does Heathers. If you haven't seen Heathers with Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. It's the original and funny version of that piece of crap called Jawbreaker. ;)

As for Lolita, has anyone here seen the original with James Mason, or the recent Showtime adaptation with Jeremy Irons of "that famous book by Nabakov"? I've read the book, but never seen either of the films. I don't know if I want to.

[CMJ]

DocMilo I respect you tremendously. I do agree with your take on SOMETHING ABOUT MARY to a point(I thought it was funny, just not THAT funny). I know you seemed to enjoy it, but THE PATRIOT really dissapointed me. I found the 1st 45 minutes or so to be outstanding, but then the film slowly or surely went downhill. You say you felt Martin's rage. I did too when his fuse first blew...but after that the film turned into LETHAL HATCHET as he proceeded to wisecrack his way through alot of the film. I actually have alot of problems with the film(especially the 3rd act which just wnet cornball IMHO) but I don't feel like writing an essay right now. I did think it was "good" but nothing better. Considering how much potential I felt the film had...it was a tremendous dissapointment.

[Dutchy]

AMERICAN BEAUTY was an outstanding film. It was by far the best of the nominated films(and my personal favoite film of the year). GREEN MILE was also great....I wouldn't have been dissapointed with it winning, but man AB was a classic. It will be remembered for years to come as a classic film.

Exactly. For me American Beauty is the perfect movie. I utterly enjoyed it each time I watched it.

"It's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world", just love that line.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I enjoyed the Patriot too, I thought it was a really good movie, not as good as Gladiator but not far behind IMO. My only problem with it, is that it is a little long, they could have cut out 20 minutes or so. I also thought it was pretty accurate to the times. I know I will hear something about that statement but I am sure the British comited atrocities as much as we did. There are always atrocities in war it just happens. In fact one of the British officers that Colonor Taverton(sp) was modeled after was a General nicknamed Bloddy Tarleton and he got that nickname by his own men. I read in some history book that he had his men kill unarmed American troops as they were surrendering. I heard even that the other British solider that they modeled him after was involved in a burning of a church similiar to that in the movie. I don't think the death toll was no where near as high but still it shows that the British were no saints in war not unlike us or the French or anybody. Sometimes War brings out the worst in people.

[ReaperFett]

right, quick points. Killing surrendering troops is done by every army. the US in WW2 did it, the Garmans did, everyone. You cant pick one fault to make him a bad guy The town of Liverpool was going to sue the makers, as the person who ordered the burning of a church never did so, and was one of the more kind people. However, history did dictate that the Americans did it once...

Strange, a slave trader and racist is a hero, an entire army is evil and murderous. Bulls**t. Why use names? Why not make your own up? Oh yeah, I forgot. That way, you cant take a little dig at the English! Cant make the US look overpoweredly supreme! How could I forget!

Im getting sick of Hollywood. This, Saving Private Ryan, U-571, Independance Day. Everyone makes out that the US is soo perfect and powerful, while all others are scum before there might. Only they could save the world. Its like some 60s propaganda parade has reemerged

[Doc Milo]

Jedieb: I did see Heathers. I said in my previous post that it was perhaps the only "dark comedy" that I did enjoy, and I thought it worked only because of the "horror/suspense" elements to the plotline. In general, though, I don't really enjoy dark comedies.

And I guess I don't understand the appeal of "American Beauty" either. Then again, when a lot of people are asked what's their favorite Seinfeld episode, they say, "Oh, the Masterbation one..." I don't understand the appeal to that episode of Seinfeld either. Yeah, it was funny, but no more so than a whole host of other episodes -- and there are tons of episodes a lot funnier than that one! But then, not to offend anyone, but I find through observation that a lot of people will like anything that "pushes the envelope" and examines themes of a "taboo" nature. The Academy of Motion Pictures surely enjoys such things, and will go out of its way to award films that do so. I tend to lean the other way. Leave the taboo taboo.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Anybody with a nickname Bloody can't be a nice person, IMO. As far as the Church burning goes I read somewhere it happened during one battle in the NE but I don't think it was ordered it was kind of an accident or something and a dozen people got killed. If anything they oversimplified things making this one man seem evil and the rest of the British soliders seem very normal. As I recal no other British solider was that evil in the film he was the only one. In real life that is never the case and I am sure there were more than just one man who commited atrrocites in the Revolutionary war. Still, I think its stupid for Liverpool to be suing anybody the British have not been perfect as some them claim. I remeber a few Englishman saying that no British solider has every commited atrocities. I thought thats Bull the British had a reputation of being one of the worst armies in Europe until the 17th century. During the 100's war they massacred entire towns in France raping and killing innocents and then doing a incredibly stupid and malicious thing by burning Joan of Arc at the stake. My point is that I don't like hearing this crap that the British are perfect but I also don't like hearing that the Americans are perfect either. Some of the things we did in the past were horrible, Slavery, massacring the Indians, puting the Japanesse into camps all come to mind. So in a way I agree with you and I understand why so many people hate Americans because some of us think we are perfect too, unforuntely no nation is perfect.

[ReaperFett]

ok, so I claim George Washington was a sicko, and did a lot of serious things. I go on national US TV and claim this. I bet I would get arrested for it. Same thing


Whats worst is, these films are discrediting America as a whole. It really is making the general populace look short sighted. If it wasnt for the great creation known as the Internet, I may think the same

[Doc Milo]

ok, so I claim George Washington was a sicko, and did a lot of serious things. I go on national US TV and claim this. I bet I would get arrested for it. Same thing


In America, you can't get arrested for saying something like that on TV or anywhere else. Indeed, people have made some of the most ludicrious claims about the American Founders, some even slanderous claims, and none have gotten arrested for it.

[Darth Turbogeek]

Rant on ON

American Beauty is a PIECE OF @#%$. It is an overhyped complete waste of time and space. It is one of the worst moives I never want to see again. It is an absolute patheitc piece of gross hollywood poop I wouldnt recommend to my worst enemy. It summises everything wrong with the usual Best Movie recipients, it did NOT deserve any awards and I hope Mirimax rots for brining it out. I HATE IT!!!

/ Rant mode off.

I had to get that out. Sorry. Actually, no I'm not. I dont apologise for a single word bashing that ..... whatever. I cant think of a word strong enough to express my revultion at what was IMO a soft porn flick. I have no idea how such garbage could possibly win over Sixth Sense, which was different, classy, well scripted and well acted. What, were the Acadamy peeved that some new Indian bloke could produce such a great moive virtually first time out? Was there jealosy that it made bucketloads?

No. AB winning anything is a criminal act.

[Jedieb]

AB was a soft porn flick?! You need to watch better soft porn Turbogeek. ;)

Doc, you beat me to it. I was just getting ready to respond to the Washington comment. If you can spill the beans about J. Edgar Hoover's secret gay love life, then believe me, you can go on TV and trash Washington. The worst that will happen in the U.S. is whatever a CIVILIAN that disagrees with you will do to you. (Although this hasn't always been the case; The McCarthy Hearings.) The government CAN'T do a single thing to you.

Speaking of Seinfeld, I wouldn't say the masturbation episode was the funniest, just the most infamous. My personal favorite is the Festivus episode. When Jerry starts ragging on George about his father's holiday I lose it. By the time the get to the "Feats of Strength" I'm in stiches. The episode with Kramer hitting golf balls into the ocean had the funniest ending I've ever seen on a TV show. Damn, I miss that show. :(

War
You win the war, you write the history. It's that simple. The British were scum during the Revolutionary War, but when they were on our side in WWII they helped save the world with their stand during the Battle of Britain. Hollywood certainly does make the world easy to understand doesn't it? ;) Having actually been in a war and having had access to evidence of war crimes commited by the enemy I can say with good conscience I was on the "right" side. Was my country a saint? Were we acting strictly out of a sense of justice and honor in coming to the defense of the poor little nation of Kuwait? Hell no, we had selfish reasons for getting involved there. If there's no oil there, then we turn our backs and go back to worrying about the stock market. But nevertheless, I can look back and say we more more right than wrong and in war that's sometimes all you can go on. You organize 2 large groups of men and tell them to start killing each other and you no longer have a clear cut, black and white case of wrong and right. All you have is maiming, suffering, torture, killing, and death. In other words; war.

[CMJ]

I really don't...but.... Hmmm....

"It summises everything wrong with the usual Best Movie recipients, it did NOT deserve any awards and I hope Mirimax rots for brining it out. I HATE IT!!!"

I find it hard to blame Miramax since it was a Dreamworks SKG film...the same sudio that produced GLADIATOR, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, etc.... Maybe you should know what studio made the film before you blast one of it's rivals(Dreamworks and Miramax are very fierce rivals actually).

[Jedi Master Carr]

Actually this is happening today. A famous presidential historian is writing a new book denouncing one of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln as a racist and a lunatic. What will happen to her? Not much she might get denounced at the American Historical Association meeting and perhaps a Lincoln historian will attack her in a book or an essay. I doubt she will be a arrested because she can't we got freedom of speech. Of course in some countries if you destroy a major figure like in France a few years back some one made Joan of Arc into a slut an a lunatic and he was kicked out of the country, but of course that's France. (He also was a lousy historian who was accused of making most of sources up). And really I don't think the perceptions of these movies are going to hurt America, if anything hurts its the action of our leaders when they act like America should lead the world that kind of crap really makes other nations mad not Hollywood when most of our movies are seen as fantasy anyway even a historical epic. You don't see anybody, besides a few historians, complaining that Gladiator was completely flawed historically. That had way more historical problems that The Patriot. The Patriot just had one major problem the characterization of one particular British Colonel. Gladiator screwed everything up from making Marcus Aerlius look like a saint who wanted to bring democracy back to Rome, (he wasn't he killed more Christians than any Roman Emperor), to the reign of Commodous which was almost 20 years and in the movie it looked like no more than 2. He also killed his sister, which blows that happy ending, and he was killed by one of his own guards because they finally got tired of him. He was nuts he wanted to rename Rome, Commodmium. There are more, I could write a book about all the flaws if I wanted to. But its only a movie much like The Patriot is only a movie and can't be used as a history lesson.

[ReaperFett]

History lesson: dull
Movie: exciting

Which one will the kids remember most? Ive before watched an old film and thought it was factual. Now, these films are being churned out.

Im wrong about the arrested thing though. If I said it about Bush maybe, but not old presidents. No doubt thered be reports off the dumb Englishman discrediting US history

I hear Mel Gibson is woking on a film based in Vietnam next. I can hear the protestors already


And the best Seinfeld is the Soup Nazi one:)

[Doc Milo]

I love the Festivus episode! It was actually on my mind when I wrote my last post. That one, the Soup Nazi one, and the one where Kramer takes George's father's screen door and puts it up outside his apartment. (And the one where Kramer makes his apartment into a talk show studio) There are so many to choose from that were so much better than the masterbation one...

It's that facsination that I don't get. It's like, people think it's "daring" or "courageous" to "push the envelope" and get into traditionally taboo subjects. People enjoy the masterbation episode because of its taboo nature -- when there are so many more episodes that are much better and funnier.

I, personally, don't find it daring or courageous to break into taboos. Doing so, to me, is about as courageous as some "shock jock" interviewing naked lesbian strippers. It appeals only to the basic common "animalistic" tendencies of human behavior-- not to higher standards I believe we should all try to attain.

In my eye, "American Beauty" falls into that category of movie. IMO, its story had no redeeming value whatsoever, and I didn't like any of the characters as human beings at all. That's just two strikes that no amount of good acting can overcome in my mind. But there is so much more I didn't like. For one thing, I felt no emotional attachment to any of the characters. (And it's a good thing, too, since I'd feel soiled if they had actually touched me in any manner!)

(Now, I don't mean to insult anyone who did enjoy the movie. I know this post can be read to come across that way, but I'm just calling the movie as I see it. Perhaps I'm missing something in the movie other people can see. It could be my "blindness" that keeps me from liking this movie -- or finding anything redeeming about it. These are all subjective opinions anyway. Peoples likes and dislikes when it comes to film always are.)

[Jedi Master Carr]

Of course the fact that kids don't enjoy history is not the fault of filmmakers. Its the kids are just too lazy to pick up a book and read it. To me history is incredibly interesting and even more exciting than what happens in the movies. For example their are some moments in history in more gorier than Hannible. Also back to the films most of the films today or more historic than older films. Westerns come to mind, especially films like My Darling Clementine which makes Wyatt Earp into a perfect man when he was just much more complex. The more recent films of Wyatt Earp and Tombstone both came closer to the real Earp. I can think of plenty of older films which are even more unhistoric than the films of today.