Good Grief, Why Do We Bother?

This has been the most boring Academy Awards show I can remember. Lord of the Rings took everything it could, everyone who was expected to win in the major categories won (even the supposed tension over who would win best actor turned out to be hype) and all in all, it was a celebration of predictability. I'm sorry, but I want to see an upset, some creative voting.

Sure, I was glad to see Sofia Coppola win the best original screenplay award. But wouldn't it have been better if she's taken best director, too (or even instead)? She's the first American woman to be nominated, and female directors don't get nearly enough opportunities or respect in Hollywood.

I didn't see Sean Penn's performance, but I can't believe it was enormously better than the hundreds of other dramatic performances nominated over the years. This year, comedic actors snagged two of the nominations, making them seem to be much more than token nods. Having attempted to play a Shakespearean drunk on stage in high school, I can tell you, comedy is freaking hard to pull off. It's another area that gets no respect from the Academy come voting time. Wouldn't it have been nice to see the voters loosen up a little and treat their awards like awards rather than a solemn duty? I'm sure Bill Murray or Johnny Depp would have given an excellent acceptance speech.

And yes, the Academy has waited until the last LOTR film to give the trilogy serious praise, but did we really need to hand them the whole show? I'm sure it makes them feel good to send off the films with a record-setting awards tally, but come on, were its technical achievements truly superior to other nominated films, such as Seabiscuit (which got squat)?

But let's cut to the quick here -- I saw the first LOTR movie. I had no desire then to see the next two. Why? Because hour after hour of fighting in the forest is boring. Note that these films weren't exactly racking up the acting nods, too. It's a epic? Titanic was an epic, but how many people cry while watching that one now? So was Pearl Harbor, but how many people actually liked it in the first place? And you know, the Star Wars movies are epics, too, but who's clamoring to get The Phantom Menace the artistic recognition it "deserves"? Blah. Boring.