Forget those lackluster Academy nominees picked by stogey old men in badly tailored suits. What would the world be like if Film Hobbit's ran the Oscars???
BEST PICTURE:
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
This was a lot harder to call than you might think. After the pitful movie year of 2000, who would have thought 2001 could present such a wide array of drama, mystery, adventure, and highly entertaining insanity. If only there could more than 5 nominees! Sadly, there are limits. Because of that, despite my desire to include them, films like The Royal Tennenbaums, Memento, and Vanilla Sky just didn't quite make the cut. What did get through are a stunning representation of vision, creativity, excitement, comedy, and risk taking the likes of which are unfortunantly not seen every day in mainstream America.
The Winner: Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
BEST ACTOR:
Ian McKellan - Fellowship of the Ring
Ewan McGregor - Moulin Rouge
Billy Bob Thorton - Bandits
Jake Gyllenhaal - Donnie Darko
Gene Hackman - The Royal Tennenbaums
Heated contention here folks. The guys had it good this year. Great actors doing great and occasionally crazy things. Some might argue that Ian McKellan's Lord of the Rings role was only a supporting one... I'd say that if there IS a lead role in LOTR it's his.
The Winner: Ian McKellan - Fellowship of the Ring
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Steve Buscemi - Ghost World
Ian Holm - Fellowship of the Ring
Sean Bean - Fellowship of the Ring
John Voight - ALI
Jude Law - A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Next to Best Picture, this is probably the toughest category of the year. Frankly, I'd like to nominate the ENTIRE cast of Fellowship of the Ring... but then I'd have to leave out Buscemi, Voight, and Law, all of whom MUST be mentioned, even though all but Voight were totally overlooked by the Academy of old spinsters.
The Winner: Steve Buscemi - Ghost World
BEST ACTRESS:
Nichole Kidman - Moulin Rouge
Thora Birch - Ghost World
Cate Blanchett - Bandits
Kirsten Dunst - crazy/beautiful
Rachel Weisz - The Mummy Returns
Let's all just stand up right now and clear there air. Good female roles were practically non-existent this year. Let's be honest, unless you're a Sissy Spacek fan (which I am not), you're pretty much left with a lot of throwaway parts which in any other year wouldn't even get mentioned, let alone nominated for an Oscar. Below I have listed the 5 that stood out the most from me. Since I hate Sissy Spacek and did not see Judy Dench in Iris, you'll see neither of those two old bags on the list. However, even I am willing to admit that the bottom 2 on my list are just filler, fitting into that "not in any other year" category. But Kidman, Birch, and Blanchett all deserve to be there and frankly, all deserve to win. In the case of Blanchett and Kidman, they even delivered in more than one film, though in this particular case I felt the two films I list with them here are the roles for which they are most deserving of nomination.
The Winner: Cate Blanchett - Bandits
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Liv Tyler - FOTR
Cameron Diaz - Vanilla Sky
Gwenyth Paltrow - The Royal Tennenbaums, Shallow Hal
Scarlett Johansson - Ghost World
Angelica Houston - The Royal Tennenbaums
Another painfully weak category. No point in bitching about the sorry showing by ladies this year. Standouts there were... just not nearly enough. The only person here to totally BLEW me away was Diaz. She deserves some attention! Liv Tyler and Scarlett Johnson are stellar as well, but Diaz steals the show.
The Winner: Cameron Diaz - Vanilla Sky
BEST DIRECTOR:
Chris Nolan - Memento
Peter Jackson - Fellowship of the Ring
Terry Zwigoff - Ghost World
Richard Kelly - Donnie Darko
Baz Lurhman - Moulin Rouge
Wes Anderson - The Royal Tennenbaums
How could the Oscar dolts miss so many of these directors? It took a massive marketing campaign by New Line just to get them to sit up and open their eyes to Peter Jackson... the brilliance of the rest was totally left out in the cold. All of these directors were innovators, risk takers, and visionaries. Unlike the majority of the people on Oscar's list, they aren't critical favorites, or elitist card holders. They are proven innovators and hopefully the future of modern film.
The
Winner: Peter Jackson - Fellowship of the Ring
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A BEARD IN A DRAMATIC ROLE:
Ian McKellan as Gandalf - Fellowship of the Ring
John Rhys-Davies as Gimli - Fellowship of the Ring
Christopher Lee as Saruman - Fellowship of the Ring
Bill Murray as Raleigh St. Clair - The Royal Tennenbaums
Sully as Sully - Monsters, Inc.
Obviously, Lord of the Rings was bound to dominate this category this year. Still, there were a surprising number of showings by other hair arrangements from unexpected corners. A truly exciting year for beards.
The
Winner: Ian McKellan - Fellowship of the Ring
