times oscar

[jfb]

There's a special section today on the Oscars. A. O. Scott says we live in a golden age of screen acting, and it's too bad we don't have movies that live up to it. Underscoring this in one of five short pieces on this year's lead actors, Terrence Rafferty amusingly describes Sean Penn's nominated performance:

He refrains from chewing the scenery, but something very peculiar happens in "Mystic River": Mr. Eastwood's camera decides to chew it for him. Beginning with an attention-getting overhead shot of Jimmy's anguished reaction to the discovery of his daughter's body, the movie keeps nudging us to notice Mr. Penn's acting, to be blown away by its understatement. After a while, every nuance seems to have the weight of a soliloquy.

Similar notes are struck in Scott's piece on Jude Law, and in the best actress essays on Diane Keaton (by Stephanie Zacharek) and Keisha Castle-Hughes (by Stuart Klawans).

Mysteriously missing from the online edition are unlikely acceptance speeches contributed by six comedic writers; the only one that made me laugh is Stephen Colbert's speech for Tim Robbins:

I have to thank Clint Eastwood for making such a powerful film--from what I have heard. I myself have not had a chance to see it. Well, I guess that's not strictly true. I have had a chance, multiple chances in fact. And it's obviously one of those films that you "should" see, but the ads made it look like such a downer. I think somebody gets killed. And I mean really killed, not like "Lord of the Rings" killed. Which, by the way, is a great movie. I saw it twice. Those battle scenes were awesome. I cried. Now that Peter Jackson has shown us what you can do with enough technology, I don't know why anyone would want to see a film like "Mystic River"--which I understand is great. So thanks again to Clint Eastwood for believing in me, and especially to the special-effects wizards who created that Giant Spider. Imagine one of those things tearing the limbs off a grieving Sean Penn. Now that is a movie I would pay to see.

(Okay, it is online, but only as an annoying "slide show" I can't link to. And anyway, I've already typed the best part in.)

And two pieces on The Lord of the Rings (whose third installment everyone thinks will win, although only Elvis Mitchell thinks it should): Will there be a Hobbit movie (again)? And the film trilogy's unusual rapport with its fans (and their Oscar parties).

Comments

hah

[talking-sock.livejournal.com]

That pretty much sums up that movie, doesn't it. Except I wish we hadn't seen it and had gone to see ROTK again instead.

I admit I haven't been to EMP myself, except for a concert. I hear it's a good museum though.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Some late night talk show host (I think it was Conan O'Brien, because I remember being surprised that he wasn't geeky enough to know better) asked Elijah Wood if he'd be in a movie of The Hobbit if they made one.

I kinda wish I was in LA so I could have a chance of seeing Lords of the Rhymes at one of the LOTR Oscar parties...