I want to be entertained by Jon Stewart just like he entertains every Monday through Thursday evening on “The Daily Show.” I hope his writers are suffering through proposed humorous bits right now, making sure their work is just as good as when Stewart pokes fun at the current government and all other forms of ridiculousness.
I want:
Best Animated Film – Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit – It’d better be a given as it was the most fun I had watching movies last year.
Best Song – “In the Deep” from “Crash” – It would be a consolation prize for Mark Isham not being nominated for his score, which I listened to on XM Radio in March of last year, and it made me want to see “Crash.”
Best Actor – Heath Ledger for “Brokeback Mountain” – Heartbreaking, though it seems that Philip Seymour Hoffman will win.
Best Actress – Reese Witherspoon for “Walk the Line” – She’s risen from the fluffy romantic and “blonde” comedies she used to do, and embodied June Carter Cash passionately, though I’m torn because it would seal what I’ve always seen in Felicity Huffman. If you’ve seen “Sports Night” either when it aired or on DVD, she was obviously headed toward Oscar’s way, and not in the way that many actors jockey for Oscars. She had the talent long before “Transamerica.”
Best Director: Ang Lee – When I was more naive about movies, I couldn’t understand how “Driving Miss Daisy” could win Best Picture for 1989, yet Bruce Beresford wasn’t even nominated for Best Director. Up to “Bend It Like Beckham” I still didn’t understand, but when I saw it last week, I did. “Bend It Like Beckham” is not well-directed, with occasional story progression in between montages and it’s too long as a result of that. Ang Lee’s vision in “Brokeback Mountain” was sweeping, genuinely emotional, and beautiful, and if Best Picture goes to “Crash”, he deserves this. It was better-directed than “Crash.”
You’ll find me right here on Sunday with the other writers, helping contribute to the camaraderie that’ll make it fun for you to stay on your computer during the ceremony, continually reading what we’ve got to say. It’s going to be quite a time.
