17 Ventôse CCXII (March 6, 2004)
Have You Ever Been to Belgium In Fact?
Sunday night was the Academy Awards. (As well you know.) The big winner at said awards The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. (As well you also know.) Now, to quote a certain comedian turned unfunny partisan hack, I don't want to go off on a rant here, but I was extremely disappointed in this.
I can't say much about the best picture, having not seen any of the others, so I'll keep it to this: Of all three Lord of the Rings, I thought this one was the worst. Therefore, if the prior ones didn't warrant an Oscar, than this one most certainly didn't. I also don't think it was that great of a choice for adapted screenplay. My complaint here comes largely from the fact that there were threads left hanging — things that were mentioned in the film, but were never followed through. (Who can tell me why they wanted to take Frodo's armour to the Black Gate? Only those of you who haven't read the books are eligible… Anyone? Anyone?)
Anyways, moving back to my train of thought, we arrive at best song. I hated, H-A-T-E-D, hated 'Into the West'. Disliked, despised, loathed — pick a word and you're on target. Now, I actually have a choice for what should have won: Belleville Rendezvous, from Les Triplettes de Belleville. It's fun, it's catchy, it's from a great film that didn't have a chance in hell in the other category it was nominated for. But, no, it didn't win. I've got my own opinions, largely that Lord of the Rings would have been seen by more voting members that Triplettes (to give an idea, there's almost twice as many reviews for Return of the King listed over at Rotten Tomatoes.) It was robbed! 7 Robbed, I tell ya! But that's just my opinion.
Finally, in my quest to listen to all my music, I've managed to finish four hundred and one songs. This brings me to 1973: Vietnamese Babies, 20th Century Boys, and Doctor Jimmy, ahoy!
Title is worth 2 points, but I'm going to be very picky about it.
It's Arthur, from one of the Hitchhiker's Guide books. I believe Life, the Universe and Everything, but I'm not entirely sure because my edition is a five in one, and I have difficulty keeping them all straight. It's from the party scene, in which the award for the Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Belgium" in a Screenplay is being discussed.
Posted by Nancy at 17 Ventôse CCXII 11:21 (2004/03/06)
Oh, and I guees the the significance is the whole movie awards thing.
Posted by Nancy at 17 Ventôse CCXII 11:23 (2004/03/06)
The quote comes from the US edition of "Life, the Universe, and Everything" - Arthur (a couple others, memory eludes me and I don't have the book handy) are at the party, and I believe Arthur notices an award in the room, and asks what it is, to which someone replies that it's the award for "The Most Gratuitous Use of the Word 'Belgium' in a Serious Screenplay." This leads to a rather long exchange of words, and one phrase from this exchange is the title of this entry.
What's interesting about this exchange, however, is that it only appears in the US edition of the book - the UK edition, by contrast, lists the award as being for "The Most Gratuitous Use Of The Word 'Fuck' In A Serious Screenplay."
As for the actual content of your post...
I for one am less than heartbroken that LOTR:ROTK cleaned up. You cite the fact that because the other instalments were superior and failed to snag the Oscar, then this one shouldn't have either. I think perhaps the feeling was that none of them individually necessarily deserved to, but that it would have been a travesty to let the accomplishment that the three movies comprise go unrewarded. Without a clear way to honour the trilogy as a whole, it fell to rewarding the final movie.
This could not have been done by awarding any of the previous movies. A Best Picture Oscar for either of the others would only have reflected on that particular movie.
Posted by Nancy at 17 Ventôse CCXII 12:00 (2004/03/06)
On topic: I also agree that 'Into the West' shouldn't have won 'Best Song' - my preference, however, was toward 'You Will Be My Ain True Love' from "Cold Mountain." </Sappy>
So can anyone tell that Matt and I are both at work this morning, hmm?
Posted by Nancy at 17 Ventôse CCXII 12:25 (2004/03/06)
Six comments in an hour... Errr.. Yes, I can.
One point to Nancy, and 2 to Matt.
I'm probably the only person I know who didn't like The Return of the King, so I seem to be in the minority.
Posted by g026r at 17 Ventôse CCXII 12:34 (2004/03/06)
I personally think that you are so wrong
Lord of the Rings, all of them
Including Return of the King
All of them were Exquisite,
Lord of the Rings, the entire Epic and everyone had been working on it for ever. It was such a collaborated effort. I being a fan of Lord of the Rings was thrilled that a fantasmical topic was actually looked at as art.
It was beautiful...I am so proud that it won.
My opinion taken.
I did love all the rest of the nominated films however.
-
-
-
