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Volume CXXXIII, Number 16 |
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Mónica's Movie Musings
MONICA GUZMAN
COLUMNIST
This weekend the movie industry offered me, your dedicated columnist,
three new movie review options. Behind door number one was Rollerball,
starring the talented Rebecca Romijn Stamos and the stunning L. L. Cool
J. (rappers really do automatically make good actors). Door number 2 revealed
Collateral Damage, another long-awaited Schwarzenegger gem (aren't
they all). Door number three contained Big Fat Liar, a truly insightful
comedy about a kid, a screenplay, and a dream.
After two milliseconds of thought, I gave the movie industry an evil
look and walked out on all three, which left me with nothing to write
about. Luckily, however, this all changed at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday when
the 2002 Oscar Nominations were announced.
Lord of the Rings, the fantasy film that took the box office by
storm this year, managed somehow to get 13 nominations… this is a
bad, bad thing. The movie doesn't deserve half of them. I'll give them
some of the effects/costume/editing ones, but never anything like Best
Picture or, worse still, Best Supporting Actor (Ian McKellan). It was
entertaining, sure, but not that good. Bad boy, Oscar. Go to your room
and think about what you've done.
Moulin Rouge got eight nominations, including Best Picture and
Best Actress (Nicole Kidman). A great many people think that movie "sucks"
(that's about as technical as it got), but now they can stop their bickering
and face the truth. Musicals are not inherently bad. They are unrealistic,
yes, but still artful and worthy of praise. Moulin Rouge is a musical
masterpiece, like it or not.
A Beautiful Mind, the feel-good movie in the bunch, also got eight
nominations. This comes as no surprise; I expect it to get most of them,
especially Best Actor and Best Picture. It doesn't really deserve Best
Picture, but Russell Crowe's brilliant acting has blinded the Academy
before (remember Gladiator?) and will probably do it again.
This is the first time in Oscar history that two black actors (Will Smith
for Ali and Denzel Washington for Training Day) are nominated in the Best
Actor category, and if Halle Berry wins for her performance in Monster's
Ball, she'll be the first black woman to win Best Actress. This is
quite a landmark year for minorities in Hollywood. There could be change
in the air.
Another highlight of the Nominations is the five nods that went to the
delightful French film, Amélie. Along with the stunning
Oscar success of recent foreign films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon and Life is Beautiful, Amélie contributes
to the Academy's growing willingness to recognize foreign cinema in categories
other than Best Foreign Film. Side note: be sure to catch the Latin American
Film Festival in Smith this Sunday for some quality "foreign filmage."
Here's another surprise that almost made me throw the remote at the TV:
the Worst Movie of the Year, also known as Pearl Harbor, got four
nominations. Obviously, nominations are based on the forty-five minute
action sequence, when no one really acted much (if you can still call
that "acting"), and the film was at least mindlessly entertaining.
Still, the fact that it got any recognition makes me sick.
Check out the Oscars on Sunday night, March 23. Besides the sad fact that Whoopi Goldberg is hosting again (didn't they learn from last time?), it should be fun.
For more of Mónica's nonsense, visit www.cinnamoninformatics.com/fantazmya.