h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am really miffed that Leonardo Dicaprio was not nominated for best actor for Catch Me If You Can. He was marvelous in that! And I am even more miffed that director Peter Jackson did not get an Oscar nomination for The Two Towers. He should be the winner! The Oscars are so unjust, and I am just totally fed up with them. Will I watch the Oscars this year? Well, I still might, because Queen Latifah is nominated for supporting actress for Chicago, and because Bowling for Columbine is nominated for best documentary. I hope they win, but I won't be holding my breath.

Queen Latifah !! I love her, been watching her grow up on TV. Smart good looking woman now, I like her looks and smile. She is so I want to see "All that jaZZ! Did U?

I am always way behind in movies-Video Queen here

Yeh Queen Latifah is great! She did a really sultry jazz number in Chicago. Rene Zellweger and Catherine Zeta Jones were really hot in Chicago too. Chicago was a really fun flick, and I was glad that it got 13 nominations. The whole week after I saw it, I had the musical numbers, like All That Jazz, going through my head repeatedly. I didn't mind, because it was good music.

(I'm still sulking though, that Two Towers didn't do better in the nominations.)

It seems they never pick the most deserving.

There always seems to be at least one, glaring omission! What, The Two Towers directed itself?

Yah, I remember being crushed when Annie Hall beat Star Wars.

The Oscars have certain annoying tendencies. They favor dramas over comedies. They favor older actors over younger ones. Lesser grossing films do better than blockbusters. (Like Star Wars) Fantasy and science fiction films are almost always snubbed. If an actor has been nominated several times before and failed to win, he or she has a better chance of winning, even if it is not their best performance. Also, if an actor is ill, they have a better chance of winning. I don't know, people may not agree with me on all of these, but these are things I have noticed.

Hi Jazz! Hear, hear! When you consider that Peter Jackson directed and shot all three of the Rings movies at once, you realize what a Herculen accomplishment it was. Never underestimate the power of jealousy in Hollywood. Well, Jackson still gets the last laugh, because Towers is grossing millions, and he will be in hot demand as a director.

*munches popcorn while talking movie talk*

Ah, yes (popcorn - movies) 'mood food' . No, I agree withyou on the points you made, Ellen! Thats why, for the most part, I no longer watch...or, certainly not the whole program.

The awards list that I have the most respect for is Rotten Tomatos. They come out with a list of the best and worst movies of the year, based on critics reviews. In fact, I think Rotten Tomatos is one of the best places on the web to go to, if you're trying to decide whether to see a movie. They have quotes from lots of critics, and a "tomatometer" to rate the film.

I am hoping that Oscar is saving himself to honour the Lord Of The Rings trilogy when he's seen all of it. Of course he may be hoping that the last installment will prove to be pants so that he can be justified in snubbing the Kiwi once again. I think this might well be part of the problem. Peter Jackson made the films with Hollywood money and then resolutely went back to New Zealand, used New Zealand people, and New Zealand special effects from Weta creating a cohesive look and feel for the whole trilogy of films. The attention to detail in scenery and costume is absolutely boggling before one considers adaptation or acting. Don't underestimate the power of jealousy. I'm willing to bet that ILM, the self proclaimed industry leader in special effects, is none to happy to be being shown up by some small Kiwi special effects house that started out making latex masks in the oven for Peter Jackson's Bad Taste.

And breathe, rant over.


Anyone else seen Bad Taste by the way?

I haven't watched the full Oscar ceremony for years now. I'd probably just start throwing tomatoes at the screen every time another actor wins for playing a cute-disabled-guy.

Hmmm, no I haven't seen Bad Taste. Any good?

Bad Taste. Is it good?

Depends on your sense of humour. It does do exactly what it says in the title. It's about aliens kidnapping humans to eat their brains and a crack team of Kiwi 'Dereks' blasting them into orbit. I think it was Peter Jackson's first film, or first feature length at any rate. It was shot by him and his friends over weekends when not at work. The effects are lo-fi, they could only afford a certain number of pyrotechnics, the gore and yuk factor is high and the humour is in very bad taste.

However if you are strong enough for all of this it makes a very interesting comparisson with LOTR. (and it is so bad it is genius, a different sort of genius from LOTR, but still genius )

Come to think of it, knowing that he made this film, Oscar may well continue to snub Peter Jackson. That, and they're probably worried that he'd turn up to the ceremony in shorts.

>>they're probably worried that he'd turn up to the ceremony in shorts<<


Hmm, I think I'll pass on Bad Taste. It doesn't sound like my kind of film.

Not to worry! He is only a young lad. I am sure once he reaches puberty the Academy will take him seriously.
Leo is a good chap, he and I haven't seen much of him since he gave up meat.(Cannot abide vegetarians, what are our eye teeth for eh!?)
I was the poor sucker who sat in the car for 6 hours while he did the Titanic audition. I had to beg my mate James Cameron to give him a go! Apparently he wanted someone less vertically challenged!

Mad Hamish

Welcome to my Journal Hamish!

Ya, when Leo is old and wrinkly they will give him a lifetime acheivement Oscar, or some such. Me, I would rather he stay young and beautiful for as long as possible, even if it means never winning an Oscar.

Doesn't a "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Academy means that the actor in question has never acted a part that they considered worthy of a Oscar, BUT that they have been in soooo many average films that they feel obligated to give them a statue before they die.
It's rewarding quantity over quality surely!

Nuffsaid MadHamish

Yah, but there are some actors who deserve Oscars, who get slighted over and over again. Harrison Ford comes to mind.

Very true, but perhaps we should be looking at it another way.
What is the value of an Oscar if the only ones to get them are actors in the "Mostly boring, overdramaticised,schlock catagory"
You will never see an action hero win an Oscar, even if they have put in the job of a lifetime. Eg: Wesley Snipes for "Blade 2"
Harrison Ford for I.J. 1,2,3&4
Lawrence Fishburn for Matrix
etc.etc....
So maybe it is worth just discrediting the Academy as being mostly out of date and could well be accused of taking itself too seriously, as it is after all just entertainment.(I have been telling them this at the Australian chapters Academy meetings for eons)

Mad Hamish

Ooooo yeh, wasn't Lawrence Fishburn great in Matrix? I love that movie, it had solid acting all the way round. Carrie Moss, isn't that her name, the actress that played Trinity, was so good too. I wish they would cast her in more movies.

Yah, I agree with your assessment of the Oscars. Stuffy, too serious, too biased toward older actors, and way too political. Have you heard the uproar over the add that Miramax took out? They were promoting Martin Scorcese for best director, and they bent or broke some Academy rules to do it.

Yes Lawrence was excellent in The Matrix. I was the man responsible for teaching him and Keanu the martial arts needed to pull the fight sequences off. I also taught Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith) who is a close personal friend of mine. As a matter of fact, I was dining with Hugo just a few weeks ago and I was hanging shit on his part in the "Rings" series for using the same voice he uses for Agent Smith. I said that I kept waiting for the leader of the elves to say "So Mister Andersonah!!" Needless to say 'old huges' got a bit angry and sulked until he was drunk enough to forget about it!

MadHamish