74th Annual Academy Awards

Is it that time of year already? I watched this ceremony recorded – one of the first times when my `maturity' and `love of my job' that stopped me doing an all-nighter, watch a movie till 2 then watch the ceremony then go to work! So taping it gave me the luxury of fast forwarding all the breaks etc (and there are tonnes) and get though it quicker. The first weakness for me was Goldberg doing the compere. I like her in some movies but she can't compare to Crystal's (or even Martin's) quick wit. Many of her jokes were poor and her flamboyant entrances etc were simply weak. I didn't laugh at all at her which is a real downer as I always count the compere as the backbone of the show.

The ceremony after 11/9 had the potential to be sombre and reflective and in a way it was, but not to the detriment – it was more a celebration of New York than a sad time. Woody Allen's appearance was quite moving and witty considering his loathing for the ceremony and the New York compilations were good. Chan and Wilson were funny together too but too brief!

The actual awards were memorable as they were historic if nothing else. Halle Berry became the first Afro-American woman to win Best Actress and went all to pieces. Washington won for Best Actor for the slightly unworthy film Training Day – but it was a strong role I guess. Rounding up the `Hollywood makes amends' feel was an honorary award for Sidney Poitier without whom neither of the previous two would have as easily got where they are. Best picture for Beautiful Mind was a bit of a surprise as was best director but ah well.

Overall not a great show because of Goldberg's weak routines. The shadow of terrorism was over the whole thing and the awards were unsurprisingly despite being a little disappointing. It's a shame so much was made of the fact that three `black Oscars' (not my words!) were given out in one night – it may it feel like it was the Academy being PC rather than the actors deserving them.

This year was pretty good. I liked the surprise performance of Cirque du Soleil. I'm glad Jim Broadbent won best supporting actor. I haven't seen Iris yet, but I know he's always a terrific actor in all his movies.

Plus, it's good to see Woody Allen finely made it, in person, to the Oscars this year.

But there are some things that I didn't like. Sean Penn should've got the Oscar for Best Actor, not Denzel. The Monsters INC song shouldn't have won Best Original Song. Plus, A Beautiful Mind winning the Oscar for Best Picture?!! Lord of the Rings should have won. That is one of the best adventure films ever.

Overall, this year was good.

The events of the 11th of September 2001 cast its shadow on this Oscar award ceremony with a one minute silence before the in memoriam montage and there was little in the way of the all singing all dancing comedy extravaganza that we`d come to expect of this award show but this was by no means a bad thing . Entertainment was more or less curtailed to a LOTR send up with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson and that was it . The rest of the show was taken up with clips from the nominations and I have to admit this was actually more enjoyable than the overblown song and dance numbers we`ve seen over the years and Whoopi Goldberg was by no means a bad presenter unlike the very esoteric David Letterman from a few years ago and the one minute silence for the victims of 9/11 was haunting and dignified

As for the awards New Zealand was absolutely robbed . FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING went home with four minor awards while A BEAUTIFUL MIND undeservingly picked up most of the major prizes except for best actor which should have gone to a tough guy New Zealander but went to an An all American nice guy instead . The only Oscar awards I agreed with apart from the ones presented to FELLOWSHIP were the awards for best supporting actress and best supporting actor , both correct calls .

No awards show can please all the people. Clearly if your favorite movies didn't win, you will say the show wasn't very good. That's understandable.

However, the 74th Annual Academy Awards will be remembered for one magical moment of Hollywood history:

Woody Allen's first appearance ever at the Academy Awards.

Allen has often shunned the awards as being self-aggrandizing and pointless, and has never attended -- even though he has won several of the coveted awards.

When the 74th Academy Awards were held, the nation was still mourning the loss of life in the collapse of the World Trade Centers in New York. When it came time to pay tribute to the city of New York, they decided to show a video of the great movie moments form the city of cities. Then the announcer simply said:

"Ladies and gentleman, Oscar Award winning Director Woody Allen."

The place erupted in an extremely long standing ovation. The entertainment industry finally got to give their applause to the Man from New York who usually avoids the Hollywood scene. As the applause died down, Woody applied some of his legendary wit to the situation.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS:

"Thank you very much - that makes up for the strip search."

"I thought they wanted their Oscars back," he joked. "I panicked because the pawn shop has been out of business for ages and I had no way of retrieving anything. "

"But that wasn't it. I couldn't work it out because my movie wasn't nominated for anything this year. Then it hit me - maybe they were calling to apologise."

Allen also disclosed why he had overlooked his lifelong Oscar-aversion for this one special night.

"For New York City, I'd do anything. So I got my tux on and came down here," said Allen.

"It's a great, great movie town. It's been a great, moving and exciting backdrop for movies and it remains a great, great city."

The Winners should have been different by far.

Best Supporting Actress: Maggie Smith-Gosford Park

Best Supporting Actor: Ian McKellen-The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Best Actress: Nicole Kidman-Moulin Rouge

Best Actor: Russel Crowe-A Beautiful Mind

Best Director: Peter Jackson-The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Best Picture: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

But that is just my humble opinion. Oh well, maybe I'll like the choices for 2003(4) since I didn't for 2001(2) and did for 2002(3).

thereturnoftheking-