PulpLit.net

Hollywood Shuffle

Looks like Peter Jackson we?ll have to wait for next year to meet the feebles (read: Hollywood brain trust) as The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers failed to win anything other than the pre-req technical awards (sound design, visual effects, midget rangling) at this year?s 75th Academy Awards. Shut out of the directing category ? these three hour epics seem to have a way of pulling themselves together ? his picture was nevertheless nominated for Best Picture, following the lead of last year?s nomination of Fellowship for Best Picture. I?ve been saying all along that Hollywood would wait until all three parts had been released before bestowing the honor ? and in a way I guess that makes sense ? seeing as how he really has approached this as one mammoth 9 hour flick.

Anyway, I?d like to apologize for this Oscar recap being several days late. I did watch the awards, although in a rare departure, I saw very few of the nominated films. It?s trasgressions like that that make me Biggerboat?s Resident Movie Critic and not Ebert?s whipping post. Truth be told, my heart just wasn?t in it this year. Make no mistake, I am a movie fan of the highest order, and as such I beseach you to catch Sam Peckinpah?s 1971 Straw Dogs (starring a young Dustin Hoffman) which I caught on Cinemax the other night. The film has just been released on DVD for a limited time and it really is something else ? I?d place it as a nice companion piece to Clint Eastwood?s Unforgiven. Although the two films inhabit completely diverse genres (the former a thriller, the latter a western) they make wonderful use of cinematic language to provide interesting treatsies on the nature of violence.

Anyway, back to the Oscars. Despite the predictable top prize to uber-safe Chicago (the populist favorite), I think the Academy behaved admirably.

I was thrilled to see Chris Cooper win for Adaptation. He alone gave me my two favorite lines from the movies this year.

?F@$k fish.?

As obsessive orchid collector John LaRouche, Cooper weaves a tale of his litany of fixations ? from tropical fish to orchids to Internet smut. While discussing this with writer Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) he describes his methods ? when he is into tropical fish - he lives and breathes fish ? his every waking thought devoted to the collection of fish. Eventually he reaches a moment where he has absorbed every ounce of the experience and moves on to the next fixation. Discussing his new found orchid hobby, he expresses utter contempt at the notion of tropical fish a species he once found divine.

?That?s how much, F@$k fish.?

You say it brother!!!

On the animated film category, I was so certain that Lilo & Stich was going to win. Surprisingly, the award went to the critics darling, Miyazaki?s Spirited Away. Hayao Miyazki has been called ?Japan?s Walt Disney? ? referring to the manner in which he has truly pushed animated storytelling into some compelling new directions ? sending grounded reality on some amazing flights of fancy. Disney, as a corporation, has surprised me in their complete embrace of Miyazaki ? having entered into a publishing agreement to bring his works (such as Princess Mononoke and Kiki?s Delivery Service) to U.S. audiences. The love is real - his style permeates the studio?s own Lilo & Stich, so much so that that film makes a stong runner up for Best Animated Film and is leagues ahead of dreck such as Treasure Planet ? which I thought had already bombed two years ago as Titan AE.

On a little side note ? I just picked up The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and am struck by the Miyakazki touch on Shigeru Miyamoto?s classic series. This new game, which I wrote about in a separate Blog, is animated through cell shading ? and the effect is jaw dropping. More to the point ? the storytelling is trademark Miyazaki ? taking a wide-eyed child on an adventure though a secret world brimming with danger ? while revealing some compelling and nagging hooks back to the really-real world. I?ve merely cracked the surface of the game, but thus far, it is truly magical stuff.

Adrien Brody was a good choice for Best Actor. Although I haven?t seen The Pianist, I have seen several glimpses of his performance, and what I?ve seen impresses. He seemed genuinely moved to have won ? as did his Mom who looked on glowingly. Perhaps it?s because I?m on the precipice of parenthood (one month and counting) but I found myself role-playing ? wondering what it would feel like to be in the audience and looking at my son on stage ? impressing the world. It?s fun to role play and it?s gonna? be amazing to see his life play out ? but in that moment ? I was Mrs. Brody. Anyway, my fave for that spot was Nicholas Cage in Adaptation ? but Brody seemed to be a decent pick in a tough category.

Now onto Roman Polanski. I?m glad he beat out Rob Marshall for Chicago and Stephen Daldry for The Hours. Martin Scorcese, while due, should have won for Raging Bull. I would have loved to have seen Peter Jackson shamble on-stage, but again, I think that?s poised for next year.

Roman Polanski has suffered. Polanski is a Holocaust survivor. The story told in The Pianist ? of one man?s harrowing journey through the shock and awe of Nazi-ocuppied Poland ? is as autobiographical a story as Polanski has delivered. A couple decades after his own personal journey through Hell, Polanski found himself the new Hollywood darling ? a maverick director behind such late 60?s-early 70?s touchstones as Chinatown and Rosemary?s Baby. Insead of escaping the maw, Polanski found he had only made it to another layer of Hell ? as his wife Sharon Tate, and several of their friends, were butchered by the Manson family in the hot summer of 1969.

Now for those of you who don?t know, Polanski is wanted in the United States on charges of statuatory rape (on a 13 year old girl) for which he fled the States over 25 years ago. This occurred when the judge publically proclaimed his desire to slap a 50 years sentence on Polanski ? who had admitted to the crime in a bid for leniency.

Some people have been overly critical of his win for Best Director. While I do not condone his actions, I can see the horror that may have caused a man?s brittle psyche to snap. He?s not a monster ? he is (or was) troubled ? and one can see him exorcising those demons through his art. I think the hunt for Polanski should be relaxed at this point. Let the guy step back stateside without tossing him in the hole.

Oh, yeah? one last thing.

Michael Moore is a Big Fat Idiot!!!