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Fyno and Squid's Summary of the 2004 Oscars

 
 

In the words of this year's Academy Awards show host Billy Crystal, "It's a wonderful night for Oscar." The two of us teamed up to this year to recap the Oscar ceremonies. We figured it made sense: two different perspectives, a man and a woman, a TV reviewer and a film reviewer -- that and we share a TV.

 
         
 
Walking the Red Carpet:
 

This is the time that Hollywood gets to strut their stuff. However so are the Golden Globes, The People's Choice Awards, The Screen Actors Guild Awards … However, the Oscars is Hollywood's biggest and most famous fashion show.

This year, we flipped from E! to CNN to the WB to watch the stars walk the Red Carpet. Since describing fashion for the blind is not our strong suit, we'll just say that the fashion this year was for the most part subdued, classic and classy. There were very few huge fashion tragedies. There was a good amount of unfortunate hair though.

 
         
 
Billy Crystal is back:
 

To repeat a bad joke many have made, yet is very true, Crystal is "Master and Commander" of the Oscars. He opened the show with a great video montage putting him in all the movies nominated and funny opening number where he sang through the plots of the films nominated for best picture. Although, the humor was tame in comparison to some recent years. There was a nod to the same-sex marriage debate, but Crystal stayed away from political humor for the most part.

Crystal makes hosting looks effortless and guarantees a good show. He makes us laugh and does his job and nails it every time. This year was no different.

As for the presenters, it was a pretty humdrum night. It was your usual highly edited introductions read off a cue card. The only highlight was Jack Black and Will Ferrel singing the lost lyrics to the song they play when your speech is going too long, "You're boring."

 
         
       And the categories are ...  
 
Best Supporting Actor:
 

Fyno's prediction: Too close to call
Winner: Tim Robbins, Mystic River

This award came early in the evening. They do one of the big ones early so that you don't nod off waiting for them while going through awards like Art Direction.

Tim Robins started shaking out as the odds on favorite and won many of the pre-Oscar awards in this category (Golden Globes, etc.). Not a huge shock that he won.

The shocker is that Tim Robbins, known for his bold political statements and activism, made a very subdued acceptance speech. Robbins made no mention of Iraq, President Bush or anything of that nature. He simply made a tasteful socially conscious statement about playing an abuse victim and the need for victims to seek support and counseling.

 
         
 
Best Supporting Actress:
  Fyno's prediction: Renee Zelwegger
Winner: Renee Zelwegger , Cold Mountain

It was no secret that third time was going to be the charm for Renee. Many have said that she stole the film in Cold Mountain. She was one of the few sure things this year, and sometimes a sure bet pays off.

Yet, she was still overwhelmed. She looked very classy, gave a sweet, yet hurried acceptance speech, and got off the stage -- end of story.

 
         
 
Best Animated Feature Film:
  Fyno's prediction: Finding Nemo
Winner: Finding Nemo

The happy clown fish blew away the competition both at the Oscars and at the Box Office. This one was no contest.

 
         
 
Best Actress:
  Fyno's prediction: Charlize Theron
Winner: Charlize Theron

This was another race that to many was an easy bet. Charlize was the classic leading lady dressed in a long shimmering gold gown. She thanked her mother and cried. Ms. Theron followed in the footsteps of the last three women to win the award and was overcome with gratitude and emotion. She exuded grace. You almost forgot that she won for playing a lesbian prostitute serial killer.

 
         
 
Best Actor:
  Fyno's prediction: Bill Murray
Winner: Sean Penn

It was a hard race to call. The two front-runners, Penn and Murray, both won Golden Globes for their performances, and Johnny Depp won a huge upset and went home with the Screen Actor's Guild Award. But Penn's performance won him an Oscar.

Our second political activist to win for the night, Penn graciously recognized the other nominees and only made a quick reference to weapons of mass destruction. The aloof actor, who is famous for skipping Hollywood award shows, gave a very classy speech.

 
         
 
Best Director:
  Fyno's prediction: Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Winner: Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
 
         
 
Best Picture:
  Fyno's prediction:The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Winner: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
 
         
 
Just about every other category:
 

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

What can we say; in 2004 Hollywood loved the Hobbits. It was a banner night for fantasy fans everywhere. LOTR won all 11 Oscars it was nominated for. It is now tied for the record of most Oscars with Titanic and Ben Hur. It is also the only film in Oscar history to get Best Picture without having one nomination in any of the acting categories.

 
         
       The Bottom Line  
      This year's ceremony was a decent show -- but it was a tad on the boring side. There were no huge surprises in the awards, and the show seemed to be toned down a bit -- possibly because of the 5-second delay imposed after the wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl. All in all, it was an OK show  
         
 
Related Links:
  Read the predictions Fyno made before the ceremony.  
         

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