Monday, February 28, 2005
I've seen plays that were better than this. Honest to god PLAYS!
Happy Monday, everyone. I have a very positive feeling about this week, which started out well for me last night winning the Oscar pool, thanks to a lack of surprises and good ole Karate Kid 3 winning her second Oscar over that fake-ass Annette Bening (note to Annette, if you read this, it doesn't mean we can't still be friends). What was most surprising about Hilary's win was finding out she was from a trailer park. Oh wait. I guess not so surprising.
I was very happy that Charlie Kaufman won for Eternal Sunshine, a movie which I found heartfelt and touching, if maybe not directed that well, and confirmed for me that Charlie's skillz are still there. Sideways winning for best adapted screenplay was good too. I wonder about those two awards, because they seem to be accorded equal attention - namely, none - but it strikes me that the original screenplay should be a far more important award, no? I guess part of it depends on how much of an adaptation the non-0riginal screenplays are, which I have no basis of judging because I most certainly haven't read any of the original source materials. But still, if you're working from something that was already a brilliant piece of narrative storytelling then frankly I'm not as impressed. Unless, of course, you're Charlie Kaufman writing Adaptation.
On a completely different note, this week is Davis Cup week, baby! First round, eight ties, 7 of the top 10 players. The U.S. team has a particularly tough task: Ivan Ljubicic, second hottest player in tennis, and Mario Ancic, finalist this week in Scottsdale, and the memory of Croatia's domination of the U.S. a few years ago. Fortunately, this time around we have Agassi, Roddick and the Bryan Brothers - none of whom were around during that series of unfortunate events. Still, it should be the best of the 8 throw-downs around the world. Second best: Slovak Republic hosts defending champ Spain - and Spain won't have Moya, Ferrero, or Robredo (all of whom are at least somewhat healthy). Beck will be tough on the fast indoor court while Hrbaty can beat any player on tour. Should be a barn burner.
There's a really good article by Reuters covering all the ties. More on this at the end of the week!
... UPDATE: As for my thoughts on the merits of the Award winners themselves, I kind of (shockingly) find myself in complete agreeance with controversial sports columnist Skip Bayless, whose espn.com article can be summed up thusly: Million Dollar Baby combined stilted dialogue with stock characters (especially easy to hate hicks) and had serious credibility problems (the idea that she already was on the undercard before she started training; the ludicrous idea that she "lost" the fight where she got injured) but Hilary & Morgan gave great performances. Eastwood isn't one tenth the director Scorcese is. Leo was probably better than Jamie Foxx [although to my mind, Johnny Depp was better than both and of course Paul Giamatti the best]. Cate Blanchett did the impossible admirably. I guess overall, I have to say that this was the first year I saw all 5 Oscar best pic nominees, and it was nice that I didn't have to see any completely crappy movies. So I'd like to the Academy for that!
I was very happy that Charlie Kaufman won for Eternal Sunshine, a movie which I found heartfelt and touching, if maybe not directed that well, and confirmed for me that Charlie's skillz are still there. Sideways winning for best adapted screenplay was good too. I wonder about those two awards, because they seem to be accorded equal attention - namely, none - but it strikes me that the original screenplay should be a far more important award, no? I guess part of it depends on how much of an adaptation the non-0riginal screenplays are, which I have no basis of judging because I most certainly haven't read any of the original source materials. But still, if you're working from something that was already a brilliant piece of narrative storytelling then frankly I'm not as impressed. Unless, of course, you're Charlie Kaufman writing Adaptation.
On a completely different note, this week is Davis Cup week, baby! First round, eight ties, 7 of the top 10 players. The U.S. team has a particularly tough task: Ivan Ljubicic, second hottest player in tennis, and Mario Ancic, finalist this week in Scottsdale, and the memory of Croatia's domination of the U.S. a few years ago. Fortunately, this time around we have Agassi, Roddick and the Bryan Brothers - none of whom were around during that series of unfortunate events. Still, it should be the best of the 8 throw-downs around the world. Second best: Slovak Republic hosts defending champ Spain - and Spain won't have Moya, Ferrero, or Robredo (all of whom are at least somewhat healthy). Beck will be tough on the fast indoor court while Hrbaty can beat any player on tour. Should be a barn burner.
There's a really good article by Reuters covering all the ties. More on this at the end of the week!
... UPDATE: As for my thoughts on the merits of the Award winners themselves, I kind of (shockingly) find myself in complete agreeance with controversial sports columnist Skip Bayless, whose espn.com article can be summed up thusly: Million Dollar Baby combined stilted dialogue with stock characters (especially easy to hate hicks) and had serious credibility problems (the idea that she already was on the undercard before she started training; the ludicrous idea that she "lost" the fight where she got injured) but Hilary & Morgan gave great performances. Eastwood isn't one tenth the director Scorcese is. Leo was probably better than Jamie Foxx [although to my mind, Johnny Depp was better than both and of course Paul Giamatti the best]. Cate Blanchett did the impossible admirably. I guess overall, I have to say that this was the first year I saw all 5 Oscar best pic nominees, and it was nice that I didn't have to see any completely crappy movies. So I'd like to the Academy for that!
