Crash beats Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture Oscar

This was (in my opinion) one of the biggest upsets in Academy Award history. Brokeback Mountain was an almost sure lock for Best Picture for the Academy Awards. Ang Lee won for Best Director...but still it's hard to remember a night when Best Picture is not given to the awarded Best Director recipient. Try to imagine Director James Cameron getting Best Director nod and his movie Titanic not winning Best Picture for a comparison. That's how big this upset is with Crash upending the favorite Brokeback Mountain.

I've heard comments that the "old guard" in Hollywood was annoyed with all the attention given to Brokeback Mountain and may have used its considerable clout to anoint Crash Best Picture instead. The "old guard" are the ones who come from the bygone era...when good movies were actually made by the Hollywood studios of long gone. The old guard apparently had been underestimated in the calculations by the studio backing Brokeback Mountain.

In any case, in my opinion...NONE of the nominees for Best Picture deserved to win. This was a very lackluster year and a very poor crop of movies chosen for Best Picture nominees. Had I been one of the ones choosing movies to nominate for Best Picture...I would have chosen these instead...

1. Batman Begins
2. Sin City
3.King Kong
4.Crash (ironically...this one got Best Picture nod...so go figure)
5.North Country (I'm still wondering why THIS movie was ignored...oh...excuse me...I guess because the studios had to get behind Brokeback Mountain instead. Look where that got them - Nothing.)

Personally...I think Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong would have had a far better chance at getting Best Picture nod had the movie wrapped production and had a summer release...which would have garnered a bigger audience getting the chance to see it...rather than late winter (trying foolishly to duplicate Titanic's success...which was a very big NO NO) and still had enough legs to get the attention of the Academy voters. It would have been this year's Titanic. Instead...it was bogged down due to time length and other petty criticisms.

Hollywood is in serious trouble. People are too jaded to CARE about movies anymore. People are using their tiny i-Pods to download the latest episodes of 24 to even bother going to the movies. Hollywood has to wake up and understand in order to get people to care about movies again...they have to stop pushing the drivel of sequels, corny garbage and get back to making bold, interesting movies that can attract large audiences to the cineplexes. Director James Cameron may be coming back just in time to save Hollywood from its own demise with the right formula...the same one that worked with Titanic...great love story with everything for all to see. Avatar is the current working title...and I can already sense Hollywood praying for Cameron to succeed. If he does...he will get a return visit to the podium at the Academy Awards coming 2009. But since that's a few years ahead of us...we'll just have to hope Hollywood learns its lesson before it's too late.

...It's official.

Atheism is dead.

There is a God!

I didn't see any of the nominations for the Best Picture....I've just been too busy. I guess Crash won for a good reason.

Though I am particularly happy that "Wallace and Gromit's Curse of the Were-Rabbit" beat out Howl's Moving Castle and Corpse Bride.

Evan: While I agree with you on that last bit, I can imagine Miyazaki fans will want your head now.

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Originally posted by X Prime Evan: While I agree with you on that last bit, I can imagine Miyazaki fans will want your head now.

Oh well... I've got a Steamboy DVD here that'd probably kick their butts too. Bring it, I say!

I don't think it was possible for Sin City to win anything, since Rodriguez quit the Director's guild since they didn't want to give Miller directing credit. That, and the fact the acting, while good, wasn't phenominal. The visuals were stunning, but, yeah, Rodriguez quiting the Guild basically made it impossible for them to win jack.

I... can't comment on Crash over Brokeback or whatever. I didn't see either.

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Originally posted by DorothyFan1 1. Batman Begins 2. Sin City 3.King Kong

Those are toy movies. It's why you'll never see Spider Man get an oscar, or the new Superman.

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Originally posted by Hobodoken I don't think it was possible for Sin City to win anything, since Rodriguez quit the Director's guild since they didn't want to give Miller directing credit. That, and the fact the acting, while good, wasn't phenominal. The visuals were stunning, but, yeah, Rodriguez quiting the Guild basically made it impossible for them to win jack.

Exactly. It was an awesome movie. Not Major Oscar worthy, and Rodriguez shot himself in the foot by leaving the Guild.

Edit: I'm also pissed for the following reasons:

-Constant Gardener was f***ing brilliant. It should have gotten more nominations and the like.
-Same with History of Violence
-Sin City didn't get a special effects nomination, and neither did Batman
-Brokeback wasn't that good of a movie, anyway

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Originally posted by X Prime Evan: While I agree with you on that last bit, I can imagine Miyazaki fans will want your head now.

Theres going to be two decapitations, because...

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beat out Howl's Moving Castle and Corpse Bride.

I'm just glad Tim Burton lost...I find him WILDLY overrated

(You can start digging the grave now)

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People are using their tiny i-Pods to download the latest episodes of 24

...They do that with 24 now also? I'd be unable to watch it on an iPod..or...at least in public, I might cry out "Oh dear god this is awesome" or something. It'd seem weird.

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I would have chosen these instead...

Batman Begins and Sin City were considered "summer blockbusters". Those never win. Furthermore there was the whole thing with Rodriguez and the directors guild.

The latest remake of Kong did get a visual effects nod. Which..is all it was pretty much expected to get

Crash..well yeah. It won, and this just solidifies my drive to rent it.

North Country...I don't know...maybe Charlize Theron can only do the "I made myself look unattractive..GIVE ME AN AWARD!" thing only once?

(Just kidding...Or...am I?)

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Avatar is the current working title

He SERIOUSLY needs to reign that in though. I've read he (or...he and some other people) are trying to develop one of those massively multiplayer games everyone but me seems to love, and have it tie into the movie. So..one is going to flop, either the game or the movie. Hopefully he won't try to intertwine the plot to the point where if one fails, the other suffers.

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Hollywood is in serious trouble. People are too jaded to CARE about movies anymore. People are using their tiny i-Pods to download the latest episodes of 24 to even bother going to the movies. Hollywood has to wake up and understand in order to get people to care about movies again...they have to stop pushing the drivel of sequels

While I agree with this. I disagree with the implication bad movies never existed up until the last five years...we only REMEMBER the good ones.

Furthermore...part of it I think is just the theaters. Because...do you really want to pay the money for the ticket, the extra money for the concessions, then go sit in a theater where you'll have braying children or loudmouth idiots screaming with nobody quiting them the hell down? Because...unless I REALLY want to see a movie, I don't fully see why I should put up with that. And I'm far from alone in that sentiment (which is one reason the last..two movies I saw were syriana and goodnight and good luck. Nobody will bring a kid to see syriana, hell alot of people couldn't follow it, much less their kids. And I saw goodnight and good luck in a small theater)

So part of it is that, and part of it is just...the movies are pretty bad lately, yeah.

Semi-unrelated sidenote...if theres a screaming kid, or a loud idiot in the theater when I go see silent hill. I am throwing my goddamn drink at them. I will hit a child..either an actual one or someone with the mentality of one..in the face, with a cup, if they ruin that movie. I don't even care if this makes me a bad person.

I almost did this during...I think it was two towers, I'm not sure. I was one nanosecond away from dumping a soda all over this one dimwit kid and what I assume was his sister, because they wouldn't stop playing punchbuggy or some crap during the movie.

With dvds, and home theaters if you're THAT obsessed with a "theater experience", there are increasingly less reasons to shell out the money for what may or may not be an enjoyable time. And when you couple that with the fact that the movies aren't...all that wonderful lately, it's not shocking that the box office numbers sometimes aren't so great.

I know exactly what you're talking about. When I saw Spiderman 2 there were somebody's kids shouting and running around, being annoying the whole movie. Finally someone yelled at her. That was cool.

I agree though, going to the movies does suck. $10, plus another $10 for candy/slurpees, plus they make you wait in the stupid line for 20 minutes.

And there's like an hour of commercials! and TV commercials! I see those at home! ARGH!

Not to mention that the ratio of good movies to steaming piles seems to have moved more towards the steaming piles.

Oh yeah, anybody hear about the Razzies? Hayden Christansen got one. He did suck pretty awfully...it seemed like if they had gone with a different take a lot of scenes would have turned out less hair-pullingly bad. Lucas is good at creating a big epic, but he sucks at dialogue. Especially romantic dialogue. The only reason the romancey scenes in Empire Strikes Back were bearable was because of Harrison Ford being a pimp king.

Actually the most expensive movie ticket in my town is $6.50. So we have it pretty good, plus snacks are only an average of maybe $5. But yelling kids at a movie sucks royally.

i was surprised brokeback didn't win. shows how much i know about hollywood.

Thank GOD (and I never do that) that Crash won Best Picture. I was jumping around like you know what and I had Crash to win all the time.

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-Constant Gardener was f***ing brilliant. It should have gotten more nominations and the like.

Yes, it damn was my man. I think it could have gotten a Best Picture nomination but Meirelles and Weisz played the sh*t out of their roles. I thought Ralph Fiennes was limited by the screenplay though but the movie was amazing.

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Oh yeah, anybody hear about the Razzies? Hayden Christansen got one. He did suck pretty awfully...it seemed like if they had gone with a different take a lot of scenes would have turned out less hair-pullingly bad. Lucas is good at creating a big epic, but he sucks at dialogue. Especially romantic dialogue.

Wait, did Tom Cruise still get one or did Christensen beat him out of it. Because Cruise, for War of the Worlds, definetly deserves one.

That's true about Lucas' screenplays. They just suck. Lucas should just stick to directing and hire a screenwriter. Portman and Christensen did their best to bring out their lines that Lucas shoved them with but yeah, they did still give pretty bad performances.

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Crash..well yeah. It won, and this just solidifies my drive to rent it.

You haven't seen it yet?! What's wrong with you? I'm just playing Sharpie but yeah, seriously go see it.

I had Howl's Moving Castle. Damn... But yeah, I thought that Sin City would get a Cinematography nod because it was off the chain in that movie. But Batman Begins got it, which is just as good. Also, yes, History of Violence got screwed at the Oscars hard, so did Constant Gardener (give or take).

Anyway, thank God Crash won. In your face, Brokeback!!!

Haters.
Peace.

Tim Burton and Miyazaki didn't win anything? Well thank you God, as I find them both to be immensely overrated. *is killed by Burton fans and japanophiles*

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Originally posted by Gaddes Tim Burton and Miyazaki didn't win anything? Well thank you God, as I find them both to be immensely overrated. *is killed by Burton fans and japanophiles*

Japanophiles. You really like that word, don't you Gaddes? I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

But here's some more Crash hatebashing. And the thing is, this guy actually makes some decent points about the weak points in Crash.

I still think it rightfully deserved Best Picture and the hell with the haters I say.
Peace.

So the Academy Awards are at risk of appearing irrelevant because they didn't cave to overzealous social activist pressure in order to appear, er, 'forward thinking' just this once.

This is instead of... any other reason.

I see.

That article writer fails. It is my professional opinion that he needs to be treated for terminal stupidity. Dr. X recommends the cure of chainsaw to head.

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Originally posted by X Prime So the Academy Awards are at risk of appearing irrelevant because they didn't cave to overzealous social activist pressure in order to appear, er, 'forward thinking' just this once. This is instead of... any other reason. I see. That article writer fails. It is my professional opinion that he needs to be treated for terminal stupidity. Dr. X recommends the cure of chainsaw to head.

I go for the gulliotine, but hell, you're the doctor X.

Agreed X Prime. Yeah, I've been reading this guy's "reports" (aka crap) for some time now since before the Oscars and basically all he's been doing is trashing and hatin' Crash.

In other articles, the dude was like this: Its a lose-lose situation with the Academy regarding Brokeback and Crash. If it goes for Brokeback, then people will look at the Academy as racist. If it goes for Crash, then people will then look at the Academy as prejudice towards homosexuals.

Wow, man. Wow. I for one like to give people more credit than that and the Academy just gave the award to the best picture. Period.
Peace.

i loved crash, but i haven't seen BBM. i heard it was good and i'm looking forward to watching it.

i sort of wished sin city would have been nominated. too bad.

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Originally posted by Zenigata-Da-Vida Oh well... I've got a Steamboy DVD here that'd probably kick their butts too. Bring it, I say!

don't get me started on steamboy. that was probably the most boring animated movie i've seen in a while. and i had such high hopes for it, too.

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originally posted by Sharpshooter005 ...They do that with 24 now also? I'd be unable to watch it on an iPod..or...at least in public, I might cry out "Oh dear god this is awesome" or something. It'd seem weird.

all you'd need to do is download one episode and watch it over and over. since they are all pretty much the same sh**.

-BC

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all you'd need to do is download one episode and watch it over and over. since they are all pretty much the same sh**.

I'd contest this point..but...nah, you're pretty much right.

I still love that show though.

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In other articles, the dude was like this: Its a lose-lose situation with the Academy regarding Brokeback and Crash. If it goes for Brokeback, then people will look at the Academy as racist. If it goes for Crash, then people will then look at the Academy as prejudice towards homosexuals

Which he himself does, implying the academy functioned on homophobia (or citing "rumors", which I'm sure would have been mentioned by some other writer..yet interestingly, this is the first time I've heard of them) for not voting in brokeback.

And if they did, it would be amusing in light of Clooney's "Hollywood always leads the vanguard in matters of civil rights" speech.

Also, I forget if I said they should have given David Strathairn best leading actor for goodnight and good luck, but...they should have.

The internet has now been made aware of this.

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Originally posted by X Prime So the Academy Awards are at risk of appearing irrelevant because they didn't cave to overzealous social activist pressure in order to appear, er, 'forward thinking' just this once. This is instead of... any other reason. I see.

Nngh. Yeah. I mean, you know... okay, I didn't ever see Crash. But I did see Brokeback. Good movie? Sure. GREAT movie? Uh... well, not really. Oscar-worthy? I'm gonna say no.

I just can't help but think that if a person really thought Brokeback should've won, it's gotta be for reasons other than its... y'know, own merit as a film. Which is fine, I guess, but... well, we all see how it turned out.

Go Three Six Mafia! Go Crash! Go John Stewart! Democracy, Gooooooo!

I didn't see Brokeback or any of the nominated movies. But I like Terrance Howard and Ludacris and Ang Lee and monkeys. Why didn't Jack Black win, he =awesome.

Three-Six FTW!