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March 27th, 2001
Two Black-Tie Crowes, Weekend Box Office, New
Review Member
Ah, so the Oscar®s were this weekend, and it was a
pretty good ceremony. Predictable for the most part, but
very good. It ran under three and a half hours (is that some
kind of record?), and I thought Steve Martin was a host was
a bit deadpan, but quite good (lighten up Russell Crowe!).
Still, everyone knew that the roman epic
Gladiator
would take home top prize, all because of the fact that the
Academy loves big, huge epics. I felt it was a very good
movie, but there were some more deserving movies to take
home the prize
*coughtAlmostFamousthoughitdidn'tgetnominatedcough*. Don't
get me wrong, I really enjoyed "Gladiator", but I feel it's
more popcorn entertainment, overdone and a bit overrated.
Still, it's a good movie. Russell Crowe also won for his
performance. Crowe had a powerful performance and really
embodied the role of Maximus. I really enjoyed Crowe's
intense performance, but I felt it should have gone to Ed
Harris or Javier Bardem. Still, Crowe had a very good
performance that I enjoyed, but I felt there were some
better ones in the mix.
Speaking of Crowe, there's that other Crowe. Cameron
Crowe. I was incredibly happy that he won for
Almost
Famous. "Almost Famous", of course, was one of my top
movies of last year, and I felt it was really snubbed at the
Oscar®s, especially for Billy Crudup's performance and
Best Picture (I bet if it was nominated it would have won!).
Still, I'm happy that it did win something, and I have the
screenplay actually, and it's fabulous. Crowe is a really
strong writer and filmmaker, and "Almost Famous" was such an
excellent story. Crowe highly, and I mean HIGHLY deserved
it. He's only made a few films, but let me tell you, I
personally think he's never made a bad one. "Almost Famous"
did lose out in film editing and the Best Supporting Actress
category. Many thought Kate Hudson would win and follow in
her mom's footsteps, but an upset from Marcia Gay Harden
took her down. Probably a disappointing night for her, but
you can't help but love an upset like that.
Julia Roberts and Benicio Del Toro were not much of a
surprise, but "Traffic" sort of was. It was expected to win
in Supporting Actor and Adapted Screenplay, and Soderbergh
got the Best Director trophy, beating the odds of his split
vote. I really liked his speech, and for a moment, I thought
"Traffic" was going to sweep and take home Best Picture.
Alas not, but it did very good.
So did "Crouching Tiger", and while Ang Lee didn't get
Best Director as many had thought, he did get a trophy for
"Best Foreign Film" for directing it. I think that's the
Academy's way of killing two birds with one stone. They get
him for directing it and they award it for A Best
Picture. "Crouching Tiger" won in some more technical areas,
including it's beautiful score, Art Direction and
Cinematography.
So in all, a good Oscar show where a year of good movies
were considered great ones. Now on to other news...
The weekend box office was healthy, with
Heartbreakers leading the way with 12.3 million (a
strong year for MGM). Next was the African-American romantic
comedy The Brothers with 10.7, a very healthy opening
that should build on word of mouth, I was surprised how much
it made. In third was last week's number one movie Exit
Wounds with 9.2, with a big drop-off but still strong.
Enemy At The Gates went down to fourth with 8.4, and
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was in fifth with 4.7.
The Mexican dropped to sixth with 4.3 (losing legs
fast), followed by Traffic with 3.9, See Spot
Run with 3.34 and Chocolat with 3.3. Finally, Fox
bombs again. First "Monkeybone", now the Farrley-produced
Say It Ain't So! that was heavily hyped. Sorry for
the pun, but our audiences sick of gross-out comedies?
Lastly, and not least, I'd like to welcome a new reviewer
you may have noticed. Tony Medina. It seems like
performances are his speciality, so look on the site for
some of his fantastic reviews, and check out his site bio to
learn more about him. Everyone at DVDlaunch welcomes Tony to
the team, as he should be a valued member. Again, welcome
Tony!
And that's it... good awards, good box office, great new
reviewer. And the countdown begins... another year until
another Academy Awards® ceremony!
- Zach B.
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