I think I might agree with Mr. Kalin, but I also agree with you that it's poorly supported. I think that the Globe op-ed people wanted someone willing to pee in the Oscar pool, so to speak.

Grizzly Man should win best documentary.

and, Paradise Now for best foreign film!

I'm starting to wonder if one of there is some basic cultural/personality divide that is somewhat shown by whether or not people loved 40 Year Old Virgin. I've run across lots of people who do - and lots of people who are sincerely utterly confused as to what the fuss is about. I mean it was fine, and Keener was great, but all the raves ... I'm just confused by them.

No mention of Amy Adams and Junebug? That's a fantastic film, and she steals every scene she's in.

Say Dan, don't you think Selma Hayek looked stunning in her Oscar dress ?

Crash?

This was the only film nominated for Best Picture that my wife and I saw together (we tried to see "GN&GL" yesterday but it sold out while we were in line).

I didn't think it was that good.

Worse than Crash? Titanic?

I have to stick up for Reese. I thought she was outstanding in Walk the Line and was glad she won. Mario Bella, saw the movie, never even considered she might be nominated for anything, I think you could drop 20 actresses into that role and they'd all acquit themselves as well as she did. I'm not as strongly anti-Crash as you are, but thought it was too one-note, I don't think it will hold up well.

I have to stick up for Reese. I thought she was outstanding in Walk the Line and was glad she won. Mario Bella, saw the movie, never even considered she might be nominated for anything, I think you could drop 20 actresses into that role and they'd all acquit themselves as well as she did. I'm not as strongly anti-Crash as you are, but thought it was too one-note, I don't think it will hold up well.

Ah, Hayek:
http://www.csun.edu/~dgw61315/dgwhayek.html

I had no doubt you would note Salma Hayek, Dan. However gorgeous and voluptuous she is -- and there is no doubt about that -- I think Rachel Weisz has got to be an up and comer in the same area of the girl department store. Especially that link you gave us! Naked wrapped by a boa? Wow. I will be sure NOT to show that picture to my wife. I'm still trying to remove the snake from Rachel's body ....

American Beauty is the worst Best Picture winner, probably ever, and I am quite confident saying that even though I have not even seen Crash.

Re: Crash v. American Beauty, I dunno. In some ways they're *very* similar films. I loved both of them when I saw them, but have come to dislike Beauty and have arrived at something like ambivalence towards Crash, as the things that I loved best about them (good performances in Beauty, great ones in Crash, great visuals in Beauty, good ones in Crash) have failed to withstand the "more important and groundbreaking than it actually is" air both movies carry about them.

The reason I'm still ambivalent about Crash, rather than just dismissive, is that while it's supremely heavy-handed, and its heavy-handedness makes it into a distorted picture of American racism (i.e., too focused on one or two aspects of the subject at the expense of the harder-to-dramatize-but-more-everyday subtle undercurrents of racism), there *were* lines in the movie that rang true for me and my experience. And I think Ebert, who's been defending the movie rather voraciously, hit on something recently: it's trying to be like Dickens, and if you go read Dickens, he's incredibly heavy-handed and his characters are one-dimensional mouthpieces which are maneuvered in highly improbable ways to make Dickens' terribly obvious social points...which is why I don't like A Tale of Two Cities. But there is a tradition in which this sort of thing exists (I'm not saying, btw, that Crash is artistically *on par* with Dickens, just noting some similarities of method).

I think the prognosticators screwed up because they (we) all forgot that Crash is about Los Angeles -- and everybody who votes for the Oscars lives in L.A. So it was "important" to them in a way that it isn't to us in the Heartland.

Am I the only one who thinks Joaquin Phoenix was robbed? Hoffman *was* Capote the same way that Phoenix *was* Cash. Shouldn't the singing be the tie breaker, especially when he sings "Folsom" for the producer and *becomes* Johnny Cash?

Couldn't agree more about Crash, as it was literally unwatchable--we had to turn it off after less than half an hour. Thank God I didn't waste $10 in the theater on it.

Dan, on your assessment of Heath Ledger ("I can't see Ledger playing Capote"), I would have agreed until I saw him in Brothers Grimm, a so-so movie in which he dispelled all my ideas about his (lack of) acting ability to that point. I think we'll see him at the Oscars again before too long.

Worse than "Crash"? "The English Patient". BORING. "Ordinary People." BORING.

LOL! I was waiting for a Salma Hayek mention. You didn't disappoint.

WORST Best Picture - Forrest Gump. Sentimental garbage...

I thought Crash was phenomenal. And I liked Brokeback too, but Crash was an ensemble piece with many actors/actresses doing a fine job. It was great to see it win for it's ensemble piece.

I live in a city (not LA, but a big urban place). Crash was dead on in being real, ugly, yes, but real.

On a different note, what was the deal with the slamming of DVDs. How is Hollywood REALLY out of touch -- when they bite the hand that feeds them. I cannot afford to go see all the movies I want to see (and I try to see a bunch of them), and quite frankly, if all the good ones wouldn't be released at the same time I could get a chance to go (still haven't seen King Kong and I love Peter Jackson's work, but the holidays were insane and by the time I got a chance to go, it was gone out of the theatre). So what is the deal Hollywood - your younger audience demands portabilty. I'll pay for it, I won't download it illegally, but to slam it - missing the point completely.

I too thought Jon did the best he could with a really tough crowd. Boring, boring show -terribly directed and horribly rude when they cut off at least three people from speaking at the podium.

What was up with the teleprompter???

"I dare my readers to name a worst Best Picture winner in the past 25 years. "

Oh, come on. This group might not be worse, but you can't seriously argue that they're better:

• The Last Emperor
• Gandhi
• Titanic
• The English Patient
• American Beauty

Titanic sucked rocks. I rooted for the iceberg.

I finally saw 'Brokeback Mountain' last night. Leger did an excellent job, I thought. I'll be seeing Capote later this week to compare.

I just read Wolcott's piece and will skip the comments on his off-base political rant except for this one thing: Courage to make these movies. Please! The entire category consisted of movies that, in Wolcott's imagination, he thinks that Right wing zealots would punish Hollywood for making. Gay Sheep Herders, Gay Author, Racist White Power Structure, Anti Civil Liberties Power Structure, and a botched attempt to 'potray the other side' of the depraved murder of Israeli Athletes.

So, if everyone else is doing it does it really take that much courage?

Maybe Wolcott needs to talk to his mother about courage again so that she can give him the "If all your friends jumped off a bridge..." speech.

Dan,

I just don't get it. Why all the hate for Crash? I'm sorry, but that was a damn good movie. The acting is certainly the strong point, more than the script, but come on. I just don't get it. Homophobia had nothing to do with it. The better movie won.

OH, and BTW, everyone knows that the worst Best Picture winner is The English Patient. How that dreck got the nomination is a mystery only the Lord knows. American Beauty was overrated as well.

"Crash" won because of the superior acting performances of so many stars and the fact that the Academy's membership is mostly made up of actors - people who naturally favor themselves.

Did the "gay vote" for two contenders get split? Very possibly. Which would explain why Ang Lee won Best Director, not Best Picture for "Brokeback." (Normally, the nod goes to the same picture and director.) But I prefer his Chinese language "The Wedding Banquet." It convinced me how and why to have a wedding - for family and friends, not ceremony.

What's with Dan's admiration for the one-joke "40 Year Old Virgin?" It was so smoked by "Wedding Crashers." I laughed so hard I cried BOTH times I saw it! When was the last time you did that?

As for the worst Best Picture, "Titanic," followed closely by the pretentious "American Beauty," a theme done much better by any of several New Wave auteurs. "English Patient?" It must be viewed with a mind set on identifying with tragic pain, which is why so many reject connecting with it. But to me, it deserves a pass. But to trash "The Last Emperor" and "Gandhi?" The latter the last great biopic to be so honored? Herecy.

"The true theme of tonight's broadcast: boobies!"

Er - yes. But which kind? The boobies on the stage or the ones in the tightly-cantilevered (un)dresses? Or both?

Salma was incredible. I met her once at a Safeway of all places buying fruit. She touched a pear and one of the workers there grabbed it when she put it down. I bet he did some "American Pie" action on that poor pear later that night.

Not sure about Hoffman's Capote. He had plently of archive material on which to base an impersonation. And the characterisation was remarkably similar to that drag queen he played opposite Robert De Niro's disaffected cop. It seems to be Hoffman's schtick.

Just because you see Hoffman as Ennis Del Mar and Ledger not playing Capote is not relevant. Some people are right for some parts and others are right for others. I am an actor and I couldn't play Anne Boleyn.

Not sure about Hoffman's Capote. He had plently of archive material on which to base an impersonation. And the characterisation was remarkably similar to that drag queen he played opposite Robert De Niro's disaffected cop. It seems to be Hoffman's schtick.

Just because you see Hoffman as Ennis Del Mar and Ledger not playing Capote is not relevant. Some people are right for some parts and others are right for others. I am an actor and I couldn't play Anne Boleyn.