Celebrating the art of
film at the 2005 Academy Awards, and yes, I still hate Sean Penn.

 If you’ve read some of
my past ramblings here or know me in real life, then you probably know that I love
movies – of all types and genres. You
name it, I have most likely watched it over and over and over again – Hell, I
probably own it on DVD.

 Every year I look
forward to many different film industry events, but none more so than the
Academy Awards.

A few months ago I made
some Oscar predictions, which happened to come true of course, and for those
who missed out on Oscar night, here’s the breakdown:

 There was no big
surprise that Hillary Swank won Best Actress in a Leading Role – her brilliant
performance in “Million Dollar Baby” was truly moving. The range and depth of her performance in
this movie and the life she brings not only to this character, but to every one
of her characters in every movie she has been in is a true testament to her
dedication to the craft.

 Although I was rooting
for Natalie Portman and Laura Linney, I knew better than to expect anything
less than Cate Blanchett winning Best Actress in a Supporting Role. 

 Aside from being one of
the more beautiful women in film today, she has been in so many films in the
past eight years, that most people forget her roles. 

 Cate always brings her
best to each film she is in and will continue to entertain us for years.

 The movies that were
nominated for Best Picture all did well at the box office, but I have yet to
talk to someone personally who has seen all five of the films that were
nominated.

 Do yourself a favor and
go rent these movies when you can: The
Aviator, Sideways, Finding Neverland, Ray and the winner of this category – “Million
Dollar Baby.”

Each of them is
different but all are truly entertaining.

 While I appreciated the
work that each of the nominees for Best Director did in their respective
movies, I truthfully only considered Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese worthy
of this award this year. Clint won this
year and has won before and hopefully the Academy will at some point see their
way to give Marty an Oscar – he has yet to win, with seven previous
nominations.

 I don’t normally get
this geeky, but if you are looking for a truly moving documentary, which just
happened to win Best Documentary this year, try to get hold of Born Into
Brothels. Sure, “Tupac: Resurrection” will
sell more DVD’s, but trust me – Brothels is one of the best documentaries I
have ever seen and I highly recommend it.

 Best Actor in a
Supporting Role went to Morgan Freeman. He has been in the business a long time and has great respect amongst
his peers. 

The other actors who
were nominated were all excellent choices, but there was no doubt in my mind
that Morgan would take home the Oscar for this his work this year.

 Beyond all of the
performances in all of the films this year, none came close to the truly
awesome performance of Jamie Foxx in “Ray.” 

His transformation into
Raymond Charles Robinson was so complete, so engaging and so exact, it was hard
not to be stunned when the credits rolled and the movie was over.

 I don’t care if you
never liked a Ray Charles song, which I find hard to believe– if you don’t see
this movie, your life is less complete. 

 Forget that it’s a true
story for a minute – even if it wasn’t true – the storyline and the depth of
acting makes the movie Ray and Foxx’s performance a potent combination and the
compilation of a true work of art.

 Moving away from all
that seriousness – am I the only person who watched the Academy Awards who
caught the little hissy fit Sean Penn did? 

 Early in the show Chris
Rock asked who Jude Law was – it was a fairly obvious, or so I thought, rhetorical
comment on Jude’s popularity. 

 Rock then later in the
show, when introducing Tim Robbins, commented on how boring Tim’s politics was. 

 Tim’s buddy Sean Penn
came out later on with a look in his eye like he wanted to beat someone
senseless – and lit right into Rock. Boy,
those whacko liberals get testy. 

It kills me that that
they’re both good actors.