The 73rd Annual Academy Awards

The 73rd Academy Awards show was one of the best ever and it was full of surprises. A risk was taken this year when the producers had Steve Martin as the MC, but their risk paid off Martin kept the show going at a great pace and the show seemed shorter than any other in recent history. What made the oscars great were the surprises which took place during the night, many of the predictions I had read stated that Ang Lee was the sure thing for best director and that Crouching Tiger could easily steal Best Picture from Gladiator. When Marcia Gay Harden upset the best supporting actress category with her completely unpredicted win I had a feeling more surprises were in store. Traffic and Gladiator were my two favorite films of this year and I considered Crouching Tiger to be all Hype which it was. So when Steven Soderbergh took best director and Gladiator won best picture I was relieved. The biggest surprise though was probably that Russell Crowe won best actor I presumed I was the only one who thought he deserved it, I thought it would either be mainstream Tom Hanks or the edgy and talented Ed Harris. While the film clips for best picture nominees could have been better I don't have much bad things to say about this years Awards ceremony.

Steve Martin is certainly one of the Oscar hosts whom I like most. His comment about "Dude, Where's My Car?" here was a big enough laugh in and of itself. Most of the evening was actually a little bit predictable, and I thought that Ed Harris did a better job in "Pollock" than Russell Crowe did in "Gladiator". Listening to Julia Roberts's acceptance speech, it was clear that she was more full of herself than the people doing costume design and stuff like that. But I do think that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" - remember Steve Martin's comment about the title characters - deserved its win. As for Bjork's dress, I now like the fact that it provided Jon Stewart with a joke when he hosted the Oscars a few years later.

Looking back on "The 73rd Annual Academy Awards", some things are a little surprising. This was the last Oscars ceremony before September 11, 2001. Did that make this ceremony a sign of things to come? I don't know, and maybe I'm the only person who even identified that. But mostly I liked the ceremony.

Please, banish Billy Crystal forever! Steve Martin's sly, understated wit, and his willingness to anger the humorless talent in the audience, was brilliant and refreshing. He was gracious without pandering or being silly. The bad; once again the Best Picture award went to a film nobody will remember five years from now.

This was by far the best Oscar show I've seen so far. The show for 2000 was a total bomb where the hi-tech computer look of the show was concerned but the outcome of all the winners were as I expected. This year was worth all the negativity from last year. Russell Crowe and Julia Roberts were my choices for best actor/actress. Marcia Gay Harden (in POLLOCK)was my choice for supporting actress but I figured it go to Kate Hudson for ALMOST FAMOUS (though she wasn't very good). The real surprise for me was Steven Soderbergh as best director of TRAFFIC over predicted winner Ang Lee for the over-hyped CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON... in my opinion he wouldn't have deserved it. It didn't deserve the art direction award either which should have gone to GLADIATOR. The Roman, Toga-donned epic wasn't a surprise winner for Best Picture of course though TRAFFIC did put up quite a good battle. I was happy to see Miss Roberts win best actress but after a while (especially after her over-excited acceptance speech) she started to turn me and a lot of other people off. Host Steve Martin was just adequate and his smart-aleck remarks towards Russell Crowe "hitting on" Ellen Burstyn and Tom Hanks alleged ring-leading of the plot to kidnap Russell Crowe were in really bad taste. I miss Whoopi! But the show was all-in-all a real enjoyment... if only because the sets were reasonably attractive and the winners were deserving.

Here's what I think should've won this time:

Best Picture: Traffic

Best Director: Ridley Scott (Gladiator)

Best Actor: Tom Hanks (Cast Away)

Best Actress: Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream)

Best Supporting Actor: Albert Finney (Erin Brockovich)

Best Supporting Actress: Marcia Gay Harden (Pollock)