74th Annual Academy Awards

As much as I admire and always see any movie that Denzel Washington is in, and agree that his portrayal of the "cop gone bad" in "Training Day" was EXCELLENT, and totally different for Mr. Washington, proving his incredible acting skills, I have to say that Russell Crowe deserved that Oscar more. It's not because of Russell's "looks". Russell Crowe delivered an INCOMPARABLE performance of the portrayal of Dr. John Nash. All you have to do is watch the movie and see the acting skill that Russell Crowe tapped into to deliver such a realistic and unbelievable character. It was out of Russell Crowe's normal type of role, too, just as it was for Denzel. I wish they both could've received Oscars, but, having to choose only one, I would've chosen Russell Crowe's acting performance in "A Beautiful Mind" as much as I love any move Denzel Washington is in. I wish this email could be sent to the Academy Awards, and to Russell Crowe. Thank you.

Is it that time of year already? I watched this ceremony recorded – one of the first times when my `maturity' and `love of my job' that stopped me doing an all-nighter, watch a movie till 2 then watch the ceremony then go to work! So taping it gave me the luxury of fast forwarding all the breaks etc (and there are tonnes) and get though it quicker. The first weakness for me was Goldberg doing the compere. I like her in some movies but she can't compare to Crystal's (or even Martin's) quick wit. Many of her jokes were poor and her flamboyant entrances etc were simply weak. I didn't laugh at all at her which is a real downer as I always count the compere as the backbone of the show.

The ceremony after 11/9 had the potential to be sombre and reflective and in a way it was, but not to the detriment – it was more a celebration of New York than a sad time. Woody Allen's appearance was quite moving and witty considering his loathing for the ceremony and the New York compilations were good. Chan and Wilson were funny together too but too brief!

The actual awards were memorable as they were historic if nothing else. Halle Berry became the first Afro-American woman to win Best Actress and went all to pieces. Washington won for Best Actor for the slightly unworthy film Training Day – but it was a strong role I guess. Rounding up the `Hollywood makes amends' feel was an honorary award for Sidney Poitier without whom neither of the previous two would have as easily got where they are. Best picture for Beautiful Mind was a bit of a surprise as was best director but ah well.

Overall not a great show because of Goldberg's weak routines. The shadow of terrorism was over the whole thing and the awards were unsurprisingly despite being a little disappointing. It's a shame so much was made of the fact that three `black Oscars' (not my words!) were given out in one night – it may it feel like it was the Academy being PC rather than the actors deserving them.

No awards show can please all the people. Clearly if your favorite movies didn't win, you will say the show wasn't very good. That's understandable.

However, the 74th Annual Academy Awards will be remembered for one magical moment of Hollywood history:

Woody Allen's first appearance ever at the Academy Awards.

Allen has often shunned the awards as being self-aggrandizing and pointless, and has never attended -- even though he has won several of the coveted awards.

When the 74th Academy Awards were held, the nation was still mourning the loss of life in the collapse of the World Trade Centers in New York. When it came time to pay tribute to the city of New York, they decided to show a video of the great movie moments form the city of cities. Then the announcer simply said:

"Ladies and gentleman, Oscar Award winning Director Woody Allen."

The place erupted in an extremely long standing ovation. The entertainment industry finally got to give their applause to the Man from New York who usually avoids the Hollywood scene. As the applause died down, Woody applied some of his legendary wit to the situation.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS:

"Thank you very much - that makes up for the strip search."

"I thought they wanted their Oscars back," he joked. "I panicked because the pawn shop has been out of business for ages and I had no way of retrieving anything. "

"But that wasn't it. I couldn't work it out because my movie wasn't nominated for anything this year. Then it hit me - maybe they were calling to apologise."

Allen also disclosed why he had overlooked his lifelong Oscar-aversion for this one special night.

"For New York City, I'd do anything. So I got my tux on and came down here," said Allen.

"It's a great, great movie town. It's been a great, moving and exciting backdrop for movies and it remains a great, great city."

This year was pretty good. I liked the surprise performance of Cirque du Soleil. I'm glad Jim Broadbent won best supporting actor. I haven't seen Iris yet, but I know he's always a terrific actor in all his movies.

Plus, it's good to see Woody Allen finely made it, in person, to the Oscars this year.

But there are some things that I didn't like. Sean Penn should've got the Oscar for Best Actor, not Denzel. The Monsters INC song shouldn't have won Best Original Song. Plus, A Beautiful Mind winning the Oscar for Best Picture?!! Lord of the Rings should have won. That is one of the best adventure films ever.

Overall, this year was good.

The 74th Annual Academy Awards show had a few good surprises, for instance it was nice to see for the first time an African American actress, the lovely and talented Halle Berry take home the Best Actress Oscar for Monster's Ball. Her speech was very emotional to me, and it was nice that an African American actress finally won that award. Denzel Washington, became the second African American actor to win the Best Actor Oscar for Training Day. Earlier before his win, he presented the Honorary Award to his idol, actor Sidney Piotier. Another Honorary Award was given to actor and producer Robert Redford, for his achievements over his career. Veteran director Arthur Hiller took the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his charitable and generous contributions to others. Whoopi Goldberg, I must add, was a hilarious host, she may not have been good as Billy Crystal or Steve Martin, but she did say a few funny sarcastic remarks. The Best Supporting Actor and Actress Oscars were also surprises, for me anyway. Jennifer Connelly gave an outstanding performance in A Beautiful Mind, but I was almost sure that either Marisa Tomei or Helen Mirran would win for their roles in In The Bedroom and Gosford Park. British actor Jim Broadbent won for Iris, and I was hoping that Ian McKellen was going to win for The Lord of the Rings or Ethan Hawke for Training Day. The show also had some good appearances as well, Woody Allen introduced a clip on the films made in New York over the past 74 years of Oscar, in a time after the shadow of the September 11th terrorism attacks, also Tom Cruise presented a clip at the beginning of the show and continued throughout the show of American people sharing their favorite films. The Memorial presentation done by Kevin Spacey was not as good as past shows, and a few deceased actors in the past year were "mysteriously" left out of being remembered, but those that did catch my eye included the great Jack Lemmon, British actor Nigel Hawthorne, Eileen Heckhart, Beatrice Straight, "Exorcist" actor Jason Miller, Ann Sothern, handicapped actor Harold Russell, directors Mike Ritchie and Ted Demme, animators Chuck Jones and William Hanna, Emmy winner Carroll O'Connor, singers Aaliyah and George Harrison and Anthony Quinn, among others. Lots of young presenters at this years award show as well including Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, Josh Hartnett, Kirsten Dunst, Tobey McGuire and Cameron Diaz, whom all gave good presentations. A Beautiful Mind walked away with the top prize as Best Picture.