This year's Oscar
 

Gangs of New York left empty-handed.

Chicago was the biggest winner.

Nicole Kidman finally got the recognization.

Adrien Brody was the black horse.

Roman Polanski was a surprise.

Hero (the Chinese film nominated for Best foreign language film) was beat by Nowhere in Africa.

What else?? It's good to see those old actors though!

Nicole Kidman always had recognition, more than she deserves, IMHO. I personally think Diane Lane should have won, if not her then Julianne Moore.

The Oscars aren't the leading authority when it comes to recognizing talent. They tend to give "Lifetime Achievements."

Having said that, this year's Oscars gave it to people who actually earned it and not to people who were overdue.
E.g.: Martin Scorcese; sorry that you were robbed two times before, but Gangs of New York sucked all kinds of ass. And as much as I would like to see Roman Polanski thrown in prison, he did deserve the award.

ETA: Was anybody absolutely smittened by Gael Garcнa Bernal of Y Tu Mamб Tambiйn. Like, I saw the movie and everything but he wasn't so appealing to me until his appearance in the Oscars. And the speech he delivered so eloquently was beautiful.
Goddamn that boy is one fine motherf_cker!!!

Nicole is always amazing! (of course it's because we have the same birthday:D) Gotta see Far From Heaven soon. And The Pianist. Otherwise I won't believe someone can beat Daniel Day-Lewis. Or is it because he won it beofore? Jack Nicoleson won three times! Peter O'Toole deserves one long time ago. ;)

Anyhow, Oscar is a national award, not a international one like the Cannes or Venice.

Go to see Hero. It's better than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

the pianist was such a great movie and chigaro was even better. :)
Somehow, i think Adrian Brody won simply due to the topic of his movie. It is very pertinent to our times, with a war and everything, so maybe the academy decided that they needed to honor the Pianist with a major award, even though it may not have deserved it. And i am not dissing anyone/thing about that movie, it was amazing. But for an artistic standpoint, someone else should've won.

having said that, i do beleive that Adrian's speach was amazing and that i highly doubt that anyone would have done a better job.:done:

well, i dont know about you, but i dont normally watch the oscars or the golden globes ... this year, however i made a specific point NOT to watch them even more, because i knew there were gonna be stars running their mouths off, even though they really shouldnt use the podium as a soapbox ... but eh, sorry i am ranting...lol

i'm glad Adrian Brody won, though ... he is very talented.

Just saw The Pianist
 

It's a good film, but not particularly fantastic. So is Adrien Brody. I don't think his acting is better than Daniel Day-Lewis. Everyone thinks the most likely winner is Daniel or Jack Nicoleson. They both won the Oscar before, so the third person got the chance.

I don't think The Pianist deserves the Oscar for Best adapted screenplay. It has obvious narrative problems just like Gangs of New York. For the overal picture, Polanski is just repeating what Spielberg did in Shindler's List, nothing new. I'd rather vote Stephen Daldry (The Hours) for the best director and David Hare for the best adapted screenplay.