Oscar Madness

So I'm just curious. Do y'all think the oscars earned by RotK were truly for the merits of that movie, or do you think that it was a way for people to honor the trilogy as a whole?

Second question. Do you think it deserved them by either criteria?

Discuss.

can opened.� *runs*

I'd say it was a little to honor the trilogy, but at the same time justly deserved. If you look at the categories and the nominees in those categories, RotK definitely was the best in most. Jackson deserved best director too for pulling off the feat.

From what I understand, it was the poor hobbits who had to deal with pulling off the feet.

groan!

I felt like to a large degree they were handing out awards to anything with "Lord of the Rings" in the title, regardless of the merits. so I'm skeptical. (having not seen it, or most of the other nominees in the categories it was in, I can't truly say one way or the other whether I felt it "deserved" them)

the ones I'm especially skpetical about are "best song" (how could they NOT pick Kiss at the End of the Rainbow?) and "best editing" (the thing is three and a half hours long. I've gotta wonder about the editing)

from everything I've heard, though, it was the best of the three, and it certainly did have many good features as far as the set, costumes and makeup were concerned.

however, I thought that since it was really only one project, it shouldn't have been eligible for the same awards three years in a row - after all, the set designers didn't really do anything different in the third versus the first, as it wasn't made that way. same goes for the effects categories, and possibly even the score.

the set designers didn't really do anything different in the third versus the first, as it wasn't made that way. same goes for the effects categories, and possibly even the score

erm, yes, they did. there are all kinds of different and amazing sets, effects, and music in all three movies.

i'm all for rotk's sweep--the only award i didn't agree with was best song--i was definitely rooting for "kiss at the end of the rainbow" or "belleville rendezvous."

erm, yes, they did. there are all kinds of different and amazing sets, effects, and music in all three movies.

except it was still all part of a single project. they may have made different sets and costumes, but they were still working with the same concepts and continuity. if anything, they should be recognised for their work on the overall project, but not three times individually - that would be like distinguishing the sets and costumes from different scenes of a single movie. even if that "single movie" is 10 hours long.

so are you saying that movies like the godfather parts 1 and 2 shouldn't have been recognized separately when they won awards? or are you mainly just saying that, for whatever reason, you really, really seem to hate lotr?

were the first two Godfather movies made at the same time with the same crew? if so, then no, I don't think they should have been recognised separately for certain categories - best picture, yes, since they are different stories or different parts of a story and can have great elements in either one. and to some degree, editing categories (especially if it's a matter of deciding where to divide the story).

but why should, say, a makeup artist be recognised multiple times for one project? yes, they're separate films, but they were thought of and created as a single contiguous unit.

I don't hate Lord of the Rings. I'm certainly not a fan of it, and didn't care much for either of the first two movies, but I have nothing against it as a story or as a movie. what I do hate is all the hype and the assumptions and the "It's Lord of the Rings, of course it has to win everything" attitudes. and that it seems the Academy gave in, even by awarding it "best song" like it was somehow automatic.

I don't hate Lord of the Rings. I'm certainly not a fan of it, and didn't care much for either of the first two movies, but I have nothing against it as a story or as a movie. what I do hate is all the hype and the assumptions and the "It's Lord of the Rings, of course it has to win everything" attitudes. and that it seems the Academy gave in, even by awarding it "best song" like it was somehow automatic.

I don't think that's exactly what happened... but I do think, considering the trilogy's LACK of award-winning the previous two years, that the academy definitely wanted to recognize it this (it's last chance) year. I think if the Academy had been "giving in" to... fangirl pressure? Critical acclaim? Popular opinion? They would have done it before this year.

RotK is actually my least favorite of the movies (although I also feel that RotK could have been two movies itself, to do justice to the last volume of LotR), but there are certain awards that I simply can't imagine it NOT winning... and costume and makeup, sets, and directing are some.

And personally... I really really love "Into the West"... it makes me cry. If it made the people who voted cry, too... I'm not suprised it won.

the only award i didn't agree with was best song--i was definitely rooting for "kiss at the end of the rainbow" or "belleville rendezvous."

Would have been nice to see "Kiss" win purely on the basis of how integral it was in the flick.� Actually, the only reason I watched at all was for the Mitch and Mickey performance, but after the 2+ hours of excrutiating pain, they made it all worth it for me.� Eugene Levy had me rotflmao.

And I dig on that Belleville song!

i was seriously watching just for the song performances and the cute hobbits. :)

i was seriously watching just for the song performances and the cute hobbits. :)

They looked nice.� I enjoyed the random shots of Johnny Depp and Jude Law too, my taste usually goes a bit left-of-center, but there are some things I enjoy as much as everyone else ;)

That Belleville song: Dude. When I (we) finally get our band together. Our drummer. Must only drum on a bicycle. The end.

werd.

-- Pauley

however, I thought that since it was really only one project, it shouldn't have been eligible for the same awards three years in a row

I dunno, were both Back to the Future II and Back to the Future III eligible for Best Picture? They were filmed at the same time, right? ;-)

(In all seriousness, I agree with you -- it was one project with three movies as outputs, and I'd rather see the awards given to different projects than movies. I'm sure I phrased that poorly, though)

I actually thought the three films should have gotten a special Oscar. they aren't really three separate films and more than LOTR is three separate books. As Tolkien pointed out, it is just one long book of a size inconvenient to be printed in one volume.

I think all of hte films deserved recognition, the first was actually my favorite. But that sort of leads to giving all the films oscars or none of them. This is a good compromise. You now have a completed film to judge.

wasn't it also released as a set of six books at one time? I could be wrong, but that twigs at the back of my head for some reason.

I don't know if they were ever released as six separate volumes, but IIRC the series is numbered inside as�6 "books" inside the three volumes we know.

-- Pauley

Yes the Millennium Edition. When I read it now that is the version I read, it is hte most convenient. Mya favorite is Red hard bound all in one volume edition. It is so much my image of the Red Book of Westmarch.