# 78th Oscars Thread (unboxed spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198 "2006-03-06T00:07:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/321 "2006-03-06T04:44:44Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > I’m dumbfounded that so many people think _Brokeback_ is Oscar worthy. I agree that _Crash_ was contrived and painfully obvious, but so was _Brokeback_. Take away the “significance” and _Brokback_ is just another cloying love story. Frankly it’s just like _Crash_, except with socially important dialogue inducing mores about homosexuality instead of racism. It’s basically the ACLU wheel-of-fortune. Did you actually see _Brokeback_? You’re not describing the movie that I saw. It had no dialogue about homosexuality or social mores, nor did it pretend to any “significance.” The principle characters were hardly gay rights crusaders. They could scarcely even acknowledge their sexuality to themselves much less wax political about it. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/322 "2006-03-06T04:56:19Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > I’m dumbfounded that so many people think _Brokeback_ is Oscar worthy. I agree that _Crash_ was contrived and painfully obvious, but so was _Brokeback_. Take away the “significance” and _Brokback_ is just another cloying love story. Frankly it’s just like _Crash_, except with socially important dialogue inducing mores about homosexuality instead of racism. It’s basically the ACLU wheel-of-fortune. This complaint makes no sense. That’s like saying _All the President’s Men_ is just a movie about a break-in if it wasn’t for the “signifcance”. While I don’t think BB deserved the Oscar, it’s “significance” is a vital part of the movie and makes it not just another love story. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/323 "2006-03-06T04:57:30Z")
I dunno, BROKEBACK just didn’t do it for me like the rest, although I was haunted by it for a while. And no, I didn’t think it was preachy, not like GN&GL (which I nevertheless had the best time at overall–the clothes! the grayscale! the eloquence) CRASH, while ostensibly preachy as hell, worked for me because the characters _knew_ they were preaching to each other, and they were deliberately making speeches and then acting one way or another to refute or confirm them. I loved the Latino locksmith and the Iranian family, the two witty black crooks, and esp. Don Cheadle’s cop (why wasn’t he nominated??) It just worked for me as a movie better than all the rest except MUNICH, which I think is a fine feat of moviemaking, skipping over continents, being skillfully suspenseful and having the best anti-hero besides CAPOTE. If BROKEBACK had won, I wouldn’t have stormed the Bastille about it or anything. It’s a fine, fine movie. But to me it would have been like when I was a kid and GANDHI won over E.T. Yes, Gandhi’s story was inspiring and worthwhile and all that, and Ben Kingsley was terrific; but which story worked better _as a movie?_ To me, the tapestry of CRASH was the most skillfully woven of all of them. I had heard about the BROKEBACK backlash, but I’m surprised it actually happened. Congrats to Ang Lee, though, for your courage and vision. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/324 "2006-03-06T05:03:21Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Did you actually see _Brokeback_? You’re not describing the movie that I saw. It had no dialogue about homosexuality or social mores, nor did it pretend to any “significance.” The principle characters were hardly gay rights crusaders. They could scarcely even acknowledge their sexuality to themselves much less wax political about it. Agreed. Well, I suppose I should go rent **Crash** now, if only because I saw most of the other nominated films and want to have a sense of “completion.” (I will also go and see **Transamerica** , come to think of it.) But I’m still bummed that BBM lost the top honor. At least it won in some other categories. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/325 "2006-03-06T05:11:18Z")
I can only think that this is a James K. Polk Award. It won Best Picture because the rest of the vote was so divided between the three best pictures in the category (_Brokeback, Capote, G’night_) that it managed to sail into harbor by dead of night. (I thought _Munich_ was a good movie but never once thought it was Oscar worthy.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/326 "2006-03-06T05:13:57Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > Well, I suppose I should go rent **Crash** now, if only because I saw most of the other nominated films and want to have a sense of “completion.” Yes, you need to rent it so that you can have closure. 🙂 I didn’t see _BBM_, but I did see _Crash_, and I thought it was very powerful. Actually, I saw it twice (once in the theater and once on video) and thought it was as powerful, if not moreso, the second time. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/327 "2006-03-06T05:17:21Z")
For me, the highlights were Tom Hanks being beaten by the orchestra and “Judi Dench poked my eye out in a bar fight.” Jon seemed nervous - I feel like hosting the show is almost a no-win, since the jokes can’t even be as barbed as what you’d hear on a late night talk show (much less The Daily Show), and the failures are remembered more than the successes - but he was funny. I laughed, and I was happy to see TDS’s cast and alumns getting some face and/or voice time. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/328 "2006-03-06T05:19:46Z")
I thought he did a good job. The host shouldn’t overshadow the awards, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/329 "2006-03-06T05:20:57Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Did you actually see _Brokeback_? You’re not describing the movie that I saw. It had no dialogue about homosexuality or social mores, nor did it pretend to any “significance.” The principle characters were hardly gay rights crusaders. They could scarcely even acknowledge their sexuality to themselves much less wax political about it. I think you misread my opinion, or that I stated it poorly. I’m not saying that the movie was being preachy or that it’s dialgue intended to be significant or political. I’m saying that all the buzz around it is because people want it to be significant. I do not believe in rewarding movies that have a supposed “impact” as a result of their being made. Oscar movies should be supremely well made and compelling, and rewarded for that. _BM_ was just another cloying, manipulative love story. Were it not about 2 men it’d have been quickly forgotten. _Crash_ isn’t a particularly great movie either and it was nominated due to it’s “importance”, which I’m equally suspect of. In a way I think it’s better because it’s at least _about_ the political gravity that gets it discussed unlike _BM_. All politics aside, _Munich_ is the _best movie_ of the lot and it should have won. Crash is anything but subtle about it’s message and that’s OK, having a message is fine, but you have to be a superlative movie while sending a message. It wasn’t, it was even clumsy at times. _Brokeback_ was a retread, the worn out forbidden love story. The fact that it’s about gay men make it’s very fashionable. Fashionable movies aren’t the ones who should win unless they are supremely well done, this wasn’t. It didn’t suck, but it wasn’t transendant. ---
**Author:** ![Frosted\_Glass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frosted_glass/32/3926_2.png) [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/330 "2006-03-06T05:22:34Z")
I thought Jon Stewart did the best he could with the audience he had. Everyone forgets that he is used to dealing with a rather homogeneous audience on _The Daily Show_. Listening to the responses to some of his jokes it seemed as if people did not really get what he was saying in some cases. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/331 "2006-03-06T05:22:37Z")
**Sampiro** , I am intrigued by your theory and want to subscribe to your newsletter. Jon was extremely funny but he seemed so nervous that he stepped on a few of the jokes. I also loved the Colbert-narrated commercials, especially the other Dames putting down Dame Judi. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/332 "2006-03-06T05:27:30Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I can only think that this is a James K. Polk Award. It won Best Picture because the rest of the vote was so divided between the three best pictures in the category (_Brokeback, Capote, G’night_) that it managed to sail into harbor by dead of night. (I thought _Munich_ was a good movie but never once thought it was Oscar worthy.) Agreed. Additionally all the films seem to be very distinct in style and theme leaving no room for overlap. There aren’t two competing love stories, or two period pieces, or two epic blockbusters to pick from. It’s 5 very different films in every meaning of the word. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/333 "2006-03-06T05:44:07Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > I think you misread my opinion, or that I stated it poorly. I’m not saying that the movie was being preachy or that it’s dialgue intended to be significant or political. I’m saying that all the buzz around it is because people want it to be significant. I do not believe in rewarding movies that have a supposed “impact” as a result of their being made. Oscar movies should be supremely well made and compelling, and rewarded for that. _BM_ was just another cloying, manipulative love story. Were it not about 2 men it’d have been quickly forgotten. You’re entitled to your aesthetic opinion of the film, but I think you’re wrong that the reason it appeals to people is because they perceive it as a “message film.” It’s been my observation that a huge fan base for the film has been straight women who just like seeing a love story between two good looking, Hollywood A-list leading men. That’s a novelty in itself regardless of any social significance. A lot of people really do just like it as a story and couldn’t care less about any political or social message it might have. It’s a chick flick, not a message film. I also think that it’s virtually impossible for Hollywood to make any gay-themed film at all without being accused of pushing an “agenda.” Hell, _Capote_ barely mentions the title character’s homosexuality at all and it’s been accused of that. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/334 "2006-03-06T05:54:00Z")
\ I must say I was one of the straight women who went partly to see the pretty, pretty men in love. In fact, I could have done with many MORE sex scenes between the guys. \ I don’t know a single Academy voter, but I do know a few people who refused to see BROKEBACK on principle–they had heard somewhere that it was subtle as the average Leatherman on Gay Pride Parade float, and they just had no interest in seeing it. FWIW, I know plenty of Jews and others who are pro-Israel who refused to see MUNICH because they had heard it somehow gave moral equivalence to the terrorist side. IMO it didn’t; the murder of the athletes was quite cruel and harrowing, and while the terrorists as they were tracked down seemed usually nice enough, the Israeli team was obviously supposed to be the heroes–conflicted, self-doubting, haunted heroes, but basically righteous. Oh my, it’s almost one and it’s a work night! Good Night and Good Luck and thanks for the thread! ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/335 "2006-03-06T05:55:04Z")
Je. Sus. Would some passing mod make that the smallest font, not the largest? Sheesh, I’ll never live this down. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/336 "2006-03-06T06:00:20Z")
> [@Mehitabel](#): > > Je. Sus. Would some passing mod make that the smallest font, not the largest? Sheesh, I’ll never live this down. Freudian coding? That’s definitely the funniest thing I’ve seen all night. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/337 "2006-03-06T06:14:11Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > Anyone catch what Joaquin Phoenix mouthed? I think it was “River’s dead isn’t he? Boo. I wonder if there’s a dachshund in my fridge. I’m cuckoo for coacoa puffs… Hoo hoo! Hoo hoo! Woo woo hoo woo hoo hoo! When are we leaving for the Oscars?” I’m not sure of that though. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/338 "2006-03-06T06:26:16Z")
Why can’t they just say they will end at 11:30? If they know that they will fall behind schedule every freaking time then stop kidding yourselves and say you will end in three and a half hours instead of just three. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/339 "2006-03-06T06:41:42Z")
I wonder what it must be like for **Crash** fans, happy at its win, to know that they’re celebrating right along with homophobes, bigots and $cientologists? ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198/340 "2006-03-06T06:42:32Z")
well, this sounds like the unpopular doper opinion right now, but as I said on page 1 of this thread, Crash was my favorite movie of 2005 and I’m glad it won, although I had a feeling people were going to go apeshit left and right over the favored movie not winning. Just one question - is there some rule that they MUST show Jack Nicolson every 90 seconds throughout the entire show? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/78th-oscars-thread-unboxed-spoilers/347198.md?page=18)