HBO is running A Beautiful Mind, and I am reminded again how outstanding Crowe was in his role. How in the world did the Acadamy not vote him for best actor? Denzel even admitted that Training Day wasn’t his best work.
I know these things are subjective, but IMHO, these two performances aren’t even close.
I saw this title and thought it was a review of Virtuosity. Viewing that, you’d think both guys needed acting school.
um, because he’s not black?
<ducks and runs>
I thought this was going to be a poll about who you’d rather boink.
I’d vote for Denzel.
[sub]How’s that for a hijack?[/sub]
[hijack]I went to see Clueless in the theaters, and due to a brief audio problem, the ushers actually gave out tickets for a free film to each audience member upon exiting the theater.
I used my free ticket to see Virtuosity. I felt like I was ripped off twice.
Sorry to have contributed so little to the thread, but it’s rare that anyone ever mentions the movie Virtuosity in a thread.[/hijack]
That Oscar vote was about rectifying past mistakes. Denzel was overlooked for Malcolm X. Russell was an iffy win for Gladiator. Put those together and Denzel was a shoo-in when the only other viable option was to give a back to back win to Crowe.
What tlw said.
Overall, Russell wins my vote. Pure vanity on my part. When Denzel and I are on a dvd together, I’ll rethink my position. 
I didn’t like Beautiful Mind. And I thought Crowe’s accent was awful.
IMO, Denzel is a much better actor.
Look, in THEORY, an Oscar goes to the performer who gave the best performance in a specific film in a given year, but in REALITY, there are a host of factors that figure into who wins.
The same is true of almost ALL awards. If you’re a baseball fan, ask yourself, did Mo Vaughn win the AL MVP award because he was the best player in the league, or because sportswriters hated the surly cuss (Albert Belle) who really deserved it? Did Fergie Jenkins win the 1971 Cy Young award because he was the best pitcher in the National League, or because he’d been a great pitcher for a long time, and writers just thought it was his “turn” to win?
Now, in sports, people have statistics on which to base their votes. When the subject is movies (or any other art form), voting is BOUND to be a lot more subjective. In my opinion, Russell Crowe was much more deserving of the Oscar last year than Denzel Washington. OBVIOUSLY, opinions vary, and many people voted for Denzel out of a sincere belief that he gave a better performance. But, I suspect, MOST voters went for Denzel, for reasons unrelated to the quality of his performance.
Russell had just won an Oscar the year before for “Gladiator,” and voters wanted to give the Oscar to someone new.
Washington has given many outstanding performances over the years, and voters felt it was “his turn.” This is a common theme at the Oscars. MANY stars have received awards for mediocre performances in mediocre films, simply to make amends for failing to honor GREAT performances in the past (Al Pacino in “Scent of a Woman,” "John Wayne in “True Grit,” Henry Fonda in “On Golden Pond”).
The media had made a big fuss about the Academy’s failure to honor black actors in the past, and voters saw an opportunity to show how progressive they were by voting for Denzel.
Russell Crowe had behaved like a jerk for months before the Oscars were given out (getting into brawls, etc.), and many voters were turned off by that, and chose to vote for Debnzel, who’s always been a much more classy, dignified person in his personal life.
Crowe got pissed of at the BAFTA awards (~British Oscars) because his acceptance speech was cut due to time restrictions. The public didn’t get to hear him quoting Patrick Kavanagh :rolleyes: On finding out about this Crowe got the director and slammed him against a wall and generally acted the prick. This along with other incidents marred his chances with the voters.
This is the main reason given over in this part of the world. Maybe it’s the reason maybe it’s not but it didn’t help.
He’s also one arrogant SOB. Maybe enough of the academy just wanted to take him down a peg or two as I really didn’t think that DW’s performance in Training Day was anything special YMMV
Count me as another thoroughly unimpressed with Crowe–all ticks and mannerisms with buggy eyes and an overripe accent. Denzel may not have been the best that year (Tom Wilkinson was easily better than both), but he was better than Russell. Anyone who complains that Denzel’s was a “make-up” Oscar for past slights has to admit that Crowe’s in 2000 was exactly the same thing, for losing for The Insider; anyone who thinks he did a better job than Javier Bardem or Ed Harris (or the non-nominated Michael Douglas) needs their eyes examined.
I can’t begrudge Denzel’s Oscar for another reason: so many actors win for performances that are gimmicky or self-righteous or sympathy-laden. Denzel’s part was the type of role that hardly ever wins–a heavy in a solid B-movie genre piece. It’s the type of role Robert Ryan or Arthur Kennedy or Bob Mitchum used to excel in but went largely unappreciated because people would fall over themselves in reverence for the high-falutin’ “message” movies that ring false and hollow today–exactly the piece of useless tripe that A Beautiful Mind was. So I took Denzel’s win as symbolic–not for being black (though that didn’t hurt), but for all the excellent actors who soldier through mediocre movies and never get the recognition. It took an actor of his reputation “slumming” to pull it off, but the Academy has made dozens upon dozens of worse decisions, so I can’t complain.
I think it is also because it is, you know, a subjective opinion. How one is better then athe other is actually a little beyond me, they were both outstanding and I am quite confused as to what criteria one would use in comparing these completely different roles. The whole idea of Best Actor/Actresss etc. is kinda silly.
Which one would I like to boink?
Do I have to choose?
One could be main course, the other dessert:::::::sigh:::::::::
ArchiveGuy, I like your analysis.
Regarding Crowe’s “off the field” stuff. I say Big Deal. He’s not some Hollywood Phony Kiss on the Cheek flake. He seems to be the same guy he was before he hit it big. I don’t care if he gets into bar fights. He probably gets provoked. People see a big star, a guy who’s in shape, who looks like he can handle himself, and they figure they will give him a go. Does he go in with an army of bodyguards? Does he hang out at trendy VIP rooms in Hollywood bars? Besides, he’s Australian (living in a Kiwi body)
What’s he like on the set? How does he treat the crew and staff? Does he act like a prima dona, above and beyond what top stars do?
What astorian said. Crowe can’t complain, because he won his Oscar under the exact same “it’s his turn” logic Washington did. (Crowe supposedly got his award for Gladiator, but he really got it because his vastly superior job in 1999’s The Insider was overlooked.)
I didn’t like Beautiful Mind but Crowe certainly lost the Oscar because of his antics prior to the awards.
The Oscar voters are a fickle bunch who do not like bad press - and Crowe was all about bad press back then. Plus Denzel fit the void - he’d been around long enough, done enough decent films, was liked by his casts and crews and, yes, being black probably didn’t hurt either. I actually thought Training Day was very good, and I liked the fact that Denzel played against type.
Now why Halle Barry won, that is the real mystery.
Russell Crowe should have gotten the Oscar for A Beautiful Mind. He had the best performance (Lead Actor) in a movie, ABM would not have been Best Picture if not for his and co-stars (Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Christopher Plummer, Paul Bettany)performances.
I loved him in Gladiator, L.A. Confidential and the Insider (but I think Kevin Spacey did a better performance in American Beauty).
Russell Crowe is one of my favorite actors, I am awaiting him in Far Side of The World.
If it came to boinking it would be Denzel for me. Love the sneaky way he grins in “Much Ado About Nothing” as he plots making Beatrice and Benedick fall in love. And he’s just my age, precisely three days older than me.
Thank you. I can’t imagine how much of a target someone like Russell Crowe would be to an asshole at a bar who’d like to impress his buddys by taking down a Hollywood star a couple of notches.
I’ve only ever heard good things said about him by co-workers and directors. Maybe people keep quiet out of politeness or career fear, but you’d think that some bad word would have slipped out and become gossip, and I’ve never heard it.
Which, of course, was exaggerated and blown way out of porportion. Your rolleyes tends to make me think that you didn’t actually see the acceptance speech in question. I did. I have it on tape. Crowe’s acceptance speech was humble, moving and to the point. He read a 4-line poem by Patrick Kavanaugh (NOT a poem that Crowe wrote himself, which you knew, but which is still being repeated by others occasionally).
Here is what was cut out of the BBC broadcast of his 1 minute, 50 second acceptance speech, coming after his thank yous to the BAFTAs, and the people involved with making A Beautiful Mind (part of which were also cut out, including a thank you to John and Alicia Nash). If I were Crowe I’d be pissed off too. I think this is really really nice!
"Western cultures are often criticised for their focus on performing arts. However, singing, dance, theatre, film and all forms of creative expression serve to ignite the intellect, propel emotional development and availability, and reward us all with stories of humanity and the triumph of the human spirit. I am grateful there is a Sydney, I am ecstatic there is a Sydney Opera House. I love my job. I don’t think I do it that well. But keep on disagreeing with me if you like. Richard Harris, one of the finest of this profession, recently brought to my attention the verse of Patrick Kavanagh:
‘To be a poet and not know the trade,
To be a lover and repel all women,
Twin ironies by which great saints are made,
The agonising pincher jaws of heaven.’"
That’s it. How anyone can think that this deserved to be edited when far more inane things were left in the broadcast is beyond me. People love to take potshots at Russell Crowe because he doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and won’t play by the bullshit Hollywood “kiss everybody’s ass” mental games, but I think it’s kind of refreshing.