78th Annual Academy Awards, The Aftermath Options

[hi-C]

Okay, I don't get what the hell just happened. Crash as best picture of the year? Not even. The only conclusion I can come to is that Brokeback and Capote split votes and Crash came out on the winning end of that one. Holy...damn.

I'm also highly surprised "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" won for Best Song, but pleasantly so. I don't know what Taraji P. Henson was doing at the end but whatever.

What did everyone else think about the ceremony?

Edit: If you want to discuss Oscars fashion, go to this thread.

[yo pusha]

crash was a horrible movie. the worst "best picture" ever.

[AngryBaby]

crash was a horrible movie. the worst "best picture" ever.

....... how was it bad?

gigli was bad, crash was not bad

[NoSex]

....... how was it bad?

gigli was bad, crash was not bad

Crash felt like a bad 80's after-school special on racism. The character study relied on and believed so much in its own conception of racism that characters did not in fact develope or grow. The dishonesty of the script is grounded in the fact that each persona was chained down by the theme of the movie, which almost seems to want to tell us that we are all racist, even if and when we don't think so. The character motivation is spelt out in infantile and preachy gestures of race relations, seeming to have been set up to appeal to the minds of junior high students. The reality of racism is mocked by the utter failure to represent race relations in an honest light. The film seems almost to perpetuate racial stereotypes by writing its characters into those social constructs. The racist L.A. cop. The sell-out black producer. The police chief who got where he was by ignoring racism. The hardworking ex-gang-member latino. The middle eastern small bussiness man. The white politician afraid of losing the black vote. The young black thugs waxing fancy on their roles in society. These cliches are trying to help us realize how racist we are? Or, is Crash more racist than its audience and the streets of L.A.?

A plot so contrived in its nature that it denies us suspension of disbelief. Characters who are more cliche, corny, and liberal mind soothing than real. No amazing direction. A waste of an ensemble cast. An insultingly preachy message. The attempted, yet awfully predictable, "Oh My Gosh" moments in which Characters, so underdeveloped and overwritten, deny their own supposed nature. The white racist cop saves the black woman he molested! Oh my! The goody goody do-right cop reacts in racist fear! Oh my word!

The truth behind the subtle nature of racism disapears. No real or useful commentary of social contructs emerges in the end. The film-makers want to guilt trip us and appeal to our emotional ignorance and insecurity to make a successful impact. They're hacks.

And to pretend that this is revolutionary or mind-opening, or brave is rediculous. If it was any of these things, it clearly would have never won best picture.

Some of the most awful writing, direction, and theme I have seen in all of 2005. Definately the most overrated film of 2005.

Check out Magnolia, Short Cuts, White Dog, and maybe Boogie Nights.